New York Yankees lose to the Minnesota Twins

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Minnesota Twins on Friday afternoon.  The game took place at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida and the final score was 7-3 Twins.  David Phelps made the start and was ok.  He had a 75 pitch limit and only got through four innings.  Dellin Betances pitched great again.  The Yankees got hits and runs in the first inning and then didn't get either the rest of the game. 

Phelps pitched four innings giving up two runs on five hits.  He walked one and struck out four.  David Herndon pitched an inning giving up a hit and a run with a walk and a strikeout, Banuelos took the loss pitching 1/3 of an inning and giving up two hits and four runs with two walks and a strikeout.  Fred Lewis pitched an inning giving up three hits and no runs with a walk and a strikeout, Betances pitched 1 2/3 perfect innings with two strikeouts and James Pazos pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout. 

Jacoby Ellsbury had a hit, Brian Roberts had a hit and an RBI and Mark Teixeira had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk.  Eduardo Nunez had an RBI, Ramon Flores drew two walks and Ellsbury and Roberts each hit a double. 

The Yankees were 2-5 with runners in scoring position and left two men on base.  Segedin committed an error.  The Yankees will play two games on Saturday.  They will play the Miami Marlins in Panama honoring Mo as part of the legends two game series.  They will also play the Baltimore Orioles in Sarasota, Florida. 

Welcome to Spring Training-Yankees Pitchers and Catchers Report

It is past midnight and that means it is officially spring training.  The Yankees pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report on Sunday morning.  The other position players will report six days later on Saturday.  Pitchers and catchers are the three words I look forward to all winter.  It hasn't been a bad winter in the New York metropolitan area but still there is something about spring training and the spring that is upon us.  There is something about seeing the plush, green grass, thinking about the sights and sounds of the ball park and the summer ahead.  Happy pitchers and catchers day to all the New York Yankees fans and also the fans of the other nine teams reporting on Sunday and the bunch that reported on Saturday. 

The Yankees will make the A.J. Burnett deal official on Monday or Tuesday and then will quickly sign Raul Ibanez as their lefty hitting DH.  They could also resign Eric Chavez and then they will be ready to go for the 2012 season.  What can you expect from the Yankees??  What are some things to look for?  Let me know your thoughts and opinions on the upcoming season.  I will start having wall to wall coverage here starting tomorrow even though there shouldn't be much going on in Tampa until Monday.  I will have a season preview coming, a look at the different positions and players and a look at some of the young guys in the upcoming weeks.  I want to hear from you, what else do you want to see me cover, let me know what you think is good and what is bad.  I will be working hard all spring and summer long to bring you daily coverage of the New York Yankees first and foremost and also the New York Mets and the rest of baseball. 

Grapefruit League Game 4-Toronto Blue Jays at New York Yankees

Here are the lineups and some notes courtesy of the Lohud Yankees Blog. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Granderson(CF) Posada(C) Rodriguez(3B) Winn(RF) Gardner(LF) Cervelli(DH) Miranda(1B) Pena(2B) Toronto Lineup: Bautista(3B) Hill(2B) Lind(DH) Wells(CF) Overbay(1B) Reed(RF) Gonzalez(SS) Snider(LF) Molina(C)Yes it is Jose Molina the former Yankee The game will be broadcast on MY9 in New York and also on the radio WCBS 880. A.J. Burnett will make his first start of the spring against Shaun Marcum. He missed all of last season, and should be one of the guys the Blue Jays look too as he was up and coming before he got hurt. The Yankees PR Dept released this info this morning. Of the 66 players in camp 37 were either originally drafted by the Yankees or signed with the Yankees as non drafted free agents. 23 played in at least one game for the Yankees last season and 27 have appeared in a game for the Yankees at some point in their careers. Andrew Brackman is scheduled to make his spring debut today. The other pitchers who are scheduled for today are: Jonathan Albaladejo, Boone Logan,Mark Melancon, Jason Hirsch,Romulo Sanchez, Amaury Sanit. The position players scheduled to come in the game are Jaime Hoffman getting his first turn in CF, Mike River(C), Jorge Vazquez(1B),Kevin Russ(2B), Eduardo Nunez(SS), Brandon Laird(3B),Colin Curtis(LF), David Winfree(RF) and Austin Romine(DH). Tomorrows scheduled pitchers are Sergio Mitre, Chad Gaudin, Kei Igawa, Wilkens Arias, D.J. Mitchell,Ryan Pope, Amaury Sanit and Kevin Whelan. The game tomorrow is in Fort Myers against the Twins and obviously they aren't sending any of the big guys. Christian Garcia is throwing a bullpen today and scheduled to make his spring debut on Monday. The other guys who are throwing side sessions today are CC Sabathia, Zack Segovia, Zach McAllister and Ivan Nova. Mariano Rivera and Damaso Marte got up to 30 pitches in their bullpens yesterday. They are scheduled to throw tomorrw. Mo said he thinks it is BP tomorrow. Today is Francisco Cervellis 24th birthday so Happy Birthday to him. The Yankees have signed Can Am league player Myron Leslie to a minor league deal. It is on the Can Am website. This is the same league that the New Jersey Jackals play in. Enjoy the game everyone and the nice day. I am hoping you guys will post on these game posts and get some good discussion about the lineups, the battles for roster spots, the game itself even during the games etc. Any other ideas please feel free to let me know, thank you for all the support.

