Yanks go for 2 in a row over Tigers

The New York Yankees will try and win their second consecutive game over the Tigers this afternoon at the Stadium. Today marks the 10 year anniversary of David Cones perfect game and he will be on hand to throw out the first pitch and I am sure they will have some kind of pregame ceremony. I will be heading out to the stadium in about half an hour so not sure if I will have the lineup and notes before then but if not I will be back later with the postgame recap and notes if any. There was one not from yesterday that I forgot to mention. Sergio Mitre will be called up and be the fifth starter on Tuesday against Baltimore. He has been performing well at AAA and the Yankees feel Alfredo Aceves is too valuable out of the bullpen. Enjoy the game today and I will try to put something up before I leave if there is anything.

Yanks at Detroit

Here are the notes and lineups for tonights game. In the last two games the Yanks have 1 walk and 17 strikeouts. Robinson Cano is up to 380 and has a 14 game hitting streak. Nick Swisher is struggling going 6 for his last 35 and has 2 RBI in that time. Hideki Matsui has a 7 game hitting streak and is 11 of his last 27. The Yankees have scored 3 runs in the last 19 innings. The Yanks are 32-39 in April over the last 3 seasons. Steven Jackson was sent back to AAA as expected. Jorge Posada is out with a sore hamstring which would explain him not running to first last night. Yanks lineup: Jeter(ss), Damon(lf), Tex(1b), Matsui(dh),Cano(2b),Swisher(rf),Cabrera(cf),Molina(c), Pena(3b)

Yankees minor league rosters set

UPDATE: 9:46PM: Chad Jennings of the Times Tribune and AAA beat writer and has his own blog is reporting that Brett Tomko will be the closer at AAA and Austin Jackson will be hitting sixth to start the season. I have been waiting for this to be official for about a week, the Yankees announced their rosters for Scranton-AAA, Trenton-AA and Tampa-High Class A, Charleston-Low Class A. I am not going to list the whole rosters here but you can find it on http://yankees.com/ under minor league affiliates or on http://milb.com/ which is the minor league site. I am going to list some of the top players though first with Scranton: Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, Mark Melancon, Austin Jackson. The Catchers down here are Kevin Cash PJ Pilittere and Chris Stewart. PJ was in Trenton for a couple of years and is known as a good game caller. The other names most of you are aware of, I am looking for Austin Jackson to have a big year and maybe be up in the big leagues in September. I also look for Mark Melancon to be on the big club at some point this year. AA Trenton-Kyle Anson and Francisco Cervelli are here as the catchers both pretty good prospects although Cervelli is thought of as the most advanced catching prospect the Yankees have and could be up in AAA at some point this year, he of course had a lost year least year when he broke his wrist in spring training. They have some interesting pitchers here such as Zach McAllister, Mike Dunn, Wilken Arias, George Kontos and Ryan Pope. Zach McAllister is one of the top young prospects that the Yankees think very highly of. The position players Eduardo Nunez impressed a lot of people in spring training and suprisingly Justin Snyder is at this level, Snyder was in his first year last year. A Tampa- The pitchers here are led by supplemental 1st round pick Jeremy Bleich who could move quickly and Dellin Betances who is just a stud and many have labeled the Baby Unit. They also have the 2 big catchers in Jesus Montero who reminds me a lot of Mike Piazza although he seems to be improving a lot behind the plate and may actually stay as a catcher and also Austin Romine who is a good catcher with a good bat. It will be interesting to see if either moves up and they break these two up for the first time in their young careers. I wouldn't really get too worked up over any of the other prospects but I will be watching the minor league teams all year also and update you on what is going on and if anyone else emerges. A-Charleston- The pitchers here are led by Andrew Brackman they also have Manuel Banuelos, Brett Marshall and the ambidextrous reliever Pat Venditte. The infield has Carmen Angelini who is a well though of ss and also Garrison Lassiter who they drafted last year, these guys are very young and a ways off. I have been to both Scranton and Trenton and love going to both places, its a lot of fun and you get to see some prospects and possibly future Yankees. If you have a chance to go, check it out, neither is too far away and pretty easy to get too. I will be in Scranton for an outing July 5th and plan on having a good post about it afterwards. I don't know if I will get to Trenton this year but that is where I have met Melky Cabrera, Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy, Shelly Duncan, Jeff Karstens and more.

