Monthly Archives: March 2010

Welcome to my seventh annual spring training liveblog. This year we’re firing this thing up for the third game of the exhibition season. The Yankees enter today’s game against the Rays having beaten the Pirates on a three-run walkoff homer by Colin Curtis and lost to the Phillies on a walk-off infield hit by Wilson Valdez.

Here are today’s starting lineups:

Rays:

R – Jason Bartlett (SS)
R – Sean Rodriguez (LF)
R – Evan Longoria (3B)
S – Ben Zobrist (2B)
R – B.J. Upton (CF)
S – Dioner Navarro (C)
S – Elliot Dan Johnson (DH)
R – Justin Ruggiano (RF)
L – Chris Richard (1B)

LHP – David Price

Yankees:

R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Curtis Granderson (CF)
R – Mark Teixeira (1B)
R – Alex Rodriguez (3B)
S – Jorge Posada (C)
R – Marcus Thames (LF)
R – Robinson Cano (2B)
S – Nick Swisher (RF)
R – Francisco Cervelli (C)

RHP – Phil Hughes

Joba Chamberlain will follow Hughes on the mound for the Yankees, and we’re supposed to get a look at Jesus Montero behind the plate today. Nick Johnson is out with what is supposedly very minor lower back stiffness. Granderson has hit second in both of his starts this spring, but has yet to appear in a starting lineup with Johnson.

Outfielder Desmond Jennings, the Rays’ top prospect, did not make the trip for this game, much to my disappointment. Elliot Johnson, who slammed into Francisco Cervelli and broke is arm in a spring training game two years ago, did and is starting.

Pregame:

Thanks to my mom for watching Amelia this afternoon so that I can bring you all this liveblog. She’s a big Yankee fan as well, but a bigger fan of her granddaughter (as am I).

Tino Martinez is making his YES debut with this game. He always sounds like he has a stuffy nose. The announcers are in shirtsleeves rather than the pull overs they wore on Wednesday. So it’s clearly a bit warmer in Tampa, but it’s still quite windy.

Top 1st:

Fastball high and in from Hughes to Bartlett gets things going. The next pitch is a belt-high fastball on the inside corner and Bartlett hits it just foul over the left-field wall. He then rips another fastball to short, but Jeter makes a nice back-handed play to get him out. Hard contact from Bartlett who hit .320/.389/.490 last year out of nowhere.

Hughes’s first curve is the 0-1 pitch to Sean Rodriguez, well outside and low. Rodriguez is a second baseman who came over in the Scott Kazmir deal. He can hit, but the Rays have Ben Zobrist at second and are trying to make Rodriguez a utility man (he’s in left field today).

Another curve to Rodriguez is also low and outside. Hughes’ fastball is topping out at 91 mph. Rodriguez reaches out for a fastball out and over the plate. The wind lifts it to the center field wall and it hits on top for a homer. 1-0 Rays. Granderson was struggling to track that ball due to the wind. That’s more hard contact off Hughes.

Top 1st cont.

Rodriguez’s homer was on a 3-2 count.

Evan Longoria hits a hanging curve to deep left, right where Thames is playing. Two outs.

Hughes gets a nice swing-and-a-miss from Zobrist on an 82 mph changeup to even the count 2-2, then missed with another outside. Zobrists grounds out to Teixeira (unassisted, as usual) to end the inning.

1-0 Rays

Bot 1st:

The Rays’ BP caps are dark blue with sky-blue piping in all the standard places.

Yankees are in their blue BP tops and pinstriped pants. Rays in blue BP tops that say “Rays” across the chest and grey pants with dark blue piping down the leg.

Jeter singles to right on the first pitch from David Price. Michael Kay breaks out “Jeterian.” I gag on my sandwich.

Price is throwing easy gas around 95-96 mph. Granderson works the lefty for a full count, but flies out to left on a 96 mph fastball.

Bot 1st cont.

