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.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Oscar Notes Edition
A few notes, while the Oscars play in the background.
Yankees stuff first: CMW and Joba each threw 40 pitches, split into two segments, during their second batting practice session on Sunday according to the AP ... Also Joba will start against South Florida, then Ian Kennedy, along with Phil Hughes and Kei Igawa ... Interesting Tino Martinez is a volunteer coach for USF ... Tyler Kepner of the Times had this note there are 28 right handed pitchers in camp ... Also LaTroy Hawkins (who is a big Joba fan) is also a big college basketball fan and was talking about the Memphis-Tennessee game last night ... This is interesting ... Mike Mussina put a poster of a window looking out side, and the clubbie, here is a picture of it from Phil Hughes ... He also previews something he has cooked up with Peter Abraham ... Wonder what it could be?
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Also college baseball started this past weekend, and I am glad to here the ping of the bat once again. Being in and around the biz for a little bit, it's good to get outside and hit the diamond ... Plus in two weeks I get to go south and get away from the cold of the northeast. Once we get going a little bit I will post some links on the news of the day from the college ranks. Who knows there could be another Joba in those stories.
Yankees stuff first: CMW and Joba each threw 40 pitches, split into two segments, during their second batting practice session on Sunday according to the AP ... Also Joba will start against South Florida, then Ian Kennedy, along with Phil Hughes and Kei Igawa ... Interesting Tino Martinez is a volunteer coach for USF ... Tyler Kepner of the Times had this note there are 28 right handed pitchers in camp ... Also LaTroy Hawkins (who is a big Joba fan) is also a big college basketball fan and was talking about the Memphis-Tennessee game last night ... This is interesting ... Mike Mussina put a poster of a window looking out side, and the clubbie, here is a picture of it from Phil Hughes ... He also previews something he has cooked up with Peter Abraham ... Wonder what it could be?
----
Also college baseball started this past weekend, and I am glad to here the ping of the bat once again. Being in and around the biz for a little bit, it's good to get outside and hit the diamond ... Plus in two weeks I get to go south and get away from the cold of the northeast. Once we get going a little bit I will post some links on the news of the day from the college ranks. Who knows there could be another Joba in those stories.
Lined Up
According to the venerable Peter Abraham of the Journal News. Chien-Ming Wang looks be the opening day starter as Joe Girardi announced his pitching rotation for the start of games ... Mike Mussina will go against Jeff Karstens in the intrasquad game on Wednesday. Ian Kennedy and Joba Chamberlain will go against South Florida on Friday, and CMW will go against the Phillies on Saturday ... As Pete Abe notes; Of course he was lined up to start Opening Day last year and pulled a hamstring. "I better get a good stretch everyday," Wang said when told of Girardi's plans.
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While the Yankees had everybody in camp from the start, the media were down a beat writer, as Tyler Kepner from the Times stayed up north while his wife had the couple's fourth child. He returns to the beat on Sunday. In it he posted a few questions, and one that I forgot. The Yankees will be playing at Virginia Tech as part of spring training at Tech.
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Brian Bruney has come to camp slimmer and a better attitude according to several reports ... Chad Jennings has this report about an encounter with him last season.
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The Sporting News provided this update ... In the notes section the AP reports that ARod participated in all drills and took extra BP, one day after cutting back on his swings due to a sore neck. ARod said he slept wrong on Thursday, but felt better on Saturday ... From the oh god department Manny hired Boras as an agent ... The Bombers Beat had a recap of how much the Yankees are running.
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While the Yankees had everybody in camp from the start, the media were down a beat writer, as Tyler Kepner from the Times stayed up north while his wife had the couple's fourth child. He returns to the beat on Sunday. In it he posted a few questions, and one that I forgot. The Yankees will be playing at Virginia Tech as part of spring training at Tech.
----
Brian Bruney has come to camp slimmer and a better attitude according to several reports ... Chad Jennings has this report about an encounter with him last season.
----
The Sporting News provided this update ... In the notes section the AP reports that ARod participated in all drills and took extra BP, one day after cutting back on his swings due to a sore neck. ARod said he slept wrong on Thursday, but felt better on Saturday ... From the oh god department Manny hired Boras as an agent ... The Bombers Beat had a recap of how much the Yankees are running.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Swinging Away On A Snowy Day
The first live batting practice session of the season takes place today ... It'll be cool to see how the hitters do against Joba, I'm sure a few would like to get their hacks in against him ... Others might not be all that willing to do so ... Usually the pitchers are ahead at this point, anyways.
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ARod said yesterday that Jeter will win the MVP, and Abreau will have a big year too ... A typical Jeter response that Peter Abraham of the Journal News had was "I'd rather win the Series. In that post, Jeter also explained that he worked on his speed and quickness in the off-season.
