The Day in Mets Camp

Here is a list of Mets pitchers for the intrasquad game on Monday, the first exhibition game will be on Tuesday. There is also a list for the first 3 exhibition games. March 1-Egbert,Everts,Blackley,Niese,Stoner,Dickey,Mejia March 2 vs Atlanta-Figueroa,Takahashi,Parnell,Dessens March 3 at Atlanta-Misch,Feliciano March 4 vs St. Louis-Dickey,Stoner Jerry Manuel said today that he doesn't believe that Kelvim Escobar will be able to contribute at the beginning of the year and may start it on the disabled list. He didn't rule out that he could start with the team but he hasn't even thrown off a mound yet, nevermind even throwing BP or in a game. There are some good pictures and video as always on Matthew Cerrones Metsblog.com which can be found at http://metsblog.com

Daniel Murphy and Keith Hernandez

The New York Mets are committed to having Daniel Murphy play first base with Fernando Tatis being his caddy. The Mets made a good decision as they have now enlisted Keith Hernandez to tutor him. Keith Hernandez is arguably the best fielding first baseman ever. I would argue it because my favorite player of all time is Don Mattingly, that was the great debate of the 1980's. Those of us who grew up in that time would go back and forth on it if you were on opposite sides of the fence. The New York Mets should of got him to help last year but it is better late then never. The other good thing is that Keith Hernandez is a broadcaster for the team so he sees what is going on from upstairs and definitely has an eye for what can be done. I think Daniel Murphy actually did a pretty good job at first base after just bombing out in the outfield. I don't know if he will ever be a legitimate first baseman but at this point it is best to try and find out and get as much help as possible for the young man. Mookie Wilson who is one of the most beloved Mets of all time is back with the organization. He excepted a position as the minor league outfield and base running coordinator. The Mets avoided arbitration with Angel Pagan who most likely will be the opening day centerfielder. He agreed to a one year deal worth 1.45 million. The Mets also are close to a minor league deal with Mike Jacobs who played with the Royals last season. He batted 228 with 19 homeruns and 61 rbi's last season.

Twins stay alive with victory over Tigers

The Minnesota Twins stayed alive this afternoon with a 8-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers. The Twins are 2 games out with 3 to go so it is still a long shot but they have a shot anyway. The Twins head home to take on Kansas City and the Tigers will take on the White Sox at home. There was an interesting twist to the game today, in the ninth inning Delmon Young got hit by a pitch and apparantly was unhappy with his own teammate who caused this all by hitting a Tiger earlier in the game. Delmon Young got up off the ground and pointed at his own dugout and manager Ron Gardenhire said that the pitcher did the wrong thing also. The Yankees hope this goes down to the final day so the pitching rotations will be all messed up and the best scenario is if they tie and have to play a game on Tuesday to see who will play the Yankees starting on Wednesday.

Yankees at Angels

The Yankees beat the Angels 6-5 last night, scoring a run in the ninth inning on a sacrifice fly by Alex Rodriguez. The Yankees clinched a playoff spot last night. They lead the Red Sox by six games in the American League East and the Angels by 5.5 games in the pursuit for home-field advantage. The Yankees would love to win today and have a 3-3 roadtrip and also win a series in Anaheim which would be a miracle. Here are the pregame notes and hopefully I will have the lineup later via Peter Abraham The Yankees are 2-3 on a road trip that ends today. The Yankees have 231 home runs with 10 games left. The team record is 242. That was set in 2004. Alex Rodriguez has 89 RBI this season. 33 of them have come from the seventh inning on with 14 of those either tying the score or giving the Yankees the lead. A-Rod has 67 homers and 151 RBI on 171 career games against the Angels. He has homered in each of the first two games of the series. Hideki Matsui has four home runs in his last six games and 12 RBI in his last nine. Derek Jeter has stolen 27 bases, the most since he swiped 34 in 2006. A.J. Burnett pitched well against Seattle on Friday, allowing one run in seven innings. He he is 1-5 with a 5.60 ERA since Aug. 1. Scott Kazmir is 6-4, 2.53 in 14 appearances against the Yankees in his career. He allowed four runs on 11 hits in 13.2 innings against the Yankees this season while with Tampa Bay. He is 1-1, 1.42 in four starts with the Angels since being traded.

