The LoHud Yankees Blog

YANKEES
Cabrera CF
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Posada DH
Swisher RF
Ransom 3B
Berroa 2B
Pena SS
Cash C

Pitching today: Some big lefty, CC something. Then Aceves, Bruney, Veras, Melancon, Jackson.

TIGERS
Inge 3B
Polanco 2B
Sheffield DH
Hessman 1B
Raburn RF
Cleven CF
Ramirez LF
Laird C
Everett SS

Pitching today: Justin Verlander followed by Juan Rincon, Scott Williamson and Fernando Rodney.

Notes: The Yankees are in Lakeland for the second time in four days. … The team is off tomorrow and nothing is planned baseball-wise at Steinbrenner Field. … With the Dominican Republic’s shocking loss to the Netherlands in the WBC last night, Robbie Cano and Damaso Marte will soon be back in camp. You can expect them on Friday. … Back later with more. We’re in the clubhouse at 8:25 a.m. and then it’s off to Joker Marchant Stadium.

UPDATE, 9:41 a.m.: Still in Tampa as I wanted to watch Mo throw BP. He’s facing John Rodriguez and Jesus Montero.

Mo looks OK to me. One ball has been put in play.

UPDATE, 10:00 a.m.: Ever the good teammate, Mo stayed to watch Edwar Ramirez throw his BP.

UPDATE, 11:16 a.m.: We spoke to Mo for a few minutes after his session. He felt fine and will throw BP again on Saturday. Then he should be ready for a game. “Everything is good,” he said.

UPDATE, 1:16 p.m.: Yankees are off to a good start, leading 2-0. Teixeira had an RBI single and Swisher a sacrifice fly. Now Carsten Charles takes the hill.

UPDATE, 1:40 p.m.: Yanks wearing out Verlander as they lead 3-0 and have the bases loaded with two outs in the second.

UPDATE, 2:00 p.m.: CC’s second inning: single, single, single, strikeout, double, groundout, two-run bomb to left by Sheff, single. It’s 5-4 Tigers.

CC was lifted with two outs in the second.

UPDATE, 2:37 p.m.: 6-4 Tigers middle of the fourth. The Yankees left the bases loaded in the fourth when Swisher left to left.

UPDATE, 3:03 p.m.: We just spoke to CC. He feels fine, he just had trouble locating balls to both sides of the plate and couldn’t locate his cutter with two strikes. That’s usually an out pitch for him.

The Yankees are off tomorrow. But we never rest at blog headquarters.

Be here tomorrow at noon for another live video chat from Tampa. Go to our our Mogulus Channel to submit your questions via a moderator and I’ll answer as many as I can.

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Joba Chamberlain pitched like Joba Chamberlain last night. It was a sign of relief for him as the Yankees dumped the Reds.

Mike Mussina popped in to say hello. This notebook also has word from Brian Cashman, Chien-Ming Wang and early word on how the bullpen will look.

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Interested in attending a Triple-A Scranton game with some fellow blog readers? Check out this post for details and how to sign up.

Joba Chamberlain was pleased with his outing, as was Joe Girardi.

“I’d be lying to you if I didn’t say it’s a sigh of relief,” Joba said. “There’s a sense of urgency to get going. We’re less than a month away now. You understand that’s there work to be done. You need a kick in the rear end every once in a while.”

Two big positives: He threw his slider for strikes and he hit 96. His command and arm strength are coming. The adjustments Dave Eiland made worked well. Joba had to stand taller on the rubber and work on the timing of his front leg. He was wasting energy and out of balance.

“You could see it from the first pitch that it was better,” Girardi said.

Yankees at Lakeland again tomorrow to face the Tigers. Check back in the morning for the lineup.

YANKEES
Gardner CF
Damon LF
Nady RF
Matsui DH
Ransom 3B
Molina C
Miranda 1B
Berroa SS
Pena 2B

Pitching today: Joba Chamberlain followed by Kei Igawa, Christian Garcia, Phil Coke, Mike Dunn and Anthony Claggett.

REDS
Dickerson CF
Gonzalez SS
Bruce RF
Phillips 2B
Barker 1B
Encarnacion 3B
Nix LF
Hanigan C
Bankston DH

Pitching today: Nick Masset.

Notes: The game is on YES. … If case you were keeping track, there are now 60 players in camp after six players were dropped yetserday. … The rotation for the rest of this week is Sabathia tomorrow, Wang on Friday, Hughes vs. the Pirates on Saturday and Burnett vs. the Astros on Saturday. … Back with more later.

