The LoHud Yankees Blog

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YANKEES
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Johnson DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Curtis Granderson CF
Brett Gardner LF
Mike Rivera C

LHP Andy Pettitte

ORIOLES
Brian Roberts 2B
Nolan Reimold RF
Adam ones CF
Miguel Tejada 3B
Garrett Atkins 1B
Matt Wieters C
Ty Wigginton DH
Felix Pie LF
Cesar Izturis SS

RHP Alfredo Simon

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

WEATHER: Andy Pettitte is starting, yet there’s hardly a cloud in the sky. He’ll get to pitch in this one.

UMPIRES: The only umpires listed are HP Andy Fletcher and 1B Mark Wegner. There will be a full set of four, but those are the only names I have.

ON THE LINE: There’s actually more on the line at the minor league complex where Alfredo Aceves is pitching an inning to prove that his back is healthy enough to open the season in the Yankees bullpen.

JAMES P. DAWSON AWARD: Jon Weber has been given the James P. Dawson Award as the best rookie in camp. I’m not positive it was a unanimous decision, but Weber certainly got my vote.

UPDATE, 1:13 p.m.: Brian Cashman said he’s not worried about Marte, Cervelli or Posada. “The only huge question we have is Ace right now,” Cashman said. “He’ll throw his inning today and hopefully he’ll do well and then feel well tomorrow.”

By Ace, he means Alfredo Aceves. Everyone probably knows that, but I don’t want anyone thinking CC Sabathia is questionable.

UPDATE, 1:24 p.m.: This last week is getting brutal for the Yankees. Nick Johnson just fouled a ball off his right knee and he’s been taken out of the game, replaced by Randy Winn.

UPDATE, 1:34 p.m.: An 0-2 pitch to Nick Swisher, he hammered it for a two-run home run to right. It’s already 4-0 Yankees after one inning. Alex Rodriguez had an RBI single and Robinson Cano drove in a run with a fielder’s choice grounder to second.

UPDATE, 2:05 p.m.: Nick Johnson has a bruised right knee. The Yankees have labeled him, day-to-day. No diagnostic tests were performed.

UPDATE, 2:38 p.m.: Andy Pettitte pitched pretty well against actual hitters. He’s out of the game with runners on the corners and one out here in the fifth. The last batter he faced might have grounded into an inning-ending double play, but Cano was on his way to cover second base and the grounder found a hole. Josh Schmidt — great numbers in Double-A last year, not overwhelming stuff — is in from the bullpen.

UPDATE, 2:40 p.m.: Nice job by Schmidt, getting Adam Jones and Miguel Tejeda to strand the runners. Still a 4-0 Yankees lead.

UPDATE, 2:59 p.m.: Alfredo Aceves pitched a scoreless inning and felt no pain at the minor league complex. He said he will “absolutely” be ready for Opening Day.

UPDATE, 3:13 p.m.: Mariano Rivera has a little bit of a cold. He said that’s why Girardi went to the mound after he hit Felix Pie, just making sure he still felt OK. Rivera said he’s fine. No worries about Sunday.

UPDATE, 4:10 p.m.: Nick Johnson gave a simple “yes” when asked about his chances of playing Sunday. He’s expecting to be in the lineup.

Hey everybody,

Jeff the tech guy here. I hope you guys like the new templates. I know that some of you are not seeing the right version. Yesterday I was switching the templates back and forth as I was trying to hunt down a problem on the server. In that process I think some jacked up versions of the blog got stuck in people’s browsers. I’m getting that complaint from a lot of chrome and safari users. If the blog looks messed up, you need to clear your browser’s cache or history.

For Chrome:
http://www.google.com/support/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=95537
Follow those instructions and delete yesterday’s and today’s history. Restart your browser and come back here.

For Safari:
Just click on the ‘safari’ menu item in the upper left hand corner of your screen, and select the ‘empty cache’ option. Restart your browser and come back here.

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For IE:
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Thanks again everybody for your patience.

Damaso Marte felt some discomfort in his left shoulder while throwing long toss a few days ago. He’s been scratched from today’s scheduled relief appearance.

