The LoHud Yankees Blog

YANKEES (6-9-2)
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Andruw Jones LF
Russell Martin C

RHP Freddy Garcia (1-0, 0.00)
Garcia vs. Twins

TWINS (7-7)
Denard Span CF
Tsuyoshi Nishioka 2B
Jason Kubel DH
Jeff Bailey 1B
Luke Hughes 3B
Brian Dinkelman LF
Jason Repko RF
Rene Rivera C
Alexi Casilla SS

RHP Scott Baker (0-2, 3.86)
Baker vs. Yankees

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

WEATHER: Not a single cloud overhead. Wind is blowing from right to left. It’s sunny and nice and feels way too early after last night’s time change.

UMPIRES: HP Mark Carlson, 1B Mark Wegner 2B Vic Carapazza, 3B Toby Basner

ON THE LINE: Another start for Freddy Garcia, another chance to keep himself among the rotation favorites… The Yankees are starting most of their regulars, so no real position battles there, though Eric Chavez and Eduardo Nunez are both scheduled to play off the bench.

OUT OF THE BULLPEN FOR THE YANKEES: RHP Mariano Rivera, RHP Rafael Soriano, RHP Dave Robertson, RHP Joba Chamberlain and RHP Andrew Brackman. That should be plenty to get the Yankees through nine innings.

BULLPEN FOR THE TWINS: RHP Matt Capps, LHP Glen Perkins, RHP Pat Neshek, RHP Kyle Waldrop and RHP David Bromberg. I always enjoy watching Neshek pitch for some reason.

SPLIT SQUAD: The Twins also have a home game this afternoon. Francisco Liriano is starting that game.

CUT, NOT RELEASED: The Yankees announced that all of today’s cuts were reassigned to minor league camp, none were released. Because he’s on the 40-man, Hector Noesi was technically optioned rather than reassigned. He was optioned to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

TWO ON TUESDAY: CC Sabathia will have company when he pitches a sim game on Tuesday’s off day. Bartolo Colon will also pitch a sim game that day.

UPDATE, 1:23 p.m.: After Freddy Garcia allowed a run in the top of the first inning — while throwing a ton of offspeed pitches — Derek Jeter opened the bottom of the inning with a first-pitch fly ball out to center field.

UPDATE, 1:40 p.m.: Solo home run for Rodriguez has tied the game at 1 in the bottom of the second. That’s his second homer of the spring.

UPDATE, 2:00 p.m.: Garcia didn’t look good from the very beginning today. He lasted just 2.2 innings, allowing four runs on six hits, two walks and a hit batter. He threw 68 pitches, 44 for strikes and Eric Wordekemper had to bail him out of the third inning by stranding runners at second and third.

UPDATE, 2:16 p.m.: Hard to expect this. Derek Jeter just dropped a pop fly that should have been the third out of the fourth inning. Instead, a run scored on the play and a Brian Dinkelman followed with a three-run homer. It’s 8-1 Twins.

UPDATE, 2:30 p.m.: The Royals have claimed Rule 5 pick Robert Fish off waivers.

UPDATE, 2:42 p.m.: That’s Rivera for you. First appearance of the spring, strikes out the first three hitters he sees.

YANKEES (26-18)
Derek Jeter SS
Brett Gardner CF
Mark Teixeira DH
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Juan Miranda 1B
Francisco Cervelli C
Kevin Russo LF

RHP A.J. Burnett (4-2, 3.86 ERA)
Career vs. Twins

TWINS (26-18)
Denard Span CF
Orlando Hudson 2B
Joe Mauer C
Justin Morneau 1B
Michael Cuddyer RF
Jason Kubel DH
Delmon Young LF
J.J. Hardy SS
Brendan Harris 3B

RHP Scott Baker (4-4, 4.88)
Career vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 8:10 p.m. / MY9

UMPIRES: HP Chris Guccione, 1B Brian O”Nora, 2B Scott Barry, 3B Phil Cuzzi

WEATHER: A few clouds in the sky, but it’s a nice and warm night here in Minneapolis. If the weather were always like this, I’m sure this would be a great city to live in, but I’m not convinced I could handle the winters.

