The LoHud Yankees Blog

YANKEES
Jeter, SS
Granderson, CF
Teixeira, 1B
Rodriguez, 3B
Thames, DH
Hoffmann, RF
Gardner, LF
Cervelli, C
Pena, 2B

RHP Chad Gaudin (2-0, 3.43 with NY in 2009)

PIRATES
McCutchen, CF
Iwamura, 2B
Jones, RF
Doumit, C
Church, DH
Milledge, LF
Clement, 1B
LaRoche, 3B
Cedeno, SS

LHP Paul Maholm (8-9, 4.44 in 2009)

TIME/TV: 1:05 p.m., YES Network

WEATHER: Cloudy and windy. Not especially cold, but also not especially warm. Temperatures in the 50s.

UMPIRES: HP Chad Fairchild, 1B Eric Cooper, 2B Marty Foster, 3B Dan Iassogna

ON THE LINE: No one seems to consider them anything but extreme long shots in the fifth-starter competition, but Gaudin, Sergio Mitre and Alfredo Aceves are will be making their spring training debuts, trying to make a strong first impression.

OPENING LATE: This is the Yankees latest spring opener since 2005. They played their first spring training game on February 25 last season.

HE NEVER SHAKES OFF A SIGN: It’s CC Sabathia mini bobblehead day here at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

UPDATE, 9:19 a.m.: Joba Chamberlain is here and he’s healthy. He’ll throw a bullpen this morning, which means he should be good to go on Friday. “When I went home (yesterday) I slept until 5,” he said. “Then I went back to bed around 10.”

UPDATE, 9:22 a.m.: Next to the starting lineup, the Yankees have listed the nine players expected to play off the bench this afternoon: C Mike Rivera, 1B Nick Johnson, 2B Reegie Corona, SS Eduardo Nunez, 3B Brandon Laird, LF Colin Curtis, CF Greg Golson, RF David Winfree, DH Jon Weber.

UPDATE, 9:53 a.m.: Familiar names on the Pirates’ traveling roster: RHP Steven Jackson, INF Doug Bernier and OF Jose Tabata.

UPDATE, 10:03 a.m.: Just got this year’s Yankees media guide. Very cool cover.

UPDATE, 10:51 a.m.: Great to talk to Ross Ohlendorf and Steven Jackson before the Pirates started to stretch. Jackson got to New York but didn’t pitch in a game last year. He got at least a partial playoff share but hasn’t heard whether he’ll get a ring.

UPDATE, 11:57 a.m.: Just talked to Bernie Williams who is here for the day as a guest. He said he still goes back and forth on whether he’d like to return as a player, but he’s enjoying this new musical stage of his life.

UPDATE, 12:07 p.m.: Alex Rodriguez: “Nothing new. Nothing to report.”

UPDATE, 1:02 p.m.: They’re introducing all of the former Yankees who are here. The last three names were Reggie Jackson, Bernie Williams and Yogi Berra.

UPDATE, 1:12 p.m.: So much for a 1:05 start. World Championship flag just raised in center field.

UPDATE, 1:19 p.m.: First pitch, called strike. It’s 55 degrees. Cloudy, but the sun is shining. Today’s a good day.

UPDATE, 1:29 p.m.: Solid first inning for Gaudin. He had to grind through some at-bats, but stranded a runner at second. Andrew McCutchen had reached on an infield single, slow roller up the middle.

UPDATE, 1:43 p.m.: Two scoreless innings from Gaudin. Ohlendorf in to pitch for Pittsburgh.

UPDATE, 1:49 p.m.: In comes Sergio Mitre. Through two innings, one ball has been hit out of the infield. Gotta love spring training. Gaudin threw 34 pitches, 23 for strikes.

UPDATE, 1:55 p.m.: No. 5 starter Sergio Mitre just pitched a perfect inning. Competition over.

UPDATE, 2:04 p.m.: Apparently Francisco Cervelli spent too much time hanging out with Brett Gardner at the arcade yesterday. He developed some goofy ideas of what he should do on the bases.

UPDATE, 2:18 p.m.: Pretty nice play by Rule 5 pick Jamie Hoffmann. The wind seemed to affect the flight of that ball to right, but Hoffmann made a nice grab while crashing into the wall.

UPDATE, 2:19 p.m.: Not to be outdone, Brett Gardner stayed with his own wind-blown fly ball.

UDATE, 2:23 p.m.: Hey, check it out, it’s Jose Tabata playing right field at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

UPDATE, 2:35 p.m.: The Yankees starters — except Ramiro Pena who leads off next inning — are out of the game. Curtis is in left, Golson in center, Winfree in right, Laird at third, Nunez at short, Johnson at first and Rivera is catching.

UPDATE, 2:39 p.m.: Clubhouse is open so I’m heading down. Enjoy the game.

