Ouch

What a horrible loss. Leading 4-0 in the 8th and we lose to the Twins, at home, 5-4. That just doesn't happen. I am not a happy camper. I must say I completely disagreed with Girardi's decision to bring Soriano in for the 8th inning. Again and again it is proven that situational pitchers like set-up men and closers do not pitch well when they aren't in their designated situation. Leading by 4 with no one on is not a hold situation and Soriano should not have been brought into the game. David Robertson and Boone Logan were both ready to go and should have been brought in. If either Logan or Robertson would've allowed a run then Soriano could have been used. The Yankees do not have an off day until Monday and now that Soriano has thrown 30 pitches tonight and pitched last night it is highly unlikely he is available to pitch tomorrow night when there may actually be a hold situation. Soriano in the 4-0 8th loaded the bases on 2 walks and a single and then walked in a run. After that David Robertson was brought in and gave up a 3 run dinky double to Delmon Young. C.C. Sabathia is cheated out of another win after 7 scoreless innings due, I think, to poor bull pen management. Should a professional relief pitcher be able to succeed in a situation like that? Absolutely, however it has been shown again and again that they do not pitch well in a situation that is not what they are used to. The Yankees have already changed Soriano's job once, I hate to see it being changed again.

A.J. Burnett

Well perhaps the Yankees most important starter, A.J. Burnett made his first start of 2011. He started strong piling up lots of strike outs early and ended up going 5 innings and allowing 3 runs. Only a couple of walks which is a good sign from A.J. and due to a surplus of Yankee offense was able to get the win. Tex hit another three run home run already meeting his home run total for April in 2010. Russel Martin also hit his first home run as a Yankee, a three run job as well. All in all a nice 10-6 victory for the Yankees and Derek Jeter got two hits, moving within 72 of 3000. Mariano got the save and needs 40 more to tie the all time leader, Trevor Hoffman.

Opening Day!

Well with the exception of Oakland and Seattle, every MLB team has played! The As and Ms are playing as I write and are locked in a pitchers duel, which was to be expected. The Yankees won 6-3 on the strength of home runs by Tex and Granderson! It is nice to see Tex hit an early HR considering he only had two all of April last year. Granderson hit his bomb off a lefty which is always good news and his work with hitting coach Kevin Long seems to be paying off. Sabathia and Verlander both pitched pretty well in the cold rainy day game in the Bronx but the Yankee bull pen proved dominant allowing no base runners and securing the win. Can A.J. Burnett put together a quality outing as the Yankees #2 starter? I think he can. We will know soon enough. Yankees Tigers 4:10pm ET on Saturday April 2nd. In other news Brandon Belt got his first Major League hit on Thursday and his first Major League home run Friday. I have him in 3 of my 4 fantasy teams so I'm happy about that!

Poll Closed

Well the poll is closed and Alex Rodriguez wins it with 55% of the vote! I think Arod is the obviously choice considering he's finally healthy again and raking this spring! New poll coming up!

So close!

We're so close! Yankees first game is only 3 days away! CC Sabathia against Justin Verlander! It should be amazing! unfortunately I'm going to miss most of it coaching a middle school team but since I'm forming the Yankees of the future I don't mind! That's a joke because the team is lame, but it's nice to hope! We currently have 9 players on the team which is really not enough but it looks like we're going forward with it. Of those 9 only one of them is really a ball player and he's young and small and cocky. However he is talented and hopefully we'll get a team mind set in his head and he'll do great! Of the other 8, 5 of them have hardly ever played baseball. I spent today's practice teaching about proper bat grip and how to load and swing. It tries my patience but I like the kids and they are improving so it's fun! Umpiring is less than two weeks away as well! Besides adoring the job it's really nice to get some extra cash! I will be at the little league fields just about every evening and all day Saturdays between umpiring and being the division coordinator for the oldest division and a board member! It's a lot but it's so much fun! I love little league baseball! Get out there and support your local leagues! Kids love being watched and it's fun to watch!

Yankees

Well the rotation is set. Ivan Nova will be #4 and Freddy Garcia is #5. Girardi said that even though Colon had better numbers this spring than Garcia he would rather have the pitcher who pitched in the majors last year. Understandable reasoning. Colon will be in the pen as the long man and newly signed Kevin Millwood may be as well. Curtis Granderson is doing well in his recovery and hit batting practice today. Newly acquired Chris Dickerson will most likely be the 3rd starting outfielder until Granderson returns and Andruw Jones will be the 4th outfielder off the bench and likely play against left handed pitchers. Manny Banuelos' velocity has been in the mid nineties today touching 99! The control has been a little sketchy but he has worked around it and only given up one run through 3. Alex Rodriguez continues his torrid spring! He has a two run HR today over the batters eye on a first pitch fastball that he just completely mashed! Alex will have another great year and be a pleasant surprise to those who thought him on the decline!

Spring Training 3/23

Well I got my first look at Phil Hughes tonight. He looked pretty decent. There was no gun on the broadcast but I would guess he was throwing 91-92 and he had a pretty good curve ball. The location wasn't always there but he was throwing a fastball, cutter, curve, and I think I saw a couple change ups. He got hit a little but he got some hitters out while making them look very bad. His stuff looks good he just needs to sure up the location a bit and he will be good to go! Also he needs to hold base runners a little better because teams in the AL East will definitely run. Jo-Jo Reyes for the Blue Jays looked very good. Brandon Morrow will start the season on the DL and so Reyes will become an important part of the rotation at least for a little while. Through 5 innings he shut down the Yankee line up which had almost all of the regulars playing.

A-Rod continued to have a great spring with a double and a single tonight and may be headed towards another great season! It will be tough for him to win an MVP again in the AL which is loaded with talent but if he can hit .290 with 35 HRs and 120 RBI I think every Yankee fan will be thrilled. On a bad note Curtis Granderson, who I think was primed for a huge year after putting in lots of work with Yankee hitting coach Kevin Long, had an MRI and it showed an oblique strain. It seems unlikely he will be ready for opening day which moves Andruw Jones into the starting line up and that does not thrill me. Hopefully Granderson won't be out too long!