Yankees-Blue Jays: The live blog
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Mar 04, 2008 
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Welcome to wind-swept Knology Park, just down the road from the gun shop and across the street from the VFW.
It’ll be Phil Franchise against Jesse Litsch.
FIRST INNING
The wind is blowing straight in here. You’d need a bazooka to get it over the fence. Excellent news for Kei Igawa, who will get a few innings after Phil Hughes.
The Yankees didn’t do much in the first inning. Johnny Damon grounded out and Derek Jeter struck out swinging before Bobby Abreu reached on an infield single. Alex Rodriguez then walked. Jason Giambi cracked one down the line at first but Lyle Overbay made a nice play on the ball and flipped to Jesse Litsch.
David Eckstein led off the Blue Jays and grounded up the middle. “I have no range, it’s been proven by Ivy Leaguers, you get it,” Jeter yelled. Bernie Castro picked it up and made a nice throw to the Big G.
Scott Rolen flew to right. It’s all Tony La Russa’s fault. Reed Johnson grounded to the Big G. He snapped it up like a cat. 9 pitches/6 strikes for Hughes.
SECOND INNING
Jorge Posada grounded to second. Shelley (5 for 8 in spring training) doubled to left. The Melkman followd with a ground single into left. Shelley was steaming around third and had Gregg Zaun lined up. Fortunately for Zaun and his ribs, left fielder Shannon Stewart kicked the ball around and there was no play at the plate. 1-0 Yankees.
Now it’s starting to rain harder.
Castro grounded into a force. Damon then lined to left. Vernon Wells made a nice sliding catch.
Hughes is headed out for the second inning, rain or no rain.
Hughes threw a strike then the game was suspended. I can’t imagine they’ll bring him back if the delay is longer than 10 minutes.
The game is over, although they haven’t officially called it yet. Joe Girardi just shook hands with John Gibbons and ran off to the clubhouse.
Phil Hughes: 10 pitches, 7 strikes. Put him in Cooperstown.
This is Hughes first real game of spring training.
All he has to do is throw comfortably and smoothly for it to be a success.
The result of the games for Hughes is secondary to how he feels this early on.
every game is now do or die. Go Yanks!
Jenn you sure 590 Toronto is playing it , I hear Chuck Swirsky right now
that was probably a funny one moose jab … if so you’re cool.
I thought it was
But now it doesn’t seem like it. 
VFW = Very Fast Windmill ?
If i wanna listen to this game i gotta sit in my car with my xm radio lol
I’m listening on mlb.com. Not sure if you have to be a subscriber (which I am) or if you can listen free.
mlb.com is firewalled here at work. Bummer.
I didn’t see it on XM. Is it?
http://mlb.mlb.com/index.jsp
click on the sound button next to the game again not sure if you have to be a subscriber (I am)
I’m pretty sure you do have to be a subscriber – I had to log in to be able to listen.
Love hearing the hot dog guy shouting in the background.
Gotta work here DMan!
Meanwhile, the announcers at spring training are a hoot. The feed picked up his announcements between innings – someone left their car running in the parking lot so he made the announcement. Followed by “don’t be afraid to stand up, every one is watching you.”
yeh Lori if your not a subscriber you can’t hear or see the game on MLB.com until later tonight. All we have is Pete until he Rizzutos us in 6th then stick to gameday
You have to be a subsriber.
VFW = Veterans of Foreign Wars ?
Lori
You are now the LoHud announcer.
Lori
3 quick outs for Phil
Yikes – ok. (wish I printed out the line ups). Ok – bottom of the 1st nice play by Castro at 2nd, fly out and a pick by Giambi for the three outs. Nice start from Hughes.
I JUST GOT HOME how is phil doing? info PLEASE
At least I can watch tomorrows game after work! Joba should be pitching.
Phil threw an efficient first inning. Nothing hit hard. Got behind the third hitter 2-0 but got him to ground out.
Pete’s summary is much more entertaining than mine. That’s why he is the sportswriter and I’m . . .not.
Oh thank you gayle!!!
How many pitches did he throw? And what was the speed on his fb?
thanks CB
The “durable” Posada is up. (that’s per the Toronto announcers). grounds out to Hill. Shelley coming up.
