Cole & Higgy Leads The Revenge Tour Against The Toronto Birds

  By now Yankee fans know how the Opening Weekend at Yankees Stadium went down, the pesky Toronto Blue Jays ended up taking two out of three from the New York Yankee. In return, Aaron Boone and his team went to Dunedin, Florida on April 12th to get revenge.   

  In game one of a three game set at TD Ballpark, Boone tabbed his ace with the start and paired him with the Yankees' back up catcher. The pairing of RHP Gerrit Cole and catcher Kyle Higashioka continue to prove to be a force to be reckoned with. The two prove to be all the boost the Yankee squad needed to win game one against the Jays. 

  Cole settled in after a rocky beginning to retire the final 15 batters he faced and Higashioka supported his ace by belting two homers, and the Yankees defeated the Blue Jays, 3-1, on Monday evening at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Florida. The two have proven that they can work well together since Cole was first in the Yankee farm system, so it creates a sort of dilemma for manager Aaron Boone who would like to steer clear of "personal catcher" arrangement, but yet it is difficult to argue against a blueprint that is clearly getting wins into the record books.

  It works, so let it be. It is best for the team.

  “I think he’s just a great pitcher,” Higashioka said. “Every time he goes out there, he mentally and physically prepares 100 percent, so you know you’re getting his best effort no matter what. That makes our job as catchers easy.”

  Compare Higgy's pairing with Cole in game one against the Jays in Florida with Gary Sanchez's start behind the plate on Opening Day. There is no hiding it, both catchers were behind home plate against the Toronto since the season started. There is an obvious case that Higgy's start  in the catcher's position in Florida was a better outing for Cole than when he left his Opening Day start a bit frustrated with himself.

  Cole has a 1.52 ERA in nine starts with Higashioka, including the playoffs. 

  Not to mention, Higgy was the only batter of the night that went to work against Toronto's pitching.

  The Yanks were held hitless by Toronto starter Robbie Ray into the fifth inning, when Rougned Odor logged a one-out single and Higashioka followed up Odor by damaging the baseball with a 416-foot blast to dead right-center field; the ball came off his bat at 104.7 mph.

  Higashioka wasn't done in the fifth, as he decided to add a long ball in the eighth off Ryan Borucki, which gave him the third multi-homer game of his career -- he had a three-homer game against Toronto last Sept. 16 at Yankee Stadium.

  The Yankees are on another World Series run, and it has been quite a while since this organization has been on the grand stage. If having Higgy in the catcher's position every time the Yankee ace is out on the mound, then having a personal catcher for the Cole could be the difference in winning games in his outings. 

  Agree or disagree, it makes sense to have Higgy catch all of Cole's start and have Sanchez catch the other pitchers. Understandably so, Sanchez has potential as a catcher and as an offensive force in the batter's box, but it is clear he is not that great catching the Yankee ace.