One day before opening the spring schedule, the Yankees got away from George M. Steinbrenner Field for a day of games at a local arcade. Andrew Brackman, A.J. Burnett and Royce Ring were the big winners, while Mariano Rivera didn’t fare nearly as well as he did a year ago.

Joba Chamberlain skipped the trip because of flu-like symptoms. He’ll try to throw a bullpen today, which would keep him on schedule to pitch on Friday. The notebook also has items on Chad Gaudin, the developing lineup, the left-field situation, the upcoming pitching schedule and Andy Pettitte.

You might see Jason Hirsh pitch in tomorrow’s spring opener. He was once ranked among the top pitching prospects in baseball and had a 2.10 ERA in the hitter friendly Pacific Coast League in 2006. He was traded to Colorado that winter, but his big league career was almost immediately knocked off course by a series of injuries. The Yankees acquired him late last year and the 28-year-old had a 1.35 ERA in six starts for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

How does everything feel compared to how it felt the past two or three years?
Hirsh: I’m healthy and I kind of feel like my old self. When I came over to this organization last year, in July, I started to feel like my old self again. I started pitching like my old self again. This offseason, I did a little bit different training routine. I only took two weeks off of throwing and then I played catch three days a week just to keep on throwing because my arm felt so good at the end of the season, I didn’t want to lose that feeling. Then I did a less traditional workout, more of a functionality workout. We didn’t lift as many heavy weights. We did a lot of body weight stuff, did a month of yoga. Back in California I did long toss, and my arm feels right now better than it’s ever been. Mentally and physically I feel like I’m back to where I should be.

You say back to your old self, what do you do when you’re pitching like your old self?
Hirsh: When I’m healthy, I throw strikes. I eat up innings. I compete. I’m going to go out there and give you my best. When I’m at my best, I’m a sinker-slider kind of guy. Changeup, since I’ve been hurt my changeup has developed quite well, and then when I got traded over here, they wanted me to start throwing my curveball again and that’s starting to come around. Right now I feel like I have three real quality pitches and one that’s borderline, almost right there. I just haven’t been throwing (the curveball) that much. Some days it’s an A+ pitch and some days it’s a D pitch. I’m still trying to get the feel for that.

After your Double-A season and your Triple-A season, you were right there, ready for the big leagues. Then all of the injuries happened. How frustrating was that?
Hirsh: Up until that point, I had never rolled an ankle, broke a bone or had an arm injury my entire life, from childhood right up until then. And I managed to roll an ankle, break a leg and strain my rotator cuff all in a two-year period. It’s just something unusual for me. I don’t know what contributed to it, whether it was bad luck, bad karma, whatever it was. Now that I’m past that, I feel good. I’m taking care of myself, taking the necessary steps to avoid that again.

Did all of the injuries happen in Houston or Colorado?
Hirsh: Colorado. I got traded in the winter of ’06 to the Rockies and in ’07 is when the injuries started piling up. I rolled my ankle in July, and then I missed a month. I made one start in Florida and then my next start was in Colorado against Milwaukee and I broke my leg. Pitched six innings with a broken leg, and then I missed the rest of the year. J.J. Hardy hit a nice little line drive right off his bat and right off my leg.

You came to this organization with bad numbers in Colorado Springs, but pitched well for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. What changed?
Hirsh: (The numbers) were terrible. I think for me, mentally, it was more of a clean slate. The Yankees had no idea who I was or what I did. They had no preconceived notions of anything, and I was the same way with them. It was almost like I get to impress again. At the time that I was traded, I was just starting to feel healthy again. When I got to Scranton, my slider came back around. My changeup was alright. I was able to locate my fastball in and out. Everything just fell into place, and that’s why I didn’t want to take that much time off in the offseason. I didn’t want to stop with that good feeling.

As you might expect, there wasn’t much news coming out of the Yankees spring training complex today. The big baseball news was the possibility of Joba Chamberlain being pushed back a day or two because of a mild illness, but even that will become a complete non-story if he shows up healthy tomorrow.

Otherwise, it was all fun and games today. The Yankees start the games that (sort of) matter on Wednesday.

“It’s going to be competitive,” Game 1 starter Chad Gaudin said. “I’m going to compete, but I’m not going to prepare the same way I would for a normal start. Physically I’m going to prepare the same way, but as far as having a game plan going against hitters, you’re not going to have that.”

Here’s the Joe Girardi audio from today. Most of it is about the team outing to the arcade, with a few nuts and bolts at the end.

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• It rained heavily through the night, but the back field was dry enough for Andy Pettitte to throw his scheduled batting practice session. He threw to two hitters, right-hander Jamie Hoffmann and lefty Juan Miranda.

