Not much worthwhile to put up today in terms of audio. But here are a few statistics and observations:
• It’s interesting how much more confident Phil Hughes looks as a reliever. For his sake, hopefully he is learning lessons that will help him as a starter. Hughes challenging hitters with his fastball and curveball and [...]

A very happy birthday to Brian Cashman. C-Money is 42 today, although in George Steinbrenner years he is 67.
YANKEES (45-33)
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Matsui DH
Cervelli C
Gardner CF
Pitching: RHP A.J. Burnett (6-4, 3.93).
BLUE JAYS (42-38)
Scutaro SS
Hill 2B
Lind DH
Rolen 3B
Overbay 1B
Wells CF
Rios RF
Dellucci LF
Chavez C
Pitching: LHP Brian Tallet (5-5, 4.47).
TIME/TV: 1:05 p.m., YES.
STATE OF [...]

CC took the loss and it was a bad one as the Mariners beat the Yankees.
The Yankees signed three Dominican prospects including catcher Gary Sanchez. This notebook also has updates on Jorge Posada, Jose Molina and Nick Swisher.
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If you’re fired up about getting here early for batting practice, take your time. The players don’t have [...]

Looking for something to do on Sunday? Here’s the answer.
I’ll be at the Triple-A Scranton game with about 75 or so blog readers for our annual outing. Four tickets became available this week if you want to join us.
The game starts at 5:05 and the outing will be held in the Right Field Bullpen Field [...]

Today: RHP A.J. Burnett (6-4, 3.93) vs. LHP Brian Tallet (5-5, 4.47), 1:05 p.m., YES
Saturday: RHP Chien-Ming Wang (1-6, 10.06) vs. RHP Roy Halladay (10-2, 2.56), 1:05 p.m., YES
Sunday: RHP Joba Chamberlain (4-2, 3.89) vs. RHP Scott Richmond (6-5, 3.69), 1:05 p.m., YES
Monday: LHP Andy Pettitte (8-3, 4.25) vs. LHP Ricky Romero [...]

That didn’t take long. Before I had left the clubhouse, this e-mail arrived about CC Sabathia:
Giving up 6 runs and leaving with the bases loaded in the 6th inning to a horrible hitting team in Seattle is pretty lame. He’s not a bust (yet) but he doesn’t exactly inspire confidence that he will shut down [...]

YANKEES (45-32)
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Matsui DH
Cabrera CF
Cervelli C
Pitching: LHP CC Sabathia (7-4, 3.55).
MARINERS (39-38)
Suzuki RF
Branyan 1B
Lopez 2B
Sweeney DH
Gutierrez CF
Johjima C
Langerhans LF
Woodward 3B
Cedeno SS
Pitching: LHP Jason Vargas (3-3, 3.79).
TIME/TV: 7:05, YES.
STATE OF THE ‘STRIPES: The Yankees have won seven straight and are 30-15 in their last 45 games. They trail Boston by 2.5 [...]

If you’re a fan of baseball history, you had to appreciate watching Ken Griffey Jr. hit a home run at Yankee Stadium last night.
It was No. 621 in his career, 39 shy of Willie Mays. The new Stadium also became the 44th park he has homered in, one short of the record held by Sammy [...]

If you watch Jorge Posada closely, he always blesses himself before the start of the game. Last night, he got a little extra assistance.
Father Joseph McShane, the president of Fordham University, threw out the first pitch and bestowed a blessing on Jorge before giving him a hug. Jorge didn’t get any hits, but he called [...]

A few unrelated items:
• Today is the start of the international signing period. In essence, teams are allowed to sign 16-year-old Latin American kids. Some will get huge signing bonuses, others a few thousand. The Yankees will announce their deal with Dominican catcher Gary Sanchez, a kid who reportedly can really hit. They also are [...]