Daily Archives: March 5, 2010

Two Tahitian Women, by Paul Gauguin (1899)

Yeah, let’s cool out to the fine sounds of Mr. Hank Mobley:

Welcome to my seventh annual spring training liveblog. This year we’re firing this thing up for the third game of the exhibition season. The Yankees enter today’s game against the Rays having beaten the Pirates on a three-run walkoff homer by Colin Curtis and lost to the Phillies on a walk-off infield hit by Wilson Valdez.

Here are today’s starting lineups:

Rays:

R – Jason Bartlett (SS)
R – Sean Rodriguez (LF)
R – Evan Longoria (3B)
S – Ben Zobrist (2B)
R – B.J. Upton (CF)
S – Dioner Navarro (C)
S – Elliot Dan Johnson (DH)
R – Justin Ruggiano (RF)
L – Chris Richard (1B)

LHP – David Price

Yankees:

R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Curtis Granderson (CF)
R – Mark Teixeira (1B)
R – Alex Rodriguez (3B)
S – Jorge Posada (C)
R – Marcus Thames (LF)
R – Robinson Cano (2B)
S – Nick Swisher (RF)
R – Francisco Cervelli (C)

RHP – Phil Hughes

Joba Chamberlain will follow Hughes on the mound for the Yankees, and we’re supposed to get a look at Jesus Montero behind the plate today. Nick Johnson is out with what is supposedly very minor lower back stiffness. Granderson has hit second in both of his starts this spring, but has yet to appear in a starting lineup with Johnson.

Outfielder Desmond Jennings, the Rays’ top prospect, did not make the trip for this game, much to my disappointment. Elliot Johnson, who slammed into Francisco Cervelli and broke is arm in a spring training game two years ago, did and is starting.

Pregame:

Thanks to my mom for watching Amelia this afternoon so that I can bring you all this liveblog. She’s a big Yankee fan as well, but a bigger fan of her granddaughter (as am I).

Tino Martinez is making his YES debut with this game. He always sounds like he has a stuffy nose. The announcers are in shirtsleeves rather than the pull overs they wore on Wednesday. So it’s clearly a bit warmer in Tampa, but it’s still quite windy.

Top 1st:

Fastball high and in from Hughes to Bartlett gets things going. The next pitch is a belt-high fastball on the inside corner and Bartlett hits it just foul over the left-field wall. He then rips another fastball to short, but Jeter makes a nice back-handed play to get him out. Hard contact from Bartlett who hit .320/.389/.490 last year out of nowhere.

Hughes’s first curve is the 0-1 pitch to Sean Rodriguez, well outside and low. Rodriguez is a second baseman who came over in the Scott Kazmir deal. He can hit, but the Rays have Ben Zobrist at second and are trying to make Rodriguez a utility man (he’s in left field today).

Another curve to Rodriguez is also low and outside. Hughes’ fastball is topping out at 91 mph. Rodriguez reaches out for a fastball out and over the plate. The wind lifts it to the center field wall and it hits on top for a homer. 1-0 Rays. Granderson was struggling to track that ball due to the wind. That’s more hard contact off Hughes.

Top 1st cont.

Rodriguez’s homer was on a 3-2 count.

Evan Longoria hits a hanging curve to deep left, right where Thames is playing. Two outs.

Hughes gets a nice swing-and-a-miss from Zobrist on an 82 mph changeup to even the count 2-2, then missed with another outside. Zobrists grounds out to Teixeira (unassisted, as usual) to end the inning.

1-0 Rays

Bot 1st:

The Rays’ BP caps are dark blue with sky-blue piping in all the standard places.

Yankees are in their blue BP tops and pinstriped pants. Rays in blue BP tops that say “Rays” across the chest and grey pants with dark blue piping down the leg.

Jeter singles to right on the first pitch from David Price. Michael Kay breaks out “Jeterian.” I gag on my sandwich.

Price is throwing easy gas around 95-96 mph. Granderson works the lefty for a full count, but flies out to left on a 96 mph fastball.

Bot 1st cont.

