There once was Fernandomania. Now there is Tanakamania.
If you are looking for the last pitcher to win both the Cy Young Award and Rookie of the Year, it was Fernando Valenzuela in 1981.
At this rate, Masahiro Tanaka might join Valenzuela in the record books.
Tanaka beat the Mariners, 4-2, Wednesday night at Safeco Field to move to 10-1, once again showing the Yankees made one of the best signings of the offseason, bringing in Tanaka from Japan for a cool $175 million.
Tanaka is worth every penny and showed it in this victory before 28,434 fans, his second complete game as he struck out 11 and allowed just six hits, while walking one. On the season, Tanaka has struck out 103 batters and walked 14. His ERA is 2.02.
Mariners hitters had a better chance of finding Sasquatch than they did of squaring up a Tanaka pitch until Robinson Cano lined a one-out, two-run home run in the ninth.
That is when Tanaka really toughened up, striking out the last two hitters looking on 94-plus-mph fastballs on the black.
“Tanaka has been amazing, he definitely should be in the conversation for those awards,’’ said Mark Teixeira, who hit a three-run home run in the fifth. “We need him out there to be our ace.’’
When you shake hands with Tanaka, you notice the strength in his right hand. “Super strong,’’ Teixeira said.
Tanaka was once a catcher and approaches baseball with that kind of mindset.
“He’s been huge for us,’’ manager Joe Girardi said. “He has a third of our wins. … He’s got a lot of adrenaline out there, he’s always got a little bit extra. He knows how to pitch and he knows how to finish a game.’’
Tanaka said he was determined to finish this game.
“I wasn’t very happy about the home run,’’ Tanaka said through a translator. “But at the end I was pretty satisfied that I was able to go all nine innings.’’
The greatness of Tanaka can be measured in many ways.
After Tanaka breezed through the first two innings, he went for the throat against the young Mariners.
Nine of his next 12 outs were strikeouts.
He did not give up a hit until one out in the fourth. That’s when Brooklyn’s James Jones laced a single to right-center.
But Tanaka went right back to work. No sulking, it was time to get the next out.
Tanaka was the first Yankee on the field every inning. There is no time to waste for the Yankees ace. After Brian McCann made the final out for the Yankees in the third, Tanaka quickly got to the mound, but there was no one there to warm him up. After a minute, bench coach Tony Pena hustled out to warm up Tanaka.
Tanaka is as old school as they get.
Give him the ball and get out of the way and let him do his job.
Yes, the Yankees have issues. They are far from a perfect team, but in Masahiro Tanaka they have nearly the perfect pitcher, one who continues to make tremendous adjustments along the way.
In Tanaka the Yankees have the ace of aces. He will need to carry this flawed team.
In 1981, Valenzuela helped carry the Dodgers all the way to a World Series title over the Yankees.
Tanaka ran into trouble in the eighth, allowing a one-out double to Mike Zunino and a single to Brad Miller to put runners on first and third. He then got a soft line drive to second off the bat of Cole Gillespie. Brian Roberts caught the ball and flipped to first for the double play.
Tanaka danced off the mound, clapping his bare right hand into his glove.
This was pure baseball joy.
“He expects perfection out there,’’ Derek Jeter said.
That is the only way to find such success.