Yankees News and Game Recap

The New York Yankees lost to the Minnesota Twins this afternoon by the score of 4-2. Phil Hughes got the start and started out rocky but then was good the rest of the way. He pitched 4 2/3 innings giving up 6 hits and 3 runs. He walked 1 and struckout 5. Boone Logan faced one batter and struck him out. Joba Chamberlain pitched a perfect inning, Dave Robertson pitched 1 inning giving up 2 hits and 1 run. Chan Ho Park pitched a perfect inning with 2 strikeouts. Park has been really impressive this spring not allowing a run. Royce Ring pitched a inning with a walk. Derek Jeter was 1-3 today, Alex Rodriguez hit a solo homerun and Ramiro Pena was 1-3. Juan Miranda had a great day going 3-3 with a rbi. That was all the offense the Yankees were able to produce. A-rod looks really explosive and ready to go, Jeter has been getting hot which is a good sign also. I think it is the time when everyone is just ready to go including me. I am ready to write about some real games. Here are some notes from today: Francisco Cervelli felt something in his hamstring. The Yankees are being cautious and don't want him to run so he won't play in a game until Saturday. Phil Hughes pitched better then his line would indicate today. The first inning he had 2 outs and then 4 straight batters reached base. He said it was his curveball which he couldn't bury in the dirt. He was pretty pleased with his outing though, he threw 88 pitches and 61 were strikes. Teixeira is ok, he will play tomorrow according to Joe Girardi. He said he saw him after his cage work and he felt ok. Joe Girardi said that Alfredo Aceves is on target for friday but they will check on him tomorrow to make sure he is ok. Girardi will announce who his CF is tomorrow, he said "You can make an assumption." This is when he was asked if todays lineup was an indication? Girardi said yesterday that Joba was unlikely to pitch back-to-back days but he is on the traveling roster for tomorrow along with Chan Ho Park and Dave Robertson. Girardi said that "If the situation arises I will do it. I would like to see it." Here is what Girardi had to say about Joba "Throwing a lot of strikes, His slider has been better." The Yankees want to make sure that Alfredo Aceves is healthy before they settle on their opening day bullpen. Girardi said they want to watch a couple of more days, that they are leaning one way but in fairness to the guys they all have pitched pretty well and you want to see everything. Derek Jeter, Francisco Cervelli and Alex Rodriguez wont make the trip tomorrow to Dunedin to face the Blue Jays. The game is at 1:05PM.

Catching Up With Yankees News

The Pitchers for today were as follows: Melancon,Tomko,Hacker,Brackman,De La Rosa,Claggett,Jackson. The other group was: Hughes,Wang,Sabathia,Marte,Aceves,Ramirez CC was talking to some of the beat writers today and informed them that he is a Oakland Raiders fan. He played tight end in high school and was recruited by UCLA and Cal but was going to go to Hawaii because they were willing to let him play both baseball and football. "Then I got picked in the first round," he said. Mark Melancon was very impressive today according to Peter Abraham of the Journal News and http://yankees.lhblogs.com. He watched him pitch today to Derek Jeter,Robbie Cano, Austin Jackson and Austine Romine. He said his fastball was as advertised, he also threw five curveballs with 4 of them being strikes, its a big curve. He threw 30 pitches in all. The Yankees were very careful with him last year coming off of Tommy John surgery but he is now ready to be unleashed. I really think he has a good chance of making it out of spring training and if not he will be up by the end of the year, this kid has the tools and the makeup and may be the closer post MO.v Edwar Ramirez cut short his bullpen today due to a sore right shoulder. If this is seious at all which is too early to say then guys like Melancon and Robertson are going to have a really good chance at making it. The Grapefruit league begins on Wednesday for the Yankees and the pitchers for the first four games are set up as follows: Wednesday-Brett Tomko, Thursday-Phil Hughes,Friday-Ian Kennedy,Saturday-Joba Chamberlain. The main pitchers will be held back until late next week. Jorge Posada really liked what he saw from Melancon. He said his fastball had a late cut and that was what was leading to the swing and misses today. Posada also liked his curveball. He also said that Eric Hacker is a guy to keep an eye on, he throws 95 and its easy, very impressive. Derek Jeter has some hamstring soreness, it doesn't appear to be a big deal. I wouldn't worry about anything like this at this point, it really is no big deal, a lot of these muscles are being used now like they haven't been in a while.