(Untitled) Soap Bubble Set, by Joseph Cornell (1936)

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Here’s a jernt where to have a hearty European-style breakfast in the Big Apple:

This update is powered by . . . a trailer for every Academy Award-winning movie ever:

• The ever-quotable Goose Gossage:

Q. You were a starter and reliever before you settled on closing games. What roles do you think Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes should have on the Yankees staff?

A. I think Phil Hughes is a starter for sure. He can go deep into games. He’s a power pitcher and he also knows how to pitch, with a nice curveball. He’s got a good head on his shoulders. Personally, I think Joba is a relief pitcher. He’s got that makeup, that aggressiveness. I think that he is more valuable in the bullpen. I think that he would be a great relief pitcher.

Q. Do you think Mariano Rivera is the best closer in baseball history?

A. I think that he is a tremendous relief pitcher. He’s the best current-day, modern reliever. But it’s just like you can’t compare the 500-home-run club today to the old 500-home-run club. When I was inducted into the Hall of Fame, I was told that I had 53 saves with seven-plus outs. I was told that Mariano had one and Trevor Hoffman had two. So I think that says it in a nutshell.

• The story of a one-time Yankee and Rule 5 veteran, Zack Kroenke.
• Lance McCullers (reliever on ’89 and ’90 squads) turns 46 today.
• Mark Salas (p/t catcher on ’87 team) turns 49 today.
• The immortal Jim Bouton turns 71 today.
• Joe DiMaggio died 11 years ago today.

Back on Thursday.

Count us as one of the million of cablevision customers who are not watching the Oscars tonight.

The wife is not amused. And, uh, you wouldn’t like her when she’s angry.

Update: Maybe the schmucky Big Wig Gods heard her cries. The Oscars are now on, and yes, she’s a heppy ket. Heppy like so:

The Yankees traveled to Fort Myers Sunday afternoon to endure an 11-0 beating at the hands of a Twins split-squad. The Yankees have now been outscored 20-1 over the last two days and have allowed 32 runs in their last three games. Through the first five games of their exhibition schedule, they have scored just two runs prior to the sixth inning.

Lineup:

L – Brett Gardner (CF)
S – Nick Swisher (DH)
S – Mark Teixeira (1B)
L – Robinson Cano (2B)
R – Marcus Thames (LF)
R – Jamie Hoffmann (RF)
R – Mike Rivera (C)
S – Ramiro Peña (SS)
R – Brandon Laird (3B)

Subs: David Winfree (1B), Kevin Russo (2B), Eduardo Nuñez (SS), Jorge Vazquez (3B), Kyle Higashioka (C), Jon Weber (RF), Greg Golson (CF), Reid Gorecki (LF), Jesus Montero (DH)

Pitchers (IP): Sergio Mitre (3), Chad Gaudin (2), Kei Igawa (1), Ryan Pope (1), D.J. Mitchell (1)

Big Hits: Jesus Montero doubled in his only at-bat. Robinson Cano went 2-for-3. Beyond that, the Yankees scattered six singles, including a bunt single by Brett Gardner, and failed to score.

Who Pitched Well: Sergio Mitre pitched three scoreless innings allowing just three baserunners on a pair of singles and a walk while striking out three. He also hit 93 mph on the gun, which he didn’t do all of last year according to the Star-Ledger’s Marc Carig. The only negative to his outing was that four of his other five outs came in the air rather than on the ground. Ryan Pope pitched a perfect seventh.

Who Didn’t: Well, we needn’t worry about Kei Igawa sneaking up on the Opening Day roster. In his lone inning of work, Igawa gave up five runs on a walk and four hits including a double and a grand slam by Juan Portes, who homered twice in the game. Portes’s other homer came off D.J. Mitchell, who gave up three runs on four hits, including that homer and a double, in the eighth. Chad Gaudin struck out two and only gave up a walk and three hits in his two innings, but all three hits went for extra bases including a double and two solo homers. He was charged with a third run which scored on Igawa’s watch in the sixth.

Oopsies: Gaudin, who had a throwing error in his first start, dropped a flip from Mark Teixeira, which is exactly why Tex takes the ball to the bag himself whenever possible. Ramiro Peña also had a fielding error. Brett Gardner was picked off first base, but the Twins botched the rundown.

Ouchies: Francisco Cervelli seems to be recuperating well from his concussion, though he’ll still have to see the neurologist on Monday. Nick Johnson remains on schedule to play in Monday’s game. Tony Peña is the latest Yankee to come down with the flu

Other: Andy Pettitte threw a simulated game instead of traveling to Fort Myers for his first start.

It’s a beautiful day in New York. The wife and I are taking a drive to the country, don’t ya know.

Hope everyone is having a good one.

