Blog Archives

The Yankees split a pair of split-squad games yesterday. Since the home game against the Rays got all of the coverage, let’s start with the road game against the Tigers.

Yankees 11, Tigers 7

Lineup:

L – Johnny Damon (LF)
S – Melky Cabrera (CF)
L – Robinson Cano (2B)
L – Jason Giambi (DH)
R – Jose Molina (C)
R – Morgan Ensberg (3B)
R – Jason Lane (RF)
R – Cody Ransom (1B)
R – Alberto Gonzalez (SS)

Pitchers: Joba Chamberlain, Ross Ohlendorf, Kyle Farnsworth, Scott Strickland*, Brian Bruney, Jose Veras

Subs: Juan Miranda* (1B), Reegie Corona* (2B), Chris Woodward (SS), Kyle Anson (PH/C), Colin Curtis* (RF), Tim Battle* (CF), Justin Christian (LF), Carlos Mendoza* (DH)

Opposition: The Tigers’ starters.

Big Hits: A solo homer by Kyle Anson (1 for 2) off Jason Grilli. Doubles by Jason Lane (1 for 3) and Robinson Cano (2 for 4) off Justin Verlander. Doubles by Morgan Ensberg (3 for 5) and Cody Ransom (2 for 3). Melky Cabrera was 2 for 4, Jose Molina was 2 for 3.

Who Pitched Well: Brian Bruney pitched around a single for a scoreless inning, striking out two and walking none. Kyle Farnsworth pitched around a single and a Miguel Cabrera double for two scoreless innings. Though he struck out none, he did get five of his six outs on the ground.

Who Didn’t: Joba Chamberlain walked three men in three innings, gave up a single and a solo homer to Curtis Granderson, and allowed a pair of singles. All totaled, he gave up three runs in those three frames, though he did get seven of his nine outs via strikeout (2) and groundball (5). Ross Ohlendorf allowed two runs on three hits, including a solo homer by Granderson (who had 11 total bases on the day), however an error rendered both runs unearned and Ollie got two of his three outs on the ground. Jose Veras gave up a solo homer to Timo Perez in the ninth. That was Veras’s only baserunner, but Timo Perez?! For the curious, minor league loaner Scott Strickland gave up a run on two hits in the seventh.

Nice Plays: The 4-6-3 trio of Robinson Cano, Alberto Gonzalez, and Cody Ransom turned three doube plays.

Oopsies: An error by Cano.

Ouchies: Jason Giambi returned to action after complaining of back stiffness and went 0 for 3, but scored a run and drove one in.

(more…)

The Yankees and Reds were interrupted by rain twice, the second time with the game tied 7-7 in the tenth inning, which ended the contest there. Phil Hughes got lit up, and Shelley Duncan and Melky Cabrera (who apparently punched Evan Longoria in the back of the head during Wednesday’s mele) were both suspended for the first three games of the regular season. All in all, not the Yankees’ best day.

Lineup:

L – Johnny Damon (CF)
R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Hideki Matsui (DH)
R – Alex Rodriguez (3B)
S – Jorge Posada (C)
R – Shelley Duncan (1B)
R – Jason Lane (LF)
R – Cody Ransom (2B)
L – Brett Gardner (LF)

Pitchers: Phil Hughes, Jonathan Albaladejo, Edwar Ramirez, Heath Phillips, Chris Britton, Dan Giese

Subs: Wilson Betemit (1B), Bernie Castro (2B/CF), Nick Green (2B), Alberto Gonzalez (SS), Chris Woodward (3B), Kyle Anson (C), Greg Porter (PH/RF), Justin Christian (LF), Jason Brown (DH), Brett Gardner shifted to center field before coming out of the game.

Opposition: Ken Griffey Jr., Adam Dunn, Joey Votto and filler.

Big Hits: A three-run homer by Alex Rodriguez (1 for 3). Doubles by Derek Jeter (2 for 3), Johnny Damon (1 for 4), and Jorge Posada (1 for 3).

Who Pitched Well: Edwar Ramirez retired all five men he faced, striking out four of them. Jonathan Albaladejo retired four of the five men he faced, the one exception being a hit batsman. Dan Giese pitched around a double for two scoreless innings, striking out two.

Who Didn’t: Phil Hughes was flat out lit up. He gave up four runs on nine hits, five of them doubles, in 2 2/3 innings. This after having held his competition hitless over his previous five spring innings. Hughes threw 72 percent of his 66 pitches for strikes, which suggests he was missing in the zone, thus the hard hits and no walks. Heath Phillips, last seen getting rocked and ejected against the Rays, faced five men, two of whom walked, two of whom singled, and two of those four scored. Oh, and he tossed a wild pitch somewhere in the middle there. Chris Britton was good by comparison to those two allowing one run on a single and a double in one inning of work.

Oopsies: A bad throw by Alberto Gonzalez, his third error of the spring.

Ouchies: Andy Pettitte threw 47 pitches in the bullpen before the game and reported no discomfort in his elbow.

Hot Wheels: Two more steals by Brett Gardner (1 for 2, BB) who has five on the spring. “He’s an exciting player,” sez the skipper. “He creates havoc.”

More: More LaTroy pranks here. Props to Tyler Kepner for this great find. As for those suspensions, Melky might get his reduced to two games on appeal, but whatever happens, Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman have said they won’t change who they’re going to take north to compensate for the suspensions, which means Jason Lane and Brett Gardner won’t get an extra boost from the fact that the Yankees will have to play their opening series against Toronto with just three outfielders on the roster. That’s good news for Morgan Ensberg, who will have to decide whether or not to opt out of his minor league deal with the Yankees if he doesn’t make the Opening Day roster. Shelley Duncan, however, sounds devastated. Listening to that audio clip from Pete Abe, my heart kinda breaks for the guy. He’s like Lenny from Of Mice and Men; the poor guy just doesn’t know his own strength. (“Tell me about the World Series, George.”) Despite the split squad today, Duncan will be in the lineup facing the Rays, which seems like a good move on Girardi’s part to deliberately defuse this thing. Nonetheless, the umps will be on high alert.

Shameless Self-Promotion: Yeah, so the Yanks vs. Rays battle continues on YES this afternoon, but those of you in north Jersey should tape it and come see Steven Goldman, Derek Jacques and myself at the Borders at (or rather, outside of) the Rockaway Mall at 2pm today where we’ll be discussiong Baseball Prospectus 2008, as well as fielding your questions on the Yankees, Mets, your upcoming fantasy draft, or whatever else is on your mind these days. [Update: Bad day for me, too. My car crapped out, so I won’t be able to make this event]

Leading off the game for the Yankees, Billy Crystal fouled off Paul Maholm’s second pitch, grounding it just outside of first base up the left field line. Maholm then fell behind 3-1 to Crystal on some borderline pitches up and away. That’s when the Pirates starter got serious and came in down and hard on the lower inside corner with a pair of fastballs that Crystal swung through and struck out. It was over in an instant, and I’m sure for Crystal it happened even faster than that.

I have to say, I softened up a bit actually seeing Crystal at the plate. As much as the at-bat was another privilege for the privileged, looking at the 5-foot-7 Long Island native up there at the plate, I saw the kid, not the millionaire movie star. Sometimes it really is nice to see a dream come true, even if it happens to someone whose already realized all of his other dreams. Hell, I’ve lived a good life thus far. I have no complaints. Why begrudge anyone else a moment of pure happiness like that.