Price hits 97 against Teixeira, then comes back with a 78 mph curve. Tex fouls both off. That’s impressive on both counts. Less impressive, Teixeira swings at a fastball around his ankles and hits a would-be double-play ball, but Zobrist bobbles the transfer. Fielder’s “choice.”

I can’t tell if Tino’s any good in the booth because my Sun chips are too loud, though they also drown out Michael Kay, so I might keep eating all game.

Price paints the outside corner with a 96 mph fastball to set Alex Rodriguez down looking.

1-0 Rays

Top 2nd:

Hughes starts the second with another curve low and outside.

B.J. Upton, who is still just 25, grounds to Mark “Unassisted” Teixeira.

Hughes just doesn’t look sharp today. His fastball is slow (now upper 80s) and he’s missing with his off-speed stuff. Save for that one changeup in the first, I haven’t seen much that has impressed me.

He walks Dioner Navarro on five pitches, the last an 89 mph fastball that floated high and wide.

Lineup correction, that’s Dan Johnson, not Elliot who is the starting DH. Dan is the former A’s first baseman who spent 2009 in Japan. That makes more sense.

Johnson pops out to shallow second, where Robinson Cano makes an impressive over-his-shoulder catch running away from the infield.

Justin Ruggiano flies out to center to end the inning.

Hughes only gave up one hit, a wind-blown homer by Sean Rodriguez, but his stuff wasn’t nearly as good as his results.

1-0 Rays

Bot 2nd:

Jorge Posada hits a 94 mph fastball just foul over the right field wall, then strikes out on an 86 mph changeup.

David Price then starts of Thames with a 77 mph curve ball for a strike. He is good at pitching.

YES shows footage of Marcus Thames’ home run off Randy Johnson in his first major league at-bat. We’ll see that eleventeen million more times if he makes the team.

Thames taps out to shortstop.

Robinson Cano singles directly at the center field camera causing Price to flinch and making the ball appear to levitate in mid-air before curving a bit toward right field.

Cano moves up on a passed ball down and in to Nick Swisher (it’s ruled a wild pitch, but the ball was nearly a strike . . . it’s spring training for the official scorer as well).

Swisher works a walk and Price leaves having reached his limit an out short of two full innings.

(more…)

Zell’s Pinstriped Blog has the upsetting images, taken by WCBS’ Tom Kaminski:

Here’s more from Albert Brooks’ comedy classic, A Star is Bought, his second album. It was a concept record. The idea was: Albert wants a hit record, so the album is made up of cuts that can be played on all different kinds of radio stations. Here is his talk radio bit, where he makes and receives all of the calls.

06 Phone Calls From Americans

Turk, turkey dinner.

At my grandmother’s apartment on 81st street, there were all kinds of foods to scare the living bejesus out of a kid–gefilte fish, pickled herring, cold beet soup, and greasy cheese blinzes. However, she did make a wonderful strudel–and there always seemed to be some on hand–as well as excellent apple, peach and blueberry pies.

One of the things she cooked that I liked best was cream of wheat. Nana made it with milk, cream, butter and sugar. Health, the old fashioned way! It was creamy smooth, no lumps (the lumps only started to appear in her later years). I never knew you could add salt to cream of wheat, and I didn’t have grits until years later.

Still, her cream of wheat is a rich, fond memory and I still make it every so often–no lumps, Snoops. Kind of like this one–that adds mascarpone!–from the food blog, Proof of the Pudding:

This early in spring training, the latter innings of games tend to be played by a parade of high-number subs while the starers who might actually contribute to the big league club not only out of the game, but on their way out of the ballpark. In the Yankees’ first two games this spring, however, those late innings have contained all of the action.

Wednesday’s opener was scoreless until the bottom of the sixth and Alex Rodriguez was the only Yankee to get a hit in the first five frames. On Thursday, the Yankees and Phillies went scoreless into the bottom of the seventh. Wednesday’s game saw the home team take a small lead, blow it, then win in a walkoff. Thursday’s followed the same pattern, but it was the Phillies who were the home team. The walkoff hits themselves were the biggest difference between the two contests. The Yankees won Wednesday on a three-run homer by Colin Curtis. The Phillies won Thursday on a Wilson Valdez comebacker that ricocheted off pitcher Wilkin Arias for an infield hit that allowed the winning run to score from third, 3-2 Phillies.