Spring Game 34: Yankees at Reds

Today marks the Yankees penultimate game in Florida. Joba Chamberlain makes the start and there has been a lot of buzz over his velocity diminishing. The thing to remember here is as a starter your not going to have the same velocity and also it is being said that he has been working on his mechanics. If you take away that one disastourous start against Team Canada he hasn't pitched bad and he does have 14 strikeouts in just over 14 innings. I am looking for him to go deeper in games, that is the one problem I see, he throws too many pitches, he will get better with this the more he starts. The Yankees did announce earlier today that Jon Albaladejo made the team as the last reliever and Dan Giese, Alfredo Aceves and Brett Tomko were sent down to the minors along with Kevin Cash. The AAA rotation was announced as Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, Kei Igawa, Alfredo Aceves and Jason Johnson. Brett Tomko will be used out of the bullpen. Kevin Cash will be the AAA catcher or one of them. The game is on Cincinattis radio station but no radio or TV from NY. Spring Game 34: Yankees at Reds Posted using ShareThis

Yankees minor league game and notes

The AAA Yankees tied Pittsburgh's AAA 5-5. Kei Igawa pitched 4 innings giving up 7 hits, 3 runs with 2 of them earned. He had 2 walks and strikeouts. He left the game early with tightness in his groin and will be checked out tomorrow. Mark Melancon pitched 2 innings giving up 1 hit, 0 runs and 2 strikeouts. Kevin Whelan also pitched 2 innings, giving up 1 hit and 1 run on a wind blown homerun. Kevin Russo was 2-4, Juan Miranda was 1-4. Edwar Gonzalez was 1-2 with a hr and 4 rbis. Colin Curtis returning from having a few days off was 1-2. Humberto Sanchez pitched a 1-2-3 inning for AA Trenton, his first action of the spring.

CC looks sharp

The New York Yankees defeated the Cincinatti Reds tonight by a score of 4-1. CC Sabathia pitched 7 2/3 innings giving up 1 run on 4 hits with 7 strikeouts. He basically retired the last 18 batters he faced. He had retired 16 in a row through the 7th and came back out for the 8th, he struck out the first guy who got to first when Shelly Duncan dropped the throw from Jose Molina but then got the next guy to ground into a double play. Damaso Marte pitched to one batter and got him out and Mariano Rivera closed it out with a perfect ninth inning getting one strikeout. The offense was led by Mark Teixera was 2-3 with a rbi, Derek Jeter was 1-4 with a rbi. Johnny Damon was 0-4, Xaver Nady was 1-3 and Cody Ransom had a rbi. CC Sabathia said tonight that other then getting his slider sharper he is ready to go. He threw 68 strikes out of 93 pitches and dominated the Reds. He said he felt great, he got 14 out of 23 outs on the ground and also had 7 strikeouts. That means that only 2 outs were in the air, Jorge Posada said " he is fun to catch." Tomorrow at 1 Chieng-Ming Wang will pitch for the AAA Yankees to Jorge Posada, Nick Swisher and Hideki Matsui are scheduled to play also to get some more at bats. Jeremie Guthrie was told tonight after having a rough outing that he will be facing CC Sabathia and the Yankees on opening day a week from Monday. Guthrie has an almost 8 era in 3 spring starts. The one other thing about tonight, is MO really human?? He only threw 5 pitches tonight and had a 1-2-3 9th inning. He has thrown 45 pitches this spring with 35 of them being strikes. Did he really have shoulder surgery, it doesn't appear that way, maybe this guy will pitch forever.

Yankees minor league stats and notes

Ian Kennedy pitched well and was happy with his curveball which he is working on locating at the bottom of the strikezone and has been working on it all week. He allowed 6 hits with 5 of them singles, and three were to the first three batters he faced. He finished going 5 1/3 innings, 1 run with 1 walk and 2k. Kanekoa Texeira pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up 3 hits and 1 run which wasn't earned with 1 walk and strikeout. Steven Jackson pitched 2 innings giving up 2 hits, 1 run which wasn't earned and had 3 strikeouts. The offense had Kevin Russo going 2-3 with a walk and rbi, Austin Jackson was 1-2 with a walk. David Williams was 2-2 with a rbi, I believe he is out of Rutgers University in NJ. Eric Duncan was 3-4 with a hr and 3rbi. Francisco Cervelli threw out a guy at second, he could be a backup catcher in the future, the Yankees really seem to be stocked at catcher with him Austin Romine and Jesus Montero leading the pack. Alan Horne who was one of the Yankees top pitching prospects last year before he got hurt threw what was basically a simulated game today throwing 40 pitches. He said his command was better today and that he is working on consistency with his fastball command. He said tonight that he would be pitching in a real game on Sunday, if everything goes well he could be back at AAA at some point this year and knocking on the door to the big leagues. Most of these notes are via Chad Jennings who covers the AAA Yankees and does a great job there and with his blog which you can locate on my link list to the right on the blog.