• Girardi wouldn’t announce tomorrow’s lineup, but said the Yankees have already decided on lineups for the first five spring games. “You’ll see five or six guys that you would anticipate being possibly in the opening-day lineup,” Girardi said.

• He couldn’t remember whether Brett Gardner and Curtis Granderson are in the outfield together tomorrow, but Girardi said the Yankees will “definitely” play them together this spring.

• It’s amazing that the Internet has made people aware of 17-year-old Dominican pitchers, but I’ve gotten several emails and read multiple comments about Rafael DePaula and whether the Yankees have signed him or will sign him. “He has not signed (with anyone),” Mark Newman said in an email. “We have seen him several times.”

• Odd story about Yankees minor leaguer Justin Milo, who also played hockey at the University of Vermont before being kicked off the team today. You have to read pretty deep into the story to get a Yankees reference. Thanks to Russel for emailing the link.

• Looks like some of the individual Yankees are going to have to pay back some of their World Series winnings.

• At the very least, Rocco Baldelli drew some Yankees interest on this blog, but it seems he might not be able to play this season. For now, he’s taking a job in the Rays front office.

Curtis Granderson has weighed in on today’s trip to the arcade, and he offered this gem of a story.

“The highlight had to be watching Igawa race on the Indy Car,” Granderson said. “He kept racing up against the wall and damaging his tires. He wouldn’t move off of it. He had his left hand on the wheel and he was just cruising like nothing was wrong. He was doing that for a good three minutes. Everyone was shouting, ‘Turn left! Turn left!’”

I understand why Yankee fans are disappointed in Igawa — and believe me, he understood that the wins record for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre was a dubious honor — but the guy is hilarious. Once he got comfortable in the Triple-A clubhouse, he was a riot.

Granderson said he’d never done anything like this with Detroit. He would lift with minor leaguers, but never something this big, and never something that wasn’t work related. Before going against Andy Pettitte in Pop-A-Shot, Granderson said he and Pettitte had a long conversation that had nothing to do with baseball, just getting to know one another. Joe Girardi encouraged the players to hang out with teammates they didn’t know very well.

“I thought it was a great idea to get a bunch of guys coming from different sides, whether it’s their first big-league camp, guys that were acquired through trade or free agency and guys that had been there,” Granderson said. “For everybody to get a chance to meet up and see everyone outside of the intense training baseball mode, we can see that everybody does laugh and have fun. We’re all big kids.”

How did Granderson do?

“I struggled in my first round of Pop-a-Shot when it counted on the bracket,” he said. “When we came back for a side competition, that’s when I dominated… Skee ball was difficult. I used to be good at Skee ball, but I was really disappointed at myself for my performance. I’ll need to go back and figure out this Skee ball machine compared to the ones I used to play.”

The rest of the arcade pictures passed along by the Yankees. A big thank you to Jason Latimer for sending them.

Pop-A-Shot runner-up Mark Melancon has quite the audience for his final round.

Christian Garcia and Nick Swisher play a video game.

Jorge Posada takes his turn against bullpen coach Mike Harkey in Pop-A-Shot. I like to think Dave Eiland is dancing in the background.

That's Alfredo Aceves, and this picture is clearly too funny for words.

Here’s the first half of the pictures passed along by the Yankees. I’ll get the rest posted as soon as I get them sized for the blog.

Joe Girardi explains the rules.

Mark Teixeira plays skeeball with Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Jesus Montero watching behind him.

Nick Swisher races with Reegie Corona and Alfredo Aceves.

CC Sabathia shoots between Randy Winn and Kevin Russo while Sergio Mitre watches.

With Alex Rodriguez watching, Mariano Rivera takes his final shots against bullpen coach Mike Harkey.

The Yankees have passed along the winners of today’s team outing to the arcade. Andrew Brackman makes the list, but not in the Pop-A-Shot competition.

Indy car
Winner: A.J. Burnett
Runner-up: Dana Cavalea

Skeeball
Winner: Andrew Brackman
Runner-up: Eduardo Nunez

Pop-A-Shot
Winner: Royce Ring
Runner-up: Mark Melancon

We also have Mark Feinsand acting as a pool reporter for all of the beat writers. He passed along some comments from Mark Teixeira, and we should get some quotes from Curtis Granderson — and hopefully some pictures — later this afternoon.

“The highlights were A.J. Burnett just smoking the field in the video game racing, and Royce Ring being probably the best Pop-A-Shot basketball player I’ve ever seen,” Teixeira said. “Those two were hands-down the best at those two events.”

Last year’s big winner in the pool tournament was Mariano Rivera, but you’ll notice his name isn’t on this year’s list.

“I don’t think he did as well, but I don’t want to throw him under the bus,” Teixeira said. “At pool, he was definitely head and shoulders above the rest, but these arcade games leveled the playing field a little. I won’t throw anybody else under the bus, but I’ll admit the race car game was a little difficult and I finished last in my heat.”