MAY DAY: Nick Swisher his batting .361 with 16 runs, five home runs and 13 RBI through 18 games this month. In his past two Mays combined, Swisher hit .164 with four home runs and 16 RBI through 54 games.

BAT OFF THE BENCH: Don’t discount the value of Marcus Thames on the Yankees bench. Thames is 9-for-29 with four home runs in his career against Twins starter Baker. He’s the only Yankees with more than 12 career at-bats against Baker.

WIN SOME, LOSE SOME: Yankees starter A.J. Burnett has had little success against Joe Mauer — .467/.556/.733 in 15 at-bats — but he’s been terrific against Michael Cuddyer, who’s hit just .125/.222/.188 in 15 at-bats.

UPDATE, 8:45 p.m.: Double plays in both the first and second inning have kept the Yankees off the board, but so far A.J. Burnett has been able to keep the game scoreless by stranding a runner in scoring position each of the first two innings.

UPDATE, 8:59 p.m.: The crowd here at Target Field seemed to think that ball by Morneau was leaving the park, but Swisher caught it on the track to end the third inning. Still scoreless.

UPDATE, 9:04 p.m.: Remember when I was raving about the weather? Now it’s raining pretty hard. The crowd is running for cover and the scouts have moved into the press box. Might have a rain delay in our future.

UPDATE, 9:07 p.m.: There is a squirrel loose on the field, and the crowd is chanting, “Let’s go Squir-rel!”

UPDATE, 9:11 p.m.: Brutal. The Yankees had two on and no outs with the heart of the order up, but Teixeira, Rodriguez and Cano couldn’t so much as move the lead runner to third.

UPDATE, 9:20 p.m.: Good thing Good A.J. showed up. He’s keeping the Yankees in this thing.

UPDATE, 9:30 p.m.: Burnett had retired nine in a row before a two-out bunt single by Span in the fifth inning.

UPDATE, 9:34 p.m.: After Burnett struck out Orlando Hudson to end the fifth with Span stranded at second base, we’re all lucky enough to be here for Target Field’s first rain delay. The tarp is apparently sponsored by Chevy. Seriously.

UPDATE, 9:36 p.m.: Must not be expecting this to last long. The Yankees are staying in the dugout.

UPDATE, 9:57 p.m.: The last time the Twins had a rain delay at home: September 26, 1981 against Texas. It was a 48 minute delay in front of 4,959 people.

UPDATE, 10:30 p.m.: No announcement from the Twins regarding a possible start time, but it’s still raining and there’s been some thunder and lightning.

YANKEES (22-12)
Derek Jeter SS
Brett Gardner CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Marcus Thames LF
Juan Miranda DH
Francisco Cervelli C

RHP A.J. Burnett (4-1, 3.40)
Career vs. Twins

TWINS (22-12)
Denard Span CF
Orlando Hudson 2B
Joe Mauer C
Justin Morneau 1B
Michael Cuddyer RF
Jason Kubel DH
Delmon Young LF
Alexi Casilla SS
Nick Punto 3B

RHP Scott Baker (4-2, 4.57)
Career vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 7:05 p.m./YES Network

UMPIRES: HP Alfonso Marquez, 1B Tim Timmons, 2B Tim Tschida, 3B Bob Davidson

WEATHER: It’s cloudy in the Bronx, but temperatures in the 60s and 70s are going to feel pretty good after some chilly days in Detroit. Very slight chance of rain.

PUT ME IN COACH: Joe Girardi said he wanted to put Marcus Thames in the lineup because of his past success against Scott Baker, and that’s no joke. Thames is a career .308/.333/.769 hitter in 26 at-bats against the Twins starter. He’s homered four times against him.

DOWN UNDER: Newly claimed right-handed reliever Shane Lindsay was born in Melbourne, Australia. The Yankees have had two Aussie-born players: LHP Graeme Lloyd and RHP Mark Hutton.

AROUND THE MOUND: As part of Orlando Hudson’s “Around the Mound Tour,” CC Sabathia and Hudson spoke to approximately 30 kids on the field at 3:30 this afternoon, and the Yankees have donated tickets to the kids for tonight’s game. Hudson’s initiative is aimed at getting more African-American kids involved in baseball.