As for the game (or, rather, the rest of it) . . .

Lineup:

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

Pitchers: Mike Mussina, Mariano Rivera, Jeff Karstens, Billy Traber, Brian Bruney, Jose Veras

Subs: Morgan Ensberg (1B), Alberto Gonzalez (2B), Cody Ransom (SS), Nick Green (3B), Chad Moeller (C), Greg Porter (PH/RF), Brett Gardner (CF), Justin Christian (PR/LF), Johnny Damon (DH)

Big Hits: Seventh-inning homers by Cody Ransom (1 for 2, solo shot) and Robinson Cano (1 for 3, two-run shot) off Byung-Hyung Kim (who wound up vulturing the win). Doubles by Hideki Matsui (1 for 2), Brett Gardner (1 for 1), and Justin Christian (2 for 2).

Who Pitched Well: Mike Mussina was perfect for five innings, striking out two, throwing 64 pitches, and again benefiting from a strong curve. Jose Veras pitched a perfect ninth, striking out one. Brian Bruney retired the only man he faced to end an ugly eighth inning. Mariano Rivera allowed his first two runners of the game on a pair of singles, but managed a scoreless sixth inning anyway.

Who Didn’t: Jeff Karstens got lit up for five runs on seven hits and two walks in just 1 1/3 innings. Billy Traber didn’t help matters. Following Karstens in the eighth inning, Traber was brought in to face lefty Doug Mientkiewicz and gave up a single, then after a fly out, gave up a two-run single to righty Jorge Velandia and was pulled from the game. Combined with Heath Phillips’ struggles on Tuesday, those three performances complicate the bullpen battles considerably.

Nice Plays: Brett Gardner nailed a runner at home. Shelley Duncan made a nice play in the third, ranging behind first for a hard hopper and flipping to Mussina for the outh, and another in the sixth. With men on second and third and one out, Duncan fielded a grounder, looked the runner at third back to the bag, and forced the batter for the second out. Then the runner at third broke for home and Duncan fired to Chad Moeller, who chased him back and tagged him out to end the inning.

Ouchies: Andy Pettitte (elbow) played catch before yesterday’s game without any discomfort and should make his scheduled start on Monday. Johnny Damon (toe) took three at-bats as the DH. Hideki Matsui (knee) played the field for the first time. Stump Merrill (face) is back in camp minus a tooth, but in good spirits.

More: The Yankees play a pair of split-squad games on Saturday when tandem starters Ian Kennedy and Joba Chamberlain are due to pitch, but rather than have Kennedy face the rival Rays, they’ll have him pitch in a minor league game, with Joba pitching against Detroit on the road and Kei Igawa getting the start for the game that will actually be on TV back in Tampa. On Tuesday, the Yankees will play an exhibition at (and against) Virginia Tech. That will also be on TV, but scheduled starter Mike Mussina will pitch in a minor league game back in Florida while Jeff Karstens is left to deal with the “unfamiliar college mound.” Set your DVRs, folks. At least we’ll get to see Pettitte vs. Boston on Monday.

Shameless Self-Promotion: For those of you in north Jersey, I’ll be joining Steven Goldman and Derek Jacques at the Borders at (or rather, outside of) the Rockaway Mall at 2pm on Saturday to discuss Baseball Prospectus 2008, as well as field your questions on the Yankees, Mets, your upcoming fantasy draft, or whatever else is on your mind these days. Come out and say hi if you’re in the area.

Yesterday was just embarrassing. Home plate umpire Chad Fairchild should have been embarrassed for ejecting Heath Phillips for a wild up and in pitch that lightly brushed Evan Longoria’s jersey and loaded the bases with the Yankees already trailing 2-0 in the first inning. Crew chief and first-base ump Jerry Crawford should be embarrassed for tossing Bobby Meacham for keeping the peace in the second-inning fracas. Indeed, the umpires were so embarrassed they didn’t even talk to the media after the game.

Shelley Duncan should be embarrassed for spiking Akinori Iwamura, even if all he was trying to do was recreate his glove-punting slide against John McDonald in Toronto last year (though that could have been seen as part of the ongoing “Ha!” dispute surrounding Alex Rodriguez).

Rays manager Joe Maddon should be embarrassed for calling Duncan’s slide “borderline criminal” after defending Elliot Johnson’s collision with Francisco Cervelli over the weekend.

Joe Girardi clearly was embarrassed and had a chat with Duncan about it (though Tyler Kepner has a slightly different interpretation than Pete Abe’s).

The embarrassment continues today as the Yankees’ starting lineup features Billy Crystal leading off at DH on the day before his 60th birthday. Crystal cracked that DH stands for “Designated Hebrew.” You know Crystal’s career is in trouble when he’s stealing material from Ron Blomberg. Still, credit Girardi with coming up with the best way to minimize the Crystal distraction. Crystal will lead off, not play the field, and should be replaced by Johnny Damon when the lineup turns over (Damon, still nursing his bruised toe, has said he’s to follow Crystal at DH today). In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Damon pinch-run for Crystal if by some miracle the actor finds his way on base (most likely by taking one to the ribs from Pirates starter Paul Maholm, which is how our buddy Goose says he’d approach the at-bat).

Most embarrassing of all, however, is the fact that all of this has distracted anyone from updating us on Stump Merrill’s condition after the 64-year-old coach took a thrown ball to the face during batting practice yesterday. Well, almost everyone. Brian Hoch wins the good guy award today by letting us know that Stump is resting comfortably at the hospital. Sounds like he’ll be just fine. Hopefully after today’s first inning, Yankee camp will be back to normal as well.

Well, the Yankees certainly had an eventful trip to St. Petersburg today. It all started a few hours before game time, when the team announced that Andy Pettitte would be skipping his scheduled start today due to some tightness on the outside of his pitching elbow which was also described as muscle irritation and by Pettitte as a bit of tendonitis (more below). Then, during batting practice, 64-year-old special adviser and former Yankee manager Stump Merrill took a thrown ball to the mouth and was taken to the hospital on a stretcher, awake and alert, but with his head immobilized and a trickle of blood running down his left cheek.

As if that wasn’t enough, replacement starter Heath Phillips was rocked in the first inning and clearly rattled as evidenced by a rare balk. With two out, two on, and the Yanks already trailing 2-0, Phillips came up and in to seventh-place hitter Evan Longoria. The pitch brushed the Rays’ third base prospect across the chest and, given the rising tensions between the two clubs ever since Yankee catching prospect Francisco Cervelli had his arm broken in a home plate collision in the ninth inning of their last meeting on Saturday, home plate umpire Chad Fairchild tossed Phillips from the game.