Marte and Joe Girardi described it as a “cranky” shoulder. Marte said it’s sore, but nothing like last year’s injury. He doesn’t expect this to land him on the DL.

UPDATE, 11:42 p.m.: Alfredo Aceves will make his scheduled appearance today in a minor league game.

The Yankees big leaguers will play the Yankees minor leaguers tomorrow, but on the Grapefruit League schedule, today is the spring finale. And it’s pretty easy to tell. The clubhouse is lined with boxes and suitcases, and the players — and the writers — are absolutely in let’s-get-out-of-Florida mode.

Today’s game will be the last chance for big league regulars to play significant innings before Opening Day. Joe Girardi has already said that he doesn’t expect his guys to play seven innings tomorrow against the minor leaguers. That game could turn into minor leaguers vs. minor leaguers at some point, or at least bench players vs. minor leaguers.

The Yankees are taking batting practice right now, but it’s otherwise a very quiet morning in Tampa. Just going through the final steps before Boston on Sunday.

—

• So far, no final roster moves have been made. Royce Ring is still in camp with a locker two feet from P.J. Pilittere. The Yankees need to see Alfredo Aceves pitch this afternoon, and make sure his back feels fine afterward, before finalizing their bullpen.

• The James P. Dawson Award for the best rookie in camp will be given before the game. The past nine winners: Brett Gardner, Shelley Duncan, Kei Igawa, Eric Duncan, Andy Phillips, Bubba Crosby, Hideki Matsui, Nick Johnson, Alfonso Soriano. Jorge Posada won it 1997, Don Mattingly won it 1983 and Roy White won it in 1966.

• Before tomorrow’s Future Stars game, the Yankees will officially give their minor league Pitcher of the Year and Player of the Year awards to Zach McAllister and Austin Romine. Members of last year’s Tampa Yankees will also get their Florida State League championship rings.

• The Trentonian has news of a couple of cuts in minor league camp: Outfielder James Cooper and relief pitcher Jonathan Hovis have each been cut. Cooper is a career .261 hitter without much power. He spent the past two years in Double-A. Hovis has great minor league numbers — 62 saves and a 2.15 ERA — but he never generated much prospect buzz and has pitched just two games above Single-A. Small update: Just doubled checked to confirm those two releases and ask if there have been more. Apparently only those two have been released since that first wave of minor league releases that included Chris Malec and Seth Fortenberry.

• Available to pitch this afternoon: Andy Pettitte, Damaso Marte, Mariano Rivera, Boone Logan, Grant Duff, Amaury Sanit and Josh Schmidt.

• Available off the bench: C Francisco Arcia, C P.J. Pilittere, C Austin Romine, 1B Juan Miranda, INF Justin Snyder, INF Ramiro Pena, INF Luis Nunez, OF Jon Weber, OF Randy Winn and OF Marcus Thames.

• The Orioles just traded for SS Julio Lugo, and he will be available off their bench today. Recently picked up OF Joey Gathright also made the trip for Baltimore. So did a young catcher named Matt Wieters. Here’s their lineup:

Brian Roberts 2B
Nolan Reimold RF
Adam ones CF
Miguel Tejada 3B
Garrett Atkins 1B
Matt Wieters C
Ty Wigginton DH
Felix Pie LF
Cesar Izturis SS

RHP Alfredo Simon

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Johnson DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Curtis Granderson CF
Brett Gardner LF
Mike Rivera C

LHP Andy Pettitte

UPDATE, 9:55 p.m.: Jorge Posada told reporters this morning that his neck feels better, but he won’t be playing today. I wonder if the Yankees could let Posada and Francisco Cervelli split the catching duties on Saturday, just so they can get behind the plate one more time before Opening Day.

As expected, Joe Girardi named Curtis Granderson his starting center fielder on Thursday. Brett Gardner got a look at the position, but the Yankees decided to move Gardner to left field so that Granderson could play one position consistently as an everyday player.

