A good start against the Sox

**CMW tossed a gem this evening against the Sox, as he gave up one run on two hits, while striking out three in nine innings ... For the season, he has pitched 22 innings, giving up three runs on 12 hits, and four walk, with 11 strikeouts, and sports a 1.23 ERA for the season.

**Manny who was 13-for-22 against Wang before the game, went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts, and Ortiz who was 15-for-30 went 0-for-3 as well with a strikeout.

**Wang entered the game 5-5 lifetime against the Sox with a 4.56 ERA.

**Mussina vs. Beckett on Saturday at 3:55 p.m.; Hughes vs. Dice-K on Sunday at 8:05 p.m.

Ugly

No other words can describe it, that was bad. However, looking at the boxscore I did see a few positives from last night.

**Despite the bad performance from IPK, the three young pitchers that came after him did well ... Albaladejo went two and two-thirds innings, giving up one hit and striking out four, but he did give up an inherited run ... Ohlendorf did not give up a run in one inning ... Traber gave up one hit in one inning, which for the most part kept the Yankees in the game at 6-4.

**But, LaTroy Hawkins gave up six runs on six hits in just two-third of an inning ... and Kyle Farnsworth gave up one run on three hits in an inning and a third.

**Also looking at the good side of things, Giambi finally got a hit, after going 0-for-8 in the first three games of the season ... And Matsui hit his first homerun of the season.

**Abreu, appears to be starting the season on a hot streak, as he went 1-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI ... Through the first four games of the season he is batting .462 (6-for-13).

**Peter Abraham of the Journal News has a few more tidbits.

**Here are some notes on the Triple-A team.

**It'll be Pettitte vs. Jackson today at the Stadium, for a 1:05 start

2 Outta 3 Ain't Bad

Well, as the song says two out of three ain't bad. Saw some fight in the loss on Wednesday, and came back last night to win, so the team seems to be displaying some of the grit of their manager.

Here is a breakdown so far of what each player did in the first series of the season, from looking at the box scores. BTW, this is in no particular order.

Giambi:0-for-8 with an RBI
Abreu: 5-for-10 with two runs and an RBI
ARod: 3-for-11 wit a home run, and three RBI
Damon: 2-for-11 with a double and a triple
Jeter: 3-for-10 with a run
Melky: 3-for-8 with a home run and two runs scored
Cano: 1-for-11
Matsui: 2-for-9 with an RBI
Posada: 0-for-2
Molina: 2-for-6

**the team has drawn seven walks and struck out 16 times, while scoring eight runs ... Cano has been left in scoring position four times this season, including three times in the 3-2 last night, for the season, the Yankees have left seven runners in scoring position.

**Nice outing by Hughes, two runs on four hits in six innings with four K's and a walk ... In two innings, Joba has allowed only one hit and has three strikeouts ... Rivera has two saves on the young season allowing only one hit and 2 k's ... MLB.com says that he did not record his second save of last season until May 3, 2007 at Texas.

**The Yankees have turned six double-plays this season, including five in the 5-2 loss on April 2 ... The defense has two errors this year.

**Looking ahead, Peter Abraham of the Journal News has the rotation for the next series against Tampa

Friday: RHP Ian Kennedy vs. RHP Andy Sonnanstine, 7:05 (YES)
Saturday: LHP Andy Pettitte vs. RHP Edwin Jackson, 1:05 (YES)
Sunday: RHP Chien-Ming Wang vs. RHP James Shields, 1:05 (YES)
Monday: RHP Mike Mussina vs. RHP Jason Hammel, 7:05 (YES/ESPN)

**Posada has been held out of the lineup the past two days due to a sore shoulder.

**In tonight's pre-game story Jeter had his 17-game hitting streak snapped, in which he went 30-for-78 since Sept. 13, 2007 at Toronto.

**LoHud.com has the Lineups
YANKEESDamon CFJeter SSAbreu RFRodriguez 3BGiambi 1BCano 2BPosada CMatsui LFBetemit DHKennedy RHP

**The New York Times, has this piece on Joba on how he shy's away from logos on carpets ... Also is their a future pitching coach on the horizon.

**The Bombers Beat had the minor league rotations

**Mike and the Mad Dog are making too much of a big deal with the Joba fist pumping.

What A Waste

Kinda bummed about the game getting washed out, but there are some good things, such as saving Wang, and not having to worry about wasting him for only an inning or so, before it would get banged. So it is good that way, but I was planning on watching the game today, but instead I had to work. Oh well.

--But as the AP points out, the Yankees will have to play 20 days in a row, before a day off on April 21 ... Also the Yankees have won 15 of their last 16 home openers ... And 21 of 24.

--Look who is going to make the first start of the season for the SWB Yankees.

--Meanwhile, the old boss is off to a good start in Cali.

--The New York Times had this feature on Joe Girardi.