Games 5 and 6 New York Mets vs Florida Marlins and New York Mets at St.Louis Cardinals

The New York Mets have split squad games this afternoon, they both start at 1:00PM. The Mets will take on the Marlins home at Tradition Field and play the Cardinals in Jupiter. The big news coming out this morning was that Jose Reyes is headed back to New York to undergo further testing. He apparently was cleared by the doctors in Florida yesterday but the doctors in NY want him to undergo further testing. It looks like he has an overactive thyroid and was told not to do any baseball activities to they figure this out. He will not get the testing done until Monday so he will at least lose these next 3 days and maybe more. I have no idea what this means or if he could be out further but it seems like here we go again with the Mets and their medical issues. In other medical news Francisco Rodriguez still hasn't been cleared to go back to baseball with his pinkeye. I am wondering how long does it take to clear up pinkeye. It is really frustrating for all of the Mets fans especially after last year and it is frustrating to cover this team. It seems like it is always one bad thing after another. Here is the Mets lineups for both games and starting pitchers: Mets Lineup at Home Angel Pagan(CF) Luis Castillo(2B) David Wright(3B) Jason Bay(LF) Daniel Murphy(1B) Rod Barajas(C) Jesus Feliciano(RF) Luis Hernandez(SS) Kai Gronauer(DH) Jon Niese will start for the Mets. Jenrry Mejia, Pedro Feliciano, Bobby Parnell, Ryota Igarashi, Elmer Dessens and Eric Niesen. Mets Lineup in Jupiter Gary Matthews Jr.(CF) Alex Cora(2B) Jeff Francoeur(LF) Mike Jacobs(1B) Fernando Tatis(3B) Fernando Martinez(RF) Omir Santos(C) Ruben Tejada(SS) Shawn Riggans(DH) Fernando Nieve will start this game followed by Bobby Livingston, Nelson Figueroa, Eddie Kunz and Brad Holt. The home game is at 1:00PM on SNY.

New York Mets Notes from Florida

The New York Mets had some news coming out of florida today. According to the Star Ledger of NJ Brian Costa who talked to GM Omar Minaya today he said that Henry Blanco would be the backup and the starters job would come down to either Josh Thole or Omir Santos. The 23 year old Thole hit 321 with 3 extra base hits in 17 games for the Mets last season. It looks like they were impressed with how he handled the pitchers. I think the best thing for him would be to go down to AAA and get some more seasoning in before coming up to the majors later on in the year but with this being the Mets who knows what they will do. Jose Reyes had a informal workout today and there is some video of him on Matt Cerrone http://metsblog.com/. He was at tradition field where he did agility drills, jogging, batting practice and fielded ground balls. He said this " I have been doing so much of my rehab without the team, but now to be back with my team is really exciting. I feel like a little kid bro." He said that he has nothing to be afraid of that " I am able to do everything that I want to do." Mike Jacobs and Daniel Murphy worked together fielding ground balls at first base. Mike Jacobs also took batting practice in front of hitting coach Howard Johnson.

