Daily Archives: March 11, 2008

Chien-Ming Wang made a nice rebound from his ugly second start as the Yankees beat the Blue Jays 6-1. Lots more below, so let’s get to it . . .

Lineup:

S – Melky Cabrera (CF)
R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Bobby Abreu (RF)
R – Alex Rodriguez (3B)
L – Jason Giambi (DH)
L – Robinson Cano (2B)
R – Shelley Duncan (1B)
R – Jason Lane (LF)
R – Jose Molina (C)

Pitchers: Chien-Ming Wang, Edwar Ramirez, Kyle Farnsworth, Darrell Rasner, Brian Bruney

Subs: Morgan Ensberg (1B), Wilson Betemit (2B), Cody Ransom (SS), Nick Green (PH/3B), Chad Moeller (C), Greg Porter (RF), Brett Gardner (CF), Chris Woodward (LF), Jorge Posada (DH)

Opposition: The Jay’s starters save for Alex Rios.

Big Hits: A pair of no-doubter homers; a two-run shot to the right of dead center by Alex Rodriguez (1 for 2) in the first inning and a solo shot far over the left field wall by Jason Lane (2 for 3) in the sixth. Also doubles by Bobby Abreu (2 for 3), Cody Ransom (1 for 1), and Melky Cabrera (2 for 3). Melky’s double came batting lefty, of course. His other hit was a perfectly placed bunt single to lead off the game, which came batting righty. Jose Molina was 2 for 2.

Who Pitched Well Everyone, really, but the big news was Chien-Ming Wang, who tossed 3 2/3 scoreless innings showing good velocity, late movement, and improving as the game went on. After getting roughed up in his last start, Wang worked with pitching coach Dave Eiland to tweak his mechanics, incorporating a double tap in his glove just before separating his hands. Apparently the problem in his previous outing was that he was overstriding and thus leaving his pitches up–death for a sinkerballer–the same problem he was having in the ALDS last year. In the first inning, David Cone, announcing his first game of the year for YES, and John Flaherty commented that Wang’s arm appeared to be dragging and, indeed, his pitches were still staying up, but he was popping the mitt in the mid 90s and as the game progressed he found his arm slot and rediscovered his sink. The two hits he allowed in his 3 2/3 innings were both singles, one a broken bat shot into left by Vernon Wells, the other a hard grounder up the middle by Lyle Overbay. He also got eight of his eleven outs on the ground and ended his day by striking out Scott Rolen on three pitches. Along the way, Wang worked on his slider and changeup and threw a total of 58 pitches, this after throwing a 75-pitch bullpen session a couple of days ago.

Beyond Wang, Edwar Ramirez got his only batter, Frank Thomas, to pop out. Brian Bruney pitched around an infield single and struck out two in 1 2/3 innings, though two of his three outs on balls in play were hard line drives that were caught.

Who Didn’t: Kyle Farnsworth allowed a double and walked one in a scoreless inning, struck out none and one of his three outs was a hard fly to the warning track in right center. Darrell Rasner retired the first five batters he faced in order and struck out two in 2 1/3 innings, but with two outs in his second inning of work issued a walk and allowed an RBI double. He was pulled with one out in the next inning following a Reed Johnson single. The outing was enough of an improvement over his last two to earn Rasner another outing in major league camp, but he remains on a short leash.

Nice Plays: A perfect throw by Jose Molina to catch Vernon Wells stealing in the first inning. A nice diving snag of a line drive off Bruney by Morgan Ensberg at first base. The best play of the game, however, was a catch against the wall in dead center by Toronto’s Buck Coats off a booming drive by Jorge Posada, who has just one single in 15 spring at-bats.

Ouchies: Johnny Damon fouled a ball off his right foot in Monday night’s game and skipped yesterday’s contest to get x-rays of the foot, which came back negative, which is a positive. The official diagnosis per his manager is a “bruised toe.” He’ll likely sit out until the toe’s feeling better. He’s not listed on today’s travel roster. Francisco Cervelli, who has been in a full-arm hard cast, will have surgery on his fractured right wrist/forearm (I’ve yet to see mention of the actual bone that was broken) today. Finally, some news on the rehabbing Humberto Sanchez. He’s playing catch from 120 feet and hopes to start throwing bullpens at the end of the month.

More Cuts: Juan Miranda was optioned to triple-A, where I expect he’ll be the starting first baseman. P.J. Pilittere, who should be the starting catcher for Trenton until Cervelli’s back in action, and outfielders Jose Tabata, Austin Jackson, and Colin Curtis, who will be the Thunder’s starting outfield, from right to left, were reassigned to minor league camp. Jackson and Tabata are the top two position-player prospects in the system right now, but did nothing of note in camp. Curtis showed a great glove in camp and went 2 for 6 with a double. Miranda was hitless in camp, but was victimized by a few excellent plays on drives deep in the gaps and could find himself called up as an injury replacement later in the year if he performs well for Scranton.