What I love about Pete’s commentary is, you know at some point, he is going to offend one of the nervous nellies and they are going to come on here and tell him how disappointed they are in him.
I’m guessing Pete won’t be losing sleep over it. I just enjoy the exchange! lol
“David Eckstein led off the Blue Jays and grounded up the middle. “I have no range, it’s been proven by Ivy Leaguers, you get it,†Jeter yelled.”
LMAO.
every now and then i forget it, then i hear it again, posada has never been on the dl! that is really amazing!
duncan our RBI leader
Shelley doubles.
Hughes threw a 9 pitch 1st inning btw
shelley comes through!
ship his furniture!
2b for shelly
thanks brandon!
Shell-ey Dun-can clap clap clapclapclap!
these jerks on the radio are harping on shane spencer…
Steel cage match between Shelley and Jason for first base job?
melky!!!
nice melkman!!
Melky – base hit. Duncan scores without a throw.
What about Shane Spencer?
Y’s Guy
You better be knocking on wood after that comment.
rain is starting to fall in Tampa apparently. Just like NY . . .
MELKYYYYYY
raining—
Jennifer just how much shane spencer and Duncan were similar last year in terms of how they did at the end of a season. The normal bs stuff
Starting to rain
Comment on Posada that is.
Jenn – They’re asking whether Shelley is simply the next incarnation of Spencer.
Anyway – Castro – fielders choice, Melky out at 2nd. Castro beats the throw at 1st.
Shelley Duncan is your new Enrique Wilson of spring training – likely to morph into just another nobody once the real season starts.
jennifer they are saying basically that shelley will probably be a fluke like shane spencer, rather than a late bloomer.
and speaking of that several scouts have called shelley a late bloomer and expect that he’s gotten over a hump
Shelley is a BEAST.
Get phenom Phil out of there before he gets hurt!
Looks like this will be a short ballgame.
If it starts pouring, I can’t imagine they will continue the game.
If they do, expect to see the starters pulled.
The last thing they need are injuries on a wet field on March 4.
hopefully that rain can hold off one more inning for hughes.. i dont care bout the restof the pitchers haha
thanks JJ for your brilliant and optimistic commentary!!
Damon flies out on a nice sliding catch by Wells.
If Phil slips on the mound and gets hurt in this rain, I am going to be MAD!
If it is pouring, I don’t see them letting Phil go out there.
hey SJ i mentioned that pitcher wes roemer from cal state fullerton on a previous post. do you know what is going on with him? is it likely that he’s somebody that might fall to us in the draft? do we want him?
btw – I love what Shelley is doing, but lets not forget what Tony Womack did in 2005 Spring Training:
.410/.448/.574
Yea, it is Spring Training. Usually benefits fastball hitters. Lets not give him the first base job just yet.
game delay
Rain delay.
game delay
They’re bringing out the tarp…
Wells just robbed Damon in right center
Boy these play-by-play guys are lacking. It would be nice to identify what pitch is being thrown, location, etc.
Sounds like a lot of worry about Moose. I read that he was hitting 86 on the gun – that’s actually a good sign, because that number SHOULD go up as the spring moves on.
Hughes is mostly throwing first-pitch strikes
And that might be that – the tarp is coming out
We should all suck it up and subscribe
Let it start to pour when Kei Stingawa is out there.
Ok, good to hear that they stopped the game due to rain. Phil can get his throwing in on the side. No need to mess with mother nature.
Everybody, time to get those rosery beads out:
Please no hurt to Phil
Please no hurt to Phil
bl
you’re right, knock wood, but the guy on the radio said it, i just repeated it.
check out the radar:
http://www.wunderground.com/ra.....ightning=0
This game isn’t gonna start up again folks.
Andrea- it really is worth it. When I’m stuck at the office during the summer, it is the best way to listen while I work (and blog).
question is does Phil pitch when the tarp comes off ?
Question for those experts out there lets say the game gets called would they have Phil throw inside or something so he can get his work in be it now orlater in the day or do they just not worry about it?He only threw 9 pitches so not like it helps build up the strength
They better not, just push him back a few days and let him go 2-3 innings.