Price hits 97 against Teixeira, then comes back with a 78 mph curve. Tex fouls both off. That’s impressive on both counts. Less impressive, Teixeira swings at a fastball around his ankles and hits a would-be double-play ball, but Zobrist bobbles the transfer. Fielder’s “choice.”

I can’t tell if Tino’s any good in the booth because my Sun chips are too loud, though they also drown out Michael Kay, so I might keep eating all game.

Price paints the outside corner with a 96 mph fastball to set Alex Rodriguez down looking.

1-0 Rays

Top 2nd:

Hughes starts the second with another curve low and outside.

B.J. Upton, who is still just 25, grounds to Mark “Unassisted” Teixeira.

Hughes just doesn’t look sharp today. His fastball is slow (now upper 80s) and he’s missing with his off-speed stuff. Save for that one changeup in the first, I haven’t seen much that has impressed me.

He walks Dioner Navarro on five pitches, the last an 89 mph fastball that floated high and wide.

Lineup correction, that’s Dan Johnson, not Elliot who is the starting DH. Dan is the former A’s first baseman who spent 2009 in Japan. That makes more sense.

Johnson pops out to shallow second, where Robinson Cano makes an impressive over-his-shoulder catch running away from the infield.

Justin Ruggiano flies out to center to end the inning.

Hughes only gave up one hit, a wind-blown homer by Sean Rodriguez, but his stuff wasn’t nearly as good as his results.

1-0 Rays

Bot 2nd:

Jorge Posada hits a 94 mph fastball just foul over the right field wall, then strikes out on an 86 mph changeup.

David Price then starts of Thames with a 77 mph curve ball for a strike. He is good at pitching.

YES shows footage of Marcus Thames’ home run off Randy Johnson in his first major league at-bat. We’ll see that eleventeen million more times if he makes the team.

Thames taps out to shortstop.

Robinson Cano singles directly at the center field camera causing Price to flinch and making the ball appear to levitate in mid-air before curving a bit toward right field.

Cano moves up on a passed ball down and in to Nick Swisher (it’s ruled a wild pitch, but the ball was nearly a strike . . . it’s spring training for the official scorer as well).

Swisher works a walk and Price leaves having reached his limit an out short of two full innings.

(more…)

Zell’s Pinstriped Blog has the upsetting images, taken by WCBS’ Tom Kaminski:

Here’s more from Albert Brooks’ comedy classic, A Star is Bought, his second album. It was a concept record. The idea was: Albert wants a hit record, so the album is made up of cuts that can be played on all different kinds of radio stations. Here is his talk radio bit, where he makes and receives all of the calls.

06 Phone Calls From Americans

Turk, turkey dinner.

At my grandmother’s apartment on 81st street, there were all kinds of foods to scare the living bejesus out of a kid–gefilte fish, pickled herring, cold beet soup, and greasy cheese blinzes. However, she did make a wonderful strudel–and there always seemed to be some on hand–as well as excellent apple, peach and blueberry pies.

One of the things she cooked that I liked best was cream of wheat. Nana made it with milk, cream, butter and sugar. Health, the old fashioned way! It was creamy smooth, no lumps (the lumps only started to appear in her later years). I never knew you could add salt to cream of wheat, and I didn’t have grits until years later.

Still, her cream of wheat is a rich, fond memory and I still make it every so often–no lumps, Snoops. Kind of like this one–that adds mascarpone!–from the food blog, Proof of the Pudding:

This early in spring training, the latter innings of games tend to be played by a parade of high-number subs while the starers who might actually contribute to the big league club not only out of the game, but on their way out of the ballpark. In the Yankees’ first two games this spring, however, those late innings have contained all of the action.

Wednesday’s opener was scoreless until the bottom of the sixth and Alex Rodriguez was the only Yankee to get a hit in the first five frames. On Thursday, the Yankees and Phillies went scoreless into the bottom of the seventh. Wednesday’s game saw the home team take a small lead, blow it, then win in a walkoff. Thursday’s followed the same pattern, but it was the Phillies who were the home team. The walkoff hits themselves were the biggest difference between the two contests. The Yankees won Wednesday on a three-run homer by Colin Curtis. The Phillies won Thursday on a Wilson Valdez comebacker that ricocheted off pitcher Wilkin Arias for an infield hit that allowed the winning run to score from third, 3-2 Phillies.