Yanks win 7th in a row

The New York Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays tonight by the score of 10-5. Chad Gaudin got the start and after being staked to a 5-0 lead he did not do a good job, he should of been able to give the team at least 5 innings against a bad team but was only able to go 3 2/3 giving up 3 runs. Alfredo Aceves came in to get out of further trouble and then pitched a couple of more innings only giving up a solo homerun. Dave Robertson, Brian Bruney and Damaso Marte all pitched a scoreless inning, Marte and Robertson had a couple of strikeouts each. The Yankees offense continues to roll as they scored 10 runs for the second straight game and they have scored 8+ runs pretty regularly lately. Jorge Posada was the offensive star with 4 hits and a couple of rbi's. A-rod continued to be hot as he had a solo homerun and rbi single along with a walk. Hideki Matsui had a hit, rbi and walk and Mark Teixeira had a hit and a walk. Melky Cabrera had a couple of more hits to continue his hot hitting. The Yankees are on such a roll now you never think they are going to lose or are out of the game. The amazing thing about them is they jump out to a lead and when the other team gets close they come right back and pad the lead and close it out with their strong bullpen. If this team can get A.J. Burnett going they could be very very difficult to beat with CC and Andy Pettitte going strong and it looks like they will have Coke and Marte along with Phil Hughes and Robertson to get to MO. The Yankees will play game 2 tomorrow with Joba on the mound and the intrigue continues with that as we don't know how many innings he will pitch but I would suspect 4 since he pitched 3 the last time out.

The Derek Jeter problem

The New York Yankees have a upcoming issue with Derek Jeter. I am sure most of you are thinking what is this guy nuts, how could there be a problem when he is having one of his best seasons all around. The problem is this Derek isn't getting any younger, his contract is up at the end of next year. I would not expect a older Derek Jeter to play SS if his range is severely limited and he just can't play there anymore. Most SS that were offensive players also moved to another position, it is just too physically demanding of a position to stay there, Cal Ripken, Robin Yount and others moved. The problem is this Derek Jeter is not a willing participant if you read some of his comments he is hinting at it. Peter Abraham on his Yankees Lohud Blog had a quote from Jeter where he said he jokes around with Joe Girardi about being a DH in 5 years but then when asked by Peter Abraham could you see a 41 yr old Jeter at DH, he smiled and said you could see a 41 yr old Jeter at SS. The sunday NY post always has a Q and A with a sports star and a few weeks back it was with Jeter and he also said in there that he never thinks about another position because he is a SS and that is where he intends on staying. The problem for the Yankees is this, Derek Jeter is their captain he is beloved and should never be anything other then a Yankee so they may have to do whatever he wants not only with the postion but also his contract but they also have to do what is best for their organization and what they think will be most conducive to them winning. This is going to be a very hard thing to go through and I wouldn't want to be the one to have to go talk to Derek Jeter, stay tuned for the drama.

Some Yankee Notes

Good morning all, I forgot to put these notes last night. I guess I can start with Mariano Rivera who gave up his first run last night since June 12th, it had to happen eventually but he still converted his 29th straight save. Brett Gardner had his cast removed and hopes to be back in a cou ple of weeks, they miss his speed that is for sure. He adds a different element to the team. It appears that Chad Gaudin will start in Joba Chamberlains spot on Sunday, if this does happen then part of the plan would be to skip Joba when they can. Sergio Mitre will start on Saturday, this is interesting though because then two days in a row you have questionable pitching but it is in Seattle and they probably figure they can outhit them. A.J. Burnett is still giving, he is taking the original WWE belt they have and having everyone on the team sign it. He then is going to auction it off and all the proceeds will be going to Camp Sundown. If you don't remember those are the kids with the rare condition where they can't be in light and they came to the game and then had the carnival until 3AM on the last homestand. What a great job by A.J. not only has he pitched well and stayed on the field he has shown to be a good person and teammate also.