Encouraging sign for Shelley to drive the ball against another right handed pitcher.
Litsch was very tough against righties last year – .229 BA and a .646 OPS.
Shelley’s splits were fairly dramatic last year. Much better against Lefties.
His numbers against righties were very strange. He only had a .220 average against righties with a .289 OBP. He still put an .801 OPS against righties however because his slugging pct was so high.
Shelley hits the ball very hard.
well, look on the sunny side….. no igawa!
Nah Jenn, that screws up his schedule and the rest of the rotation.
My guess is he will go throw a bullpen today to simulate two more innings.
Mike,
Wes is almost a carbon copy of Ian Kennedy. He’s only about 6 feet, throws all 4 pitches (fastball, changeup, curve, slider) for strikes and has been a very good college finger.
He broke the pinky finger on his pitching hand earlier this year. I don’t know if he is back yet.
I don’t know if the Yankees would take him if he is there when they pick. This might be a draft containing some high ceiling position prospects who could fall in the first round.
If one of those guys fall, that’s where I see the Yankees going this year.
**college pitcher, not college finger**.
We need an edit button!! lol
Doesn’t mother nature know that when she does this she mess up the rotation?
**college pitcher, not college finger.**
We need an edit button! lol
this game is over folks that radar is not pretty
SJ_ thanks…you da man!!
i agree that we need to draft some position players.
Brandon – the colors are very pretty. Just not for a ball game.
Given what happenned with Girardi putting Josh Johnson back into that rain delayed game when he was with the marlins and getting hurt I don’t see Phil getting back into this game.
So I guess that’s it for today
I wonder how this affects the pitching for tomorrow?
SJ44,
Any chance Pedro Alvarez falls to pick #28 this year if he has a mediocre season after coming back from the broken hand?
I don’t think it’ll happen but I’d love to see it. When you mentioned high ceiling position players falling he comes to mind.
So Pete are you going to interview todays pitcher to see how he did?
Hughes threw a complete game shutout with only 10 pitches.
Who’s pitching for the Jays?
does anybody know if Ian and joba are pitching tomorrow?
Yankees win thuuuuu Yankees win
Who WAS pitching for the Jays?
Patrick – Even better. He threw a perfect game!
No walks, no hits, no runs…perfect game no less
SO do those people who attended the game get a refund?
Never mind. Sorry guys, I need a nap.
youngtimer – Jesse Litsch
“Put him in Cooperstown.”
NTTAWWT
10 pitches and only 7 strikes? Fil Hooose Sucks!
So what’s the plan now? Does Hughes throw in doors? What about the other scheduled pitchers? Does this affect Hughes’ next start at all?
Hey Pete, does the fact that Igawa didn’t give up a single hit or walk anyone help his chances to make the roster?
CB,
Only if Pedro has Scott Boras as his advisor! Only shot he has of falling that far, IMO.
One note on the Josh Johnson game and the urban legend that it was the game in which he was injured.
Oliver Perez for the Mets started that game and also came back to pitch after the rain delay. Nothing happened to him.
Jeffrey Loria and his folks have whined about Girardi for a year. Yet, nobody mentions Willie Randolph did the exact same thing.
They also don’t mention that, to date at least, there is no evidence that’s the game in which Johnson was injured.
Here’s all you need to know about Jeffrey Loria. He shows up for a meet and greet with the media the other day (to tell them he has no intentions of raising payroll until he gets a stadium) in a brand new 599 Ferrari coupe. Estimated price tag: 400K.
Not exactly the visual you want to show the media and your fan base when you are crying poor mouth.
Girardi isn’t perfect. No manager is.
However, he has gotten way too much grief over that game.
Especially since nobody mentions that Johnson wasn’t the only starter who came back after the rain delay.
you got lucky Jesse, we’ll get you next time you little Litch
Did anybody see the velocity ratings Phils FB? thanks
damn that david eckstein is pesky
I guess that is where the money from my ticket price raise went to. I feel so much better now.
how bout now;
does anyone know if Ian or Joba are pitching tomorrow?