The Yankees still expect to have catchers Jorge Posada and Francisco Cervelli available on opening day, but both were forced out of the lineup because of injuries on Thursday. The notebook also has items on Mark Teixeira returning to the lineup, Alfredo Aceves returning to the mound and A.J. Burnett pitching well against the Blue Jays.

No one seemed surprised by Thursday’s announcement that Curtis Granderson would be the Yankees opening day center fielder.

“They traded for Curtis and I kind of figured he would be the center fielder,” Brett Gardner said. “You get a guy like that, that’s where he’s most comfortable, and that’s where he needs to play.”

The Yankees expect Granderson to play every day, even against left-handers. He had two hits off a lefty on Thursday and, after a slow start this spring, he’s 10-for-22 in his past eight games.

“To come here and get a chance to play center, I’m definitely excited,” Granderson said. “But if the move happens to come, or (the decision) would have been different for me to go to left, or a week from now I’m playing left, I’m not going to be mad by any means.”

Here’s the Granderson audio.

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As for Gardner, he knows he has to get on base to keep an everyday spot in the lineup. Marcus Thames could be a platoon partner and Randy Winn is used to being a regular, so Gardner has to perform.

“I’m just pretty hard on myself and I obviously haven’t had a very good spring at the plate,” Gardner said. “We’re going to be starting the season here pretty soon and I need to figure things out and get started. Last year I had a really good spring and got off to a slow start in the season, so hopefully this year it will be the exact opposite.”

Here’s the Gardner audio. He said some of his mechanical adjustments have made his bat a little faster than he’s used to and he’s been making contact too far out front. He has to get used to seeing the ball deeper and letting his new mechanics take over.

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• Joe Girardi said this outfield alignment isn’t set in stone, but it’s clearly he way he’d prefer to keep it. “I think it’s something that we can always revisit,” he said. “I don’t think everything is always etched in stone, but my plan is to play Curtis in center.”

• If Francisco Cervelli can’t open the season, the decision of who would take is place is “a decision we would have to talk about,” Girardi said. Mike Rivera and P.J. Pilittere are in camp, but Rivera hasn’t played in almost two weeks since hurting his right hamstring. “We obviously need to get him back out there to see how he feels too,” Girardi said.

• Joba Chamberlain, Chan Ho Park, Dave Robertson and Royce Ring each pitched today, making it back-to-back games for each of them. Boone Logan went back-to-back yesterday. None of them allowed a run in their second appearance.

• Speaking of not allowing a run, minor leaguer Lance Pendleton picked up a save today with a scoreless ninth.

• Robinson Cano went 2-for-2 and raised his batting average to .380. He’s been terrific this spring. Granderson, Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher also had two hits. All of those guys have really hit this spring.

• The plan is for Alfredo Aceves, Mariano Rivera and Damaso Marte to each pitch out of the bullpen tomorrow. Aceves needs to pitch come out clean on the other side to break camp with the team.

• Speaking of plans, Girardi said his regulars will start Saturday’s game against the Yankees minor leaguers, but, “You’re not going to see them play seven innings,” he said. “If a guy wants another at-bat or two at-bats, I’ll talk to each of our guys.” Javier Vazquez is starting that game.

That’s an Associated Press photo at the top. Those pictures look a lot better in this blog format.

Nothing really stands out about A.J. Burnett’s pitching line this afternoon. He allowed two runs on five hits through 4.2 innings. He walked two, struck out two and allowed a home run to the first batter he faced.

But Burnett mixed his pitches and would have allowed only one run had a first-inning two-seamer not drifted across the plate.

“I thought it was the best he’s looked,” Joe Girardi said. “I was really pleased with the way he threw the ball today.”

Burnett was also happy. He got a double play ball on a changeup to a right-hander, and also mixed in some good curveballs. Last time out, he struggled with the curveball and didn’t throw a single change.

“Today we realized (the changeup) was really good, so we threw more than the norm,” Burnett said. “I’m sure there will be days when that’s off and I’ll have a hook. The fact that I’ve worked on it enough to have confidence in it to throw it whenever is big, I think. I’m not going to get beat by it if it’s not on that day. I learned that too.”

