{"id":16360,"date":"2013-04-09T11:52:20","date_gmt":"2013-04-09T16:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=16360"},"modified":"2013-04-09T11:52:20","modified_gmt":"2013-04-09T16:52:20","slug":"travis-hafner-the-yankee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=16360","title":{"rendered":"Travis Hafner, The Yankee"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>CLEVELAND (AP Apr 8, 2013) \u2014 Travis Hafner tipped his cap and soaked in the applause from Indians fans who spent 10 years pulling for him.<\/p>\n

The love ended after his first at-bat.<\/p>\n

Hafner hit a tone-setting, three-run homer in the first inning and drove in four runs in his Cleveland homecoming, and Robinson Cano busted out of his early slump with two homers as the injury-riddled New York Yankees ruined the Indians\u2019 highly anticipated home opener under manager Terry Francona with an 11-6 win Monday.<\/p>\n

In a ballpark he knows better than any, Hafner turned the cheers to boos with one swing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re playing for the Yankees and do well, you\u2019re going to get booed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hafner homered in the first off Ubaldo Jimenez (0-1) and added an RBI single in the third. Cano connected in the fifth and sixth for the Yankees, who are trying to hold on until All-Stars Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira get healthy and come off the disabled list.<\/p>\n

Hiroki Kuroda (1-1) shook off a shaky, 34-pitch first and showed no signs of being bothered by a bruised right middle finger as the Yankees finally won a home opener after losing their own and Detroit\u2019s last week.<\/p>\n

It was a sweet return for Hafner, who spent 10 seasons with the Indians before signing a one-year, $2 million free agent contract in February with New York. His shot over the fence in center \u2014 his 100th career homer at Progressive Field \u2014 seemed to deflate Cleveland\u2019s sellout crowd that had been counting down the days until Francona and the Indians came home.<\/p>\n

So was that Hafner\u2019s plan?<\/p>\n

\u201cNot a bad plan,\u201d he said, smiling.<\/p>\n

Hafner, who hit a career-high 42 homers for the Indians in 2006 but was slowed by injuries in recent years, received a warm ovation during pregame introductions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really special,\u201d Hafner said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019ll never forget. There\u2019s so many people here I know. It\u2019s a little strange seeing people with Hafner Indians jerseys. It was strange coming to the visiting clubhouse and visiting dugout. It was a little weird, but overall it was great being back here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cano walked with one out and Kevin Youkilis singled before a slimmed-down Hafner, who lost 15 pounds during spring training, drove a 2-0 pitch from Jimenez over the wall in center for his second homer with New York.<\/p>\n

As he rounded the bases, Hafner, the man known simply as \u201cPronk\u201d was booed \u2014 it didn\u2019t take Indians fans long to swear him off as a new enemy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re passionate fans here,\u201d Hafner said. \u201cI knew with me playing for the Yankees the cheers wouldn\u2019t last too long.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a breakout game for Cano, who came in batting .130 with no extra-base hits or RBIs. Manager Joe Girardi knew it wouldn\u2019t take long for Cano to bust out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Cano starts feeling good, he can hit anybody, anywhere,\u201d Francona said. \u201cThat\u2019s the last guy we want to get hot.\u201d<\/p>\n

The day started oddly for Francona, who said he got lost while making the two-block walk from his downtown apartment to Progressive Field. While he may have needed directions to find the ballpark, it was a special day for Francona, whose father, Tito, played for the Indians from 1959-64.<\/p>\n

Before the game, the Franconas took part in a special Indians sons-and-fathers ceremonial first pitch that included the Swishers, Alomars, McAllisters and Brantleys. After catching his dad\u2019s throw on one hop, Francona hugged his 79-year-old namesake, a touching moment on a day of pageantry.<\/p>\n

It took 36 minutes to play the first, which ended with the score tied 3-all and Francona and Girardi both considering early calls to their bullpens.<\/p>\n

After spotting the Yankees three runs in the first, the Indians responded with three runs off Kuroda. Jason Kipnis and Mark Reynolds hit sacrifice flies and Michael Brantley drove in the other run with a single off Lyle Overbay\u2019s glove at first.<\/p>\n

Kuroda, though, recovered and only gave up two hits after the first and finished with six strikeouts in 5 1-3 innings.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had what I call some bad luck in the first inning,\u201d Girardi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe got a groundball up the middle that hit the base and another groundball that was tipped by the first baseman. He kind of gutted it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hafner\u2019s fourth RBI gave the Yankees a 4-3 lead in the third, and New York extended its lead to 5-3 in the fourth on Brett Gardner\u2019s two-out single. The Yankees added two runs in the fifth, one in the sixth on Cano\u2019s homer, and three more in the seventh to make it 11-3.<\/p>\n

During his eight seasons as Boston\u2019s manager, Francona faced the Yankees nearly 200 times and joked that being part of baseball\u2019s most heated rivalry did one thing to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cMade me older,\u201d he cracked.<\/p>\n

Francona was also not disappointed New York was missing some of its top players.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re a little beat up,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd to be totally honest, I hope they stay beat up until Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Too late for that.<\/p>\n

Even bruised, the Yankees can still inflict pain.<\/p>\n

NOTES: Swisher said \u201cit hurt\u201d when asked how he felt when the Yankees chose not to re-sign him after four seasons. … Indians C Carlos Santana was replaced in the ninth after he bruised his left thumb trying to catch a pitch from closer Chris Perez. The team said Santana will have X-rays. … Francona said Indians DH Jason Giambi will be added to the roster Tuesday. But with Andy Pettitte starting for New York, the 42-year-old Giambi probably won\u2019t get his first at-bat until later in the week. … Jeter is working out at the Yankees\u2019 complex in Tampa, Fla., as he recovers from a broken ankle. On Monday, he took 30 grounders and tested his lateral movement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND (AP Apr 8, 2013) \u2014 Travis Hafner tipped his cap and soaked in the applause from Indians fans who spent 10 years pulling for him. The love ended after his first at-bat. Hafner hit a tone-setting, three-run homer in the first inning and drove in four runs in his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16360"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16362,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16360\/revisions\/16362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}