Pete — loved the writing. Especially the lines about Jeter and the non-play at the plate.
MikeEff- actually i think both are sched to pitch tomorrow and they will be sched to throw on the same day thru camp, from what i remember reading.
I’m pretty sure IPK is pitching tomorrow. Joba might be following him, but I’m not sure about that.
“However, he has gotten way too much grief over that game.”
Agreed. Given the flack he’s gotten I can’t imagine he’d ever put another pitcher back in after a rain delay.
Girardi’s handled the whole falling out with the Marlin’s with a lot of class. Taking the high road was the right move.
Loria’s still whining about it. He was saying something about Girari just the other day. He just looks like a clown.
Joe G got lucky the marlins got rid of him. I’d guess Loria would have never let him out of his contract to coach the yankees.
With all this Loria and Marlins talk, it got me thinking…………..What do you all think about letting Cashman go after this season and bringing in Beinfest?
thanks guys
glad that one will be on ESPN tomorrow
I’m reposting this from the previous thread:
Ok, no one answered me (that I could see) the other day, so I’m asking again!
My French friends are coming to visit me in June. One of them lived here for a while and I’ve taken her to a couple Yankee games (her favorites are Matsui and Mussina. She loves the Moose call). Her brother is coming to the US for the first time and he wants to go to a Yankee game. To get him psyched, I want to send him a t-shirt, like I did for her before her first game. But what player should I send him?!?
Very important stuff…
Juan Pierre
andrea there are some cool “save the big three” T-shirts for sale at river ave blues blog.
i got one.
http://www.artsnow.com/RAShop
Yeah, Loria went off on Girardi the other day when he was complaining about the injuries on his team.
Funny, Dontrelle Willis had his best year as a Marlin under Girardi. Miguel Cabrera didn’t show up 30 pounds overweight under Girardi.
Girardi helped Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla become all stars and coaxed the only healthy season out of Annibal Sanchez in the last 3 years.
He took a team, a team the owner said wouldn’t be dismantled prior to him taking the job. The team got dismantled after he accepted the gig, he never complained, and had them in the race until the last week of the season.
Here’s how young the Marlins were under Girardi.
When the players got off the bus at the hotel during their first roadtrip of the year, they all stood around the bus. It was then Girardi realized they were waiting to take their bags into the hotel. Girardi had to explain to them that it was the big leagues and the days of carrying bags were over! lol That’s how young the team Girardi almost took to the playoffs were in 2006.
Last year, when he came back to do a Marlins game for FOX, the entire team stopped stretched and mobbed him when he came on the field.
When Hanley Ramirez accepted an award this winter, he cried when thanking Joe Girardi for what he has meant to him.
I’ll take those recommendations over ANYTHING Jeffrey Loria has to say about Joe Girardi.
So Hughes threw 9 or 10 pitches but only 7 of them were for strikes? It’s already March 4th … what an over-rated, no-talent waste! By now he should be throwing for strikes 90% of the time on 115mph pitches breaking 8″ or 9″ in three directions!!!! He was hurt last year but it’s the beginning of march already and he’s still not perfect. What a bum. Should have traded him for Santana. Now how are the Yanks going stack the rotation for that crucial do-or-die first week in April?
(ha ha ha)
SJ – Pedro is a Boras advisee, just so you know. What are your feelings on another Boras kid Eric Hosmer? He seems to have freakish potential in that bat, but I am scared of drafting another Eric Duncan.
MikeEff: those are cool, but I’m not sure he’d understand them.
Andrea,
Send him the exclusive pavano kick me t-shirt. If not, then a throw back Babe #3. Tough call. Need to flip a coin on that one. If you want him to get alot of attention go with Pavs. If you want him to look like a longtime fan then the Babes. Hope this helps.
a quote from Sweeny’s blog from a yankee AA guy on pitch counts
We get so ridiculous with this dumb pitch count stuff…It’s so (dumb). Somebody came up with a pitch count thing (like) this is going to decide if a kid’s arm is going to be healthy or not. It’s like predicting the weather sometimes. ‘If he throws 66 pitches, he will be fine, but if he throws 81, he is going to get hurt.’ No one can predict that.
