Grapefruit League Game 24-Nationals at Mets

The New York Mets will host the Washington Nationals at Digital Domain Park this afternoon at 1:00PM on WPIX. Hisanori Takahashi is making the start for the Mets and Francisco Rodriguez, Bobby Parnell, Sean Green, Ryota Igarashi and Kiko Calero are also scheduled to pitch today also. I don't have the Mets lineup for today and I am not going to have it up as I have other obligations. Here are some gamenotes though. The Mets have hit 30 homeruns on the spring which is tied with the Cincinatti Reds for first in the NL. The Mets are meeting the Nationals for the 4th time of 6 meetings this spring. The Mets have won 2 of the 3 meetings so far. Fernando Martinez is 3rd in the grapefruit league with a 413 average. David Wright is tied for fifth with 4 homeruns. Remember he hit 10 all of last season so this is a good sign. Angel Pagan is tied for the lead with 4 stolen bases. The game is on WPIX, enjoy the game and I will have a recap and some notes later on this evening.

Mets lose to Nats

The New York Mets lost to the Washington Nationals this afternoon by the score of 7-5. Mike Pelfrey started for the Mets and wasn't too good. He pitched 4 2/3 innings and gave up 7 hits, 6 runs, 5 of them were earned. He also had 1 walk and 3 strikeouts, he gave up 4 homeruns. Jenrry Mejia pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up 1 hit, 0 runs and 1 walk. Ryota Igarashi pitched 1 inning giving up 2 hits, 1 run and 2 walks. Bobby Parnell pitched 1 inning giving up 2 hits, 0 runs and 0 walks or strikeouts. Chris Carter led the offense again going 3-5, Ruben Tejada and Jeff Francouer each had a hit. Russ Adams had a hit and Henry Blanco had 2 hits and a rbi. The Mets will take on the Braves at Tradition Field tomorrow at 1:10PM, the game is on SNY and ESPN. The buzz today on talk radio here in NY was that Daniel Murphy has won the job at first base and Mike Jacobs feels he is the better player. Jacobs has better numbers in the spring and more experience but the Mets appear committed to having Murphy start.

Yanks Game Rained Out

The New York Yankees game scheduled for this afternoon has been rained out. I will be back later with more information regarding the pitchers and what they will do with them. This is the 3rd game this spring rained out for the Yankees.

Yanks Fall to Astros

The New York Yankees lost to the Houston Astros today by the score of 6-4. Alfredo Aceves got the start and for the first time this spring he struggled. He pitched 4 1/3 innings giving up 5 hits and 5 runs with 1 walk and 2 strikeouts. His numbers do look a little worse then he pitched though. Most of the damage was done at the end of his outing but this clearly was his worst start of the spring. Mark Melancon pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up 2 hits and a run with a strikeout. Boone Logan pitched another scoreless inning, he did give up a hit and he had a strikeout. Brett Gardner had a couple of hits, one of them was a bunt single. The bunt hit was his 3rd of the spring, he had 2 all of last season. He has been hitting well lately and has his spring average up to 281, if he can hit like that then he will be a starting outfielder on this team. Mark Teixeira had a hit and walk and Alex Rodriguez continues to heat up as he had 2 hits and 2 rbi. Greg Golson and David Winfree each had a hit and Robinson Cano had a hit and rbi. Francisco Cervelli, Jon Weber, Kevin Russo, Ramiro Pena, Mike Rivera and Reid Gorecki all had a hit. The Yankees will host the Detroit Tigers tomorrow afternoon at 1:00PM on the YES network. Here are some postgame notes from today: Joe Girardi on the 5th starter competition being such a big topic "I think people are interested that is why, because once that is set, you iron out your bullpen from there. There's a lot kind of up in the air because you don't know who's in your bullpen because of the 5th starter spot. I'm not really suprised by the attention." The other competition is for the last roster spot and it is between Marcus Thames and Jaime Hoffman and neither is playing well. Hoffman is batting 130 and Thames is hitting 107 this spring. Girardi said they aren't in that big of a hurry to make that decision. The 5th starter should be decided by Friday. The Lohud Blog has audio of Joe Girardi speaking with the media. A.J. Burnett will start tomorrow with Phil Hughes pitching in relief. Joba will start on Monday with Andy Pettitte pitching in a minor league game.

Grapefruit League Game 18-Yankees at Astros

Here is the lineup and the pitchers for this afternoons game. Brian Hoch the Yankees beat writer for mlb.com and Chad Jennings the beat writer for the Journal News have this information up on their websites. I have some notes also from the Yankees media notes. The Yankees are 8-9 on the spring. Yankees Lineup: Brett Gardner(CF) Nick Johnson(DH) Mark Teixeira(1B) Alex Rodriguez(3B) Robinson Cano(2B) Marcus Thames(LF) Jon Weber(RF) Ramiro Pena(SS) Mike Rivera(C) Alfredo Aceves is making the start and will be followed by Dustin Moseley, Boone Logan and Mark Melancon. John Van Benschoten, Jonathan Ortiz and Craig Heyer are minor leaguers to back them up.