Yankees at Red Sox

The Yankees will finally try and beat the Sox tonight in a very important game in lots of ways. The Yankees want to keep first place first of all, they need to get a win against the Bosox and its huge for Wang. I don't really feel good about this game but I hope the Yankees can hit the knuckler and they better run all day when they get on base no excuses for not running wild on him. Here are the pregame notes and lineup from Peter Abraham's Lohud Yankees Blog. This is the 33rd start Wakefield has had against the Yankees, he is 10-17 against them with a 5.03 era. He has more losses to the Yankees then any other team. Derek Jeter has 423 doubles and needs one more to tie Babe Ruth for fourth place in team history. The Yankees have at least on error in their past 7 games, this is weird to me after setting the record for most games without one. Melky is 4 for 28 since missing time with a shoulder injury. Jose Veras has pitched 23 2/3 innings this year putting 38 runners on base. He has given up 3 homeruns in his last 4 1/3 innings. The Yankees have hit at least one boston batter wiht a pitch in all 6 games this season and in nine straight dating back to last season. Boston's bullpen has allowed one earned run in the last 17 1/3 innings. Yankees lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Big Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Cano(2B) Posada(C) Matsui(DH) Swisher(RF) Cabrera(CF)

Rays at Yankees

The New York Yankees take on the Tampa Bay Rays tonight at 7:00PM. Here are the pregame notes and lineup via Peter Abraham's Lohud Yankees Blog. The Yankees with a win tonight will have won 8 of their last 9 series. Andy Pettitte is tied with CC Sabathia for the team lead in wins with 5, he hopes he takes the lead tonight. He has been bothered by a bad back and given up a lot of hits and walks his last couple of starts but somehow survived, he is hoping to do better tonight though. Andy Sonnanstine has given up 78 hits and 16 walks in 56 innings this year. He is 3-1 with a 6.75 era in his last 4 starts which is an improvement. The Yankees need to make him throw pitches and hit the good ones they get. The Yankees have committed an error in 5 straight games. The Yankees are 17-11 at home after starting out so-so there. The best thing about the Yankees this year is their never say die attitude. They lead baseball with 20 come from behind wins and have won 11 games in their last at bat which leads the American league. The Yankees are 20-0 when holding opponents to 3 runs or less. They are the only team undefeated in this category, so if the Yankees get the pitching which they do more often then not they will win. If they ever get Wang going watch out with him CC and AJ and Andy and Joba on the backend that is a great staff. I think Joba is getting better and better and him being upset with his 6th inning yesterday is a good sign of that because he felt he should of gone at least 7. Nick Swisher has 11 homeruns, he did not get that until June 30th of last year. I love Swishers personality and intensity but Nady is just a better player and Swisher can really help this team coming off the bench and playing outfield and first base when guys need a rest. It will be interesting to see what happens when Nady does come back. Yankees lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Big Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Cano(2B) Posada(C) Matsui(DH) Swisher(RF) Cabrera(CF)

Yanks win rubber match

The Yankees won the rubber match of the 3 game series with Baltimore thus winning the series 2 games to 1. They won today's game by a score of 5-3, once again Joba struggled in the first inning giving up a 3 run homerun to Aubrey Huff but was great after that throwing 5 more scoreless innings. Phil Coke came in to pitch the seventh and eighth giving up 0 runs and Mo slammed the door shut giving up a walk in the ninth but thats all. Johnny Damon was the star for the offense hitting a 3 run homerun to give them the lead that they didn't relinquish. Mark Teixeira had a solo homerun, A-rod a single. Francisco Cervelli had a infield hit and so did Derek Jeter setting up Johnny Damon's heroics. Robinson Cano had 2 hits and a rbi and Nick Swisher had a hit. The Yankees will now travel to Toronto for a 3 game set beginning Tuesday with A.J. Burnett vs Roy Halladay. They have tomorrow off which is good for them. Chien-Ming Wang will make a rehab start in Scranton on Tuesday scheduled to throw 100 pitches and if he does well could rejoin the team after that but we will see.

Yankees crushed again

The Yankees could not start a winning streak tonight as Phil Hughes just got bombed giving up 8 runs in 1 1/3 innings. Edwar Ramirez came in next and he just isn't any good, you just have to sit fastball or changeup with him and if you guess right you can crush it. I don't understand how you ship Mark Melancon and Dave Robertson back to AAA and have Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez still on the team. How is Angel Berroa also on the team with Ramiro Pena, just doesn't make much sense. I was wondering and I am sure so was everyone else if you have Alfredo Aceves as the long man why didn't you bring him in tonight and not only after Phil Hughes got bombed but while it was like 4-0 and you still had a chance well guess what Joba Chamberlain popped a blood vessel in his pitching thumb and they don't know if they will need Alfredo Aceves to pitch tomorrow for him therefore they had no choice last night. It is unreal how this team has gone through injuries and had 10 games where they have allowed 10 or more runs. They should have the best starting pitching in the league or one of the best and they just aren't getting it done, I am sure they will get it together soon but will it be too late is the question?? Hopefully Joba will be fine tomorrow pitch a good game, they can score some runs early and hold on and win a series have a good off day and head off to Toronto. The Yankees now have to go on a run and win like 11 out of 16 and this is the time to do it. They are not facing a tough schedule right now and need to take advantage.