I understand completely what the Yankees are doing, and I support what they are doing. The only negative you run into is that he never learns how to pitch when he is tired. He never learns how to pitch when he is a little bit fatigued.
I think you run into those problems because he is always fresh. Also, he is never in trouble. He needs to learn how to pitch out of his second or third jam in the seventh inning with two outs and he’s throwing 90 mph instead of 94.
Andrea
Which player are you most excited about? That would be a good choice.
SOS: someone else said to get him a Pavano shirt. Problem is, he doesn’t speak English. He understands it really well. So he’d know that people were mocking him, but he wouldn’t know how to say “this jerk bought me the shirt!”
I just wanna get him something to get him psyched about the game. I took his sister (my very good friend) through monument park, and she was amazed. She remembers ALL the retired numbers. She can’t say Gehrig though. it’s so cute. I guess it’s just sounds a French speaker can’t make!
Rainting Guy,
Not only did he miss the strike zone with 3 pitches. But they actually made contact with a few. Its time for him to go back down to Scranton and work on his mechanics. Went from Phil Phranchise to Phil Phailure. Im dissapointed.
Andrea: what about a ‘BUCK FOSTON’ shirt?
SOS – LOL !!!
Andrea:
It’s gotta be the “Got Rings?” T-shirt. It’s Yankee history all on one shirt.
http://www.joessports.com/prod.....Id=2105459
Looks like the game is coming back on. Mostly the B-squad though.
Andrea
If my high school french hasn’t failed me completely, Jeter means “toss” in french so that would be appropriate.
thanks Mike R
Doreen: that’s a good idea.
It’s raining again!!
Doreen,
Good to see you posting sahm. I have to tell you that my wife is cleaning her closet out and giving away some clothes. Which means i get to keep mine. Life is good. Yanks are finally here and i get to keep me Jerseys hung up.
Nothing like not having to share closet space.
Everybody in the game is doing the pitch count thing. Its just the way the game is going.
A lot of it is for insurance reasons. It gets tougher and tougher to insure pitchers and they use it to show the insurance companies they are being “safe” with their investment. Its also a way of playing the CYA game to your owners, who get very nervous paying what they are paying for pitching these days.
Its not just the Yankees. Its everybody in baseball.
These college coaches just blow out these kids. Pitch them way too much and they do some serious damage to some talented kids.
Its what happened to Alan Horne and it set him back almost 2 years.
I was at a game Brackman pitched last year. It was very cold and, IMO, his coach left him out there way too long.
Soon after, his elbow began barking. We know the rest of the story.
I can count the number of college coaches who truly understand how to develop pitchers on one hand. They are just interested in winning their games.
My theory on Boras’ college players is to be a little wary. For every kid like Brackman, and Kennedy for that matter, mature, high character kids, you have others (like Craig Hansen) who are simply part of the Boras hype machine.
I tend to like the kids who first develop their rep through their talent then take on Scott as an advisor, as opposed to the kids hiring him before they accomplish anything.
Scott’s hype machine of his own clients, while very impressive, is also very dubious. Especially when it comes to high school, international and college players.
Mike R: history is good!
Pat: that’s true. Jeter does mean “to toss” or “to throw.” It can also mean “To throw out,” my friend said. I kind of liked that translation. But I already got his sister the Jeter shirt, so I don’t want them fighting over whose shirt is whose, you know?
saucY
March 4th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Andrea: what about a ‘BUCK FOSTON’ shirt?
Or you can go with Cynthia Rodriguez and spell it correctly.
Kei is up! Everyone hold on to your hats.
How in the world is a guy named Homer a better pitcher than a guy named Kei? Maybe we should sign a pithcer named BB. :S
“These college coaches just blow out these kids. Pitch them way too much and they do some serious damage to some talented kids.”
I’m surprised, given how many high end college pitchers have serious injuries, that kids keep picking college over the minors after they get drafted.
I know a lot of it financial and the draw of getting a bigger pay day down the line is high, put college baseball, for pitchers, seems to be not in the players interest at all. The long term risk doesn’t seem worth it as a whole.
