Weekend Notes from Yankees Camp

Javier Vazquez asked to throw on Sunday and was allowed to do so. I know you may ask why I am saying that well all the Yankees starters have been held back because of their workloads last season. He said though that he was throwing in Puerto Rico and hadn't thrown in about a week and a half and wanted to get back out there. There wasn't much excitement in camp on Sunday, it was expected that Johnny Damon would be a hot topic but there wasn't much said about him signing yesterday for 1 year and 8 million with the Detroit Tigers. The people that did speak about him like Joe Girardi wished him well. I still think that he overplayed his hand and should of come back to the Yankees for 2 years but that is his fault. Almost all of the pitchers have now thrown 2 bullpens and with the exception of Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes are up to 40 pitches. They have only been throwing fastballs and changeups but will now start throwing their breaking pitches. Chad Jennings heard a lot of good things about Andrew Brackman who was one of the Yankees top picks a couple of years ago. Nardi Contreras who is the roving pitching instructor had some good things to say. If you want to check out more on that you can visit http://yankees.lhblogs.com. Brett Gardner was in the clubhouse for a little while today and sat talking with relief pitcher Kevin Whelan. It is not known what they were discussing. The pitchers who threw today were in Group 1 Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, Javier Vazquez and Edwar Ramirez. Group 2 was Mark Melancon, Boone Logan, Mosely and Christian Garcia. Group 3 was Kei Igawa, Zach McAllister, Ivan Nova and Kevin Whelan. The last group was Jeremy Bleich, Andrew Brackman, Mitchell and Noesi. The position players are reporting on Tuesday and then Wednesday is the first full squad workout. March 3rd is the first game so things will start heating up after tomorrow and there will be more news coming out of Tampa. It has been very quiet for the Yankees but that should be expected after a World Series Championship and not much else going on.

CC Sabathia and Lebron James

CC Sabathia was at the New York Knicks game last night. He is a big fan of basketball as evidenced by him taking different teammates to Orlando Magic games last spring training. He also took them to a Cleveland Cavs game when the Yankees were in Cleveland over the summer. He now is residing in NJ in the offseason and has been to a couple of Nets games and was here at the Knicks game. He wants his buddy Lebron James to come to NY and is trying to recruit him to the Knicks. I am sure the Knicks fans like this. He said he would come to more games if Lebron were playing in MSG. He also said some interesting things about what appears to be his ex teammate Johnny Damon. He stated that it isn't over yet and Damon could wind up back with the Yankees. He also said that he misses Johnny, that he is a great guy. He stated that once you win a championship you are hungry for more. He stated that he doesn't just want one, he wants five. He seems to have been indoctrined into the Yankee way quickly. The Yankees are never satisfied with one, once they are on top they like to stay there for as long as they can. I think this Lebron James story is fascinating and if CC really has the pull that he thinks he does then he will be even more of a hero in NY. I guess we will see what happens on July 1st when free agency begins in the NBA.

New York Yankees-World Series Champions

The New York Yankees are once again World Series Champions defeating the Phillies 7-3 last night in Game 6. Hideki Matsui got the well deserved MVP especially after tying the World Series record for most rbi's in a single game with 6, Bobby Richardson was the other one to do it. Andy Pettitte continued to add to his most wins in postseason history with 18 and now has also closed out 6 series in his career also a record. Andy Pettitte also became only the second pitcher to close out all 3 series in the postseason, the other one was Derek Lowe for the Red Sox in 2004 which we try to forget about. Order is now restored to the Universe with the Yankees becoming the 27 time World Champions and making it 2 titles this decade which ties the Boston REd Sox, I hope you beaneaters were watching last night. Derek Jeter had a great World Series, what else is new and A-rod had a lot of huge hits and had the highest avg on the team for the postseason. I will have a lot more later as I am punchdrunk from being at the game last night and I have no idea how I am functioning today. Here are some pictures from the celebration above and now the Parade is tomorrow at 11.

