Giancarlo Stanton: Homers twice in Yankees debut as they rout Blue Jays

Bob Nightengale | USA TODAY

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TORONTO - Giancarlo Stanton strolled out of the New York Yankees clubhouse Thursday evening with a bottle of water in his right hand, his buzzing cell phone in his left hand, along the corridor leading to the Rogers Centre press conference room.

He kept looking straight ahead during his long walk, but every step he took, conversations stopped, people snapped pictures, and even Blue Jays right fielder Randal Grichuk gave him a fist-pump walking by.

Stanton walked into the press conference room, plopped onto a seat facing a sea of cameras and reporters, smiled, and finally, he was able to exhale.

In one of the greatest debuts in the glorious history of the Yankees, Stanton put on a power show that may be remembered all the way until October, hitting a 426-foot home run with his first swing, a 434-foot homer in his last swing, and a double in between in the Yankees’ 6-1 opening-day victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

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Stanton became the first Yankees player to homer twice on opening day since Joe Pepitone in 1963. Pepitone went on to hit 27 homers that year, and drive in 89 runs, while making the first of his three All-Star teams.

Considering Stanton’s resume, hitting a major-league leading 59 home runs last year and leading the Marlins in homers seven consecutive years, he may equal Pepitone’s total by the All-Star break.

“Wow, just wow,’’ Yankees slugger Aaron Judge said. “But that’s what he does, though. That’s what he's done all spring. That’s what he did all last year with the Marlins.

“My job is pretty simple now. Get on base for G.’’

The Yankees will never admit to it, of course, but there was a wee bit of concern how Stanton would handle the pressure of New York. He’s coming from a small market and playing for a team that didn’t play a meaningful game in a pennant stretch. Never did he play on a winning team, let alone a playoff team.

So it was only natural to wonder how he’d perform under the biggest lights in the game.

Well, not even Hamilton had a greater debut on Broadway, with Stanton going 3-for-5 with two homers, a double, four RBI and three runs scored.

Pressure? You kidding?

“I wasn’t too worried about it,’’ Judge said. “I was seeing him work it in spring, and watching the good at-bats he had in the spring, I knew he was going to fit right in.

“The biggest thing was making sure he was comfortable, and going out there and playing his game. You do that, you’re going to win a lot of ballgames.’’

Stanton, who spent his entire batting practice hitting nothing but balls to the opposite field, walked up to the plate in the first inning struggling to calm himself. He was trying to convince himself it was just another game. Just one of 987 games he has already played in his career, with 10 years and $295 million still left in his contract.

“I tried to be as calm as possible coming up, and the anticipation was big for me,’’ Stanton said. “I understand it’s just a game. Even though it was big-time opening day, and my first one as a Yankee, I was able to calm it down.’’

J.A. Happ threw a first-pitch fastball over the heart of the plate, and Stanton merely looked at it. Happ threw another 92-mph two-seam fastball.

This time, Stanton swung, and watched it sail over the right-field fence, with an exit velocity of 117.3 mph according to StatCast, the hardest opposite-field homer recorded in the fourth year of MLB’s automated tool.

“It was an interesting feeling there,’’ Stanton said. “It was similar to my first one, ever. Everything felt new. The newness felt like my first one.

“It was pretty cool, man.’’

If there was anything cooler it might have been his last homer, this one off former Yankees reliever Tyler Clippard, traveling 434 feet to straightway center field.

When Stanton reached the dugout, unlike the mob scene that greeted him after his first homer, this time his teammates acted as if nothing ever happened.

Yep, the ol’ silent treatment.“I wasn’t really ready for that,’’ Stanton said “I have to have a better act going through them. All in good fun, though.’’

The Yankees even managed to joke around before the game with Yankees GM Brian Cashman asking Aaron Boone, making his own managerial debut, who was his “Pick to Click.’’

Boone picked Stanton.

“I just wanted it to be,’’ Boone said, laughing, when asked his reason for Stanton’s selection. “I wanted him to have a good start. I just felt like the last week, his timing has been really good. Timing so important to a hitter with his talent and his power. When he gets his timing like that, he can be deadly."

It’s only one game, of course. It will count the same as a Wednesday afternoon in the dog days of summer.

Yet, the Bronx Bombers showed on one glorious day that they may be as lethal as ever, perhaps going where no Yankee team has gone since 2009.

Yes, the World Series.

“From top to bottom, we’re going to be tough,’’ Stanton says. “Teams have to alter their whole approach when they see us coming up. It’s going to be a lot of fun.

“One hundred, sixty-one to go.’’

Maybe, just as many homers, too.