The Yankees starters again struggled to score in Saturday’s 9-1 loss to the Blue Jays. In fact, the lone Yankee run came on a hit-by-pitch, a single, and a fielder’s choice on a double-play ball, with Francisco Cervelli, Juan Miranda, and Ramiro Peña doing the honors and Austin Romine scoring the run. Romine was in the game because the stray pitch hit Cervelli in the helmet, knocking him out of the game with a concussion. More on that below.

Lineup:

R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Curtis Granderson (CF)
S – Jorge Posada (C)
R – Alex Rodriguez (3B)
S – Randy Winn (RF)
L – Brett Gardner (LF)
R – Francisco Cervelli (DH)
L – Juan Miranda (1B)
S – Ramiro Peña (2B)

Subs: Jorge Vazquez (1B), Kevin Russo (2B), Reegie Corona (SS), Brandon Laird (3B), P.J. Pilittere (C), David Winfree (RF), Jamie Hoffmann (CF), Colin Curtis (LF), Austin Romine (DH)

Pitchers (IP): A.J. Burnett (1 2/3), Amaury Sanit (1/3), Boone Logan (2), Jonathan Albaladejo (1/3), Mark Melancon (1 2/3), Andrew Brackman (1), Romulo Sanchez (1), Jason Hirsh (1)

Big Hits: Colin Curtis doubled and walked. That’s about it. The Yankees only had five other hits, all singles, and no other Yankee reached base twice.

Who Pitched Well: Boone Logan worked the equivalent of two perfect innings striking out two. Mark Melancon worked around a single for 1 2/3 scoreless frames. Jason Hirsh hit one batter but retired the other three in the ninth.

Who Didn’t: Jonathan Albaladejo faced nine batters, eight reached base (one via walk, six via singles) and five scored, three of them on a home run by Adam Lind. Andrew Brackman gave up three hits including a two-run homer by J.P. Arencibia in his lone inning of work. Albaladejo and Brackman also both uncorked a wild pitch. A.J. Burnett had his fastball in the mid-90s, but didn’t have much command of it and intentionally stayed away from his curveball. The result was three singles, two doubles, a walk, two runs allowed, and a hook before he was able to finish his second inning.

Nice Plays: Reegie Corona made a nice ranging play at shortstop coming well across the second-base bag. Brandon Laird, at third base, made a nice back-handed stab and strong throw from the foul line. There were some other nice plays, but those two were the best.

Oopsies: Corona has nice range, but his arm makes him a second baseman, as demonstrated when he made a back-handed catch in the shortstop hole and bounced the throw to first base.

Ouchies: The most significant event in the game came in the third inning when birthday boy Francisco Cervelli was hit on the top of the helmet by a pitch from Zechry Zinicola. The pitch actually came in around neck high, but rather than fall backward and away from it, he ducked and the ball hit him on the crown of his helmet, giving him a concussion and leaving stitch imprints on his helmet. A CT scan was negative (which is a positive, that is to say, they scanned his head and found nothing), but Cervelli was hit in the same spot by a backswing in winter ball in November and suffered a concussion, so the team will be cautious. He’ll be checked again Sunday and see a neurologist on Monday. If all checks out well he could return to game action mid-week. Nick Johnson took batting practice and said he “felt loose.” He should play on Monday after skipping Sunday’s long bus ride.

Other: Michael Kay nugget of the day: a kid in the stands puts his cap on backwards and Kay explains, “Hat goes on in the Griffey style. Ken Griffey Jr. started that.” Oh he did, did he?

Very cool.

With the Oscars coming up on Sunday, the time is just right to bring up some Yankee-related movie news. Historically speaking, the Yankees and Hollywood have had trouble coming together and making good film partners, but that may be changing within the next few years. According to a recent Rush and Molloy article in the New York Daily News, a film called The Trade is in the planning stages. The movie would look at the “life swap” (including wives and children) engineered by Yankee pitchers Mike Kekich and Fritz Peterson in 1973, and would feature Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in the lead roles. Now how great would that be?

This revelation does bring me some momentary pause, however. Affleck and Damon are well-known Red Sox fans; I hope that they would not use this vehicle as a way of embarrassing the Yankee franchise. That said, I like both as actors, particularly the multi-dimensional Damon, and have enough confidence that their sincere interest as baseball fans would make them want to deal with this controversial subject matter in a serious and respectful manner.

For those who don’t remember the details of the story, Kekich and Peterson had been close friends since becoming Yankee teammates in 1969, but each man developed an affinity for the other’s wife during the summer of 1972. In the spring of 1973, the news became public that the two pitchers had actually traded wives, along with their children and family dogs. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn reacted to the news with disgust, claiming that he was “appalled” by what Kekich and Peterson had done, but that he was also powerless to do anything about it.

The Yankees reacted more humorously to the announcement, with general manager Lee MacPhail quipping that the Yankees would have to call off “Family Day.” (They actually did decide to cancel the promotion that summer.) Yankee teammates gave Kekich and Peterson their fair share of grief, but never to the point where it caused much dissension in the clubhouse. But the trade seemed to affect the two pitchers, both of whom struggled in 1973 and were subjected to routine booing throughout the American League. Both became ex-Yankees soon after, with Kekich traded in ’73 and Peterson dealt in ’74.