Shelley Duncan, who had issues some veiled threats to the Rays over the last three days, led off the top of the second with a single off Longoria’s glove and attempted to stretch it into a double as the ball trickled away from the third baseman. Duncan was out by a lot and thus resorted to plan B, which, depending on who you believe, was either to kick the ball out of second baseman Akinori Iwamura’s glove, or to use this opportunity to get even with the Rays by spiking the second baseman in the thigh. Regardless of his intent, the latter was what actually happened. Seeing this, hot-headed right fielder Johnny Gomes charged in from the outfield and body-checked Duncan from behind. The hit sent Duncan out toward shortstop and both Duncan and Gomes were immediately restrained as the benches cleared. Duncan and Gomes were subsequently ejected along with Yankee coaches Bobby Meacham and Kevin Long (though no word yet as to why those two also got the thumb).

The game proceeded without further incident from there and the post-game quotes, as one might have expected, saw the Rays and Yankees switch roles, with the Yankees defending Duncan as simply playing hard and aggressive baseball, and the Rays being appalled and offended. I’ve only seen snapshots of the play, but given Duncan’s comments over the last few days, his at-times dangerous enthusiasm, and those incriminating photos (though this one is both less damning and a more accurate snap of the actual slide), I am willing to call this a much dirtier play than the one Elliot Johnson made on Cervelli on Saturday, though thankfully one with less dire consequences (Iwamura got a gash on his thigh, but stayed in the game). I just hope all this foolishness ends here, as the Yanks and Rays will meet again a week from Friday.

Update: Here’s some (poor) video of Duncan’s single.

As for the rest of the game . . .

(more…)

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.

(more…)

The Yanks shut out the Reds 4-0 in their first night game of the spring, while Hideki Matsui picked up his first hits.

Lineup:

L – Johnny Damon (CF)
R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Bobby Abreu (RF)
R – Alex Rodriguez (3B)
L – Jason Giambi (1B)
S – Jorge Posada (C)
L – Hideki Matsui (DH)
R – Nick Green (2B)
L – Brett Gardner (LF)

Pitchers: Joba Chamberlain, Billy Traber, Mariano Rivera, Ian Kennedy, LaTroy Hawkins

Subs: Morgan Ensberg (1B), Chris Woodward (2B), Alberto Gonzalez (SS), Cody Ransom (3B), Chad Moeller (C), Jason Lane (RF), Justin Christian (CF), Colin Curtis (LF), Wilson Betemit (DH)

Opposition: The Reds’ starters.

Big Hits: Doubles by Alex Rodriguez (2 for 3) and Colin Curtis (1 for 1). Hideki Matsui was 2 for 3 in his second game of the spring.

Who Pitched Well: Everyone, as the Yankees didn’t allow a run nor an extra-base hit and walked just one man, but in order: Mariano Rivera stayed perfect in his second spring inning and has yet to allow a ball out of the infield. Ian Kennedy lasted four innings allowing just two singles and a walk while striking out two and retiring his last eight hitters in order. LaTroy Hawkins pitched around a single in the ninth, though he only got one out on the ground. Billy Traber faced three men, allowed a single, struck out one, and got the third to fly out. Joba Chamberlain was inefficient, lasting just 2 1/3 innings while throwing 49 pitches, and only struck out one, but he also allowed just two singles and walked none. He also threw more strikes as the game went on, throwing only 57 percent of 23 pitches for strikes in the first inning, but 73 percent of 26 pitches for strikes over his remaining inning and a third. Pete Abe reports that the lone strikeout came on an “unholy” curve ball to Edwin Encarnacion, but that it was the 14th pitch of that at-bat as Encarnacion kept fouling off sliders. More on Kennedy and Chamberlain, plus audio, from Pete Abe here.

Nice Plays: Chamberlain picked rookie Jay Bruce off first base.

Oopsies: A wild throw by Alex Rodriguez.

Ouchies: Rodriguez and Posada both played the field and picked up hits, though one wonders if that wild throw had something to do with the sore lat muscle the limited Rodriguez to DH duty over the weekend.

New Faces: In need of an extra backstop following Francisco Cervelli’s injury, the Yankees have signed veteran Chad Moeller to a minor league deal. Moeller is a 33-year-old major league vet with a career .224/.284/.346 line. He split last year between the Reds and Dodgers, picking up just 56 at-bats along the way (while posting an OPS+ of 3, yes, three). He was available because he’d just been released by the Nationals, who had him in camp as an NRI. He’s purely minor league filler, but will be the triple-A starter and thus the Yankees’ third-string catcher. Chad Jennings called him this year’s Raul Chavez. Bingo. Meanwhile, the Yankees are giving Billy Crystal one hell of a 60th birthday gift. Crystal will do his best not to get killed in Thursday’s game. Frankly I’d be surprised if Joe Girardi isn’t drawing blood from biting his tongue over this stunt.

Other: Andrew Brackman got pranked. Back when Brackman was in grade school, Mo was getting advice from Steve Howe.

I’m hoping to wear that headline out this year. There have been a lot of pleasant surprises thus far this spring, including the number of players who showed up in legitimately fantastic shape, but the best news of all has been the performance of Phil Hughes, who has restored confidence in his legs following last year’s hamstring and ankle injuries, and has thus recovered the snap on his curve, the hop on his heater, and is back to inducing groundballs. This afternoon he took on the Minnesota Twins, who didn’t know how good they had it when the Yankees offered Hughes in package for Johan Santana, and kept his spring record hitless over four innings as the Yanks went on to win 6-4.

Lineup:

S – Melky Cabrera (CF)
L – Robinson Cano (2B)
L – Hideki Matsui (DH)
R – Shelley Duncan (1B)
R – Morgan Ensberg (3B)
R – Jason Lane (LF)
R – Jose Molina (C)
R – Chris Woodward (SS)
R – Jose Tabata (RF)

Pitchers: Phil Hughes, Kei Igawa, Alan Horne, Jeff Marquez, Chase Wright, Scott Patterson

Subs: Juan Miranda (1B), Bernie Castro (2B), Alberto Gonzalez (SS), Nick Green (PR/3B), Kyle Anson (C), Colin Curtis (RF), Austin Jackson (CF), Brett Gardner (PR/LF), Greg Porter (DH)

Opposition: The Twins’ B-squad with Delmon Young and Justin Morneau.

Bit Hits: Doubles by Jose Molina (1 for 3), Morgan Ensberg (1 for 2, BB), and Greg Porter (1 for 1, BB). Chris Woodward was 2 for 3.

Who Pitched Well: Phil Hughes sailed through four hitless innings only allowing a pair of walks as he tired in the fourth. He struck out just one man, but got seven others out on the ground. Kei Igawa walked the bases loaded in the fifth, but stranded all three runners and allowed no hits over two scoreless innings. Scott Patterson retired the only man he faced. Though Igawa allowed that grand slam against SFU, during regular exhibition action those three pitchers have combined for 12 scoreless, hitless innings.

Who Didn’t: Chase Wright allowed two runs, one earned, on two walks and a single while getting just two outs in the ninth. Jeff Marquez allowed two runs, one earned, on two hits (one a double by minor league catcher Eli Whiteside) and a walk in one inning of work. Alan Horne pitched a scoreless seventh, but allowed a single, uncorked a wild pitch, and walked two.

