Regular Season Game 8-Yankees Vs Angels

Here are the pregame notes. Some of these are from Chad Jennings who was in the clubhouse this morning. He works for the Journal News and also has the great Lohud Yankees Blog. I apologize that the game posts are backwards, the second one appears first and then the first one second. Robinson Cano has hit safely in all 7 games this season. Nick Johnson was the first Yankee to go at least 6 seasons in between homeruns yesterday since Ruben Sierra did it. He hit one in 1996 and then not again until 2003. Dave Robertson was his usual self in the clubhouse today. He has a short memory which is what you need as a reliever. He gave up a grand slam yesterday but said today is a new day. I didn't realize it yesterday but Nick Swisher was given a fake ring and was shocked to see it but wore it the whole time. Mariano Rivera gave him the real thing after the ceremony. Joe Girardi said that Vazquez was rushing in his first start which caused his arm slot to drop and "his fastball was running too much back across the middle of the plate." Joe Girardi said he is excited to see Phil Hughes on the mound tomorrow night. "I think he is much more physically and mentally prepared." He was talking about now as compared to 2008. Joe Girardi at the end of his press conference was asked how many rings he would like to win and said, Yogi has 10 and I am sure he would like to win another. He was basically saying as many as he can. It is the Yankee way to always want more and keep trying to win which is good to see that there is no complacency.

A Year Later and A Different A-rod

Alex Rodriguez was under a tent last year in Tampa admitting his steroid use. He went through a very difficult press conference and then had to go to Colorado to have surgery and rehab his hip. He came back to the Yankees on May 8th and was a different person buying into the team concept. He went on to become a World Series Champion and playoff hero and now he was under the tent again this year in a very different press conference. Today was all about how last year was, how he has changed. He said he will continue to do the things he did last year and just focus on baseball. He said the taste of being a champion only leaves him hunger for more. Here are some of the quotes from his press conference today " I kind of divorced myself from the idea of numbers." This is what he said on Johnny Damon "I was just crossing my fingers, hoping he would come back." This is what he said about Derek Jeter " He was born to be a Yankee." The full audio of the press conference can be found at http://yankees.lhblogs.com/ It can also be heard at http://mlb.com/ and http://yankees.com/ The springs first live batting practices were today and basically the pitchers called out the pitches and location and for the most part the hitters just stood there. Here are the pitchers who threw batting practice and the 2 groups they were in. Field 1: Chad Guadin, Sergio Mitre,Jon Albaladejo, Royce Ring, Grant Duff and Arias Field 2: Alfredo Aceves,Jason Hirsch,Dave Robertson,Segovia,Sanchez and Sanit. They tried to mix up the outfield assignments for instance both Brett Gardner and Curtis Granderson were in LF. Ramiro Pena was at second. CC Sabathia will start the second spring training game. One of the 5th starter candidates will start the opener and it won't be Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes according to Joe Girardi. He made that announcement today so it will be Chad Gaudin, Sergio Mitre or Alfredo Aceves.

Yankees Hold First Full Squad Workout

The New York Yankees held their first full squad workout today. The day started with Derek Jeter addressing the media. It went basically as expected with the majority of the questions being about him being in the last year of his contract. He said that this will be the only time he will talk about it all season, he won't mention it again until after the season is over. He stated this is always where he wanted to be and that is still the same. He said he can't worry about next year because he is worried about this year and what he has to do to help the team win. I know everyone wants to talk about it but it will never be an issue, the Yankees and Jeter will always be synonomous together and this will be taken care of very easily after the season is over. The workouts went pretty much as you would expect. There was 8 groups of players for batting practice, there was fielding practice and there were a few pitches who threw bullpens. Tomorrow live batting practice will begin. Joe Girardi said he expected it to get louder with the position players being around. The problem is Nick Swisher who may be the most rowdy and fun player forgot a plug to his IPOD, he said don't worry he will have it for tomorrow. Tomorrow A-rod will meet with the media in the morning. Curtis Granderson had a few things to say today. He said that he has to prepare for the roll call, " I have got to prepare for that, I got to talk to these guys to understand the full logic and understanding and concept of it all to make sure I don't mess it up." It is still a get to know you time for Granderson and he said " It is kind of like the first day of school all over again. There are a bunch of names that if you quiz me right now, I might forget them." Joe Girardi said he is very pleasant and a hard worker. He just seems like a real quality person. I will have more information later on tonight about the batting practice pairings and bullpens etc. so check back for more later. It is almost time for the games to begin and then we can really start getting into the baseball season.