A-rod back in the News

Selena Roberts leaked exerpts from her upcoming book today along with A-rod taking part in his first game in quite a while. A-rod was 1-6 with a homrun and 2 walks. He served as the DH and took it easy today. He will play against the Pirates in Bradenton, Florida and serve as the DH tomorrow and then in a few days start running full speed and playing the field and should be back in about 10 days. The book is just silly, she obviously has a vendetta against A-rod and who really cares. I mean come on how much he tips at Hooters, does anyone give a hoot about this other then the waitresses there, I don't think so and she says he might have and could have all over the book, I am just a amateur but come on where is the journalistic integrity there, I mean no sources or evidence or anything. I could sit here and say you may have robbed a bank or could have and what does that mean. I could have or may have took steroids but did I, well who knows?? I mean this is just terrible journalism by Selena Roberts who by the way was wrong about the Duke Lacrosse case, listen you got your big story lady, getting A-rod to admit he did steroids, now just end it, nothing else is going to come out of this. I am glad A-rod is saying I won't go there and that is all he will say and the Yankees until this goes away, good for them. Gary W. Marchese Jr. Voice of Yankees Universe Writer(http://nyyankeesrumors.com The fastest growing site for Yankee fans so please visit that as well as this site and spread the word.

What to do with Wang

It looks like the Yankees are going to skip Chien-Ming Wangs start on Friday in Fenway Park. They have a off day on Thursday and it looks like they may have Wang throw a simulated game of 80-100 pitches, they can also stop him during the game and correct some mechanical issues. They then will have him make his next start after that which would be Wednesday in Detroit. If he doesn't make significant progress whatever that is to them then they would call up Phil Hughes to take his spot and put him in the pen as the long man. Phil Hughes has been pitching well down in AAA Scranton and also pitched well in spring training. I think I would of put him on the DL and sent him down to Florida to work with Pitching guru Billy Conners but this seems like a reasonable compromise. I know a lot of people are worried about the pen but the back end of Bruney and MO is solid and honestly I think the rest has been affected by Wangs poor performances. I think Coke will be ok and Marte has his struggles but they will have to use him as the lefty specialist and try to get him right that way. Albaladejo has pitched well, I think in another month or so you will see Melancon and Robertson instead of Veras and Ramirez anyway which is the right way to go and those guys are strikeout machines and young. I know a lot of people say 7-6 is a bad start but in the games Wang doesn't pitch they are 7-3 so I think its just a matter of taking care of Wang one way or another and otherwise they are fine, A-rod will be back soon enough which will be a huge help and I wouldn't be suprised to see Melky playing more instead of Gardner if he continues to struggle, Melky has been playing well.

Walkoff loss for the Mets

The New York Mets lost to the Florida Marlins today by a score of 5-4. John Maine pitched well going 5 innings giving up 2 hits, 2 runs with 1 walk and 5 strikeouts. Sean Green pitched 1 inning giving up 3 hits, 1 run with 1 walk and 3 strikeouts. Bobby Parnell pitched 1 inning giving up 3 hits and 1 run. JJ Putz pitched a scoreless inning giving up a hit, Pedro Feliciano pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up 1 run on 1 hit with 1 strikeout. Daniel Murphy and Carlos Beltran were the hitting stars both getting 3 hits. Carlos Beltran had 2 rbi. Ryan Church also had 3 hits with 1 walk. David Wright was 1-4 with a walk. The Mets will continue their 3 game series in Florida tomorrow with Livan Hernandez going against Ricky Nolasco.

