Yankees Postgame News and Notes

The New York Yankees bounced back this afternoon with a good win over the Red Sox.  They won the game 9-4.  Ivan Nova struggled having the shortest outing of his short career.  He only lasted 4 1/3 innings, Dave Robertson, Joba Chamberlain and Luis Ayala did a great job out of the pen not allowing a run.  Robertson came in with the game getting tense and was able to work out of trouble and pitch a clean sixth inning.  Chamberlain looked great striking out a couple of batters in the seventh inning and Ayala finished the game off. 

The Yankees offense had four homeruns with Russell Martin having two of them.  Martin has been great so far for the Yankees.  He has been great behind the plate but also offensively showing signs of what he was before the last couple of years when he was battling injuries and self proclaimed that he wasn't as focused.  Eric Chavez in his first start had three hits.  The other homeruns were hit by Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano. 

The bottom third of the order today had six hits, five runs and seven RBI.  According to the Red Sox Martin is the first Yankees catcher with a multi homer game since Jorge Posada did it in 2003.  This was only the second time in the last 16 seasons that a Yankees catcher other then Posada has had more then a homerun in a game.  John Flaherty was the other in Baltimore in 2003. 

Robinson Cano is unbelievable in Fenway Park.  He has a 367 career average in the park.  Cano said he thinks it is luck and when you can hit in a ballpark that is where you always want to be.  He said that he doesn't do anything special, he does the same things he always does. 

Ivan Nova couldn't command his fastball and he said when that happens it will be a long day.  He wasn't very good today but a lot of pitchers don't survive Fenway Park so you can't go crazy over one start.  He will get back out there in five days and try to be better. 

Joba Chamberlain isn't being talked about much lately, that must be a good thing.  I guess when they don't talk about Chamberlain he is doing his job and he is locked into the role he is in which is seventh inning guy.  I guess when MO is off and Soriano is the closer he would move up to the eighth inning. 

The two teams will play the Rubber Game of the three game series tomorrow night at 8PM on ESPN.  The pitchers will be C.C. Sabathia vs. Josh Beckett, enjoy the night and see you tomorrow. 

Yankees Postgame Notes

The New York Yankees have made a decision on the 5th starter but Joe Girardi said they are not ready to announce it yet. They also aren't ready to announce the starter for Fridays game against the Phillies. Alfredo Aceves and Sergio Mitre are pitching tomorrow but he said that the teams decision will not change based on how they do. The Yankees made 5 more cuts today and they are: Jonathan Albaladejo, Greg Golson, Kevin Russo, Juan Miranda and Mark Melancon. It looks like the announcement will be tomorrow regarding the 5th starter. Girardi did not say exactly why those 5 guys were cut but Ramiro Pena is now offically the utility guy. Javier Vazquez was happy with all of his pitches except his changeup. He said he has to iron out a minor mechanical issue. "I drift a little bit and my arm stays back." He is scheduled to pitch that last game of the spring against the minor leaguers. Francisco Cervelli made a nice play at third and Girardi said that he wants him to continue taking grounders there because Pena is the only guy on the bench who can play on the left side of the infield. Cervelli said he has gotten used to his new helmet and his teammates have stopped giving him a hard time about it. It's just the fans Gazoo he said. Joe Girardi said he got close to coming in to play third once but never actually did. He said it was a good thing he didn't.

Jose Reyes is Back

The New York Mets received good news today when they found out that Jose Reyes will be rejoining them in Florida. His thyroid levels have gone down and he is able to resume baseball activities starting tomorrow. It is not known right now when he will be able to get into a game and if he will be ready for opening day but for the Mets this is a good day. The fact that he is back is a good sign because I know when I heard 2-8 weeks I figured it would be the latter and who knows with the Mets. If Reyes doesn't start the season with the team he should be ready not too long after. The Mets did play a game today and defeated the Atlanta Braves by the score of 7-6. Oliver Perez made the start for the Mets and was his typical wild self. He pitched 4 1/3 innings and allowed 3 runs on 4 hits. He walked 4 and struck out 3. Jenrry Mejia was working on back to back days and looked good. He pitched a scoreless inning, Ryota Igarashi also pitched a scoreless inning. Bobby Parnell pitched a inning giving up 3 hits, 1 run, 1 walk and 1 strikeout. Sean Green pitched 1 inning giving up 1 hit, 2 runs and 1 walk. Alex Cora was 1-4 and Luis Castillo was 1-2 with 2 walks. Mike Jacobs was 1-1 with 2 rbi, David Wright drew a walk and Jason Bay was 1-4 with a rbi. Jeff Francoeur was 1-2 with a rbi and 2 walks, Gary Matthews Jr. was 2-4 with a rbi. The Mets will take on the Houston Astros tomorrow at Tradition Field at 1:10PM. Here are some notes and quotes from todays postgame. Jerry Manuel had this to say about Jose Reyes "I couldn't give you a timetable, but it sure is good to have him back." Here is what he said about a question of Reyes batting third. "We need Jose for the majority of the baseball season. We can't get caught up in opening day lineups." He talked about Jenrry Mejia and said he wouldn't start out as the 8th inning guy if he makes the team. Here is what he said "I'm comfortable with him and his adrenaline. It was good that he was able to pitch the way he did today, very impressive."