Why would any talented pitching recruits go to Rice, for example?
There’s a lot of talk now about why so many young pitchers are getting injured.
I’ve often wondered if at least part of the reason was the increased prevalence of talented high schoolers electing to go to college rather than picking the minors where its in the teams best interest to maintain their health.
That quote on pitch counts is from Billy Masse. He was the manager at Trenton in 2006 (when Hughes was there) before being let go after that season.
Some people in the Yankee organization thought he was not as much into development of pitchers as he was into winning games.
He was hired to manage the Blue Jays AA team last year and was let go after the season.
I think he was hired by another organization for this season. Not sure in what capacity.
sj,
Alot of players in the 70′s and 80′s dont agree with pitch counts. Some say that the more you throw the stronger your arm gets. I know that these players have big contracts and we cant afford losing them. But maybe we are hurting them more by babying their arms. I just wish we would go back to just looking at control,situation and velocity in deciding if its time to take out a pitcher. Last year we had a couple games that our pitchers were taken out in less than 90 pitches. While pitching good. If i can recall one was Wang. I was also listening to the radio yesterday and they are talking about going with a 6 man rotation in the future. Even less innings and pitches per year. Great.
I agree with you on Rice. They are going to have serious recruiting issues if they don’t change their ways. They blow out pitcher after pitcher. I don’t have a son, but if I did I wouldn’t want him going there.
Andrea, go with a Rivera shirt. Hall of famer, “true Yankee”, still an amazing player. Perfect for a new fan to the game.
About the pitch count thing. As frustrating as it is, its a good thing. It really does reduce injuries.
SJ you are so right about college coaches. I know a lot of college ballplayers around my area and the coaches really are clueless.
Yep, Masse was one of those minor league managers who felt his job was to win games instead of develop talent for the big league club. Type of guy George Steinbrenner probably would have loved back in the day, actually.
I can understand the conflict…when you are a manager of a team, you want to win every game you possibly can. Just like when you are a player, you want to win – the veterans on those teams don’t care about Phil Hughes’ future, either.
However, as a minor league manager or coach, your number one duty is to the major league organization. Your job is to teach the players, not win the games.
Not that everything he said was false, but this stuff about “learning how to pitch when he is only throwing 90 MPH in the 7th inning” is the type of thing that would want me to keep him away from my prized prospects at all costs.
We always hear about older players decrying pitch counts.
The data on the subject is interesting. The data supporting innings limitations is very convincing.
The 100 pitch stuff? That’s been going on for years. Ever since a lot of these kids were in high school and college.
Its hard to ramp them up for more pitches after years of being handled a certain way. That’s how they get hurt.
Its certainly an interesting subject and there are good points on sides of the issue.
Saucy: the female contingent of the Frenchies has a Buck Foston shirt. She saw it outside the Stadium and thought it was the funniest thing ever. She loves when she gets jokes in English.
SOS: nice.
Patrick: good call about Rivera. I was so sad that my friend didn’t get to see him. I took her to 2 games, and the Yankees lost BOTH games, so she didn’t get to see Mo. I wanted so badly for her to hear Enter Sandman and see him run out onto the field
sos 27-
I knew the closet situation would work itself out!
S.O.S. –
I can’t ever complain about them being cautious about Wang – he’s already defied long odds in coming back from a torn labrum (an injury that is a death blow to most any pitcher that suffers from it). If there is a 7-0 game in the 7th inning, and they feel the need to take out the starter, that is fine by me.
And some of those pitchers in the 70s and 80s were also babied a bit – and of course, we always hear this stuff from the pitchers in the 70s and 80s who were SUCCESSFUL; we never hear from those guys from the 70s and 80s who’s arms blew out when they were in AA.
nice andrea! that’s cool she understood, and liked that one
Bucolic Dunedin has a place on Main St. (SR 580) that has the best cheese steak I’ve ever eaten. I know where it is but darned if I can remember the name. The people that own it are from Philly and have Phillies and Eagles stuff all over the wallls. They also carry tastycake desserts and for those who didn’t grow up with them you haven’t lived until you have had ring-dings or devil dogs or funny bones with a glass of cold milk.