UPDATE, 2:11 p.m.: Mike Mussina is here. He’s on vacation with his family.

UPDATE, 2:39 p.m.: Chien-Ming Wang threw his bullpen as scheduled. He feels fine now.

UPDATE, 3:00 p.m.: It was good to see the Moose. He’s here for a week with his wife and kids, spending time out of the Pennsylvania cold. He has no regrets whatsoever. “When I saw the weight room I knew I was retired,” he said.

You have to admire the guy for winning 20 games and walking away when he was still healthy and able to pitch. That’s pretty cool.

UPDATE, 7:08 p.m.: Brian Cashman said the answer for third base, “is here in camp.”

“No GMs have called me and I’ve called no GMs,” he said.

That probably means you can’t expect a new third baseman tomorrow. But at least that is what he is saying for now.

Not sure how many updates I’ll be doing tonight with the game on YES. Enjoy the musings of David Cone.

UPDATE, 7:23 p.m.: 8 pitches, 6 strikes. Crisis over for Joba.

UPDATE, 7:57 p.m.: Joba wasn’t great but he was certainly much better and he hit 96 on the gun. Major progress tonight.

Meanwhile, I know it’s spring training. But Brett Gardner is 13 of 26 counting the Team USA game.

All of the 0-3 service time players signed contracts, by the way.

Joba Chamberlain has faced 11 opposing batters in spring training.

Vs. Minnesota on Feb. 28:
5-3
Single
Double
Double
4-3
6-3

Vs. Team Canada on March 5:
Walk
Single
Walk
Walk
Walk

His line this spring: 1 inning, 4 hits, 5 runs, 5 earned runs, 4 walks, 0 strikeouts.

I’m sure this is providing great fodder for those who believe Joba belongs in the bullpen. Or those who think something is wrong with him.

I am not in either of those groups. If I felt like looking it up, I’m sure I could come up with a list of 500 starters who were absolutely dreadful in spring training and then pitched well in the regular season. I don’t think what happens to a pitcher in spring training means a thing as long as he is healthy.

Consider Chien-Ming Wang. He had a 8.43 ERA in spring training last season. Wang couldn’t keep his sinker down if he rolled it to the plate. Then the season started and he was 3-0, 1.23 in his first three starts.

One caveat: Chamberlain is not Wang. Joba is 23 and is unproven as a starter. He also has Phil Hughes banging on the door with both fists behind him. The Yankees got burned last season when they handed Hughes and Ian Kennedy jobs out of spring training. They need to remember that lesson and make Chamberlain earn his way.

For his sake, that probably needs to start tonight against the Reds. If not, the first question Joe Girardi is going to get after the game is whether that final spot in the rotation is up for grabs.

Alex Rodriguez had his hip surgery yesterday and has already started his rehab.

Mariano Rivera is making big strides. This notebook also has updates on Andy Pettitte, some “golf” for the pitchers, Jorge Posada and a few roster moves.

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Interested in attending a Triple-A Scranton game with some fellow blog readers? Check out this post for details and how to sign up.

· Luis Sojo is managing Venezuela in the WBC, taking time away from his job as the manager of the Single-A Tampa Yankees.

Sojo is in a bit of a storm in Toronto. He told the Venezuela media that the Mariners demanded he use both Felix Hernandez and Carlos Silva on Saturday. He said it several times, in fact.

One problem: Mariners’ GM Jack Zduriencik, e-mailed Gordon Edes of Yahoo! Sports to tell him that Sojo was making stuff up. Now the Venezuela media is burying Sojo in the papers there. They take the WBC very seriously elsewhere. Very seriously.

· Ran into two scouts today who saw Andruw Jones in Arizona. Their call? F-i-n-i-s-h-e-d. No bat speed and he even looks lost in center field.

· Bobby Crosby, unhappy Oakland utility guy, played third base today. I’m just saying.

· That Andrew Brackman was optioned to Charleston today wasn’t exactly huge news. But it’s interesting to note that evil genius Scott Boras got the Yankees to sign him to a major league deal out of college. So as he develops, he burns his options.

· Brett Gardner leads the Yankees with three home runs this spring. I don’t know if that speaks really well of Brett or really poorly of everybody else.

· I don’t know that he’ll ever hit enough to play in the majors. But Ramiro Pena can play shortstop in the majors right now.