Lineup:

L – Brett Gardner (CF)
R – Jamie Hoffmann (DH)
S – Jorge Posada (C)
L – Robinson Cano (2B)
S – Nick Swisher (RF)
S – Randy Winn (LF)
L – Juan Miranda (1B)
S – Ramiro Peña (SS)
R – Brandon Laird (3B)

Subs: Jose Gil (1B), Eduardo Nuñez (2B), Reegie Corona (SS), Jorge Vazquez (3B), Austin Romine (C), David Winfree (RF), Reid Gorecki (CF) Colin Curtis (LF), Jesus Montero (DH), Greg Golson (PR)

Pitchers: CC Sabathia (2), Zach Segovia (1), Zach McAllister (1), Ivan Nova (1), Mark Melancon (1), Romulo Sanchez (2/3), Boone Logan (1 1/3), Wilkin Arias (2/3)

Big Hits: David Winfree and Jose Gil gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead with RBI singles in the ninth, but no Yankee had an extra-base hit or more than one hit in the game. The Yankees have yet to draw a walk after two games.

Who Pitched Well: Zach McAllister and Ivan Nova pitched perfect third and fourth innings, respectively, and Boone Logan retired all four men he faced, three of them lefties. None of those three pitchers recorded a strikeout. Mark Melancon struck out two, including Jayson Werth, while working around a single for a scoreless sixth. Zach Segovia worked around a walk for a scoreless third.

Who Didn’t: Romulo Sanchez started the scoring in the seventh by giving up a run on a walk and two hits, the big blow being an RBI double by Ozzie Chavez. After the Yankees took a 2-1 lead in the top of the ninth, Wilkin Arias blew the game by giving up a pair of runs on three hits including a Paul Hoover double.

Oopsies: With Brandon Laird on first, none out, and the game still scoreless in the top of the sixth, Brett Gardner dropped down a bunt, but ball hit the dirt and stopped, allowing Phillies catcher Paul Hoover to pounce on it and get Laird at second base. Later that inning, Jorge Posada made an ugly half swing missing a Jose Contreras split finger on a hit and run thus hanging Jamie Hoffmann out to dry on his way to second.

Ouchies: Nick Johnson (surprise!) was supposed to DH but was scratched due to a stiff lower back. Johnson played first base on Wednesday. Someone should hide his glove to reduce the chances of further injury. But seriously, folks, Johnson will be out again on Friday but said he’d have played both days if this were the regular season. Joba Chamberlain (flu-like symptoms) is expected to pitch in Friday’s game. Kevin Russo is also recovering from the flu-like flu. Royce Ring is away from the team because his wife had a baby. Yeah, that counts as an “ouchie.”

Other: More on the new spring training/batting practice caps. Every team seems to be doing their own thing within the new template. The Pirates had the standard piping outlining the face, along the bill, and over the MLB logo in the back. The Phillies have blue piping outlining the face and over the logo on their red cap, but the brim piping is red to match the cap (though it is still raised piping as part of the template). Meanwhile, the Yankees have road caps, which have no piping on the crown (or, rather, blue piping on a blue cap), but instead of piping on the bill and over the logo, they’ve turned the entire area outside/beneath that piping gray. Those areas are blue on the home cap, though the gray piping remains. I think it’s despicable that the Yankees have started wearing something other than their standard cap as part of MLB’s marketing gimmicks, be it the BP cap or patriotic holiday caps. I never thought I’d see the day when the Yankees wore four different caps. Hey, BP caps, get off my lawn.

Line of the day from Chad Jennings of Lo-Hud: “Jesus Montero singled in his first spring at-bat. I was in the clubhouse at the time, but I assume it circled the globe before dropping into right field.”

