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.

Yankees Split Squad Games

The Yankees are playing the Detroit Tigers right now at Steinbrenner Field. The game is on the Yes Network. Here is the lineup even though the game already started. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Nick Johnson(DH) Mark Teixeira(1B) Alex Rodriguez(3B) Robinson Cano(2B) Marcus Thames(LF) Jaime Hoffman(CF) Francisco Cervelli(C) Greg Golson(RF) CC Sabathia is making the start. The Yankees added 8 players to the roster today to cover since it is a split squad. They may not play but are needed just in case. Mariano Rivera, Jonathan Albaladejo, Royce Ring, Eric Wordkemper and Ryan Pope are all available to pitch after Sabathia. Sergio Mitre and Chad Gaudin will pitch later in the road game against the Rays. Zack Segovia and Amaury Sanit are also available. Kevin Russo is getting another start at SS today, they are trying to see if he can play it well enough to be a utility guy. I still think Ramiro Pena will get the job though. Damaso Marte will pitch in relief of Alfredo Aceves tomorrow. Brian Hoch from mlb.com asked Jeter how he was feeling as soon as he walked in the clubhouse. Remember a lot of people thought he got injured yesterday and this is what Jeter said "About What? The weather, health care reform, Avatar, the Pavement reunion?? I guess Jeter isn't too worried about his hand, but this is why he is who he is. He will never tell you anything. Yankees Lineup(Road Game) Brett Gardner(CF) Curtis Granderson(LF) Nick Swisher(DH) Jorge Posada(C) Randy Winn(RF) Juan Miranda(1B) Ramiro Pena(2B) Brandon Laird(3B) Eduardo Nunez(SS)

Busy day in Baseball

It has been a rather uneventful couple of weeks around the baseball world. We are drawing ever closer to spring training and the start of the baseball season and today the baseball world was very busy. Here are some of the transactions and rumors that took place today. Ben Sheets signed a 1 yr contract with the Oakland Athletics for 10 million plus incentives. Jim Thome signed a one year 1.5 million dollar deal with the Minnesota Twins. It also includes up to 750,000 in incentives. Xavier Nady is close to a deal with the Chicago Cubs. His deal is for 3.3 million with 2.05 million more in incentives for games played. The deal is pending a physical which isn't a foregone conclusion for him since he is coming off the second Tommy John surgery of his career. This affects the Yankees as they are looking for a right handed bat to play the outfield. Johan Santana of the New York Mets threw off a mound today for the first time since leaving a game last August and undergoing elbow surgery. He threw 35 pitches in 6 minutes and came through it fine. He said he feels good and will just be building up for opening day. Chad Jennings of the Journal News and the Lohud Yankees blog had some Yankee news tonight. Joe Girardi was in Times Square receiving the Bobby Murcer award from B.A.T which is the Baseball assistance team. He spoke about Johnny Damon and said he never believes something is completely shut until it is completely shut. He did say though with that said he doesn't see it happening. He can see Gardner in center and Granderson in left, he said he does see them as interchangeable. Joe Girardi also said that he feels good about Francisco Cervelli being the backup catcher. He said that he played at a very high level for them last year and learned a lot. He thinks he can handle the job. Joe Girardi said that Bernie Williams hasn't asked him about coming to spring training as a instructor but if he does he will consider it. I don't think there is any doubt that if he asks he will be there and he said on the radio the other day he would like to be in spring training. Joe Girardi brought the World Series trophy today to his daughter school. I can only imagine that being the show and tell, how cool is that. Brian Cashman via Brian Hoch said that Johnny Damon does not fit into his budget and he is not going to discuss Damon any further. It sure sounded like the door is slammed shut on Johnny but I still don't believe it until he signs somewhere else which I don't see happening. I think eventually they will work this out. I think it is both sides being bitter at the negotiating and using the media for leverage. The Yankees did add some outfield depth today when they traded minor league infielder Mitch Hilligos to the Texas Rangers for minor league outfielder Greg Golson. He has had 7 at bats in the major leagues without a hit. He is 24 years old and is considered a very toolsy player.