Will the real CC please stand up

The New York Yankees were spanked by the Baltimore Orioles today by a score of 10-5. This was a horrible way to open the season, the Yankees stranded runners and didn't pitch well at all. The Yankees left 11 runners on base, at least one in every inning. The bottom line though is the Yankees Ace was awful, he just didn't have command of his fastball and couldn't get anything going. He pitched 4 1/3 innings giving up 8 hits, 6 runs and 5 walks with 0 strikeouts. The starting pitcher sets the tone for the game, and the Yankees were in trouble right from the get go. The Yankees got close cutting it to 6-5 and having a couple of chances to at least tie but then the bullpen just let it get away and that was it. The Yankees have gotten off to bad starts the last few years and seem to struggle with Baltimore lately but this year they can't do that, they have to have a good road trip here heading back home to the New Stadium. If Wang comes out and pitches the way he can I am sure the Yankees will be fine and score some runs. The positives of the game were Derek Jeter had 3 hits, Brett Gardner had a hit, a sac bunt and threw out a guy at home plate. Johnny Damon was 2-3, it looks like the top of the order switch worked out today. Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada hit homeruns, the offense looks a lot different with them in the lineup. Jorge Posada also caught all 9 innings with no problem. I hope the Yankees got a bad one out of the way and now go on a good run. Joe Girardi said I guess we won't be going 162-0 and didn't seem overly concerned with the game. He said CC is fine and that they just didn't execute the way they did in Florida. He said it is only one game and you just have to move on. The Yankees will be off tomorrow and then play Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon before heading to Kansas City.

Spring Game 34: Yankees at Reds

Today marks the Yankees penultimate game in Florida. Joba Chamberlain makes the start and there has been a lot of buzz over his velocity diminishing. The thing to remember here is as a starter your not going to have the same velocity and also it is being said that he has been working on his mechanics. If you take away that one disastourous start against Team Canada he hasn't pitched bad and he does have 14 strikeouts in just over 14 innings. I am looking for him to go deeper in games, that is the one problem I see, he throws too many pitches, he will get better with this the more he starts. The Yankees did announce earlier today that Jon Albaladejo made the team as the last reliever and Dan Giese, Alfredo Aceves and Brett Tomko were sent down to the minors along with Kevin Cash. The AAA rotation was announced as Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, Kei Igawa, Alfredo Aceves and Jason Johnson. Brett Tomko will be used out of the bullpen. Kevin Cash will be the AAA catcher or one of them. The game is on Cincinattis radio station but no radio or TV from NY. Spring Game 34: Yankees at Reds Posted using ShareThis

Spring Game 27: Yankees at Phillies

The Yankees are now in the homestretch of grapefruit league play. They will play their last game in florida next wednesday against Cincinatti and then board a charter headed to NY. They will have their first workout in the new stadium on Thursday and then the first two games against the Cubs friday and saturday. The two games against the Cubs will be on YES, I will be attending the Saturday game and will provide a good report of the new stadium after I get back. Derek Jeter should be back in the lineup for the Yanks against the Red Sox tommorrow night and they will have their regular lineup other then A-rod. The game tommorrow is on YES, no coverage today. Spring Game 27: Yankees at Phillies Posted using ShareThis

Last Full Squad Workout Before The Games

Today was the last workout with the Grapefruit league starting play tomorrow. The New York Yankees will be traveling to Dunedin, Florida to face the Blue Jays. Here are some notes from today: Jorge Posada will DH on Thursday. Hideki Matsui still has a little ways to go before he is ready to play. He will start his running program soon. Jorge continues to do well with his rehab, his arm strength appears to be good. The Yankees are very optimistic about his progress. Derek Jeter did all his running today and seems fine, he is ready to go for the WBC. Alfredo Aceves will start on Sunday against Cincinnati. He ran the table off the break during one of the pool tournaments yesterday. Phil Hughes said " a shark". Bernie Williams was back in camp after a 3 day absence and took some BP. Arod, Jeter and Cano who will all be leaving for the WBC will play Thursdays game at home and skip the trip to Fort Myers on Friday.

Baseball Is Near

Here is a picture of Steinbrenner field all ready to go as pitchers and catchers report tomorrow and position players on Wednesday. I know you guys are wondering how did you get that pic did you Jet down to Florida, no I wish I did though. Peter Abraham of the Journal News had this pic on his site at http://yankees.lhblogs.com The media is assembled down there waiting for Joe Girardis first session with them. Joe G and Brian Cashman and all of the coaches have been in meetings all morning about the pitchers and catchers that are in camp and as soon as they are done Joe will meet the media. I will be posting quotes and some things he said as well as what Brian Cashman the GM had to say this morning. We are close to baseball now and although it will be a circus it is good to see a baseball field and to be talking some real baseball. Oh yeah just a quick note but AJ Burnett was at the minor league complex today playing long toss and working out.