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• Joel Sherman sounds the klaxons over game #1 of 162:

Now a few sentences about perspective. Sabathia began horrendously last year, going 0-3 with a 13.50 ERA in his first four starts and recovered to have arguably his best season. Teixeira annually is an April dud and then steadily builds toward superb final results.

But we all know the terms of engagement here. Sabathia was the highest-paid free-agent pitcher of the offseason and Teixeira the highest-paid position player. In a down economic climate, the Yanks invested $341 million on just those two. They are not going to feel bad about those decisions at 0-1. However, no one wants to make a bad first impression as a Yankee because the hole is always a little deeper, so deep that many never truly escape.

[My take: As long as they keep Hank Steinbrenner sedated and muzzled, everything will work itself out.]

• Will Carroll writes of any CC Sabathia injury concerns:

It was just last year, in Cleveland, when Sabathia began the season poorly, but by the end of the year, no one was talking about those first few outings. People seemed more confused than worried about his Opening Day start for the Yankees, with Sabathia showing no dominance, some command problems, and spending his half-inning on the bench with a heating pad on his side. The heating pad had many concerned, though in the few shots I saw, it was being held in different areas along his ribcage, and Sabathia’s explanation that he was “keeping warm” does make some sense. “Precautionary” would make even more sense, because it’s important to remember that Sabathia has a history of oblique strains, injuring himself at the start of the season in both 2005 and 2006. With the combination of game results, his history, and the provocative image, this bears watching. I do think that there was something throwing off his release point; it could be any one of a million factors, including not being able to get his core loose.

• PeteAbe provides the minor league rosters for all levels.  Here is the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre roster:

CLASS AAA SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE YANKEES
Manager: Dave Miley
Coaches: Scott Aldred (P), Butch Wynegar (H), Aaron Ledesma
Pitchers: Alfredo Aceves, Anthony Claggett, J.B. Cox, Dan Geise, Phil Hughes, Kei Igawa, Steven Jackson, Jason Johnson, Ian Kennedy, Zach Kroenke, Mark Melancon, Dave Robertson, Brett Tomko, Brett
Catchers: Kevin Cash, P.J. Pilittere, Chris Stewart.
Infielders: Doug Bernier, Eric Duncan, Justin Leone, Juan Miranda, Kevin Russo.
Outfielders: Shelley Duncan, Austin Jackson, Todd Linden, John Rodriguez.

• Some of the Yankees managed to get a tour of The White House.
• Just in case you were wondering which company was the “Official Paint” of the Yankees, CNBC lists all the major sponsors for the 2009 season.

• PeteAbe previews tonight’s all-Asian pitching matchup:

It’s safe to say that journalists from Japan and Taiwan will outnumber those from the United States at Camden Yards tomorrow evening.

The Yankees play the Orioles and it will be Chien-Ming Wang of Taiwan against Koji Uehara of Japan. The two right-handers last faced each other in the 2004 Olympics in Athens. On Aug. 21, Japan beat Taiwan 4-3 in 10 innings.

• Tyler Kepner offers a glimpse at the friendly rivalry between Hideki Matsui and the Orioles starting pitcher Koji Uehara:

In their final year as teammates, in 2002, Hideki Matsui and Koji Uehara reached the pinnacle of individual and team success for the Yomiuri Giants. Matsui was the most valuable player of the Japanese Central League, Uehara won the Sawamura award as the top pitcher, and the Giants took the championship.

It was their second title in four years together, but the union did not last. Matsui left for the Yankees before the 2003 season. Six years later, Uehara has joined him in the majors as the first Japanese-born player in Baltimore Orioles history.

“He was the Giants’ ace pitcher,” Matsui said through an interpreter on Monday. “He was really the pillar of all those pitching staffs. We were pretty close. Being that he was a pitcher and I was a position player, it’s not like we hung out all the time. But he came over to the States and we met up together a few times.”

• MLB.com offers its own preview of Wednesday night’s matchup, and includes these interesting stats:

Wang was 5-0 with a 2.18 ERA in seven starts away from New York in 2008. … The Yankees are 30-8 in Wang’s last 38 starts dating back to June 1, 2007

• Kevin Goldstein discusses the top Yankee prospects, including this snippet:

The Incumbent: Catcher Jesus Montero will be among the youngest regulars in the Florida State League, but everyone already knows that he can hit, and far more attention will be paid to his defense, which will still require significant improvement if he’s to stay behind the plate in the long term.
Other Possibilities: Austin Jackson is a good second choice, but with the big-league center-field situation in flux, there’s a chance he might get to the big leagues and exhaust his eligibility at some point this summer. Young pitchers Dellin Betances and Arodys Vizcaino both have breakout potential, while Andrew Brackman is always a possibility for a major step forward, though that’s been the case for the last five years.

• MLB.com has an article on the Yankees moving past the disappointment of 2008.
• Our old whipping boy Kyle Farnsworth was at it again on Tuesday, and Joe Sheehan wasn’t happy:

Two on, two out, one-run lead, eighth inning.

Jim Thome batting.

You have Joakim Soria.

You use Kyle Farnsworth.

Gone.

I know it happens all the time, but it’s really freaking stupid every single time. This is what the creation of the closer position has wrought: teams losing games, frequently, without using their best reliever, for no reason other than the misguided notion that getting three outs is their role, and getting four isn’t.

(For that matter, you also have Ron Mahay. Why did you acquire him if not to have him face Jim Thome in the eighth inning of a one-run game? Ron Gardenhire lost the division last year for want of a similar clue and Jose Mijares.)

• On this date in 1909, while at spring training, Hal Chase of the New York Highlanders contracts smallpox. The entire team is vaccinated and quarantined while traveling north.
• Not a Yankee note . . . but still noteworthy.  On this date in 1974, Hank Aaron breaks Babe Ruth’s career all-time record. The 715th home run of Aaron’s career comes against Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Al Downing.
• On this date in 1985, at Fenway Park, 46-year-old Phil Niekro starts for the Yankees, becoming the second oldest pitcher ever to start on Opening Day. Only Jack Quinn, for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1931, was older, at age 47. The Red Sox chase Niekro after four innings, and behind the pitching of Oil Can Boyd coast to a 9 – 2 win. Niekro walks four in the third inning, including two with the bases loaded, to lose his seventh opener in a row (six with Atlanta), the worst opening day record ever.
• On this date in 1993, Carlos Baerga of the Cleveland Indians becomes the first player in major league history to switch-hit home runs in the same inning. In the seventh inning, Baerga connects against Yankees relievers Steve Howe and Steve Farr. Baerga’s outburst helps the Indians to a 15 – 5 win.
• On this date in 2003, at the Yankee Stadium home opener, with the fans chanting his name, Hideki Matsui hits his first major league home run, a grand slam, against the Minnesota Twins.
• Catfish Hunter would have turned 63 today.
• Fun stats of the day:
  • Monday’s 4.1 IP with no K outing tied for the 2nd longest K-less start in CC Sabathia’s career.
    http://www.bb-ref.com/play-index/shareit/c2vd
  • Monday was only the 18th time in 255 career starts that CC has walked as many as 5 batters, and only the 3rd time since the September ’05.
    http://www.bb-ref.com/play-index/shareit/k8Vs

Off tomorrow . . . back on Friday!