Yankees sign Chan Ho Park and Damon formally introduced in Detroit

The New York Yankees have signed right handed pitcher Chan Ho Park. He played for the Phillies last season and Brian Cashman said he had been talking to his agent all winter long. He is being signed as a bullpen guy and will receive 1.2 million for one year. It is a move that came out of nowhere and is a little curious because of all the guys the Yankees have like Alfredo Aceves, Chad Gaudin, Sergio Mitre and the younger guys. Cashman said you can never have enough pitching even though he wouldn't specifically say that Park has signed. I guess he is right in that you can never have enough pitching and he pitched well out of the pen for the Phillies but it still is a curious move. I am guessing that Sergio Mitre will be the one to go now but I guess we will see what happens. They have to clear a 40 man spot before Park can be officially signed. Johnny Damon is about to be introduced as a Detroit Tiger at 2:00PM. He signed with Detroit for one year and 8 million. The Yankees had offered him 2 yrs and 14 million, he said all along he wanted to stay but he badly overplayed his hand and this is what happened, they were the last team standing that even offered him anything. I guess he decided there is nothing else left to wait for I just have to take this deal and hope it works out. I think Damons power numbers will go down in spacious Comerica Park and his defense which isn't great to begin with will also be hurting in that park but I like him and wish him well. I just think he made a dumb move and it will end up costing him.

New York Mets suffer another blow

It was a very quiet day and I was planning on writing a little bit about basketball and hockey. Then tonight rumors started spreading around Twitter that Carlos Beltran was hurt and what do you know now it is being confirmed. I will thank twitter for this as many have confirmed now that Carlos Beltran did have some kind of procedure on his knee today. It looks like he did it on his own without the Mets permission and they are going to hold a conference call or press conference tomorrow. He was not happy with the Mets last season, thinking they handled his injury wrong and he kept playing when he shouldn't have. His knee was not getting any better this offseason and the pain came back so he went to get it taken care of on his own. It looks like it was just a clean out but some are saying it was micro fracture surgery. The Mets just can't get out of their own way, it is like there is a big black cloud over them. He is not going to be able to do any baseball activity for 12 weeks. This is 3 months which brings us to the start of the season meaning he will miss spring training. I wouldn't expect him back anytime before May at the earliest and if the Mets are saying 12 weeks that probably means about 5 or 6 months so this could be really bad. What should the Mets do?? I would love to hear from the Mets fans as to if this is a crippling blow?? Can the Mets handle this? Is this the worst of the core players or the best in terms of having to lose someone?? I want to hear your thoughts on this topic and whatever else Mets you want to discuss.

Granderson press conference and more news

Curtis Granderson was officially introduced as a Yankee today in a 11AM press conference. The first thing I noticed about him is wow he is well spoken and very smart. He really does seem like a great guy like everyone says and will fit in the clubhouse well. He is going to wear #14 which is half of 28 but the reason he picked it is because it was his high school number. Joe Girardi will wear #28 but said he would check with Granderson to make sure it is ok, Granderson was asked about it and said he is fine with the number he has. A-rod and CC Sabathia were also in attendance with Brian Cashman the Yankees GM and owner Hal Steinbrenner. I find it amazing how Cashman says a lot without saying anything. Hal Steinbrenner did say that although the Yankees do have a budget and are trying to stick to it that that could change if they felt they needed to make and extra move or a move that would put them over, I wonder if they are in on Matt Holliday and no one knows just like with Big Tex last year. A-rod said at the press conference that he went to see his doctor in Colorado on Sunday and Monday and that he doesn't need any further surgery. He is going to step up his offseason conditioning program and will be working out with Granderson and Tex with Kevin Long starting on Jan 4th in Miami. Nick Johnson appears to have signed a deal, George King of the NY Post was the first one to report this and it will be for 1 yr 5.5 million when it is official. He will serve as the primary DH but can also play first base. I think this pretty much means Johnny Damon is done as a Yankee. I wonder if the Yankees will just go after pitching now and put Melky in left? I would doubt it but they could live with that.

New York Mets create a mess again

I really didn't want to have to do this as I don't hate them and I really don't want to trash them but the Mets hit a new low today. I know they have won 3 in a row which is great but Omar Minaya in his press conference today to announce the firing of Tony Bernezard just really embarrassed the Mets organization by ripping into NY Daily News Mets beat reporter Adam Rubin. He accused him of taking down Bernezard with his stories about the minor league scene when he challenged them to a fight because basically he wanted his job and when Rubin asked him in the press conference if that is what he was accusing him of he tried talk his way out of it. This was very vindictive and wrong for Minaya to do and may be the beginning of the end for him. I don't know if it was his idea or management told him to do it but anyway you slice it, this will be the story all over the papers tomorrow and not in a good way. If you missed this and you are a Mets fan or just a baseball fan in general check out the press conference and also Rubins response later on over at SNY.com. I really can't believe this went on today, it seems like even when the Mets do something right they still manage to do something wrong at the same time.

A-Rod audio from today

Here is the audio from Arods press conference today courtesy of Peter Abraham of the lohud yankees blog http://yankees.lhblogs.com. Thanks for having this information. I was going to try and transcribe some of it but you can just listen to it. A-Rod audio from today Posted using ShareThis

The Circus about To Begin

Hey everyone the Arod Press Conference is coming in about 10 minutes. There are over 100 media types there, waiting to grill him. Many of his teammates and coaches will be on hand as well as Hank Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman. Derek Jeter said he isn't going to speak until tomorrow. There is talk Arod may donate some money to kids or whatever, hopefully he says as much as he can and gets it all out there and it slowly goes away. I will be back later with some stuff and reaction, everyone enjoy the circus.