Reminder: I’ll be liveblogging Friday afternoon’s game against the Rays, which will feature Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes on the mound.

This was a great debut for Michael Keaton. Dig Zabars in the background at the head of the clip:

La vase paille, by Paul Cezanne (1895)

One goof deserves another…

This is the spot to get the good fresh horseradish for Passover. It’s also the place for all things pickled:

Say Werd.

Here are a couple of articles on Clint Eastwood as Warner Brothers releases a massive box set of all things Clint. One, a loving appreciation by David Denby in The New Yorker:

Indifferently reviewed when it came out, “The Outlaw Josey Wales” received a stunning compliment six years later. Orson Welles, who had seen the movie four times, said on “The Merv Griffin Show,” “It belongs with the great Westerns. You know, the great Westerns of Ford and Hawks and people like that.”

Welles’s invocation of names from the past is a reminder of the singularity of Eastwood’s path. John Ford appeared in just a few silent films; Howard Hawks never acted in movies. Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Spencer Tracy, James Stewart, Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, William Holden, Steve McQueen, and Sean Connery never directed a feature. John Wayne directed only twice, and badly; ditto Burt Lancaster. Paul Newman, Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Robert Redford, Robert De Niro, and Sean Penn have directed a few movies each, with mixed commercial and artistic success. The comparison with Beatty is irresistible and telling. Both were pretty boys who emerged from television in the nineteen-sixties. Both were casual piano players, catnip to women. Both cast actresses they were involved with. Both were extremely ambitious, and engaged seriously in politics. Beatty has had a fascinating career as a producer and a hyperenergetic stimulator of persons and projects, but, along with his genuine achievements, the principal activity of his professional life for considerable stretches has been getting people excited about what he wants to do, rather than actually doing it. He holds endless meetings, fusses over details, keeps people waiting for years.

If Eastwood likes a story, he buys or commissions the script, moves rapidly into production, shoots the film on a short schedule and, until recently, on a modest budget. If he knows an actor or an actress’s work, he doesn’t ask for a reading. He casts quickly and dislikes extensive rehearsals and endless takes. If someone else is supposed to direct, then falters or becomes too slow or indecisive for his taste—as did Philip Kaufman on “Josey Wales,” and the writer Richard Tuggle on “Tightrope”—he pushes him aside and takes over. Like Bergman, Godard, and Woody Allen, he works hard and fast, an impatient man who likes calm and order, and relies on the same crew from picture to picture. As a professional code, this seems obvious enough, but, in recent years, who else in big-time American filmmaking but Eastwood, Allen, and, more lately, the Coen Brothers has practiced it?

Meanwhile, over at The Daily Beast, Allen Barra thinks Eastwood is ridiculously overrated:

Most of the films in the collection—including those Eastwood directed as well as those in which he appeared as an actor—are notable only for being mind-numbing and calculatingly risk-free. I won’t waste time discussing Eastwood as an actor, but will simply say that the man who made him a star, Sergio Leone, had it right more than four decades ago when he compared Eastwood to Robert De Niro: “They don’t even belong in the same profession. De Niro throws himself into this or that role, putting on a personality the way someone else might put on his coat… while Eastwood throws himself into a suit of armor and lowers the visor with a rusty clang.” Eastwood, said Leone, “Had only two expressions: with or without a hat.”

It might be argued that scarcely anyone but his most fawning admirers has ever taken Eastwood seriously as an actor and that it’s as a director that he has made his real statement, but what if it’s true, as David Thomson argues, “As a director he matches his own work as an actor?”—which Thomson intends as a compliment. What is one to make of the score of lead-footed clunkers he has directed over the last four decades? To name just a few (most of which are in the Warner Brothers collection), Breezy (1973), The Eiger Sanction (1975), The Gauntlet (1977), Firefox (1982), Sudden Impact (1983), Heartbreak Ridge (1986), The Rookie (1990), White Hunter, Black Heart (1990), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997), Absolute Power (1997), True Crime (1999), Space Cowboys (2000), Bloodwork (2002), Flags of Our Fathers (2006), and Changeling (2008).