Lineup:

L – Brett Gardner (CF)
R – Jamie Hoffmann (DH)
S – Jorge Posada (C)
L – Robinson Cano (2B)
S – Nick Swisher (RF)
S – Randy Winn (LF)
L – Juan Miranda (1B)
S – Ramiro Peña (SS)
R – Brandon Laird (3B)

Subs: Jose Gil (1B), Eduardo Nuñez (2B), Reegie Corona (SS), Jorge Vazquez (3B), Austin Romine (C), David Winfree (RF), Reid Gorecki (CF) Colin Curtis (LF), Jesus Montero (DH), Greg Golson (PR)

Pitchers: CC Sabathia (2), Zach Segovia (1), Zach McAllister (1), Ivan Nova (1), Mark Melancon (1), Romulo Sanchez (2/3), Boone Logan (1 1/3), Wilkin Arias (2/3)

Big Hits: David Winfree and Jose Gil gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead with RBI singles in the ninth, but no Yankee had an extra-base hit or more than one hit in the game. The Yankees have yet to draw a walk after two games.

Who Pitched Well: Zach McAllister and Ivan Nova pitched perfect third and fourth innings, respectively, and Boone Logan retired all four men he faced, three of them lefties. None of those three pitchers recorded a strikeout. Mark Melancon struck out two, including Jayson Werth, while working around a single for a scoreless sixth. Zach Segovia worked around a walk for a scoreless third.

Who Didn’t: Romulo Sanchez started the scoring in the seventh by giving up a run on a walk and two hits, the big blow being an RBI double by Ozzie Chavez. After the Yankees took a 2-1 lead in the top of the ninth, Wilkin Arias blew the game by giving up a pair of runs on three hits including a Paul Hoover double.

Oopsies: With Brandon Laird on first, none out, and the game still scoreless in the top of the sixth, Brett Gardner dropped down a bunt, but ball hit the dirt and stopped, allowing Phillies catcher Paul Hoover to pounce on it and get Laird at second base. Later that inning, Jorge Posada made an ugly half swing missing a Jose Contreras split finger on a hit and run thus hanging Jamie Hoffmann out to dry on his way to second.

Ouchies: Nick Johnson (surprise!) was supposed to DH but was scratched due to a stiff lower back. Johnson played first base on Wednesday. Someone should hide his glove to reduce the chances of further injury. But seriously, folks, Johnson will be out again on Friday but said he’d have played both days if this were the regular season. Joba Chamberlain (flu-like symptoms) is expected to pitch in Friday’s game. Kevin Russo is also recovering from the flu-like flu. Royce Ring is away from the team because his wife had a baby. Yeah, that counts as an “ouchie.”

Other: More on the new spring training/batting practice caps. Every team seems to be doing their own thing within the new template. The Pirates had the standard piping outlining the face, along the bill, and over the MLB logo in the back. The Phillies have blue piping outlining the face and over the logo on their red cap, but the brim piping is red to match the cap (though it is still raised piping as part of the template). Meanwhile, the Yankees have road caps, which have no piping on the crown (or, rather, blue piping on a blue cap), but instead of piping on the bill and over the logo, they’ve turned the entire area outside/beneath that piping gray. Those areas are blue on the home cap, though the gray piping remains. I think it’s despicable that the Yankees have started wearing something other than their standard cap as part of MLB’s marketing gimmicks, be it the BP cap or patriotic holiday caps. I never thought I’d see the day when the Yankees wore four different caps. Hey, BP caps, get off my lawn.

Line of the day from Chad Jennings of Lo-Hud: “Jesus Montero singled in his first spring at-bat. I was in the clubhouse at the time, but I assume it circled the globe before dropping into right field.”

Reminder: I’ll be liveblogging Friday afternoon’s game against the Rays, which will feature Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes on the mound.