Chien-Ming Wang did indeed make up for his rocky first outing as the Yankees beat a split-squad Braves B-team 7-3.
Lineup:
Miguel Cairo SS
Robinson Cano 2B
Gary Sheffield RF
Hideki Matsui DH
Jorge Posada C
Andy Phillips 1B
Mitch Jones LF
Melky Cabrera CF
Marcos Vechionacci 3B
Subs: Eric Duncan 1B, Felix Escalona 2B, Ramiro Pena SS, Wil Nieves C, Bubba Crosby RF, Kevin Thompson DH
Pitchers: Chien-Ming Wang, Aaron Small, Matt Smith, Mariano Rivera, Kyle Farnsworth, Ron Villone
Big Hits: A three-run homer by Jorge Posada, doubles by Mitch Jones, Robinson Cano and Bubba Crosby.
Who Pitched Well: Wang was razor sharp in his three innings, allowing just one baserunner, a single in the third which he erased on a 3-6-1 double play. The exact opposite of his first start, Wang kept the ball down with impressive velocity, making many (admittedly minor league) batters swing and miss and striking out four. Mariano Rivera and Ron Villone each pitched 1-2-3 innings. Kyle Farnsworth pitched around a hit for a scoreless eighth.
Ouchies: Bubba Crosby played in his first game since getting hit on the index finger during bunting practice a week ago. Jason Giambi (calf) sat out again. Scott Proctor is away from camp due to the birth of his second child.
Second Cut: Philip Hughes, Chris Prieto and Jason Brown were reassigned to minor league camp before the game. According to Peter Abraham, Hughes was on Mike Mussina’s schudule and with Mussina scheduled to go five innings in his next start there are simply no innings left for Hughes in big league camp. Hughes didn’t pitch particularly well this spring (3.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 2 K), but that’s of little concern. Rather, it’s impressive that, having never pitched above the Sally League, he got to pitch as much as he did. Jason Brown, meanwhile, got into just one game with a split-squad B-team. A 31-year-old double-A lifer, Brown should have been given the opportunity to play in an A-game, merely as a reward for having stuck around so long. Odds are the only major leaguers he’ll share the field with in the future will be on injury rehab assignments. Prieto never should have been in camp in the first place.