In terms of marriage, the trade produced mixed results. Peterson and Susanne Kekich had four children together and remain married to this day. The relationship between Kekich and Marilyn Peterson did not last. They soon broke up, with Kekich eventually marrying for a third time. To this day, neither man enjoys saying much publicly about The Trade.

It remains to be seen how cooperative Kekich and Peterson will be with the moviemakers. The more pressing question involves Affleck and Damon. Which actor should play which pitcher? Affleck strikes me more as the Peterson type, to the point that I could see some resemblance in their dark physical features. Damon does not look like either pitcher, but he has more comedic talent than Affleck. That might make Damon more appropriate to play the wackier Kekich, who was known as one of the flakiest left-handers of the sixties and seventies.

(more…)

The fifth starter battle started with a fizzle on Friday as Phil Hughes underwhelmed and Joba Chamberlain, weakened by the flu, was flat-out awful. Things didn’t get much better after that as the Rays scored in six different innings. The Yankees, meanwhile, haven’t scored prior to the fifth inning in any of their three games this spring, though their subs put together a nice rally in the seventh on Friday. After the smoke cleared, the Rays had won 11-7.

Lineup:

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)

Subs: Juan Miranda (1B), Reegie Corona (2B), Eduardo Nuñez (SS), Kevin Russo (3B), Jesus Montero (C), Jon Weber (LF), Greg Golson (CF), Reid Gorecki (LF), Jorge Vazquez (DH)

Pitchers (IP): Phil Hughes (2), Joba Chamberlain (1 1/3), Kevin Whelan (4 batters), Kei Igawa (1 2/3), David Robertson (1), Hector Noesi (1), Grant Duff (1), Dustin Moseley (2/3), Jeremy Bleich (1/3)

Big Hits: Robinson Cano (2-for-2) doubled in the fifth and scored on a single by Francisco Cervelli (2-for-2), who “tripled” in his previous at-bat on what looked like a single into the left field gap that was misplayed by Sean Rodriguez.  In the Yankees’ six-run seventh, Eduardo Nuñez, Juan Miranda, Kevin Russo, and Jorge Vazquez each doubled in a run, all were 1-for-2, save Miranda who was 1-for-3. Russo’s double came on a 70 mph changeup from lefty sidearmer R.J. Swindle that he flinched at twice before lacing to the opposite field. Nick Swisher (0-1) drew the Yankees first walk of the spring.

Who Pitched Well: Kei Igawa entered with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth and stranded all three runners, then pitched a perfect fifth. He struck out two along the way. David Robertson threw a perfect sixth striking out one. Jeremy Bleich threw one pitch, but it came with runners on base and resulted in an inning-ending groundout in the ninth.

Who Didn’t: Have a seat. Grab a snack . . .

Phil Hughes gave up just one run on a wind-blown solo homer, but he didn’t strike anyone out, wasn’t locating his breaking stuff, didn’t break 91 mph on the gun, and was generally less impressive than his results. He was still far better than what followed. Joba Chamberlain, having just recovered from a flu which carved eight pounds off his frame, gave up five runs on a double, two triples, and three walks and was pulled two outs short of his intended two innings. He looked awful, but I doubt anyone’s going to hold it against him. The important thing is that he got his throwing in and didn’t fall behind schedule due to his illness.

Two of Chamberlain’s runs scored after he left the game. Kevin Whelan came in with men on first and second, bounced a pitch to move them up, then gave up a single to score them both, though I’d argue that Derek Jeter should scooped up that worm-burner to his left. Whelan then gave up a double and issued a walk and got the hook.

In the eighth, Grant Duff gave up three runs on two walks, a single, and a triple. In the ninth, Dustin Moseley gave up another run on two hits and two walks and was pulled with two outs.

Nice Plays: Derek Jeter made a nice backhanded play on a hotshot to shortstop to start the game. Robinson Cano made ranging, over-the-shoulder running catch in shallow left, then later backed up a bad throw from catcher to first base, spun and threw out the runner at second. In the seventh, Juan Miranda made a nice back-handed grab of a foul ball near the stands and quickly fired back in to hold the runner at second.

Oopsies: On the very next play, Miranda booted a low throw from Eduardo Nuñez. Nuñez got the error. In the third, Nick Swisher fell down after taking too large of a secondary a lead off first base and was doubled off.

Ouchies: Swisher appeared to jam his right wrist on that fall, but stayed in the game. Nick Johnson (back) thinks he can play, but the Yankees are going to give him Saturday off and leave him off the bus trip on Sunday. He should return to game action on Monday.

Other: Thanks to everyone who joined in for my liveblog of the game.

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.

This was a great debut for Michael Keaton. Dig Zabars in the background at the head of the clip:

La vase paille, by Paul Cezanne (1895)