ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Along with the pomp, the circumstance and the red-white-and-blue bunting that accompanies the start of the baseball season, the Yankees are putting their own stamp on tradition: laying an egg on opening day.
The Yankees lost their sixth consecutive season-opener, as the Tampa Bay Rays rocked Masahiro Tanaka and the heart of the Yankees’ order got off to the meekest of starts in a 7-3 victory on Sunday at Tropicana Field.
The defeat means little over the course of a six-month season, but it did quickly wash away the warm feelings the Yankees had established in posting the best spring training record in team history, winning 24 of 33 games.