More Cuts: Wright, Marquez, and Horne were all reassigned to minor league camp after the game, which was likely to happen even if they had pitched well. Like McCutchen and Melancon from yesterday’s cuts, all three are worth tracking this season. Horne and Marquez should be the top two starters in the Scranton rotation and could return as spot starters or long-relief help during the year. If all goes according to plan, both will be in the running to replace Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte next spring. Wright is less exciting, but as a lefty who has his first major league win under his belt, he could pop back up if he is able to right his course in the minors. I’d expect him to start the season in the Trenton rotation with McCutchen, but he could sneak into the Scranton quintet depending on how the chips fall at the end of camp. Chad Jennings of the SWB Yankees blog has been doing some good work on the bullpen battles and believes that with these cuts every remaining pitcher in camp is legitimately fighting for a spot on the 25-man roster.

Oopsies: A throwing error by Colin Curtis and a boot by Alberto Gonzalez, the latter Gonzalez’s second error of the spring.

Ouchies: Per Pete Abe, Francisco Cervelli is expected to miss eight to ten weeks and could have a pin inserted in his arm to aid his healing. In his first game action of the spring, Hideki Matsui (knee/neck) went 0 for 3 and grounded into a double play, though supposedly the double play ball was smoked to Justin Morneau, who turned the 3-6-3. Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada (right lats) are expected to play the field in tomorrow’s game against the Reds.

The Rays beat the Yankees 4-1 at Legends Field this afternoon, but the big news was a home plate collision with two outs in the bottom of the ninth that sent Yankee catching prospect Francisco Cervelli to the hospital where x-rays revealed a fractured right forearm. The play came with the Rays leading 3-1 in the top of the ninth with two outs and minor league infielder Elliot Johnson on first base via a botched play that was absurdly ruled a single (see below). Willy Aybar doubled to left and Johnson attempted to make it home from first base. As the relay came in from Wilson Betemit via Jason Lane, Cervelli set up in front of the plate. The ball beat Johnson to the plate, so Johnson dropped his head and shoulder and plowed full speed into Cervelli, who was rolled over, but held onto the ball for the out. Cervelli was promptly removed from the game and now has his arm in a cast. This play comes on the heels of another Ray, Carl Crawford, plowing into Houston catcher Humberto Quintaro on Wednesday. Cervelli wasn’t going to make the team, but he is a valuable prospect and could be be hindered by the lost development time. Joe Girardi is not pleased. The Rays and Yankees play twice more this spring (the first coming on Wednesday) and 18 times during the regular season, so we haven’t heard the last of this.

Lineup:

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

Pitchers: Mike Mussina, Chris Britton, Kyle Farnsworth, Jeff Karstens, Jonathan Albaladejo, Ross Ohlendorf

Subs: Shelley Duncan (1B), Bernie Castro (PR/2B), Wilson Betemit (SS), Nick Green (3B), Francisco Cervelli (C), Kyle Anson (C), Jose Tabata (RF), Justin Christian (CF), Jason Lane (LF), Juan Miranda (DH)

Opposition: The Rays’ starters save for Dioner Navarro.

Big Hits: Johnny Damon (1 for 3) led off the game by shooting a double down the left field line off Matt Garza. That was the Yankees’ only extra-base hit of the game. They had just five hits in total and no Yankee had more than one.

Who Pitched Well: Mike Mussina had a monster curveball working and struck out five in 2 2/3 innings while allowing just two hits and walking two. One of those hits just happened to be a wind-blown solo homer by Jonny Gomes. Regarding the walks, Moose was being squeezed by home plate ump Mark Carlson, which is one reason why he only threw 55 percent of his pitches for strikes. It was also the source of some classic grouchy body language on the mound, as you might imagine. Kyle Farnsworth pitched a perfect fifth inning. Chris Britton retired all four batters he faced, one via strikeout. Jon Albaladejo worked around a walk for a scoreless inning.

Who Didn’t: Jeff Karstens wasn’t awful, but he took the loss, allowing the tie-breaking run on three hits and a walk over two frames. Ross Ohledorf pitched in bad luck in the ninth (see the botched grounder ruled a hit in “Oopsies” and add in a passed ball by Kyle Anson that allowed a run to score), but also surrendered a solo homer to Hector Gimenez and a would-be RBI double to Willy Aybar that led to the play on which Cervelli was hurt.

Good Plays: The play that sent Cervelli to the hospital was a great block of the plate. Cervelli has certainly been living up to his defensive reputation thus far this spring. Credit is also due to Wilson Betemit for making a great relay throw from shortstop, and to Jason Lane for hitting the cutoff man. Shelley Duncan made a great leaping stab of a hard hopper over his head, but . . .

Oopsies: . . . he botched the transfer in his attempt to come down and start the 3-6-3 and only got the out at first. In the ninth, Duncan bit on a groundball to his right that was an easy play for the second baseman and in his scramble to cover the bag he both cut off Ohlendorf, who was covering, and dropped the throw. Amazingly, that was ruled a hit. Pressed into emergency duty after Cervelli’s injury, Kyle Anson allowed a run to score on a passed ball during the only at-bat he caught in the game.

Ouchies: Alex Rodriguez singled and walked in his two trips as the DH. Jorge Posada did not play. Both are nursing sore right lat muscles. Hideki Matsui will see his first game action tomorrow as the DH, though Anthony Rieber asks, “Is it the best thing to have him take a 2 1/2 hour bus ride when he missed time last week with a stiff neck?”

More Cuts: The Yankees reassigned five pitchers to minor league camp: Steven White, Steven Jackson, Mark Melancon, Dan McCutchen, and Scott Strickland. Strickland came down with a sore elbow before games started and never saw action this spring. White and Jackson both got roughed up. McCutchen pitched a solid inning (one hit, one K), but he’s pitched just seven games above A-ball and was never a contender to make the team. Melancon pitched one perfect inning, but is coming off a year lost to late-2006 Tommy John surgery. Both Melancon and McCutchen are arms to keep an eye on. White, however, is in danger of losing his spot on the 40-man roster.

Not that it matters, but the Yankees dropped their third game in a row yesterday, falling to the Astros 9-5.

Lineup:

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

Pitchers: Andy Pettitte, Edwar Ramirez, Mariano Rivera, LaTroy Hawkins, Steven White, Brian Bruney, Heath Phillips, Jose Veras

Subs: Morgan Ensberg (1B), Chris Woodward (2B), Alberto Gonzalez (SS), Cody Ransom (3B), P.J. Pilittere (C), Colin Curtis (RF), Austin Jackson (CF), Greg Porter (PH/LF), Jorge Posada (DH)

Opposition: The Astros’ B-team plus Hunter Pence.

Big Hits: A bunch. The Yankees had 13 hits, eight of which went for extra bases including a solo homer by Wilson Betemit (1 for 3) and doubles by Morgan Ensberg (1 for 2) and Greg Porter (2 for 2). Facing Houston starter and ex-Yankee Shawn Chacon with two outs in the second inning, the Yankees cashed in a leadoff double by Alex Rodriguez (1 for 2) when Jason Lane (1 for 3) doubled himself. Jose Molina then singled Lane home and was pushed to third by a double by Brett Gardner, who tripled in his only other at-bat. Melky Cabrera, who later doubled (1 for 2), walked to load the bases, but Derek Jeter (0 for 3) swung at ball four on 3-1 to leave the bases loaded.