Yanks win 5th in row

The New York Yankees defeated the Baltimore Orioles tonight by the score of 9-6. A.J. Burnett got the start and had nothing as he went 5 1/3 innings giving up 6 runs. He hasn't won a game in over a month and it may be cause for concern now. He didn't pitch bad his last time out but tonight he just had nothing going. I would think now is the time for A.J. to get it together so he can head into the postseason with confidence, I would think he would be the game 2 starter but maybe he will be the game 3 starter the way it is going. The Yankees offense bailed him out with 5 homruns, 2 of them off of the bat of Jorge Posada who is 1 homerun shy of putting the Yankees at 7 players with 20 or more homeruns. Robinson Cano had 2 hits as he continues to demolish Baltimore pitching this season. He is batting I believe it is 481 against them now this season. The only guy in the lineup without a hit was Mark Teixeira. A-rod had a rbi single, Nick Swisher had a homerun and so did Eric Hinske in fact they went back to back. Melky Cabrera had 2 hits as he has been showing signs of life lately which is a good sign, Brett Gardner should be back somewhat soon but we will see what he can do when he comes back. The Yankees will be going for the sweep tomorrow night with their ace CC Sabathia on the mound. The Yankees are now 36 games over 500, they haven't been this far over 500 since they finished the 2004 season 40 games over. The Yankees have 30 games left this season, could they win 16 more to get to 100, it is looking pretty good but the only thing that is going to matter now is winning in the postseason and getting that 27th championship.

Yanks beat Sox again

The New York Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox this afternoon by the score of 5-0. CC Sabathia dominated for 7 2/3 innings giving up 0 runs on 2 hits with 2 walks and 9 strikeouts. Phil Hughes came in and struck out the only guy he faced and David Robertson finished off the shutout in the ninth giving up a couple of hits but striking out Big Papi to end the game. A.J. Burnett and CC Sabathia were signed over the winter for moments like this and they really stepped it up this weekend pitching brilliantly and earning there pinstripes, you can envision them both pitching well the rest of the way and into the playoffs. There is one game tomorrow but the Yankees have stepped up and shut the critics up and proved that right now they are the best team in the AL east. The offense hasn't been too good the last couple of days but they have done enough to win. Robinson Cano was the only Yankee with multiple hits today going 3 for 4, Derek Jeter had a 2 run homerun for his only hit. Johnny Damon, Mark Teixeira, Hideki Matsui, Melky Cabrera and Jose Molina had a hit each. The bottom line is this the Yankees want to win a championship and to do that they need pitching and defense and just enough hitting and right now they are doing all of that, a lot of people have been saying they can't beat the good teams but I don't think they are saying that anymore. Andy Pettitte will be on the mound tomorrow against Jon Lester which will be a tough game but the Yankees have it set up for Pettitte to go 6 innings and then they can turn it over to Phil Hughes, Phil Coke, Mariano Rivera and hope to sweep the Red Sox and leave them 6 1/2 games out and maybe knock them out of the wildcard for now. A couple of quick notes, Josh Towers was on the team today, he will be gone tomorrow when they put Chad Gaudin on the roster. Gaudin will be out of the bullpen for now but I expect him to be starting pretty soon although they can have him caddy with Sergio Mitre. The reason Josh Towers was brought up today is just in case CC had to leave the game early or they went to extra innings again, they would of been in trouble and he would of been a guy who could give them length. The Red Sox were shutout in back to back games for the first time since 2002. They are now under 500 on the road and really reeling. The Yankees are 12-1 in their last 13 home games. These 3 games Yankee stadium has been sold out and really rocking like the old stadium, it still isn't the old stadium but this was a huge step in the right direction.

Yanks get Real Belt

Here is a cool article on the Yankees getting a real wrestling belt from a WWE announcer, Jerry The King Lawler. NEW YORK - To have a little fun, the Yankees have been giving a toy WWE championship wrestling belt to the player of the game after every victory this season. triggerAd(1,PaginationPage,8); Now they have the real thing. Famed grappler Jerry "The King" Lawler sent an actual WWE championship belt to CC Sabathia and has promised to send a custom-made belt with the Yankees logo within a few weeks. "The old belt is retired," Sabathia said yesterday before the Yankees played the Mets. Sabathia and his son, 5-year-old CC III, are wrestling fans and attended several events a year. He got to know Lawler a few years ago. "He heard what we were doing and sent the belt," Sabathia said. "It's pretty cool." At 6-foot-7 and 290 pounds, Sabathia would make a fearsome challenger for the title. But he has no designs on entering the squared circle. "No way," he said. "Nothing. I'll ring the bell."