More: As expected, Joe Girardi is setting about busting Billy Crystal’s hump. Joba Chamberlain is working on adding a Chien-Ming Wang-taught sinker to his arsenal. In fact, he got three groundball outs with it in Monday’s game. That pitch would be his fifth after his unhittable slider, high-90s fastball, above-average curve, and developing changeup. Wow. Speaking of Joba, Pete Abe sums up the starter/reliever debate perfectly. Meanwhile, the YES crew was pounding the regrettable “Generation Trey” nickname for Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, and Ian Kennedy during today’s broadcast, but Hughes says the three of them would prefer “The Three Amigos.” Hughes was born the year that film came out, which means he probably doesn’t remember that the Denver Broncos beat them to it. Speaking of the YES crew, Cone sounds like he’s going to be a headache on the air this year. He spent a lot of time talking about how pitch and innings limits are unnecessary (come back Jim Kaat, all is forgiven!) and praising the Blue Jays for focusing on “chemistry” by signing “character” guys like David Eckstein and Scott Rolen, while failing to note that Rolen’s such a great character guy that he’s bitched his way off both of his big league teams. You might remember that Cone was also the guy who thought Scott Strickland was likely to make the team out of camp. Strickland was reassigned without throwing a single exhibition pitch. Off to a great start, Coney.

Last night the Yankees played the tenth game of their exhibition schedule, which means they’ve gone through their starting rotation twice and are a third of the way through their pre-season slate. With that, I thought now would be a good time to take a look at how the battles for the final spots on the roster are shaping up.

There are 53 players left in camp, not counting the trio of rehabbing pitchers (Andrew Brackman, Humberto Sanchez, and Glass Pavano). Twenty-one of those players are all but guaranteed to head north with the club, as per my initial camper’s post of a month ago:

1B – Jason Giambi (L)
2B – Robinson Cano (L)
SS – Derek Jeter (R)
3B – Alex Rodriguez (R)
C – Jorge Posada (C)
RF – Bobby Abreu (L)
CF – Melky Cabrera (S)
LF – Johnny Damon (L)
DH – Hideki Matsui (L)

Bench:

R – Shelley Duncan (1B/OF)
S – Wilson Betemit (IF)
R – Jose Molina (C)

Rotation:

R – Chien-Ming Wang
L – Andy Pettitte
R – Mike Mussina
R – Phil Hughes
R – Ian Kennedy

Bullpen:

R – Mariano Rivera
R – Joba Chamberlain
R – Kyle Farnsworth
R – LaTroy Hawkins

Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy have been sharing the fifth starter’s spot thus far, Kennedy getting the start the first time through the rotation with Chamberlain appearing later in the game, and Chamberlain getting the start last night with Kennedy appearing later in the game. Their turn will come around again on Saturday, when the Yankees have their only split-squad games of the month, thus allowing each pitcher to start one of the two games. After that, the decision to bounce one of them to the bullpen will have to be made. There’s no reason for Chamberlain not to be the pitcher moved into relief. All of the other pitchers in the rotation have pitched well in at least one of their two starts thus far (the most recent stinker was from Chien-Ming Wang, who will start against the Blue Jays this afternoon). Kennedy has been better than Chamberlain in both of their games thus far, and, perhaps most importantly, Chamberlain will have a much lower innings limit this season, which all but requires him to spend some time in either the bullpen or the minors.

When I wrote my camper’s post, Shelley Duncan’s spot on the 25-man roster seemed tenuous. Since then he’s torn the cover off the ball. He’s slugging 1.063 and leading the Yankees in total bases this spring with 17 while his closest competitors have 11. He could probably go hitless for the rest of camp and still make the team.

As for the fourth and final spot on the bench, my initial characterization of the matter suggested it would come down to what sort of player Girardi wanted to fill that final spot, with the top contenders being corner infielder and solid righty bat Morgan Ensberg, outfielder and righty power bat Jason Lane, or any of a number of weak-hitting utility infielders, with speed/defense center fielder Brett Gardner as a longshot.

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Being sick has its advantages. For one, it allows you to relax and catch up on some reading. While the Mets have taken hold of the back pages — it’s the Spring, they’ll have their time in the spotlight again when they’re blowing a 7-game lead in September — the feature writers have had some fun projecting next steps for the Yankee organization.

After all, this is a season of combined firsts and lasts: the last year in “old” Yankee Stadium, the first season with new manager Joe Girardi, the first season with Hank and Hal Steinbrenner at the helm, which could mean the last year of Brian Cashman as general manager. (There has been only speculation; Cashman has been mum on the topic. We’ve seen and heard this song and dance before.)

Two pieces most notably caught my attention, both for their similarities and for the differences. Both are profiles of Hank Steinbrenner. Ryan McGee’s piece in ESPN the Magazine traces Hank’s path to the Yankees, then to Kinsman Farm, and then back to the Yankees, capturing his bluster and portraying him as his father’s son. The New York Times Magazine also traced the lineage – what profile doesn’t? – and hinted that certain members of the organization believe that Hank is trying too hard to be the kind of managing partner, at least in the press, that his father once was.

The greatest difference was that the PLAY brought the siblings into it as if to demonstrate that the Yankees want to show a unified management front with the Steinbrenner children. Hank is the liaison to the press and handles the baseball decisions, Hal is the brains behind the business decisions, and Jennifer is helping on the real estate side, assisting in oversight of the New Yankee Stadium project.

Which portrayal is correct? You never know with the Yankees. I’m shocked they allowed such access to two relatively unknown writers, especially an ESPN writer, given the volatility of the Yankees-ESPN relationship in the last eight years.  

Both stories were well written and are interesting reads, but ultimately came to the same conclusion: George II is named Hank.

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