Who Pitched Well: Mariano Rivera, in his first game action of the spring, retired the side on eight pitches (seven strikes) via a pair of strikeouts and a groundouts. Health Phillips pitched around a Tomas Perez double for a scoreless inning and a third, striking out one and getting two other outs on the ground. LaTroy Hawkins allowed two runs on a pair of hits in his only inning, but both were unearned due to a Shelley Duncan error, one of the two hits didn’t leave the infield, and all three of his outs, and thus five of the six balls in play he allowed, were on the ground. Andy Pettitte allowed two runs on three hits in his 2 2/3 innings, but the two runs came when a questionable hit-by-pitch was followed Victor Diaz cueing a curve off the plate away the other way for a home run. The other hit was a single and Pettitte struck out two while walking none and getting three other outs on the ground.

Who Didn’t: Steven White gave up three runs (two earned) on two doubles and the only two walks drawn by the Astros in an inning and a third. Jose Veras allowed two runs on two hits (one a triple by David Newhan) in the ninth.

Nice Plays: A nice running catch by human highlight reel Colin Curtis.

Oopsies: A boot by Shelley Duncan.

Ouchies: Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada split DH duties due to the fact that both are suffering from sore right latissimus dorsi muscles that hinder their throwing and are being shrugged off as typical of the dead-arm period. Per Pete Abe, they will split DH duties again today, sit out tomorrow, and should play the field again on Monday. Hideki Matsui took batting practice again yesterday and could DH on Monday.

The Yankees took the long trip to Sarasota for a game they’d probably rather forget, a 12-8 loss to the Reds that wasn’t nearly that close.

Lineup:

L – Johnny Damon (DH)
R – Jose Molina (C)
L – Bobby Abreu (RF)
L – Jason Giambi (1B)
S – Wilson Betemit (2B)
R – Austin Jackson (LF)
L – Brett Gardner (CF)
R – Chris Woodward (3B)
R – Alberto Gonzalez (SS)

Pitchers: Chien-Ming Wang, Scott Patterson, Kyle Farnsworth, Darrell Rasner, Sean Henn, Dan Giese, Billy Traber, Steven Jackson

Subs: Morgan Ensberg (1B), Bernie Castro (2B), Cody Ransom (SS), Nick Green (3B), Francisco Cervelli (C), Jose Tabata (RF), Justin Christian (CF), Greg Porter (LF), Juan Miranda (DH)

Opposition: The Reds starters minus Brandon Phillips and their ace pitcher Aaron Harang.

Big Hits: A grand slam by Greg Porter off Alexander Smit in his only at-bat. A solo homer by Bobby Abreu (1 for 3), and doubles by Johnny Damon (2 for 3) and Chris Woodward (1 for 3). Hitting ahead of Porter’s salami, Morgan Ensberg (1 for 1) hit a would-be double to center but was held to a single by Jose Tabata’s baserunning.

Who Pitched Well: Scott Patterson, Dan Giese, and Billy Traber were all perfect, Giese and Traber for an inning each, Patterson for an inning and a third. Patterson and Traber each struck out one, Giese got all three outs on the ground. Kyle Farnsworth faced the minimum as Joey Votto, whom he walked, was caught stealing by Molina. He struck out one.

Who Didn’t: Chien-Ming Wang was decimated. He lasted just two-thirds of an inning and gave up six runs on six hits (five singles and a double by NRI second baseman Andy Green) and two walks. The only two outs he got came in the air (one of them a sac fly). Wang later said he was overthrowing and overstriding leaving his sinkers up. After throwing 32 pitches in the game, Wang threw about 20 more in the bullpen while working on correcting what went wrong in the game. Darrell Rasner allowed a single, walked three, and gave up a grand slam to Edwin Encarnacion. He got five of his six outs on the ground, but struck out no one. Sean Henn struck out two in his one inning of work, but also gave up three hits and two runs (though one was unearned). The game officially ended with the hosting Reds up 12-8, but Joe Girardi asked them to play the bottom of the ninth so that Steven Jackson could get an inning of work. Jackson got only one run before allowing four runs and having his manager throw in the towel.

Oopsies: A boot by Woodward and a bad throw by Nick Green.

The Yankees suffered their first spring-training loss this afternoon, falling to the Twins 7-5. See my liveblog of the game in the previous post.

Lineup:

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

Pitchers: Ian Kennedy, Heath Phillips, Joba Chamberlain, Jonathan Albaladajo, Edwar Ramirez, Chris Britton, Ross Ohlendorf

Subs: Shelley Duncan (1B), Nick Green (2B), Chris Woodward (SS), Morgan Ensberg (3B), Francisco Cervelli (C), Jason Lane (RF), Brett Gardner (CF), Colin Curtis (LF), Greg Porter (DH), Bernie Castro (PR)

Big Hits: Consecutive doubles to deep dead center by Robinson Cano (3 for 3) and Wilson Betemit (1 for 3), and a solo homer by Shelley Duncan (1 for 2). Derek Jeter was 2 for 2 with a walk.

Who Pitched Well: Heath Phillips tossed a perfect third inning retiring a lefty and two righties (one of the latter via strikeout and the other two men via grounders). Chris Britton retired the only two men he faced. Ross Ohlendorf allowed a well-placed weak ground ball for a single, but struck out the other two men he faced with some wicked stuff.

Who Didn’t: Ian Kennedy didn’t seem sharp as he threw just 56 percent of his 34 pitches for strikes and allowed a solo homer to Delmon Young, but he didn’t walk anyone, only allowed one other hit, a single, and got four of his five outs on the ground (two via a double play in the first). Joba Chamberlain had a ratio of strikes to balls that was similar to Kennedy’s (54 percent of 35 pitches), but also got four of his six outs on the ground (plus one via strikeout). He allowed three baserunners in his two frames, one via walk, one via single, and one via a two-run home run by minor leaguer Garrett Jones. Neither pitched well, but neither was awful, and it is still the first week of March. Jonathan Albaladejo allowed a run on four hits (one a double by Joe Mauer), was charged with a blown save, and had to be pulled with one out in the seventh (though he did strikeout two of the five men he retired). Edwar Ramirez struck out Felix Molina to end Albaladejo’s seventh inning, but ran into trouble in the eighth. After a leadoff walk, the Yankees’ replacement fielders only got one out on a double-play ball. Ramirez then hit a batter, and gave up an infield single and a two-run double. He finally got that second out only because of a great diving catch by Colin Curtis. Then came the hook.

Nice Plays: Curtis’s diving catch coming in toward the line in left was the highlight, but Melky Cabrera had a nice day in the field, making a one charging catch on the run in shallow right center and later gunning out a tagging runner for a 8-5 double play. Jason Giambi also had a good day in the field, making one leaping stab of a ball over his head and later circling a well-hit ball down the line nicely for an unassisted putout.

Oopsies: Nothing really, that missed double play was the only poor play. Chris Woodward did a good job of fielding a hard grounder at short, but the ball rolled up his arm on the transfer. Second baseman Nick Green’s pivot throw bounced, and Shelley Duncan didn’t even come close to corralling it at first base.

Ouchies: Hideki Matsui finally took some batting practice after skipping a few days due to a stiff neck that resulted from his last BP session, though he supposedly wasn’t swinging at full strength today. Scott Strickland (sore elbow) was scheduled to throw of a bullpen mound today.