UPDATE, 7:35 p.m.: Can’t help wondering now that A.J. Burnett has walked in a run and still has the bases loaded with no outs in the second inning… Do the Yankees even have a long reliever today? Surely Ivan Nova isn’t available, Alfredo Aceves is hurt, Chan Ho Park is rehabbing and Sergio Mitre is starting on Sunday.

UPDATE, 7:37 p.m.: Or maybe it’s not an issue at all. Burnett fields a comebacker to start a 1-2-3 double play. That was huge.

UPDATE, 7:39 p.m.: And Burnett strikes out Hudson to escape with only the one run. That’s an unearned run — because of the A-Rod error — and the Twins have a 1-0 lead that could have been much, much bigger. Nice work by Burnett.

UPDATE, 7:46 p.m.: Chan Ho Park pitched a scoreless inning for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He allowed one hit and struck out two.

UPDATE, 8:04 p.m.: Probably not good news for Nick Swisher. He’s out of the game, replaced by Randy Winn in right field.

UPDATE, 8:18 p.m.: Instead of the normal baseball pictures during their at-bats, the Yankees are showing the players in full suits on the big scoreboard. Is that new? I didn’t cover many games the last home stand, but this is the first I’ve seen it. It’s pretty cool.

UPDATE, 8:19 p.m.: The suit picture seems to be working for Brett Gardner, who just went deep to tie the game at 1 That’s his second homer of the year. I’ve written this before: I know Gardner is a small guy by athlete standards, but he’s pretty jacked compared to random strangers walking down the street. Not a huge surprise that he can get the ball out of here when he gets hold of one.

UPDATE, 8:32 p.m.: The Yankees pulled into the lead on Robinson Cano’s RBI double, but three straight strikeouts left runners stranded at second and third. The bottom of the lineup has really been hurt by those injuries to Granderson and Johnson.

UPDATE, 8:35 p.m.: As expected, Swisher left tonight’s game with a sore left biceps. He went for what the Yankees are calling a precautionary MRI.

UPDATE, 8:41 p.m.: Joe Mauer can hit. That’s all there is to it. His solo homer has tied the game at 2.

UPDATE, 8:50 p.m.: If Brett Gardner were one step slower, the Yankees wouldn’t be leading right now. He hit a two-out single to left, then scored on Mark Teixeira’s double to right, sliding in just ahead of the play at the plate. It’s a 3-2 Yankees advantage, and it’s so far a big game for Gardner.

UPDATE, 8:51 p.m.: Teixeira was just thrown out at the plate on a Rodriguez single to left. To be perfectly honest, though, I thought it was the right decision to send him. Good throw from Young got Teixeira by quite a bit, but at the time, I thought it was a good idea to wave him home.

UPDATE, 9:24 p.m.: Two straight hits off Damaso Marte have scored two runs and given the Twins a 4-3 lead in the seventh. Not sure why Brett Gardner tried to throw home on the Mauer single — letting Mauer go to second — but I’m also not sure it mattered after Morneau doubled to center.

UPDATE, 9:34 p.m.: Derek Jeter goes a week and can hardly buy a hit, then he doubles off the leg of Twins starter Scott Baker. This is a weird, weird game sometimes. The Yankees now have runners at second and third with no outs, and the Twins are going to the bullpen.

UPDATE, 9:41 p.m.: Twins reliever Matt Guerrier is coming into the game to face Alex Rodriguez with the bases loaded, all while the stadium plays a Rodriguez highlight video set to Jay-Z’s On To The Next One. I’m sure that’ s not intimidating.

UPDATE, 9:42 p.m.: That’ll do the trick. Grand slam by by Rodriguez moves him past Frank Robinson on the all-time home run list and gives the Yankees a 7-4 lead.

UPDATE, 9:58 p.m.: The official scorer has ruled that Damaso Marte was ineffective. Joba Chamberlain will be credited with the win if the Yankees hold on.

UPDATE, 9:59 p.m.: There’s the second big league hit of Golson’s career.

UPDATE, 10:01 p.m.: Obviously you don’t like Golson getting picked off there, but that guy can really run. He was nearly safe on that play! Juan Miranda followed with a hard-hit double to center field. It would really help the Yankees if they could get something out of Miranda while Granderson and Johnson are on the DL.