Minor League Notes

I am going to write about the minor leaguers for basically the first time this season. Chad Jennings who does a great job on the beat for the Scranton Wilkes Barre Yankees and has his own blog which you can access through this blog under the links just got down to Florida on Monday. The minor league camp just opened on Saturday and I plan on also covering the minor leagues throughout the season so if you are a fan of the Yankees minors or don't know much about it and would like to know about the minors then check out this blog for that information also. The Triple A Yankees won 4-3 over the Dunedin Blue Jays. Eric Hacker got the start and pitched 3 2/3 innings giving up 3 runs on 7 hits. He was having a rough time while he was in big league camp also. Jason Johnson pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings and Mark Melancon pitched 2 innings with 1 hit and 2k. Eric Duncan had 2 hits and a rbi, Kevin Russo was 1-3. Tim battle was 2-3 with a walk and SB, Edwar Gonzalez was 1-4 with a rbi. Francisco Cervelli had a sac fly, David Williams and Carlos Mendoza were both 1-2. Some of these names aren't too known right now but most I am sure you have heard of and if not as the season goes on I will get into more detail about the top prospects. Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy of course will be the pitchers to watch in AAA along with Mark Melancon. Austin Jackson will be the position player to watch.

Yankees Recap and Notes

The New York Yankees won their 9th straight game by a score of 4-3 over the Detroit Tigers. It is too bad this doesn't count but once again they had a strong day pitching which im sure will be much of the same during the regular season and should lead to many wins. I wouldn't be suprised to see the Yankees run off streaks in the regular season like they have in spring training. Joba Chamberlain got the start today and went 3 1/3 innings giving up 1 run, 4 hits and 5 strikeouts. He threw 61 pitches, he said after the game that he needs to stop nibbling although he feels great and is coming along. His biggest problem is he throws too many pitches but as he gets more and more experience that will come. He is the 5th starter so if he gives them 5-6 innings a game they will take it. Mo made another appearance and needed 12 pitches to get 4 outs but he did give up a hit today. Jon Albaladejo continued his strong work throwing 1 2/3 scoreless innings giving up 3 hits with 1k. Edwar Ramirez gave up 2 hits a walk and a run in his one inning with 1k. It was his worst outing but he has looked good since coming back from his shoulder issue. Jose Veras pitched an inning giving up a hit and a run with a strikeout. Offense: Melky Cabrera had a good day going 2-3. Brett Gardner was 1-1 coming in later in the game, Johnny Damon was 1-3 with a rbi double. Mark Teixera was 1-2 with a rbi double and a walk. Juan Miranda hit a 2 run hr, Hideki Matsui was 0-2 but had a walk, Cody Ransom and Angel Berroa were both 1-3. The Yankees will travel to Port Charlotte tomorrow to take on the Tampa Bay Rays, CC Sabathia will stay behind and pitch in a minor league game while Alfredo Aceves will get the start. MO will take two days off, he said he feels great and only needs 5 or 6 more 1 inning appearances before the season starts. He said everytime out he feels stronger. Joe Girardi praised Phil Hughes saying he had a great spring, he was attacking the strike zone, they just ran out of innings for him in big leauge camp because he needs to pitch deeper into games, this isn't the last you will see of him this year you watch. I think he will have a bigger impact on the team then people think. I can see him going to AAA dominating and something happening whether its an injury or Joba struggling and he will be up with the team again. After the game the Yankees optioned Francisco Cervelli down to AA Trenton.