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This was an interesting post from Chad Jennings from the SWB Yankees blog, on Baseball America's look at the non-roster invitees.
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A few tidbits, Phil Hughes has a blog it's fairly up-to-date ... In addition, Sweeny Murti had an update on a whole host of topics ... The LoHud Yankees Blog had an update on how the live batting practice went ... Also Mussina let's the world in on the new training program for the Yankee pitchers “Tomorrow they’re going to take us to the airport to pull jets with out teeth.”
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ARod said yesterday that Jeter will win the MVP, and Abreau will have a big year too ... A typical Jeter response that Peter Abraham of the Journal News had was "I'd rather win the Series. In that post, Jeter also explained that he worked on his speed and quickness in the off-season.
----
This was an interesting post from Chad Jennings from the SWB Yankees blog, on Baseball America's look at the non-roster invitees.
----
A few tidbits, Phil Hughes has a blog it's fairly up-to-date ... In addition, Sweeny Murti had an update on a whole host of topics ... The LoHud Yankees Blog had an update on how the live batting practice went ... Also Mussina let's the world in on the new training program for the Yankee pitchers “Tomorrow they’re going to take us to the airport to pull jets with out teeth.”
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
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 .
Sights of Spring
Dude I was just kiddin' about retiring
Eric Straton rush chairman, damn glad to meet ya!Photos by REUTERS/Scott Audette, captions by me
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…And there off and running (literally)
First full practice today for the Yankees, and according to Peter Abraham of the Journal News there were doing some running. Jeter had a good quote too. Also, even though Girardi is going to be tougher, as it seems, the running has to do with the new strength and conditioning coach, and the longer runs will help the players get their legs under them unlike the shorter sprints that did last year, which was why half the team had a leg issue coming out of spring training.
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Damon was ready to throw in the towel? SI had a report.
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A few notes from the Bombers Beat blog: Andy Pettitte threw 45 pitches in a bullpen session and says he can feel his legs a bit weaker than usual, thanks to those trips back and forth from Washington D.C. He's not worried about catching up ... OF prospect Austin Jackson is the first caualty of camp, suffering from back spasms. He's expected to return to action on Thursday.
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Kat O'Brien of Newsday had some notes on the first full-squad workout ... In it, Kyle Farnsworth's staph infection was real serious.
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In other baseball news, Jeremy Brown, who played five games for the A's retired last week. Who is Jeremy Brown you ask, he was one of the players the A's drafted and was featured in Moneyball. The venerable Murrary Chass had the story.
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This is great.
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Saw this on the ESPN Spring Training Blog.
According to Andrew Marchand, of 1050 ESPN Radio,
CASHMAN'S JOB NOT ON THE LINE IN '08 (12:49 p.m. ET)Hank Steinbrenner said Wednesday in Tampa, Fla., that Yankees GM Brian Cashman's job is not on the line this season, even though he has hinted at that in several of his comments this spring because of Cashman's decision not to pursue Johan Santana.
Steinbrenner declined to say how he plans on judging Cashman's performance this season. Cashman is in the final year of his contract.
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Joe Torre talked with Pettitte after he spoke to the media on Monday ... Oh and here is ARod being ARod again.
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Damon was ready to throw in the towel? SI had a report.
----
A few notes from the Bombers Beat blog: Andy Pettitte threw 45 pitches in a bullpen session and says he can feel his legs a bit weaker than usual, thanks to those trips back and forth from Washington D.C. He's not worried about catching up ... OF prospect Austin Jackson is the first caualty of camp, suffering from back spasms. He's expected to return to action on Thursday.
----
Kat O'Brien of Newsday had some notes on the first full-squad workout ... In it, Kyle Farnsworth's staph infection was real serious.
----
In other baseball news, Jeremy Brown, who played five games for the A's retired last week. Who is Jeremy Brown you ask, he was one of the players the A's drafted and was featured in Moneyball. The venerable Murrary Chass had the story.
----
This is great.
----
Saw this on the ESPN Spring Training Blog.
According to Andrew Marchand, of 1050 ESPN Radio,
CASHMAN'S JOB NOT ON THE LINE IN '08 (12:49 p.m. ET)Hank Steinbrenner said Wednesday in Tampa, Fla., that Yankees GM Brian Cashman's job is not on the line this season, even though he has hinted at that in several of his comments this spring because of Cashman's decision not to pursue Johan Santana.
Steinbrenner declined to say how he plans on judging Cashman's performance this season. Cashman is in the final year of his contract.
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Joe Torre talked with Pettitte after he spoke to the media on Monday ... Oh and here is ARod being ARod again.
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