More: Smiles abound in this post from Tyler Kepner, which has the good news on Bobby Murcer’s biopsy (it was just scar tissue!) and a humorous note from the intrasquad game that took place this morning. That play involved Chase Wright, who now has yet another incident to live down. Also, here’s a link to some links from Chad Jennings of the excellent SWB Yankees Blog, including an excellent piece on Kei Igawa by Kepner.

Welcome the my fifth annual spring training liveblog. I typically blog the Yankees’ first spring training game of the year, but this year the YES broadcast schedule (which omitted the first game of the exhibition season) and reader request have reassigned me to Game 5, which like last year’s opener, finds the Yankees hosting the Minnesota Twins.

Here are today’s lineups courtesy of Peter Abraham:

Twins

R – Carlos Gomez (CF)
R – Brendan Harris (2B)
L – Joe Mauer (C)
L – Justin Morneau (1B)
R – Delmon Young (LF)
L – Brian Buscher (3B)
R – John Knott (DH)
L – Garrett Jones (RF)
S – Matt Tolbert (S)

R – Kevin Slowey (P)

The traveling Twins only brought half their starters, but they do have both of the M&M boys (last year they left Mauer behind) and two of their big off-season acquisitions, Delmon Young and ex-Met Carlos Gomez. Injuries to Moises Alou (of course) and Endy Chavez forced the Mets to rush Gomez to the majors last year at age 21, robbing him of a crucial year of development. Many believe that Gomez, who has just 140 triple-A bats under his belt, needs a full season at Rochester this year, but looking at his competition and Ron Gardenhire’s lineups this spring, it seems Gomez is the leading candidate to open the season as the Twins’ center fielder and leadoff hitter. The pressure to show off some of their return for Johan Santana may also factor in to the team’s decision.

Harris came over in the Young trade and is competing with Alexi Casilla for the second base job. Tolbert, starting at shortstop today, is also primarily a second baseman and could factor into that battle as well. Buscher is coming off a huge season as a triple-A Rule 5 pick, but will be 27 in April didn’t hit much in his brief major league debut last year. Jones is entering his tenth professional season and also made an unimpressive major league debut last year. Knott is a 28-year-old former Padres power prospect and non-roster invitee.

Yankees

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

R – Ian Kennedy (P)

Joba Chamberlain will follow Kennedy for the Yankees.

(more…)

Rain interrupted the Yankees’ game against the Blue Jays twice this afternoon. First a rain delay ended Phil Hughes’ day after his first pitch of the second inning (Hughes threw a pair of 15-pitch “innings” indoors to get to 40 tosses on the day), then rain ended the game itself with the visiting Yanks leading 2-0 with two outs in the top of the sixth. The Blue Jays sent just 15 men to the plate. None of them reached base.

Lineup:

L – Johnny Damon (LF)
R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Bobby Abreu (DH)
R – Alex Rodriguez (3B)
L – Jason Giambi (1B)
S – Jorge Posada (C)
R – Shelley Duncan (RF)
S – Melky Cabrera (CF)
S – Bernie Castro (2B)

Pitchers: Phil Hughes, Scott Patterson, Kei Igawa, Billy Traber

Subs: Morgan Ensberg (1B), Alberto Gonzalez (SS), Cody Ransom (3B), Jose Molina (C), Colin Curtis (RF), Justin Christian (CF), Greg Porter (LF), Juan Miranda (DH)

Opposition: The Blue Jays’ starters minus Alex Rios.

Big Hits: Doubles by Shelley Duncan (2 for 2) and Morgan Ensberg (1 for 1).

Who Pitched Well: Everyone. Phil Hughes got through the first inning on nine pitches (six strikes), getting two outs on the ground. Billy Traber struck out the side (two lefties and righty Frank Thomas) in the fifth for the save. Scott Patterson struck out one in his lone inning. Kei Igawa went 3-0 on his first batter, but recovered and struck out two in his two perfect frames (more on Igawa here).

Ouchies: Updating my note on Hideki Matsui from yesterday, Godzilla did not take batting practice yesterday or today due to his stiff neck. The original goal was for Matsui to start participating in games this weekend, but that target is starting to slip. Robinson Cano missed the game to get a couple of fillings in his teeth.

More: Tyler Kepner has a brief note on the Andy Pettitte workout group, which now includes six Yankee hurlers. Kat O’Brien has some nice Joba anecdotes here. The other pitchers scheduled to pitch today (Jeff Marquez, Chase Wright, Alan Horne, and Mark Melancon) will get their work in during a brief intrasquad game tomorrow morning scheduled for 10:15. Assuming there’s no more rain, I’ll be liveblogging the actual game against the Twins at 1:00.

The Yanks beat the Astros 7-6 this afternoon to run their spring record to 2-0-1.

Lineup:

L – Johnny Damon (LF)
S – Melky Cabrera (CF)
L – Robinson Cano (2B)
R – Shelley Duncan (DH)
R – Morgan Ensberg (1B)
S – Wilson Betemit (3B)
R – Jason Lane (RF)
S – Francisco Cervelli (C)
R – Chris Woodward (SS)

Pitchers: Mike Mussina, Jeff Karstens, Edwar Ramirez, Steven Jackson, Daniel McCutchen, Mark Melancon

Subs: Cody Ransom (1B), Bernie Castro (2B), Alberto Gonzalez (SS), Nick Green (3B), Kyle Anson (C), Jose Tabata (RF), Brett Gardner (CF), Austin Jackson (LF), Greg Porter (DH)

Opposition: The Astros starters.

Big Hits: Doubles by Melky Cabrera (2 for 3, BB), Shelley Duncan (2 for 4), and Morgan Ensberg (2 for 4). Robinson Cano went 3 for 4.

Who Pitched Well: Everyone except Mussina. The five Yankee relievers combined for this line: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R (0 ER), 0 BB, 4 K. Jeff Karstens delivered three strong innings of relief, working around a single and a double by striking out two and getting four other outs on the ground. Jackson pitched a perfect inning. Melancon erased an error in the ninth by inducing a double play to face the minimum.

Who Didn’t: Mussina, who allowed five runs (four earned) on six hits in two-plus innings without striking out a batter. Moose breaks down his outing here. In summary, he was getting lots of early two-strike counts, but lacked command and an out pitch and thus was making mistakes in the zone (he threw a whopping 83 percent of his 40 pitches for strikes) and getting hit. The bulk of the damage occurred when he came back out for the third inning and gave up a pair of singles (an infield job by Kaz Matsui and a solid shot by Lance Berkman) and a three-run homer to Carlos Lee. Moose’s outing is yet another reminder that it’s very early in spring training, though it’s worth noting that a lack of an out pitch is what got him bumped from the rotation down the stretch last year.

Oopsies: A bunch: Morgan Ensberg booted one in the first. In the second, with Hunter Pence on second, Jose Cruz Jr. singled to right field, Ensberg made an attempt at the ball (Mark Feinsand thinks he perhaps should have gotten to it), drawing Mussina toward first to cover the bag, Jason Lane then threw wild to the plate, and Mussina was caught out of position, leaving no one backing up the play and allowing Cruz to move to second. Later in the game, Alberto Gonzalez made a throwing error and Cody Ransom booted one in the ninth.

