By Joe Auriemma
The best is yet to come, and won’t that be fine.
You think you’ve seen the sun, but you ain’t seen it shine.
— Frank Sinatra

I start my blog today with one of my favorite lyrics, from one of my favorite songs, by one of my favorite artists. The chairman of the board knew that the best is yet to come, so why can’t people be more like the cool, calm and collected Ol’ Blue Eyes. Everyone, especially in New York, jumps to conclusions after the smallest of sampling sizes.

On Tuesday, every paper I read already anointed CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira as bust signings. How? Why? Are you kidding me? IT’S ONE GAME!

Sabathia and Teixeira are known slow starters. Their career track records tells us that this is not unexpected, but with Yankees fans it’s always time to hit the panic button.

If you don’t know the respective histories of these two players in the first month of the year, here it is:

Teixeira’s career in March and April is a .256 average with 19 home runs and 64 RBIs. For the rest of the season throughout his career he hits .295 with 184 home runs and 612 RBIs. In fact, this was evident last season when he hit .273 in March and April with four home runs and 17 RBIs, and after that he was a .317 hitter with 29 home runs and 104 RBIs.

Sabathia has a career record of 11-10 in 34 March and April starts with a 4.51 ERA. For the rest of the season over his career, he has a 106-63 record with an ERA that’s one full point less at 3.53.

Again, going back to last season, if you look at his first four starts, Sabathia was 0-3, with a 13.50 ERA. He walked and struck out 14 batters, while hitters had a robust .390 average against him. In his last 31 starts, he was 17-7 with a 1.88 ERA and had a little better walk to strikeout ratio, 45-237. Opponents only hit .222 against him over that span.

Some players are slow starters. I don’t know why this happens. There are many factors that go into being a successful professional athlete.

So please before you make any judgments about the two major offseason signings, just remember to sit back, put on some Sinatra, calm down and know that the best is yet to come.

Tonight’s Lineups
Yankees
Derek Jeter SS
Johnny Damon LF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Hideki Matsui DH
Jorge Posada C
Robinson Cano 2B
Xavier Nady RF
Cody Ransom 3B
Brett Gardner CF

Chien-Ming Wang P

Orioles
Brian Roberts 2B
Adam Jones CF
Nick Markakis RF
Aubrey Huff 1B
Melvin Mora 3B
Luke Scott DH
Felix Pie LF
Gregg Zaun C
Cesar Izturis SS

Koji Uehara P