• Nick Johnson leads the team with 3 homeruns and is tied for second in rbi with 6. Robinson Cano leads the team with a 393 batting average, that is for those with a minimum of 25 plate appearances.

• Sergio Mitre and CC Sabathia are tied for the lead in innings pitched with 14. Mitre also leads the team with 14 strikeouts. The Yankees lead the grapefruit league in attendance. Through 9 home games they have attracted 94,030 visitors.

• Nick Swisher has a 7 game hitting streak where he has gone 8-20 which is a 400 average. Jorge Posada has gone 9 for his last 16 which is a 563 batting average. He also has 4 rbi and 5 runs in his last 6 games.

• Robinson Cano has hit safely in 7 of his last 10 games and has mulitple hits in 4 of those games.

New York Mets Recap

The New York Mets defeated the Florida Marlins by the score of 5-2 in Jupiter tonight. Oliver Perez got the start and pitched pretty well. He went 4 innings, giving up 6 hits and 2 runs. He walked 1 and struck out 2. Ryota Igarashi pitched an inning giving up 1 hit and 1 walk. He also had 2 strikeouts. Francisco Rodriguez pitched an inning and got the win. He gave up 2 hits but no runs or walks. He didn't strike out a batter. Pedro Feliciano pitched 2/3 of an inning, giving up 2 hits and 0 runs. He had a strikeout. Hisanori Takahashi pitched 2 1/3 innings giving up 2 hits with a walk and strikeout. David Wright had a hit and Fernando Martinez had a hit and rbi. Jason Bay had 2 hits and 2 rbi. Jeff Francoeur had a hit and 2 rbi, Ruben Tejada and Alex Cora each had a hit. The Mets will take on the Twins tomorrow from Tradition Field. The game is at 1:10PM on SNY. Fernando Martinez continues to have a great spring. He is 15 for 27 with 2 doubles, 2 triples, 3 homeruns and 11 rbi. Hisanori Takahashi has pitched 8 1/3 scoreless innings this spring.

Spring Game 33: Yankees at Blue Jays

Andy Pettitte makes his penultimate start of the spring, he will pitch again at the New Stadium on Saturday against the Cubs. There isn't much else to settle as the Yankees have their roster down to 30, there is one bullpen spot left which will probably go to Jon Albaladejo and then the utility infielder between Angel Berroa and Ramiro Pena. This isn't a big deal either as when Arod gets back, Cody Ransom will be back to that job and either Pena or Berroa will be in the minors or released. I am sure the Yankees are at the point they just can't wait to leave Wed night as this has been a very long spring. I will be back later with some notes and recap of the game. Spring Game 33: Yankees at Blue Jays Posted using ShareThis

Gardner is the CF

Brett Gardner was named the starting CF by Joe Girardi after todays game. He said the plan is for Melky to be on the team, so if he isn't traded he will be the backup. I think this is the right move, Gardner played so well at the end of last year and this spring, he takes better routes on balls, has unbelievable speed. When he gets on base he just creates havoc, the only thing Melky does better is throw the ball. Melky will have enough chances to play though, he can play LF when Damon gets a off day, or come in late for defense there and if Gardner doesn't play well and he does then he will be back in CF. Girardi said they both played well this spring, and that Melky had a tough year last year but came into camp ready to go. Melky said he was disappointed but will do whatever he can to help the team. I am wondering if he will also announce the bullpen and the utility guy which really isn't a big deal since it is only until Arod comes back then Cody Ransom will go back to that role, more later as it develops.

Spring Game 21: Pirates at Yankees

Happy St. Patricks Day. The big lefty gets the start tonight and is expected to go 4 innings followed by MO in his first appearance of the spring. I am talking about CC as the big lefty. This resembles a lineup you would see during the season, of course Jeter is with USA trying to advance tonight against Puerto Rico and Cano won't be in there until Friday although he has been pinch hitting. Jorge will catch 5 innings tonight and it will be good to see him on TV, I kind of want to see him try and throw a guy out at second. Matsui is in for the fourth straight day, so it looks like he will be ready for opening day and the season. Peter Abraham has the information in the link below of the lineups and pitchers and some notes. Spring Game 21: Pirates at Yankees Posted using ShareThis

Spring Game 15: Yankees at Tigers

The big lefty is back on the mound today for the second time this spring. Mark Melancon will get a chance to continue to impress and maybe make the team out of camp. The battle of CF, Melky gets a chance today. I honestly think they will both be on the team and Melky will be on the bench but come in late in games and replace Johnny Damon. The battle in RF continues also with Swisher playing today. I think Nady will get enough playing time also but Swisher will be the starter in RF on opening day. Cano and Marte should be back by friday so that is good as they got eliminated in the WBC by the Dutch. Derek Jeter is the only main guy still playing in the WBC. Spring Game 15: Yankees at Tigers Posted using ShareThis