Grapefruit League Game 8-Pittsburgh Pirates at New York Yankees

Here are a couple of quick notes and the Yankees lineup for todays game at 1:00PM. It will be televised on the YES network. A-rod said he feels at ease over the canadian doctor. He said he isn't talking because he has been told to keep quiet, but he basically was indicating he has done nothing wrong and it will all go away. I do believe in this case it is much to do about nothing but we will see what unfolds after he meets with the FBI. It really is at this point more if the Yankees will do anything to him at all for being treated by the doctor without their permission, if that is true. Francisco Cervelli was back today and said he felt pretty good. He joked about having a hard head, he has had 3 other concussions which at the age of 24 is pretty scary. The Yankees won't let him play a game until at least friday to be cautious. He is determined to play on Friday so I am sure he will do that. There is audio up on the Lohud Yankees Blog http://yankees.lhblogs.com/ Have a listen to Francisco, the Cisco Kid. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Johnson(DH) Posada(C) Rodriguez(3B) Granderson(CF) Swisher(RF) Winn(LF) Miranda(1B) Russo(2B) CC Sabathia will make the start. I will probably have some more later on but it may not be to after the game.

A-rod to meet with Feds and A.J. adapts to Change

There were a couple of pretty big stories coming out of Tampa today. The first one has to do with Alex Rodriguez although this time he is not the focus. The Feds will meet with him regarding Dr. Tony Galea, the association is with Dr. Mark Lindsay who was managing A-rods hip rehab. New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes met with the Feds already as part of this same investigation. Here is what A-rod had to say "This is about someone else, I am going to cooperate as best as I can and focus on baseball." The Yankees issued a press release that said "The New York Yankees have not been contacted with regard to an investigation of Dr. Tony Galea. The Yankees never authorized Dr. Tony Galea to treat Alex Rodriguez, nor do we have any knowledge of such treatment. The Yankees authorized Dr. Marc Philippon to operate on Alex and oversee his rehabilitation. At the request of Dr. Philippon, we also authorized Dr. Marc Lindsay to supervise the daily rehabilitation program established by Dr. Philippon. We will continue to monitor the situation." A.J. Burnett threw live batting practice today, he threw 30 pitches. He didn't throw a curveball and said he thinks he threw 12 changeups. He said he knows what other teams scouting report will be on his changeup "Has one, never threw it but he might." He has spent the winter trying to improve his changeup, which he has only thrown occasionally in his career. He only threw fastballs and changeups today and said he will probably do that through his first 2 or 3 starts of the spring. He said watching CC throw last year and he is a power guy and how much he used the changeup and how good of a pitch it was for him basically inspired A.J. to try and better himself. I love to see this with these pitchers, I really feel the group the Yankees have push each other and they aren't satisfied with winning the World Series, they want to keep winning. Andy Pettitte is the only pitcher throwing batting practice tomorrow, he will do so at about 9:00AM, there will be a few others who will throw a normal bullpen. The players will be out of camp by 10:00AM for there big group outing which we still don't know what it is. I guess we will find out tomorrow but it looks like it may be another pool tournament. Chan Ho Park threw 35 pitches today and Damaso Marte threw 25, they will both throw again on Wednesday. Andrew Brackman threw BP on a backfield and was impressive for his first time out. He is still a guy the Yankees have high hopes for, this is a big year for him to start to show what he has.