Yankees Recap

The New York Yankees defeated the Houston Astros today by a score of 4-1. Chieng-Ming Wang bounced back from a rough start his last time out and pitched 5 innings today giving up 1 run on 3 hits, 0 walks and 2 strikeouts. Phil Coke and Brett Tomko each pitched a scoreless inning giving up 1 hit. Jose Veras pitched a scoreless inning although he did walk 2 guys. Albaladejo finished it off with a perfect inning striking out one. Robbie Cano led the offensive attack going 2-4, Jose Molina also went 2-3. Mark Teixera went 1-2 with a walk. Angel Berroa was 1-3 with a rbi and Nick Swisher was 1-3. Austin Jackson the Yankees top prospect was 1-1. Former 1st round pick Eric Duncan was 1-1 with 2 rbi. He hasn't lived up to his potential and it seems he has been around forever but he is still one of the youngest players in AAA. Wang after the game was asked how he has been getting along with CC and AJ, he says he talks to AJ more because their lockers are close together. A reporter asked what does he tell you and Wang said bad things as everyone laughed, he said he won't get a tattoo because his mother would kill him. Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada are both a go for tomorrow nights game against the Blue Jays. The game will be on YES. I credit Peter Abraham for having the lineups and the post game chatter, he does a great job for the journal news and his blog at http://yankees.lhblogs.com so go check it out if you don't already. I just read that Kevin Youkilis went back to red sox camp with a bad ankle and will probably not continue in the WBC, how many guys on the US are getting hurt, this is crazy and that is the second Red Sox player, so we will have to keep an eye on that.

My Interview With Chad Jennings

Here is my interview that I did with the Scranton Yankees beat writer. He does a great job in AAA, you got to check out his blog at http://community.thetimes-tribune.com/blogs/yankees/ He did a great job with this interview and I hope you guys really enjoy it. Thanks to Chad again for doing this. Guys please support him and his blog, im sure you will enjoy seeing what he has to write. First I would like to ask you for a little bio of yourself? I grew up on a farm in Southeast Missouri and started driving a tractor when I was roughly 12 years old. Out of high school, I majored in journalism at the University of Missouri -- I also minored in political science and economics, though it's not entirely clear why -- and moved to Scranton in January 2003. I shared the baseball beat for a couple of years and have been doing it full time for the past four seasons. I know Scranton only became a Yankees farm team a couple of years ago, but how long have you covered the Scranton franchise for??Just the two years they've been here. Do you ever dream of doing the same job for a major league team?? Sure, I'd like the challenge of a big league beat, but I do enjoy covering minor league ball. Did you always want to be doing what you are doing now? If not what did you want to do when you were younger?? When I was young I wanted to be a farmer like my dad, but when I was about 15 I realized I really enjoyed writing and I've wanted to do this ever since. Early on, I wanted to cover basketball, but I've found that I really like the grind of a baseball season. Is the traveling tough? Does your employer cover meals, lodging etc? Most everything is covered by the newspaper. The travel is tough at times -- I don't enjoy leaving Buffalo at 11 p.m. to drive four and a half hours and cover a game in Scranton the next day -- but I'm not married and I don't have kids, so being on the road is not as hard on me as it is some other baseball writers. What is the most fun time of the year for you, spring training? The Regular Season? The offseason?? My time in spring training is probably when I'm most busy, but I like the work. My most fun time of the year is probably the middle of the regular season when I'm in the routine and feel like I'm on top of things. I'm much less busy in the offseason, but I don't enjoy it nearly as much as when I'm working my way through the season. Have you ever got to cover a major league team?? What was that experience like if you did so? I've never covering a big league team as a full time beat, but I've covered plenty of major league games in St. Louis, Philadelphia and New York. My first experience in New York was a lot more comfortable than I expected. I'd never been to the stadium, but I knew so many guys in the clubhouse that I felt at ease. What player that you have covered has been your favorite to cover and why?? I covered Dan Giese for a long time, so it was fun to watch him make that run to the big leagues last season. Several years ago, I enjoyed covering A.J. Hinch because he was very willing to share his experience and knowledge. On the field, I've always enjoyed watching the speed guys. Shane Victorino. Brett Gardner. Justin Christian. Pablo Ozuna was a lot of fun to watch too. I also saw Ryan Howard hit some absolute bombs and watched Chase Utley play as well as anyone I've ever seen day in and day out. Those guys were fun to cover. What player has been the most challenging to cover and why?? He wasn't a bad guy, but Cole Hamels was tough only because he was such a big name prospect that I had to be careful not to over do it. It would have bothered a lot of the guys in the clubhouse if I fallen all over myself trying to write too much about Hamels. To some extent, it's that way with Phil Hughes and some of the other starting pitching prospects in the Yankees system. I have to find the right balance between reporting on the individual big names and reporting on the team as a whole. It's important to do both. What player are you most looking forward to seeing this year in Scranton?? Obviously it will be interesting to watch Austin Jackson try to take that last step to the big leagues. I'm also curious to see whether Kevin Russo can put himself on the big league map. But I'm most interested in seeing how Hughes, Kennedy and every other young starting pitcher responds to New York filling it's rotation through free agency this winter. Do you think it is neat to cover these guys and then some of them become stars or good players in the majors?? Do you ever keep in touch with any former scranton guys that have made it big?? Sometimes it's neat. Sometimes it's inevitable. I enjoy watching Giese and Chris Coste as much as I enjoy watching Utley and Howard. As far as keeping in touch, those relationships are different from any other. I might send a text message or something to check in or ask a question, but for the most part staying in touch is limited to talking the clubhouse or on the field during the season. It is, however, always a lot of fun to see those guys after they've moved on. Victorino positively attacked me the last time I saw him. Is there another job that you would ever want to do?? I'm pretty happy doing this, but most any form of writing would be a lot of fun. You think Aaron Sorkin needs an intern? If you weren't covering baseball, what other sport would you like to cover? I covered men's college basketball for a year and enjoyed it. That was a good University of Missouri team and I covered them through the Elite Eight. Lack of access in college sports, though, is annoying. I've often wondering what it would be like to cover tennis or golf. The travel would probably be insane, but it might be a lot of fun. Is it easier to write up a story for the newspaper or to work on the blog you have?? They're completely different. Day to day, I'm not sure one's easier or harder, but there is certainly less pressure with the blog. I pretty much get to do whatever I want on there, and the only deadlines are the ones I put on myself. What gave you the inspiration to start your blog?? My boss told me to start it. Does that count as inspiration? What are your favorite sports teams?? University of Missouri. Of course. Do you reside somewhere near the stadium during the year?? I live about six miles from the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre stadium. I used to live about 20 miles from the stadium. It's a lot better this way. How do you think the New York Yankees will do this year?? Hard to pick against them, isn't it? It's the depth that makes me think they'll do well. The one place they don't have much depth is the infield, and most of those guys have little or no history of being injured. You know a pitcher or two is going to break down for a little while during the season, but the Yankees have plenty of depth in the rotation and the bullpen. That's why I think they're the team to beat in the East. What player on the Yankees would you like to interview if given a chance?? I'm trying to learn Spanish and would love to get to the point that I could interview Robinson Cano or Melky Cabrera in Spanish. A one-on-one with Alex Rodriguez would obviously be nice because he doesn't seem to give those very often. There's no one in that clubhouse who I would want to interview simply because he's a "star." Outside of the Yankees, I think the best stories in baseball might be Josh Hamilton and Rick Ankiel. I'd love to be in a position to write those stories. Especially Ankiel because his comeback seems to have been overlooked a little bit. If it's not going to be me, somebody get Gary Smith on that one! .AOLWebSuite .AOLPicturesFullSizeLink { height: 1px; width: 1px; overflow: hidden; } .AOLWebSuite a {color:blue; text-decoration: underline; cursor: pointer} .AOLWebSuite a.hsSig {cursor: default}