Game 2: Yankees at Orioles

UPDATE 5:42PM- I should of mentioned this before but Dan Giese got picked up off waivers by the Oakland A's, good luck to Dan. The Yankees lineup for tonight is the same as opening day. Jeter(ss) Damon(lf) Teixera(1b) Matsui(dh) Posada(c) Cano(2b) Nady(rf) Ransom(3b) Gardner(cf) Wang gets the start and is on the mound for the first time since last June when he got hurt in Houston rounding third base. He is 3-1 with a 5.13 era in 8 starts against the O's in his career and 2-0 with a 4.20 era in 4 starts at Camden Yards. Robinson Cano for only the 13th time in his career walked twice on Monday. The Yankees on their opening day roster had players that come from 7 other countries, the only team with more was Atlanta which had 8. The Yankees have 12 foreign born players tied with the Mets and Red Sox for 2nd most in the majors only trailing Seattle who has 15. These stats come via Peter Abraham and his blog. The Elias Sports Bureau had a interesting stat, on Monday Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera became the first trio of Yankees to play in 15 straight seasons(1995-2009). Enjoy the game, I will be back later with some reaction, comments, opinions. Hopefully Wang will get the team back on track before some people jump off a bridge.

Spring Game 20: Phillies at Yankees

Joba will try and keep it going today. Nick Swisher is playing 1b today and this is his biggest assett to the team, that he can play multiple positions, I think both he and Nady will get plenty of playing time. We will start seeing the regulars playing more as more and more guys head to minor league camp. The MRI's for Marte and Cano revealed no structural damage which is a sigh of relief. They will rest, and I am sure we will find out later for how long. Spring Game 20: Phillies at Yankees Posted using ShareThis

Yanks Vs Team USA

The New York Yankees took on Team USA today in Tampa. It doesn't really matter and I am sure no one cares but this game didn't count in the grapefruit league standings and the stats don't count. Derek Jeter took on his team and had a 2 rbi single against Phil Hughes to knock him out of the game. Phil Hughes looked good pitching 2 2/3 innings giving up 3 hits, 2 of them were bloopers and even jeters hit was basically a seeing eye single. He seems to have his fastball back to where it should be and his curveball looked great today. He walked none and struck out 2. He did hit a batter again but it barely skimmed him, he is obviously throwing inside on 0-1 counts and his control will get better but like I said he has barely hit these guys. Phil Coke pitched great today throwing 2 1/3 innings of 1 hit, o run ball. He had no walks and 2 strikeouts. I don't see how there is any chance that Coke won't be in the bullpen for this team to start the year. You have to remember these guys were basically facing a all star lineup that was in the game the whole time, no scrubs on Team USA, they faced Jeter, Pedroia,Chipper Jones,Youkilis,Adam Dunn,Wright etc. Eric Hacker was the only Yankee pitcher that didn't pitch well, he had a terrible day not recording an out and giving up 4 runs on 2 hits and 2 walks. Mike Dunn pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up 0 hits, 1 walk and 3k's followed by David Robertson who pitched 1 1/3 innings of no hit ball with 1 walk and 2k's. Jose Veras finished it off pitching 1 inning with 1 walk and 2 k's. The Yankees did lose the game 6-5. The offense side of the ball little brett gardner really wants to be the CF going 3-3 with a sb, Jorge Posada continued his hot spring going 2-3 with a rbi. Cody Ransom in his bid for the utility infielder role went 2-3. Nick Swisher was 1-2 with 2rbi and Nady was 1-3 in the battle for RF. The Yankees travel to Disney tomorrow to take on the Atlanta Braves, Ian Kennedy will get the start.

Alex Rodriguez Off To Dominican Team

Alex Rodriguez met with MLB investigators last night in Tampa for two hours. He was cooperative according to a MLB press release. He was expected in Jupiter last night and will work out with the Dominican team today in preparation for the start of the WBC. The WBC is starting on thursday and will be covered on the MLB network.