· The Yankees have Thursday off. I asked Chien-Ming Wang what his plans were. “Look at stuff for the baby,” said CMW, whose wife is due in a few months. And what does Mrs. Wang want? “Everything,” Wang said with resignation.

· I wish people could see up close the affection the players have for Yogi Berra. It’s really neat. Yogi was walking through the clubhouse today and Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes were marveling at how somebody his size was such a great player.

“He was on the treadmill the other day. It was going 1 mph or something,” Joba said. “God bless him.”

Yankees have a night game tomorrow and I plan to sleep in a bit in the morning. But the blog will get updated at some point. Joba pitches against the Reds and he probably need to look like himself pretty soon.

The game is on YES. I have the spring TV and radio schedule linked over to the right if you need it. It’s under “Posts of Note.”

A bunch of us attended a Scranton game last season and had a great time. Ron is hoping to organize another game for blog readers this season and asked me to post this:

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If enough people would again be interested, I’m willing to organize another LoHud Yankees Blog group outing for a Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees game this spring/summer at PNC Field, just off I-81 in Moosic, Penn. Last year we had approximately 60 blog readers, family and friends including Pete Abraham attend the outing, and I think everyone would agree it was a great time!

For those who are unfamiliar, PNC Field is about 60 miles from Binghamton, 100 miles from Newark, 110 miles from Philadelphia and 130 miles from State College. The stadium has several group outing venues available, but availability is going fast and the Yankees have increased the minimum number of people necessary to reserve an area on a weekend date.

The best option available for the outing based on dates still available is the Bullpen Field Box which is a nice field-level area in each outfield corner that is under cover, has numerous tables and chairs and several large TVs. A basic package would cost about $30 providing each person a game ticket, all the food you can eat (hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, pasta salad, coleslaw, baked beans, cookies), soda, water and an SWB Yankees cap or program. Adult beverages are also available at extra cost.

Use of the Bullpen Field Box requires a group of 75. The available dates are as follows:

Saturday, May 16, 7:05 versus the Columbus Clippers (Indians)

Sunday, July 5, 5:05 versus the Pawtucket Red Sox (Red Sox)

Saturday, July 18, 7:05 versus the Gwinnett Braves (Braves)

Sunday, August 30, 5:05 versus the Pawtucket Red Sox (Red Sox)

Please note a few things. Pete expressed to me the great time he had at last year’s outing, but due to his work schedule and other commitments he would only be able to attend the July 5 or Aug. 30. I also want to be sure everyone, especially the out of town travelers, know that the July 5 and Aug. 30 dates are Sunday 5:05 starts. Suite availability and Pete’s schedule unfortunately don’t match up very well this year. But if people are interested I think we should consider a date that Pete can attend. After all without the LoHud Blog, we wouldn’t even be discussing a second outing.

Reserving a hospitality area requires commitment to purchase all 75 tickets which I am willing to do, but only if it seems enough people are interested in having the outing. I’d ask anyone interested to Check out the paper and the web tomorrow and feel free to e-mail me AS SOON AS POSSIBLE at yankslifer@yahoo.com with the date(s) best for them and number of tickets they would want. Once I seem to have a consensus I’ll e-mail those interested before I reserve a date and direct everyone how payment can be made. Last year I sent those attending an invoice through PayPal and that seemed to work well for everyone. Please include your LoHud blog posting name in your e-mail to me so once organized I can let everyone know who’s coming.

Last summer a number of people from New York, New Jersey, Maryland and even Virginia came to the outing. Later I’ll provide driving directions and links to hotels and restaurants in the area for those attending.

Thanks to Pete for posting this.

Ron.

Two good things happened today: Andy Pettitte got it cranked up and Mariano Rivera looked like Mariano Rivera in the bullpen.

“It was good to get out there and get it cranked up a little bit. It’s been a long spring already,” said Pettitte, who allowed one hit, struck our two and walked one. “Now we’ll get going and try and get everything where we need to be.”

Meanwhile Eric Hacker and Wilkin De La Rosa were sent to the minor league camp.

Jorge Posada remains on track for catching on March 15.

Chien-Ming Wang had the flu and went home early yesterday. But he did his work today and throw his bullpen tomorrow.

Joe Girardi said he was “amazed” that A-Rod would be on a stationary bike the same day as his surgery. “It makes me feel that 6-9 weeks is doable,” he said.

Prediction: It’ll be a lot closer to six weeks than nine. A-Rod will get after his rehab.

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CC Sabathia and Nick Swisher have Twitter accounts and have been posting occasional updates about spring training.

