Masahiro Tanaka was bathed in a noise as he took the mound in the ninth inning Monday night that had greeted Edwin Encarnacion’s first Yankees at-bat.
And with each strike and each out, those left from the announced crowd of 39,042 increased the decibels with a mixture of appreciation, encouragement and, yep, hope.
Brian Cashman had described adding the AL homer leader, Encarnacion, as making a strength stronger, and good for the Yankees for finding such an upgrade. But the general manager knows his main job is to secure a quality starter. Until Madison Bumgarner or Trevor Bauer or Marcus Stroman or Zack Wheeler is fitted for pinstripes and until Luis Severino throws his first pitch of 2019, it will fall on those present to keep the most fragile element of a strong roster from undermining the Yankees.