Ouchies: Hideki Matsui apparently tweaked his neck while swinging a bat a couple of days ago, but was still scheduled to take BP today.

Bonus Cut: Third baseman Marcos Vechionacci, another low-minors player with zero chance of factoring into a position battle, was reassigned to minor league camp.

More: This is utterly unrelated, but fun stuff from Jack Curry on some old cat-and-mouse games between Jason Giambi and David Cone.

The Yanks and Phils played to a 7-7, nine-inning tie in the Yanks’ first home game of the spring.

Lineup:

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

Pitchers: Andy Pettitte, Steven White, Scott Patterson, LaTroy Hawkins, Kyle Farnsworth, Sean Henn, Brian Bruney, Jose Veras

Subs: Juan Miranda (1B), Alberto Gonzalez (2B), Wilson Betemit (SS), Cody Ransom (3B), Jose Molina (C), Colin Curtis (RF), Justin Christian (CF), Chris Woodward (LF), Nick Green (DH)

Opposition: The Phillies traveling squad, featuring five regulars and no Ryan Howard.

Big Hits: A rocket of a three-run home run by Jason Giambi to inaugurate the new right-field bleachers in the first inning. Giambi (2 for 3) also had an RBI double to the gap in left center. Jason Lane added a solo shot and a triple in three trips. The triple was actually a dropped fly by Jayson Werth playing in center, but Lane did hit it about 400 feet. Both homers game off Philly starter Cole Hamels. Johnny Damon doubled in three trips. Bobby Abreu went 2 for 3 with a stolen base for the second straight game.

Who Pitched Well: LaTroy Hawkins pitched a perfect inning of relief, getting all three outs on the ground. Jose Veras also pitched a perfect frame, with all three outs coming in the air. Scott Patterson, who has a really wacky delivery (a tall guy, he looks like he’s going to throw about three-quarters, then suddenly he drops his left shoulder and comes straight over the top in the low 90s), retired the only batter he faced. Andy Pettitte was sharp, pitching around a walk (erased by a double play) and a single (erased by a pickoff) in two scoreless frames and getting just one of his outs in the air. Sean Henn pitched around a single for a scoreless inning of his own.

Who Didn’t: Steven White was lit up for four runs on five hits and two walks in just 1 2/3 innings. Brian Bruney, who is probably the most noticeably slimmed-down player in camp, gave up two runs on three hits and a walk in his lone inning of work, picking up a blown save in the process. Kyle Farnsworth is still working from the windup, but it did him little good as he gave up a solo homer to Pat Burrell plus a single in his only frame.

Nice Plays: The gem of the game was actually a full-out dive by Philadelphia center fielder Greg Goslon to rob Juan Miranda of an extra-base hit in the left field gap. Goslon caught the ball in mid-air at full extension. He also had an RBI single and a stolen base and homered in Saturday’s game. Word is he still has a lot of work to do at the plate, but he’s a young five-tool player worth keeping an eye on. Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez both made nice plays going to their right and throwing off balance to Jason Giambi, who also had a nice day in the field (“I’m a cat out there” sez G’bombi).

Oopsies: Nothing egregious, but there were a few difficult plays in the infield that weren’t made that likely would have been during the regular season, betraying how early we are in the process of these players getting ready for the season. Derek Jeter didn’t quite get his jump-pass to first base on time, Cano pulled Giambi off the bag with another cross-body throw, and Alex Rodriguez got eaten up by a short hopper right after making his nice play mentioned above.

The First Cut: Jesus Montero, Austin Romine, Eduardo Nuñez, and Eric Duncan have all been reassigned to minor league camp, which opens tomorrow. I’m disappointed not to have gotten to see Montero hit, particularly after he homered in Saturday’s game, but he and Romine, who were actually reassigned on Saturday, are important prospects from the low minors who need to spend the spring doing something other than riding pine with the big leaguers. Nuñez and Duncan probably shouldn’t have been in camp in the first place. In Duncan’s case, the invite was likely intended solely to boost his confidence, as not inviting him would have underscored the degree to which his stock has fallen.

Further Reading: Anthony McCarron’s liveblog. I found this bit on Giambi particularly interesting: “Giambi is giddy about his condition and wants to prove to the Yankees that he can shoulder the load at first every day. He said he never realized how bad his feet are–medically speaking, not that he’s got two left ones–and he is now taking care of them with orthotics and exercises.” Remember it was plantar fasciitis (a foot-arch injury) that sidelined him last year.

In the first official game of spring training the Yankees treated the defending NL East Champions a lot like they treated the University of South Florida the day before, cruising to a 9-3 win.

Lineup:

L – Brett Gardner (CF)
R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Bobby Abreu (RF)
R – Alex Rodriguez (3B)
R – Shelley Duncan (1B)
R – Morgan Ensberg (DH)
R – Jose Molina (C)
L – Greg Porter (LF)
R – Chris Woodward (2B)

Pitchers: Chien-Ming Wang, Darrell Rasner, Billy Traber, Chris Britton, Heath Phillips, Jonathan Albaladejo, Dan Giese, Ross Ohlendorf

Subs: Wilson Betemit (1B-2B), Eric Duncan (1B), Eduardo Nuñez (SS), Marcos Vechionacci (3B), Jesus Montero (C), Jason Lane (RF-LF), Jose Tabata (RF), Austin Jackson (CF), Bernie Castro (DH)

Opposition: The defending NL East Champion Phillies’ starters.

Big Hits: A three-run homer by Shelley Duncan, who also delivered a two-run double. He was 2 for 3 with 5 RBIs. Solo homers by Alex Rodriguez (2 for 3) and Jesus Montero (an opposite-field shot in his only plate appearance), and a two-run dinger by Wilson Betemit (1 for 2) of ex-Yank Tom Gordon.

Who Pitched Well: Almost everyone save for Darrell Rasner. The other seven Yankee pitchers combined for this line: 8 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 6 K, the lone run coming on a home run off Giese by non-roster invitee Greg “Goose” Golson, who was the first batter Giese faced and the only baserunner he allowed. Jon Albaladejo struck out two in a perfect inning. Billy Traber faced three lefties and retired them all. Chien-Ming Wang allowed a booming double by Ryan Howard, but retired the other six men he faced, four on groundouts, one via strikeout. Heath Phillips gave up a single to Howard, but struck out the next two men (a righty and a lefty) and got lefty Greg Dobbs to fly out to strand Howard.

Who Didn’t: Rasner pitched in and out of trouble with two outs. Following a single sandwiched between a pair of groundouts, he walked Shane Victorino, and gave up an RBI double to Chase Utley. He then walked Ryan Howard to load the bases (likely somewhat intentionally as it came on four pitches), and got Pat Burrell to fly out to leave ’em loaded. The result was the ugliest line of the day, but he probably impressed his coaches by getting himself out of the jam.

Oopsies: After walking and stealing second, Derek Jeter got picked off second base ahead of Rodriguez’s homer (Anthony McCarron reports the steal sign was on yet again). Chris Woodward let a grounder through the wickets at second for the game’s only error.

