CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira won't soon forget their debut with the New York Yankees - no matter how hard they try.
Sabathia failed to get out of the fifth inning Monday in a 10-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles, and Teixeira couldn't buy a hit with that $180 million the Yankees heaped upon him during the offseason.
“I was terrible. I battled from the first inning on,” said Sabathia, who signed a $161 million, seven-year contract in December. “At some point I'm usually able to find it. Today was just one of those days where I didn't. When I have one of those days, this is the result you get.”
Sabathia (0-1) gave up six runs and eight hits in 4 1-3 innings, walked five, threw two wild pitches and did not record a strikeout for the first time since July 25, 2005, at Oakland. The six runs were the most he had allowed in 32 starts since last April, when he pitched for Cleveland.
“I just try to go out and help the team win as best as possible. Today I didn't do that,” Sabathia said.
His angst matched that of Teixeira, booed throughout the afternoon by Baltimore fans who were angered that the first baseman opted to sign with the Yankees instead of his hometown Orioles.
Teixeira went 0-for-4 with a walk and stranded five runners, including two in the eighth after the Yankees had cut a five-run deficit to 6-5.
“I didn't get it done there,” he said, referring to his groundout with runners at the corners and two outs.
Baltimore scored four runs in the bottom half to pull away. Light-hitting Cesar Izturis sparked the uprising with a two-run homer and Aubrey Huff added a two-run double.
Adam Jones and Brian Roberts each had three of Baltimore's 14 hits, and Jeremy Guthrie (1-0) gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings.
“The guys that were supposed to step up and do it, did,” Orioles manager Dave Trembley said.
The same could not be said of the Yankees, despite home runs by Jorge Posada and Hideki Matsui.
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“I guess we can't go undefeated,” manager Joe Girardi said with a thin smile. “Yeah, it's one game. We didn't execute today.”
Sabathia threw 96 pitches, in part because the Orioles were selective at the plate.
The game drew a sellout crowd of 48,607, the largest on opening day in the 18-year history of Camden Yards.
New York was without Alex Rodriguez, who during spring training admitted using steroids several years ago with Texas. He will miss the beginning of the season after undergoing hip surgery. The third baseman was gone but not forgotten, as evidenced by this sign near the New York dugout: “Where's A-Roid?”
Sabathia had a difficult first inning, giving up a leadoff single to Roberts and walking Jones before firing two wild pitches _ equaling the number he threw in 253 innings last year.
Sabathia held a heating pad against his midsection in the dugout between innings. Afterward, he said he was just keeping his hands warm.
Posada homered leading off the sixth, and later in the inning Xavier Nady doubled in a run.
A two-run homer by Matsui in the seventh off Chris Ray made it 6-5, but that's as close as the Yankees got.