Grapefruit League Game 19-Yankees at Phillies

The New York Yankees are playing the Philadelphia Phillies in Clearwater this afternoon. The game is starting at 1:00PM. The starting pitcher for the Yankees is A.J. Burnett followed by Phil Hughes. Here is the lineup for the game. Yankees Lineup: Brett Gardner(LF) Curtis Granderson(CF) Mark Teixiera(1B) Nick Swisher(RF) Francisco Cervelli(C) Ramiro Pena(SS) Kevin Russo(3B) Eduardo Nunez(2B) A.J. Burnett(P) I don't have any game notes from the media notes today because I didn't have time to get to it, but I will have some pre and postgame notes later on today.

Some postgame Yankees Notes

Sam Borden had a interesting post on Joba and Phil Hughes on the Lohud Yankees Blog. If you haven't seen it check it out at http://yankees.lhblogs.com/. He is saying the reason you shouldn't get hung up in spring stats which I for the most part don't do is because there are things you don't know. Joba Chamberlain for instance has been told to work inside this spring so in that bad inning that is all he was doing no matter the results and Phil Hughes has been told work on your changeup and that is what he was doing when he gave up a homerun today. The point is if you say this guy did this and this one did that it doesn't really mean anything because in the season they wouldn't be doing the same thing. The most important thing is for them to stay healthy and get their arm stength up. The Yankees know what they are doing and are going to determine who they feel is the best 5th starter and who belongs in the bullpen. I know there will always be debate but the Yankees are looking at certain things and it isn't just the stats, I have a hunch they want Hughes to be the 5th starter and they know Joba will be good in the 8th inning role and future closer. I think this is how it will wind up and Aceves will fill the role he did last season with Mitre or Gaudin as the longman and the other getting traded or released. There is also audo of both Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes on the Lohud Yankees blog. I forgot to mention this earlier but the Yankees announced yesterday that they will have a Bowl Game at Yankee Stadium. The game will be held on December 30, 2010 and broadcast on ESPN. It will be called the New Era Pinstriped Bowl. Joe Girardi mentioned this morning that today will be the last tune up start, after today he will really start juding the pitchers for the 5th starter spot. Joe Girardi has been using a lot of different lineups over the past few days and said sometime towards the end of spring training he would want his regular lineup together for an extended period of time. March 16th is the day after an off day and Girardi said he will have all his regulars playing. That is supposed to be Mariano Riveras first appearance also of the spring. Andy Pettitte, Javier Vazquez, Damaso Marte and Mariano Rivera all threw in the bullpen today. They stayed behind in Tampa and didn't make the trip. Cervelli caught Pettitte and Alfredo Aceves and I haven't heard otherwise so I am sure it went well and that he should be ready to catch in a game on Friday. Jesus Montero caught Javier Vazquez and Chad Gaudin.

Yankees injury news

Derek Jeter is playing and looks fine as he hit a solo homerun to start the 3rd inning. A-rod is out today, he would of been anyway and we will see how he feels tomorrow. Jorge Posada is all banged up but I would expect him to be in there tomorrow and we don't know about MO. I hate to write this because it is painful to think about but Adrian Beltre the Mariners 3B is probably done for the season after he took a hard grounder off of his groin last night. He doesn't wear a cup and it tore his testical and he has internal bleeding and probably needs surgery to repair it, ouch let that be a lesson to always wear a cup if you are a player at any level. The Yankees by the way are out to a 5-0 lead, CC Sabathia looks sharp and after Jeters solo homerun in the 3rd Hideki Matsui hit a 2 run homerun. I don't think I will have a postgame but may be back later with a update and then in the morning with the recap.