Here’s the Burnett audio. This was his last spring start before he pitches the second game of the season on Tuesday.

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Three quick injury updates, and one non-injury update.

Mark Teixeira
He got in a game for the first time since being hit by a pitch to the elbow on Tuesday.

“It feels really good now. Yesterday, if felt really good by the end of the day and I woke up this morning, it got better. You know your body. When you’re getting better every day, you feel pretty good. If it starts getting worse maybe, or isn’t getting better, then you start to worry, but I knew right away that I was going to be fine.”

He doesn’t like wearing protective sleeves, but he wore one today and said Joe Girardi wants him to continue wearing it until he feels no discomfort whatsoever.

Jorge Posada
He was a late scratch from today’s game because of a sore neck.

“He said he could have hit left-handed, but I don’t think they were going to change pitchers,” Girardi said

Long-term, Girardi said there is absolutely no concern about the issue. Short term, they just want to make sure he’s 100 percent for opening day. As long as he shows up in camp feeling fine in the morning, he’ll play tomorrow.

Alfredo Aceves
Not much of an update here. Girardi simply said that Aceves is better today than he was yesterday. The Yankees still plan to have Aceves pitch tomorrow.

Dave Robertson
Girardi went to check on Robertson during the game because he saw him shake his leg. He wanted to make sure nothing was wrong. Turns out, Robertson’s shoes were hurting his feet.

“Maybe it’s time to get new shoes,” Girardi said.

YANKEES
Curtis Granderson CF
Nick Johnson DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
P.J. Pilittere C
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Marcus Thames LF
Ramiro Pena SS
Marcos Vechionacci 3B

RHP A.J. Burnett

BLUE JAYS
Jose Bautista RF
Aaron Hill 2B
Adam Lind DH
Vernon Wells CF
Lyle Overbay 1B
Edwin Encarnacion 3B
John Buck C
Travis Snider LF
John McDonald SS

LHP Brian Tallet

TIME/TV: 1:05 p.m./None in New York

WEATHER: Another bright and sunny day in Florida for the Yankees final road game of the spring.

UMPIRES: There are four umpires, but the only names listed are 1B Jerry Crawford and 2B Damien Beal.

ON THE LINE: We could see a few relievers pitch in their second straight game and Marcus Thames is getting another chance against a left-handed starter.

UPDATE, 1:25 p.m.: Lead-off double by Granderson and an RBI single by Johnson gave the Yankees an early lead, then a two-out RBI single by Cano built that lead to 2-0. By the way, Pilittere put a charge in the ball in his first at-bat as the clean-up hitter, flying out to the track in center.

UPDATE, 1:55 p.m.: Mark Teixeira just roped a double off the top of the wall in left. By the way, Curtis Granderson is 2-for-2 off the lefty Tallet this afternoon. He seems to have gotten some things worked out this spring.

UPDATE 1:57 p.m.: INF Kevin Russo and C Jose Gil were late additions from minor league camp. They’re basically replacing Laird and Posada. Also, it seems the Blue Jays gave out the wrong lineup. Jose Molina is in the game for Toronto.

UPDATE, 2:49 p.m.: It’s been a pretty slow game in a good way. A.J. Burnett is out after allowing tw runs through 4.2 innings. He was solid for his last spring training tune-up. Royce Ring is on to face Adam Lind with one out in the fifth.

UPDATE, 2:52 p.m.: Ring struck out Lind swinging. I don’t think he’ll make the team, but Ring’s pitched pretty well except for one bad inning this spring. It’s 3-2 Yankees heading into the top of the sixth.

UPDATE, 3:02 p.m.: Ramiro Pena showing the power that’s made him famous. He just doubled off the high wall in right field, scoring a run giving the Yankees a 4-2 lead.

UPDATE, 3:10 p.m.: Edwin Encarnacion is having an ugly day at third. He just made his second error, leading to the fifth Yankees run.

Chan Ho Park is now pitching. Gardner is in center. Winn is in left. Brewer is in right. Russo is at second. Ibarra is at short. Miranda is at first.