Battles: Traber and Phillips kicked off the battle for the lefty spot in the pen. Traber’s ability to get lefties out isn’t in question, but he needs to prove he can retire righties in order to make the team, and he knows it. Phillips pitched well overall, but the purpose of having a lefty in the pen is to get the big lefties like Howard out, and that he failed to do. Hitting directly behind Duncan in the order, Morgan Ensberg went 0-for-3 with two strikouts. Jason Lane singled and struck out in two trips. In addition to his six bases and five RBIs in three trips, Duncan got good marks for his fielding today. Chris Woodward played the entire game at second base and went 2 for 3, but also committed that error.

More: Jason McAdams of My Baseball Bias liveblogged the entire game. Wang threw just 24 pitches, but was mixing them well. He struck Pat Burrell out on a curve ball and even worked in three changeups. Don’t get too excited about that pitch just yet, however. Remember all the hype about Mariano Rivera throwing a change in spring training last year? Well, according to the new edition of The Bill James Goldmine, Mo threw exactly one (1) changeup during the regular season (though James does list 11 Rivera pitches as “uncharted”). If there was just one, Emma Span caught it. Tyler Kepner reports that Joe Girardi’s plan is to have Jason Giambi start at first base every other day this month. Finally, check out Pete Abe’s piece about the Yankees’ long-term center field picture. Quoth Cashman: “In the end, I think we’re going to have a great [homegrown] center fielder. It’s just a question of who that is.”

In their exhibition warmup for the exhibition season, the Yankees stomped the University of South Florida 11-4 in a game that wasn’t even as close as that score would suggest.

Lineup:

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

Pitchers: Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy, Phil Hughes, Kei Igawa, Jeff Marquez, Alan Horne, Chase Wright

Subs: Morgan Ensberg (1B), Nick Green (2B), Bernie Castro (2B), Alberto Gonzalez (SS), Cody Ransom (3B), Austin Romine (C), Colin Curtis (RF), Austin Jackson (CF), Justin Christian (LF), Juan Miranda (DH)

Opposition: A college team using wood bats for the first time.

Big Hits: Jorge Posada went 2 for 4 with a double and a two-RBI triple. Colin Curtis went 1 for 3 with a double. Those were the only extra-base hits by the Yankees, who reached base 23 times but didn’t strike out all game. Melky Cabrera was 2 for 2 with a sac fly. Bobby Abreu was 1 for 1 with two walks.

Who Pitched Well: Everyone but Igawa. The other four Yankee pitchers combined for this line: 8 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K, the lone hit against that group was a base hit up the middle off Kennedy. Marquez got all three of his outs on groundballs. Horne got his three on two grounders and a K. Kennedy got three outs on the ground, two by K, and just one in the air. Hughes struck out the first two batters he faced on a total of eight pitches. Ed Price says Hughes looked the sharpest of the Big Three.

Who Didn’t: Kei Igawa’s lone inning of work went: fly out, walk, wild pitch, walk, HBP, grand slam, K, K. Per Peter Abraham, pinch-hitter Eric Baumann, who hit the grand slam, had struck out in his only two previous at bats this season, “was also swinging a wood bat and missed the 2006 and 2007 seasons with a shoulder injury.” Pete also points out that the walk that started the USF rally was a five-pitch walk to the ninth-place hitter in a college lineup with the Yankees leading 9-0.

Nice Plays: Colin Curtis made a sliding catch in right to end Hughes’ inning of work.

Ouchies: Derek Jeter was hit near the left elbow with a pitch in the first inning, but stayed in the game and singled in his next at-bat.

More: Pete Abe’s play-by-play of the first 5 1/3 innings. Anthony McCarron (sitting in for Mark Feinsand) takes the action a few batters further up to the salami of Igawa (read from bottom up). Tyler Kepner reports these other recent finals of MLB vs. College action:

Red Sox 24, Boston College 0
Red Sox 15, Northeastern 0
Nationals 15, Georgetown 0
Cardinals 15, St. Louis U. 0
Pirates 5, Manatee C.C. 0
Braves 8, U. of Georgia 1

I’m tickled that the closest game was between the Pirates and a Community College. Nonetheless, four times as many runs were scored off Igawa in his one inning of work today than were scored by the college teams in the other 62 innings we’ve accounted for. Igawa should be proud. Finally, for trivia fans, Bryan Hoch has the lineup from the last game between the Yanks and USF.

The Yankees play their first full-squad game under Joe Girardi today in an exhibition against the University of South Florida. Among other things, this gives us our first glimpse of a Joe Girardi-penned Yankee lineup. Here’s how it looks:

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

No real surprises there. In fact, one of the few things that can be gleaned from that lineup is that Girardi is indeed serious about giving Jason Giambi a shot to claim the first base job, thus opening DH up for Hideki Matsui full time. Notice that Matsui is absent from the above as he’s still rehabbing his knee. Once Matsui joins the action on or around March 9 (per the Star-Ledger‘s Ed Price), Girardi, who clearly prefers to alternate his righties and lefties throughout the order, will be forced to hit two lefties back-to-back.

The good news is that, other than Bobby Abreu, who is firmly ensconced between the two best right-handed hitters on the team, none of the Yankee lefties really struggle all that much against their own kind. Cano was largely neutralized by lefties in 2006, but last year he hit them better than righties (.328/.374/.490 v. L; .296/.344/.487 v. R). Damon hit lefties better than righties in 2006. Matsui absolutely crushed lefties back in 2005, doing most of his damage against them, and while Jason Giambi’s production does drop against lefties, he’s been so productive over the course of his career that he still has a career .855 OPS against portsiders.

In fact, if there’s one player on the team other than Abreu who might need to be kept away from lefties it’s Melky Cabrera, who has hit 13 of his 15 career home runs and all 10 of his major league triples against right-handed pitching (including one homer hit righty off a righty). Then again, if the idea is for Melky to make or break, forcing him to hit lefties might be a necessary part of the process.

Thus it may not matter how Girardi works Matsui into the lineup. Last year, Joe Torre hit him fifth with Giambi and Cano hitting seventh and eighth respectively. I’d like to see Cano hit higher in the order, possibly even serving as Alex Rodriguez’s protection, with Posada, Matsui, and Giambi to follow. If Girardi is willing to give up the ghost on alternating his lefties (though I generally approve of that strategy), a Posada-Cano-Matsui-Giambi order, despite it placing three consecutive lefties in front of Cabrera, might also be compelling.

Still, the lesson here is not to expect anything radical from Joe Girardi’s lineup construction. The top four seem set in stone and, honestly, until Cano proves himself worth of hitting third over the course of a full season, there’s no real reason to tinker with that structure. The Yankee offense is so potent and well-balanced that putting the hitters in order is an almost fool-proof exercise. The real trick is not how to order them, but how and when to rest them and whom to play in their stead on those occasions, and Girardi’s facility with that won’t become evident until the regular season is well underway.

Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see how the Yanks fair against USF today. According to Peter Abraham, the Red Sox swept a double-header against Boston College and Northeastern yesterday by a combined score of 39-0, drawing 27 walks in the process. It’s no wonder Tino told his old USF buddies to throw strikes today. Still, the Yankee starters will only play four or five innings and Kei Igawa is scheduled to pitch in the fifth, so I expect USF to fair a bit better than their Massachusetts counterparts.

(more…)