Spring Game 13: Blue Jays at Yankees

Today will be Andy Pettittes first start of the spring. I guess Cody Ransom can't play everyday right now but he should be at third as much as possible. Posada will DH today as he moves closer to catching by the weekend hopefully. Hideki Matsui will rest although he said he feels he could of played today which is a good sign. Arod had his surgery at 7:ooam this morning and no updates as of yet, it will be nice and quiet for a while with him gone. Today is the start of the minor league workouts so the roster will start getting trimmed. There is no local coverage of the game, the Yanks will be on YES tomorrow night. Spring Game 13: Blue Jays at Yankees Posted using ShareThis

New York Mets Recap

The New York Mets lost to the Washington Nationals today by a score of 8-3. Livan Hernandez got the start and went 3 innings giving up 4 hits and 1 run with 0 walks and 1k. Bobby Parnell got 0 outs and gave up 3 hits, 3 runs and 2 walks. The offensive side of things Jeremy Reed went 1-4 with a rbi. Ryan Church went 0-3, Nick Evans went 0-4. The Mets will take on Baltimore tomorrow with Brandon Knight starting in place of Mike Pelfrey who is improving but still has pain in his leg. The Mets also played Michigan in a split squad and won 18-7. Freddy Garcia went 2 innings giving up 3 hits with 0 runs and 1 strikeout. Tim Redding only pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up 5 hits and 5 runs with 1 strikeout. Sean Green pitched a perfect inning and Conor Robertson brother of Yankee Dave Robertson pitched 2 perfect innings with 3 strikeouts. Rob Mackowiak was the hitting star going 2-4 with 6 rbi and 2 walks. Bobby Kielty went 2-4 with 3 rbi. Brian Schneider went 1-2, Luis Castillo went 1-4 with a rbi.

Yankees Recap

The New York Yankees defeated the Detroit Tigers today by a score of 12-3. AJ Burnett made his first start and it was a huge success. He went 2 innings facing the minimum 6 batters giving up 1 hit that was wiped out by a double play. It only took him 17 pitches to complete 2 innings. One of the scouts had him hitting 98 on the gun and when he was told that he said really, I didn't mean too. This guy has a great arm, if he stays healthy I think he is the key to this pitching staff. You can pretty much pencil CC and Wang down for 18-20 wins and 200+innings. If AJ as a number three is healthy he can win 16-18 and now this staff may be the best in baseball with Pettitte and Joba on the back end capable of winning double digits also. Phil Hughes came in relief and pitched 3 hitless innings, he had 2 walks but struck out four. In the spring so far he has thrown 7 2/3 innings giving up 3 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks, 8 strikeouts. I know you can't go by spring numbers but he seems like a man on a mission, he is healthy and remember he is still only 22 years old. If this guy can stay healthy for a whole year he will still be a very good pitcher. Brian Bruney had his first rough outing of the spring pitching 1 inning giving up 1 hit and 2 runs with 1 walk and strikeout. Mark Melancon pitched a inning with 1 walk and 1 strikeout. On the offensive side of things Melky Cabrera went 1-2 with 2 walks so he had himself a good day trying to stay in the race for the CF job. Xavier Nady went 1-3 with a solo homerun, Nick Swisher was 0-1 but had a rbi and 3 walks. Brett Gardner went 0-3 coming off the bench. Hideki Matsui playing in back to back games was 0-1 but did draw 2 walks and also ran the bases well. Cody Ransom the new thirdbaseman for the time being was 2-2, Angel Berroa still trying to make the team as a backup went 2-3 with 4 rbi, he has been hitting well but his defense hasn't been great and that can hurt him. The Yankees Andy Pettitte will make his first start tomorrow at home against the Blue Jays. Ian Kennedy and Dan Giese are supposed to follow him in relief.

New York Yankees @ Detroit Tigers

The linup and pitching for todays game is as follows: 1. Cabrera(cf) 2. Damon(lf) 3. Swisher(1b) 4. Matsui(dh) 5. Nady(rf) 6. Ransom(3b) 7. Molina(c) 8. Berroa(ss) 9. Bernier(2b) Pitching is AJ Burnett making his first start followed by Phil Hughes, Brian Bruney, Andrew Brackman and Mark Melancon. This is a great group of pitchers going today and it will be interesting to watch how they fare. Arod is gone for awhile and I expect for sure to see Cody Ransom play 3b everday now, the question now is who will be the utility guy, Ransom was expected to be but now they can carry an extra guy until Arod gets back, so its between Berroa who has been hitting but hasn't looked great in the field, Bernier, Leone who are basically journeyman or do they give it to a younger guy like Ramiro Pena or Eduardo Nunez, this will be interesting to watch. The other option is the Yankees could go out and sign Mark Grudzielanek for cheap to be the backup or to play until arod comes back and then be the backup. I think I would just go with Cody Ransom and see who the backup will be and as long as the pitching is healthy they should be fine until Arod comes back probably by May.

Breaking News: Arod to Have Surgery tomorrow

New York Yankees star third baseman Alex Rodriguez will have surgery tomorrow in Vail,Colorado. He is having a less invasive surgery done which will keep him out 6-9 weeks and then he can come back be fine and have a second surgery in the offseason to completely fix his problem. He has an impingement which is bone on bone, they will fix the labrum now and then the impingement after the season, that would sideline him 3-4 months. He will stay in Vail for several weeks, so he may be back by late April. I think this was a good decision as he may only miss the first month and the Yankees can cover that and then when he comes back be good to go for the rest of the season. Yankees GM Brian Cashman said he thinks this is the right call based on the information they had gotten.