Today’s news is powered a nicely-done video tribute to Nick Adenhart:

• The Yankees react to the news of Adenhart’s death:

Jose Molina and Edwar Ramirez both played with Adenhart in the Angels organization, and each of them remembered the 22-year-old as a terrific teammate.

“He was an awesome kid,” said Molina, who was in spring training camp with Adenhart in 2006-07. “He was kind of quiet, but that may have just been because he was a rookie.”

Ramirez said he used to hitch rides with Adenhart every day in spring training. He was thrilled when he heard the pitcher had made his big-league debut last May, then watched the highlights Wednesday night after Adenhart pitched six scoreless innings against the A’s.

“It’s shocking. He was a great guy,” Ramirez said. “When I saw that he made it to the majors, I was so happy for him. And after last night? It’s horrible.”

• MLB.com’s wrap-up of Thursday’s game.
• MLB also reports on Nick Swisher’s adjustment to a bench role:

While Swisher is grappling with the idea of not being an everyday player, he keeps a random assortment of artists like Akon and Flo Rida filling the air. There may not be four guaranteed at-bats a night, but the beat must go on.

“Whether you’re playing or not, you try to keep the energy level high,” Swisher said. “It’s a little different when you’re not playing, but you try your best to keep it up. You want to try to be the same guy all the time, and sometimes it’s tough. But we’ve got a great group of guys.”

• Tyler Kepner has a nice little blog entry on Swisher’s love for his grandparents:

Nick Swisher had three hits on Thursday, which meant that three times, he pointed to the sky with both index fingers. It is one of Swisher’s tributes to his grandparents, Betty and Donald Swisher. After every hit, he points.

Swisher also has his grandmother’s initials – BLS – tattooed on the left side of his chest, and he writes her initials and his grandfather’s – DES – on the knob of his bat.

“The one thing they always loved to do was watch me play ball,” Swisher said. “When I go out there, I want to make them proud.”

• Jayson Stark get’s ESPN injury guru Stephania Bell’s take about injuries to key players, including Alex Rodriguez:

“I just hope he’s really ready to play when he plays,” she told Rumblings. “He certainly is athletic enough to come back sooner, but I think it is too soon to get all giddy about it. He has really not tested the hip in rehab yet — very, very simple stuff early on. I want to see what his baseball activities look like once he gets to Tampa, and then I’ll get a better feel for where he’s at.”

• Baseball America profiles the farm teams of the AL East competitors.  Here’s a snippet of the Yankees write-up:

TRIPLE-A SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE: Few teams can match this Triple-A staff. RHPs Alfredo Aceves, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy in the rotation, with RHPs Anthony Claggett, J.B. Cox, Mark Melancon and David Robertson in the pen. OF Austin Jackson is by far the team’s top hitting prospect.

DOUBLE-A TRENTON: 2B Justin Snyder jumps here from low Class A, where he hit .288/.371/.407. Snyder also has played center field as an amateur, and the 5-foot-9, 190-pounder profiles best as a utilityman.

• WFAN’s Sweeny Murti has a whimsical set of season predictions based upon the results from the first two games.
• In a similar vein, PeteAbe has a blog entry entitled “Season rescued as Yankees win“.
• Donnie Baseball talks hitting in this radio interview.
• In case you missed it, the A’s claimed Dan Giese off waivers.
• Seems like CC Sabathia will be toting around a heating pad or hot water bottle for a while:

“The heating pad will be there for the next couple of months,” Sabathia said. “I guess it could freak people out if they’ve never seen me do it. But it is something that I do all the time.”

• Happy 59th birthday to Ken Griffey, Sr.  Griffey patrolled left field for 4+ seasons between ’82 and ’86.  He was then traded with Andre Robertson to the Atlanta Braves for Claudell Washington and Paul Zuvella.
• Bob Watson turns 63 today.  Watson was a DH/1B for the Yanks for most of 1980, with a few games in ’81 and ’82.  Watson’s biggest claim to fame may be that he scored the 1,000,000th run in ML history.
• On this date in 1913, in a game which features U.S. President Woodrow Wilson throwing out the first pitch, the New York Highlanders become the New York Yankees. Playing their first game under their new nickname, the Yankees lose to the Washington Senators, 2 – 1, as future Hall of Famer Walter Johnson picks up the win for Washington.
• On this date in 1976, Don Money hits a ninth-inning grand slam to give the Brewers an apparent 10 – 9 win over the Yankees. The umpires, however, rule that first baseman Chris Chambliss had called time out prior to the pitch. Money returns to the plate and flies out to right. The Brewers lose, 9 – 7.
• On this date in 1982, the Yankees trade hard-throwing reliever Ron Davis and minor leaguers Greg Gagne and Paul Boris to the Minnesota Twins for infielder Roy Smalley.
• On this date in 1989, Blue Jays pitcher Dave Stieb throws a one-hit, 8 – 0 shutout against New York, giving him three one-hitters in his last four starts dating back to the previous September.
• On this date in 1998, the Yanks draw the largest regular-season crowd ever at the new Yankee Stadium as 56,717 attend the home opener against the Oakland Athletics. Then the Yankees go out and win a 17-13 slugfest.