Spring Training Day 2 Notes

I will be posting some photos later of todays action. I want to credit Peter Abraham of the Journal News and http://yankees.lhblogs.com for most of the information. Thank you for your great work Pete. Here we go: The groups of pitchers for today were 1.Aceves,Hughes,Pettitte,Wang 2.Coke,Marte,Tomko,Ramirez 3.Brackman,Jackson,Melancon 4.Clagget,DelaRosa,Hacker,Teixera(No not the first baseman, he came over with Swisher in the trade) Brackman was 270 last yr and is down to 232, he said he just needs to get out there and pitch. Wang threw in the bullpen and felt good, he said when he first started throwing earlier in the winter he felt tightness but that is gone now. He will start running in a few weeks. Brackman was impressive to Molina who caught him and according to Rob Thomson the third base coach who said "outstanding" Joe Girardi wants to carry a long reliever and it wouldn't be beneficial to Phil Hughes or Ian Kennedy. The manager said those guys need the innings, he talked to Hughes about this and although Phil would rather be in the majors he will go to AAA and pitch well and be ready when they need him. Pete says watch he will get 10-15 starts this yr in the majors and I agree, someone always gets hurt and Joba will be skipped once in a while to keep his innings down. Posada went through the throwing program today and Joe Girardi watched part of it and said the ball came out of his hand well and "sounded good in the air." Girardi spoke with Arod and said he is eager to start playing baseball. That is a wrap for today, i will post some pictures later.