Obviously all of this is light-hearted and a bit goofy, but that’s kind of the point. These players have the next eight months to be New York Yankees. Today, they didn’t really have to be.

“It was a great day,” Teixeira said. “The fact that we get three or four hours not to have to worry about baseball and not have to compete on the baseball field, it was fun. Playing video games, we felt like kids again. It promotes a light-hearted atmosphere.

“The great thing about this kind of atmosphere is that there’s no veterans or rookies, starters or role players, Triple-A or Single-A; everyone is on the same playing field. We’re all having fun, really kind of letting our hair down and getting to know each other without competing on the field.”

Joba Chamberlain is sick. It doesn’t sound bad, but the Yankees decided to send him home rather than bring him to the arcade for today’s team outing.

“They said he didn’t look good,” Joe Girardi said. “I think he has flu-like symptoms.”

Chamberlain was supposed to throw a bullpen today, and as long as he’s healthy enough to throw one tomorrow, he’ll stay on track to make his spring debut on Friday.

“We’ll see how he is tomorrow,” Girardi said. “If he can’t throw a pen tomorrow, there might be a chance of plans.”

The Yankees have announced their probable pitchers for the first three spring games:

Wednesday, vs. Pittsburgh
Chad Gaudin, Sergio Mitre, Alfredo Aceves, Jonathan Albaladejo, Wilkins Arias, Jason Hirsh, Royce Ring, Amaury Sanit, Zach Segovia

Clearly the most interesting pitching performances will be the three dark-horse rotation candidates, but don’t forget that Albaladejo has made the opening day roster the past two years. He’s in much better shape this spring and looked very good in Triple-A at the end of last season. It will be interesting to see if Ring can put himself in the mix.

Thursday, at Philadelphia
CC Sabathia, Kei Igawa, Zach McAllister, Mark Melancon, Ivan Nova, Romulo Sanchez

After Sabathia, that may very well be fourth-fifths of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre rotation. McAllister, Nova and Sanchez could be battling in Triple-A to be the first starter called up if necessary.

Friday, vs. Tampa Bay
Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Jeremy Bleich, Grant Duff, Dustin Moseley, Hector Noesi, Dave Robertson, Kevin Whelan

Hughes vs. Chamberlain begins in Game 3. The other pitchers are listed in the order they were listed in the clubhouse, but Robertson is the only other pitcher who seems especially high on the depth chart. I do wonder, though, if Moseley could make a surprise push for a spot. Whelan and Duff are hard-throwers who could put themselves in the mix for an eventual call-up.

———

Scheduled opposing pitchers
Pittsburgh: Paul Maholm, Ross Ohlendorf, Brian Bass, D.J. Carrasco, Chris Jakubauskas, Steven Jackson*, Jack Taschner, Jean Machi

Philadelphia: Roy Halladay, Kyle Kendrick, Jose Contreras, Drew Carpenter, Sergio Escalona

Tampa Bay: David Price, Heath Rollins, Mike Ekstrom, Jeff Bennett, Jeremy Hellickson, Carlos Hernandez, R.J. Swindle

* Jackson is listed in this article, but he wasn’t on the list posted in the Yankees clubhouse. Maybe he’s traveling but not scheduled to pitch.

The Yankees will leave at 10:30 for an arcade game tournament.

They will play skee ball, a pop-a-shot basketball game and a racing video game. The pressure is clearly in Andrew Brackman in the basketball event.

Joba Chamberlain is out with flu-like symptoms. If he can’t throw a bullpen tomorrow, he might have his Friday outing pushed back.

UPDATE, 10:25 a.m.: It’s funny how serious Girardi made this whole event sound when he announced it.

“There will be three games that they are required to perform in,” he said. “We are looking for well-rounded, video arcade nuts. They will participate in Indy racing, skee and pop-a-shot. And during the time they are not participating, they are allowed to do whatever they want, play any games they want. I figure that there should be a gold medal, a silver medal and a bronze medal, but they will be in the order of gift certificates. I’m not going to buy medals.”

UPDATE, 10:31 a.m.: Girardi breaking down the odds.

“I would think that Kevin Long should be the favorite for the skee as much toss as he does. He should be the favorite for that. We have a college basketball player, isn’t that right? And as far as the car racing, I’m not sure.”

UPDATE, 10:45 a.m.: Girardi listed four suggestions that were ruled out.

Paintball: “We thought that was dangerous.”
Ping pong: “(In pop-a-shot) you want to have a soft touch where, in ping pong, they might try to spike it.”
Bowling: “Pitchers arms, you get concerned.”
Pool party: “That had stubbed toes written all over it.”