Yankees look ready for opening day

The New York Yankees had their starting lineup in the game today and Javier Vazquez started and went into the 7th inning. The Yankees won the game by the score of 3-1 and appear to be ready for opening day which is less then 2 weeks away. Vazquez went 6 innings giving up 4 hits and 1 run. He didn't walk anyone and struck out 6 batters. Damaso Marte came in to pitch a inning and allowed a hit with a strikeout. Mariano Rivera had another scoreless inning allowing a hit with 2 strikeouts. Mark Melancon got the save with a perfect ninth inning, he had 2 strikeouts. The Yankees didn't score a lot of runs but they did what they needed to do. Nick Johnson had a hit and a walk. A-rod was 2-3 with 2 rbi, I think his hip is good as he had a rbi triple in the game. Robinson Cano was 1-1 with a rbi and Francisco Cervelli was 1-1. Curtis Granderson was 1-2 with a walk and Nick Swisher was 1-3. Brett Gardner was also 1-3. The Yankees will play the Baltimore Orioles tomorrow afternoon at 1:00PM, the game is not on TV. Here are some of the pregame notes that came out of the media session with Joe Girardi. Chad Jennings had all the information at http://yankees.lhblogs.com

• Joe Girardi said that they haven't made a decision on the 5th starter yet. He said he isn't sure if they will announce it tomorrow either. He said he is meeting with the staff tonight. He said he thinks that everyone has a feeling but that he wants to listen to their opinions before he formulates a decision. He said it is the right thing to do. I agree with him but I think it will be pretty unanimous for Phil Hughes.

• He said that he hasn't decided on Granderson in center either although he was there tonight. Joel Sherman tweeted that this decision was made and I believe him but Girardi said this isn't the case. Maybe they didn't tell the players yet and that is why he is saying that. I would guess it will be Granderson though with Gardner in left. It is easier to move him out of left and get someone else if he doesn't perform.

• Girardi said the only other decisions are should they carry a second lefty in the pen? Who is going to be the right handed bat off of the bench? I don't see who else it would be other then Marcus Thames unless a wild card makes it but I doubt it. I don't think they will carry the second lefty with Mitre, Aceves going to the pen.

• This is what Girardi said about Doc Goodens arrest "Your heart goes out to him, I don't have any details, that is the first I have heard of it, but your heart goes out to him. He was a great teammate. Doc and I will always be linked because we played on a championship team and had a no-hitter together. If you didn't know it was the 1996 season. I loved playing with Doc, he was great to be around and a great teammate. You hope that everything is ok."

• Alfredo Aceves will start the game tomorrow with Amaury Sanit, Dave Robertson, Chan Ho Park, Sergio Mitre and Zack Segovia all scheduled to make the trip. Almost all position players are making the trip, the only ones who aren't going are Curtis Granderson, Jorge Posada, Mike Rivera and Brett Gardner.

Grapefruit League Game 20- Astros at Mets

The New York Mets take on the Houston Astros at 1:10PM today from Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie. Here is todays lineup and scheduled pitchers. Mets Lineup: Pagan(CF) Castillo(2B) Wright(3B) Bay(LF) Murphy(1B) Francoeur(RF) Cora(SS) Barajas(C) Santana(P) Jon Niese, Francisco Rodriguez, Pat Misch, Sean Green and Elmer Dessens are scheduled to pitch behind Santana. Jose Reyes was back this morning, he was working out with the team, taking grounders etc. Doc Gooden was arrested yesterday for DUI, this is a sad thing. He just can never seem to get his life together. He was such a promising prospect so long ago with the Mets and never kept up his status because of his substance abuse problems. He later was with the Yankees and had some good moments and then after baseball continues to get himself in trouble. I will have more on Jose Reyes later on today. According to Joel Sherman of the NY Post he believes that the Mets are shopping Gary Matthews Jr., the Reds may be a possibility.

Spring Game 35: Phillies at Yankees

The Yankees will be flying home tonight, I can see this being a quick game as the players will be anxious to get out of dodge and head home to NY. CC Sabathia makes his final tuneup today and will tone it down a little before starting Monday in the first game of the season. Xavier Nady was a late scratch for precautionary reasons after being hit on the elbow yesterday. The Yankees are bringing some extra guys to NY for the exhibitions with the Cubs. MO already flew ahead of the team and Joba will be meeting them in NY from Nebraska where he pleaded guilty today on his DUI charge and got probation. The only thing left to be settled before opening day is Ramiro Pena or Angel Berroa going to be the backup infielder at least until Arod gets back. I will be back later with the recap and I have some other things I am thinking of. There is no TV or radio of this game and it really doesn't matter. The two games will be on YES against the Cubs with a pregame starting it off on friday at 6, for anyone going to the games the gates will be open 3 hours ahead of time, i will be heading out at 10:00am for the game saturday. Spring Game 35: Phillies at Yankees Posted using ShareThis

Joba Chamberlain

I thank Peter Abraham of the Journal news for giving me this idea. Joba Chamberlain and Jon Lester will be appearing together at a function at Sacred Heart University on Tuesday January 27,2009. It will be interesting to see if Joba is the same guy or if he has changed since his DUI arrest. I think he will be the same guy but maybe a little less cocky. I like Joba a lot and he is super important to the Yankees future, in time he will be one of their aces. I met him right before he came up to the Yankees down in Trenton and he was just wonderful. He stayed and signed every autograph, it took probably a good hour. He chatted to everyone, i even told him we will see you soon in NY and he said I hope so. He was just a great kid and it was wonderful meeting him. I think back to me when i was his age without the spotlight on me. What dumb things did I do, im sure many of you can think the same thing, so lets hope he learns from this and is able to just go out there and pitch and help the Yanks win a world series. I welcome your thoughts on this topic and see what everyone else thinks about this?