Friday, March 23, 2012

Yankees On MLB Network's 30 Clubs In 30 Days


Tomorrow, Saturday 3/24, the Yankees will be the topic on MLB Network's "30 Clubs In 30 Days" where the guys at MLB Network go and dedicate a whole show to each team's spring training camp. The show will air at 7:00 pm ET on MLB Network. 

Yankees Win A Pair Today

The Yankees played a split squad pair of baseball games today in the Grapefruit League against the Minnesota Twins and the and the Philadelphia Phillies.



Today Hiroki Kuroda made the start against the Philadelphia Phillies and Vance Worley down at Bright House Field, home of the Phillies spring training facility. The Yankees jumped on Worley quickly as they put together four straight hits and three runs in the first inning. Kuroda had six hits and one run in 5.2 IP in a Yankees 5-3 win.


Ivan Nova started the other game today against the Minnesota Twins down at George Steinbrenner field against Twins lefty Francisco Liriano. Nova had his first four innings go better then he could have planned with four strike outs but allowed two runs in each of the 5th and 6th inning for the Twins to take the lead. Nova finished the day after pitching SEVEN innings with the four runs given up, no walks, and five strike outs. 

Derek Jeter returned from his calf injury to go 1-2 off Liriano with a single and a GIDP before being replaced by Ramiro Pena. The Yankees rallied for 5 runs in the 7th inning after Liriano completely shut them down and shut them out through his first five innings pitched. The Yankees ended up rallying and winning the game 6-4. 

Saturday at 1:05 the Yankees will travel to face the Detroit Tigers with Max Scherzer facing off against Freddy Garcia. This will be sweaty Freddy's first game started since he got hit in the hand with a comebacker and was forced to miss some time. 

Andy Pettitte Faces Live Batters



Andy Pettitte amazingly faced live batting practice today for the first time since signing his 2.5 million dollar minor league pact with the Yankees less then a week ago. After thirty five warm up pitches he threw an additional twenty six pitches to live batters and two pitch outs. Reportedly everything went and felt great and that is all you can ask for at this point in the comeback. Pettitte was "pleasantly surprised" with the command and effectiveness of his off speed pitches at this stage in the game.

Andy says while he wants to "take it slow" with this come back that he could be back, if everything goes well and as planned, as soon as May 1st. May 1st with the big league club would create one hell of a log jam with the starting pitching but when did that ever become a bad thing?

Austin Romine & DJ Mitchell Win Kevin Lawn Awards for 2011

Austin Romine was the Yankees minor league system's best hitter by winning the 2011 Kevin Lawn award for hitting. This is his second time winning the award, the first time being in 2009. In AA affiliate Trenton (and a short call up to AAA Scranton and an even shorter time up in the show) he posted a .332 wOBA (weighted on base) in route to the award.

DJ Mitchell was the Yankees minor league system's best pitcher for the 2011 season and won the 2011 Kevin Lawn award for pitching. This was actually surprising for me because he pitches in the same rotation as Adam Warren and David Phelps, although he was injured, and still brought home the award.

Down Goes Joba

Via The Yankee Analysts -
Joba Chamberlain suffered a major ankle injury yesterday while playing with his son at a children’s play center. It’s being called an open dislocation of his right ankle. For those not in the medical field, an open dislocation is like a compound fracture where there is a break in skin at the area of the joint. Surgery was performed on the ankle last night and Joba is currently recovering in the hospital.

Needless to say, this is a very serious injury. No timetable for Joba’s return has been determined, nor has it been officially determined if the injury is career-threatening. Cash summed it up best by calling this a “massive” loss for the Yankees. More details on this story to follow as they become available.

I admit that this news really sucks, but unlike some I don't believe this is a "massive" blow to the team at all. The Yankees already have one of the best bullpens in baseball, thanks mainly to Rafael Soriano, David Robertson, and Mariano Rivera. This does throw questions marks at the bullpen for future seasons, especially if Rivera does retire at season's end. However, with as many good arms as the team has in the minors, I'm sure somebody there will step up and fill a key role in the 'pen.

I wish Joba the best, and hope this isn't career threatening at all.