Yanks make a few cuts and try to figure out their pitching schedule

The New York Yankees are in a little bit of a mess. The reason they are in a mess is because of the rainout today. The Yankees have 7 pitchers who need to pitch and only 9 innings against a major league team tomorrow. They have been calling around to see if they could find another team to play a split squad tomorrow. Another option they may have is to play against one of the minor league teams. They may also play a B game at home tomorrow. Joe Girardi had this to say "It's a mess kinda, we don't have it completely ironed out. Right now, it's a little pain in the rear." A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte, Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, Mariano Rivera, Chan Ho Park and Damaso Marte all need to throw. The Yankees have a scheduled off day on Tuesday but Girardi said that wouldn't solve the problem because they are trying to keep everyone on schedule or as close to it as possible. My guess is they find a team who will play a split squad tomorrow and everyone will get their work in, if no one will cooperate then they will probably play a B game at home and they will still get their work in. I think it is less of a problem with a veteran team. The cuts that took place today were Jesus Montero, Austin Romine, Colin Curtis and Reid Gorecki. They are all headed to the minor league complex. I am not sure if I will be able to get more information later about what is going on with the schedule but if I do I will post it on here, if not I will have something tomorrow. Enjoy this beautiful day everyone and pretty soon we will have baseball again. UPDATE: 3:45PM-The Yankees will play a intrasquad game at home tomorrow. Here is how the pitching will work. One of the teams will have Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and Damaso Marte and they will go against the other team who will have Joba Chamberlain, Chan Ho Park and Dave Robertson. The rest of the team will head to Clearwater to face the Phillies, A.J. Burnett will start that game with Phil Hughes coming on in relief.

Saturday Notes from Yankees Camp

The New York Yankees were rained out down in Tampa today. They had to get their work in, inside. They had some batting practice and pitchers throwing inside but everything was light today due to the inclement weather. Joe Girardi did announce his pitchers for the first 11 spring training games. These were just the starters and 5th starter candidates. The relievers weren't announced. Here is the list courtesy of Chad Jennings and the Lohud Yankees Blog: The first name is the starter for the day. Andy Pettitte isn't starting until March 12 but he will throw a simulated game in Tampa on March 7th. March 3 vs Pittsburgh: Chad Gaudin,Sergio Mitre,Alfredo Aceves March 4 at Philadelphia: CC Sabathia March 5 vs Tampa Bay: Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain March 6 vs Toronto: A.J. Burnett March 7 at Minnesota: Chad Gaudin, Sergio Mitre March 8 vs Philadelphia: Javier Vazquez-Split Squad March 8 at Pittsburgh: Alfredo Aceves March 9 vs Pittsburgh: CC Sabathia March 10 at Detroit: Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes March 11 vs Atlanta: A.J. Burnett March 12 at Washington: Andy Pettitte March 13 vs Baltimore: Javier Vazquez-Split Squad March 13 at Detroit: Undecided

Minor league Game

The AAA Scranton Yankees won their game 2-1. Phil Hughes got the start and continued his good pitching with 5 innings of 4 hit, 1 run ball. He had 1 walk and 4k. Anthony Claggett pitched 2 innings giving up 2 hits, o runs with 2k. J.B. Cox pitched 2 innings giving up 1 hit, 0 runs and 3k. Kevin Russo was 1-2 with 2 walks, rbi and sb, Kyle Anson was 2-3 with a rbi. Eric Duncan was 0-3 with a walk, he has been playing in the outfield which is interesting. Kevin Russo who is an infielder also got a start in the OF and misplayed a ball there. Phil Hughes didn't throw many curveballs but when he did it was effective and the crowd was even going "ohhh".

Recap of Yankees Action

The New York Yankees won another one, defeating the Minnesota Twins in Fort Myers by a score of 4-2. Phil Hughes got the start and went 4 1/3 innings giving up 1 run on 3 hits and 1 walk. He said after the game that he felt good about his fastball command and felt good about his changeup. " My curve wasn't great but was usable. I did throw some good cutters. Overall I feel good, I feel strong, I'm ready to go." Jason Johnson pitched 1 2/3 inning giving up 3 hit, 1 run, 1 walk. Anthony Claggett pitched 1 inning only giving up a walk, Dave Robertson pitched 1 1/3 inning giving up 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 walk and 3 k's. Kei Igawa finished it off pitching 2/3 of an inning giving up 2 hits and a walk but keeping his scoreless streak alive which is now 12 2/3 innings. I wonder if anyone needs a left handed pitcher, any takers, anyone?? The offense had Brett Gardner going 1-3, Todd Linden going 1-2 with a hr. Robbie Cano was 1-3 and played 5 innings at second base. He handled two groundballs at second and turned a double play. He said he felt good, no pain and everything was perfect which is good news. Big Tex was 1-3 with his first hr of the spring and Austin Jackson also had a hr. Shelly Duncan had another hit to continue his hot spring he is hitting 407, Hideki Matsui was 0-3. The Yankees have now won 8 straight, maybe they should slow down a little and make sure they do this against Baltimore and KC when the season starts. The Yankees will host the Detroit Tigers tomorrow with Joba getting the start at 1:15pm.

New York Mets Notes and Recap

The New York Mets defeated the St Louis Cardinals by a score of 5-4 yesterday. Jon Niese got the start going 2 innings giving up 2 runs, 2 hits, 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. Duaner Sanchez pitched a scoreless inning but gave up 2 walks. On the offensive side Luis Castillo had a hit and a walk, Jose Valentin trying to hang onto his career went 3-4 continuing his hot hitting, Daniel Murphy went 1-5 and left 6 men on base. Brian Schneider went 0-2. Johan Santana is scheduled to throw a bullpen today, the Mets play at home against the Nationals today. Dillon Gee gets the start for the Amazings. He is a well thought of kid. The Mets have had a pretty quiet camp and hope it continues, they have a ton of guys that are gone for the World Baseball Classic and not too much competition for spots going on, the biggest story is Johan Santana and that doesn't seem to be much of a story anymore.

Day 1 of Camp

I have some notes about the first day of camp thanks to the great beat writer and blog owner Peter Abraham. Hideki Matsui took batting practice for the first time since his knee surgery and looked good. Jorge Posada has been taking BP since December and said his swing is back. He is confident that he will be ready to go for opening day. His focus right now is on learning as much as he can about AJ Burnett and CC Sabathia. If he doesn't catch very many of their games he will be catching their bullpens. Joe Girardi said as he makes up his rotation he wants to seperate the lefties and keep Joba and AJ apart because of their similarities. Because of this the rotation should shape up this way: 1.CC I guess you could also switch AJ and wang. 2.AJ 3.Wang 4.Pettitte 5.Joba Someone asked CC if this is the best rotation he has ever been part of and his response was "Oh yeah." Jose Molina knows the Yanks may need him to catch roughly 50 games therefore he dropped a few pounds. Phil Hughes put on about 10 pounds of muscle. He did attend a athletes performance center in Arizona in the offseason to help avoid injuries this year. Sabathia said part of his success in Milwaukee came from throwing a two seam fastball at the behest of his pitching coach Mike Maddux. "It's a good pitch for him," Posada said. "I thought he had one before because his four seamer runs so much." CC only threw fastballs and changeups today in his bullpen session. He will throw all of his pitches on Monday. A reporter mistakingly asked Girardi if he was "juiced up" watching the first workout before he realized he made a poor choice of words. Everyone laughed when the reporter said sorry poor choice of words. There were no Arod questions for Girardi. The Yankees look to be in good spirits and have a formidable staff here, everyone seems to get along real well also, I really think this is going to be a team more like the late 90s teams.