You can find Swisher at NickSwisher and Sabathia at CC_Sabathia.

But to be accurate, neither guy is doing the actual Twittering. They send text messages to their marketing rep, who sanitizes the Twitter posts for their protection

Both of those guys also have web sites:

There’s CCSabathia52.com and Nick Swisher.net.

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My boy Mark Feinsand of the News had a great blog item today about the pitchers having some Joe Girardi-approved fun.

YANKEES
Gardner CF
Cabrera LF
Teixeira 1B
Posada DH
Swisher RF
Molina C
Berroa 2B
Leone 3B
Pens SS

Pitching today: Andy Pettitte followed by Ian Kennedy, Dan Giese, Dave Robertson, Jose Veras and Jon Albaladejo.

BLUE JAYS
Adams LF
Hill 2B
Lind DH
Overbay 1B
Lane CF
Snider RF
Campbell 3B
Chavez C
McDonald SS

Pitching today: Brad Mills followed by Rick Bauer, Brian Burress, Casey Janssen, Brad Mills.

Notes: This will be the first spring start for Pettitte. … A-Rod is having his surgery this morning. … Back with more later.

UPDATE, 9:12 a.m.: The Yankees-Red Sox rivalry was pretty real in the 1970s when guys like Thurman Munson and Carlton Fisk really disliked each other. Now, it’s mostly a creation of the media and fans. The players don’t see it as Athens against Sparta.

Up in Canada, some of you will be displeased to learn that Derek Jeter and Dustin Pedroia are becoming boys. Their friendship started at the All-Star Game last season.

“Tremendous guy and obviously a tremendous player,” Pedroia said last week when he was at Steinbrenner Field. “It has been great getting to know him.”

It’s easy to understand why Jeter would get along Pedroia. Like him, Pedroia is a guy who always plays hard and plays to win.

Meanwhile, here in Tampa, Mariano Rivera has returned from Puerto Rico and will throw a bullpen later this morning. The team is now in the middle of a meeting. There are always meetings in spring training. I think today is a presentation from the MLB Alumni group.

YANKEES MAKE SOME MOVES, 9:39 a.m.: Andrew Brackman was optioned to Single-A Charleston. RHPs J.B. Cox, George Kontos and Kanekoa Texeira were reassigned to the minor-league camp.

UPDATE, 10:33 a.m.: Mariano Rivera just threw 30 pitches in the bullpen. He had a lot more pop than he did the other day.

“Tremendous,” he said as he walked away.

UPDATE, 11:24 a.m.: Jorge Posada made a dozen throws to second base this morning. “Felt great,” he said.

* * * UPDATE, 12:50 p.m.: Dr. Marc Philippon just did a brief Q&A with the media. A-Rod came through the surgery fine. Get this, before the end of the day the rehab protocol calls for him to ride an exercise bike. He’ll do range of motion exercises through the weekend before they get to muscle-memory exercises. Dr.Philippon said there was “no doubt” they made the right choice.

He even guaranteed A-Rod would hit in the playoffs and be accepted as a true Yankee.

OK, that’s not true. But the good doctor seemed convinced that A-Rod will be fine and that the rehab will proceed quickly. So that’s good news for the Yankees.

UPDATE, 1:30 p.m.: Andy Pettitte gave up a one-out double to Aaron Hill then fanned Lind and Overbay.

UPDATE, 1:43 p.m.: Pettitte came out after seven batters, having reached his limit. His line: 1.2 1 0 0 1 2.

UPDATE, 2:04 p.m.: 1-0 Jays on a solo shot by Russ Adams off Dan Giese in the third. Yanks have one hit.

UPDATE, 2:08 p.m.: Gritty, gutty Brett Gardner has done it again. He just lined a two-run homer over the wall in right. It was his third shot of spring training.

2-1 Yankees.

UPDATE, 2:46 p.m.: Brett Gardner, the Maury Wills of his day, just reached on a bunt single. He went to third on Melky Cabrera’s single. But when Cabrera got hung up between first and second with two outs, Gardner did the right thing and broke for the plate. Alas, he was tagged out.

IPK pitching. He allowed a run in his first inning. It’s 2-2 after five innings.

UPDATE, 3:28 p.m.: We just talked to Andy Pettitte. He felt fine and threw 31 pitches. He was only supposed to throw one inning but bargained for three more hitters.

“I felt great today and my shoulder has been feeling great,” he said.

Yankees down 6-2 after seven. Rough day for Ian Kennedy.