Been Away, But Ready For Baseball

Been away from the laptop most of the weekend, so I missed some things, but thanks to the good people at the LoHud Yankees Blog, and Yahoo Sports here are some things to get us all caught up.

--Here is the pitching rotation for the Toronto series

Monday: RHP Roy Halladay (16-7, 3.71) vs. RHP Chien-Ming Wang (19-7, 3.70), 1:05, YES, ESPN
Wednesday: RHP A.J. Burnett (10-8, 3.75) vs. RHP Mike Mussina (11-10, 5.15), 7:05, YES, ESPN2
Thursday: RHP Dustin McGowan (12-10, 4.08) vs. RHP Phil Hughes (5-3, 4.46), 7:05, YES

--The 2008 Roster is set.

--Phil Hughes pitched well in his final spring tuneup against the Marlins this evening in Miami.

--Nice piece by Tyler Kepner of the New York Times, on the nuances of the old Yankee Stadium, and little bit about what some of the features of the new ballpark.

--Andy Pettitte threw 25 pitches in a bullpen session and reported no problems. He will start the season on the DL, and will come off in time to make his start against Tampa on Saturday.

--The Red Sox and the Dodgers are playing at the LA Coliseum tonight. It's 200 feet to the wall in left field, I heard that the wall in Williamsport, Pa., for the Little League World Series, is 212.

--Here is what appears to be the SWB Yankees roster at Triple-A.

--This AP story has a look at the key dates for the 2008 season.

--Also the AP had a story on the last season of Yankee Stadium.

Wednesday Notes

While all the big stuff is ARod and Canseco, there are some other news items from Florida today.

**Andy Pettitte threw 36-pitch bullpen today, and looks to take the ball in the third or fourth game of the season. He'll pitch in a minor league game either Saturday or Sunday, depending on how he feels.

**Johnny Damon missed today's game with flu like symptoms.

**Sean Henn will go on the 15-day DL, with shoulder tendinitis. He gave up one hit in a scoreless inning in a minor league game today.

**Mariano work a scoreless inning in a minor league game with one strikeout.

**Billy Trabor retired Chase Utley, a lefty, and struck out Ryan Howard, could be one of the pieces in the bullpen.

**Yankees lost 4-0 to the Phillies today, as Wang gave up four runs on six hits in five innings.

**Wang was also 0-for-2 at the plate, was told not to swing.

**Mastsui is getting married

**Yankees are 13-10-2 in spring training this year.

**SWB Yankees beat writer Chad Jennings provided this update on the action today ... Decisions are coming at the major and minor league level ... Alan Horn looked good today, throwing 58 pitches is five innings, while allowing two hits and five strikeouts.

**Spring training at Tampa wraps up tomorrow, then they head to Miami for two ex. games with the Marlins, and then head to New York for the home opener against the Blue Jays.

Hughes Looks Good

Phil Hughes looked good in his first live batting practice session of the spring according to the LoHud Yankees blog. Pete Abe rights about Hughes:
Hughes was, in a word, terrific. He made Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter, Bobby Abreu and Francisco Cervelli look foolish at times. He got Abreu to swing and miss at a curveball and had Damon fouling balls off the other way, a sign of how late his swing was. Jeter only swung at 3 of the 10 pitches he saw and fouled all of them off.

Now, keep in mind, the hitters have been facing live pitching for four days and Hughes started throwing off a mound in Tampa in mid January. But what was encouraging is the confidence with which Hughes threw his curveball.

That was the pitch he was throwing when he blew out his hamstring in Texas last May. For Hughes to throw the curve the way he wants, he has to follow through with his body and “snap” the pitch off. Without confidence that your legs will hold up, it’s a hard pitch to throw.
As he said later on, he never had his true curveball last year after the injury. Now it’s back.

Hughes is working out with Pettitte six days a week and has dropped 10 pounds since last season. You can never say never, but all the work he has done should help him avoid leg injuries.

I know it’s Feb. 25. But if you’re a Yankees fan you should be just as excited about Hughes as you are Joba Chamberlain. Phil Franchise is the real deal.

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A few notes:
The AP reports that Cashman and Hank Steinbrenner will talk about an extension at some point this season ... In addition, Hank brought up several topics in a lunchtime interview ... Also in the report, Mo will be on his own schedule regarding throwing in the spring, Girardi said "He won't work in the first couple of games, we'll get him going, but there's no rush like it's been every spring. We know what Mo is going to give us." ... In this post by Pete Abe, in the coments section, from a fan who must have been there, said the Girardi played long toss with Pavano ... Yahoo Sports Jeff Passan had this story on Kyle Kenderick of Philadelphia who was punked in the first wee of spring training ... Yankees.com had a story on Posada.

A Few More

Damon is happy Melky is in center ... Jason has the inside track at first ... Now that Castro has stepped down, a young Yankee hopes to see his family ... Nice feature on Mel Stottlemyre .