Really, how many of these films would you ever want to see again? How many of them did you really think were all that good the first time you saw them, if you saw them?

Next up, Matt B will leave entertaining and informative comments about why Denby nails it and Barra misses the boat completely.

This update is powered by this cool Rube Goldberg-inspired music video:

• Nine facts you may not know about Mo, including:

1. Of the 39 relievers with 200 or more saves, only Mariano Rivera has pitched for one team.

4. For the third straight season, Rivera threw only one wild pitch (this follows four straight seasons of no wild pitches). He has thrown only 12 in his career. Last season, his Yankees teammate A.J. Burnett and the Mariners’ Felix Hernandez each threw 17 to the backstop.

6. For the third straight season, Rivera threw three four-pitch walks (one intentional) to bring his lifetime total of four-pitch walks up to 50, which includes 31 intentional walks.

• Derek Jeter, future part-owner of Yanks?:

The Yankees need to find a way to make Derek Jeter a Yankee for Life. There’s really only one way. At some point the Steinbrenner family would have to take him into the ownership group.

. . . Jeter, of course, is in the final year of his 10-year, $189 million contract. The Yankees and Jeter will come together on a new deal at some point, but Jeter needs to be a Yankee for Life and there is a way to make him one. The Yankees need to work out a deal with Jeter where they allow him to become part of Yankees ownership after his playing days are complete. Players cannot be part of ownership, so this would have to be a separate deal.

. . . Jeter is set on being an owner when his playing days are done. Without specifically talking about the Yankees, Jeter told The Post yesterday that being an owner is “definitely a goal of mine.”

(more…)

The Yankees kicked off 2010 in classic 2009 style with a walk-off win in their first spring training game of the year, a 6-3 win over the visiting Pirates. It was a typically colorless spring training game. Neither team drew a walk, and the Yankees sent just three men to the plate in each of the first four innings, failing to get a ball out of the infield in those 12 at-bats. Alex Rodriguez got the first Yankee hit leading off the bottom of the fifth. Ramiro Peña and Nick Johnson got the Yankees a lead in the sixth. Jonathan Albaladejo blew that lead in the seventh, and Colin Curtis delivered the game-winning three-run homer in the ninth. Here are the details:

Lineup:

R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Curtis Granderson (CF)
S – Mark Teixeira (1B)
R – Alex Rodriguez (3B)
R – Marcus Thames (DH)
R – Jamie Hoffmann (RF)
L – Brett Gardner (LF)
R – Francisco Cervelli (C)
R – Ramiro Peña (2B)

Subs: Nick Johnson (1B), Reegie Corona (2B), Eduardo Nuñez (SS), Brandon Laird (3B), Mike Rivera (C), David Winfree (RF), Greg Golson (CF), Colin Curtis (LF), Jon Weber (DH)

Pitchers (IP): Chad Gaudin (2), Sergio Mitre (2), Alfredo Aceves (2), Jon Albaladejo (3 batters), Royce Ring (1 1/3), Jason Hirsh (2/3), Amaury Sanit (1)

Big Hits: A solo homer by Ramiro “Boom Boom” Peña off former Yankee Steven Jackson to lead off the bottom of the sixth and break the scoreless tie. An RBI double by Nick Johnson later in that inning. A three-run walk-off homer off Virgil Vazquez by Colin Curtis with one out in the bottom of the ninth. All three men went 1-for-2 in the game.

Who Pitched Well: Chad Gaudin pitched around an infield  single by Andrew McCutchen and his own error for two scoreless frames including a 1-2-3 second. Sergio Mitre and Alfredo Aceves each worked two perfect frames while striking out one. Royce Ring allowed an inherited runner to score on a groundout, but he entered with that runner on third and none out and retired all four men he faced, striking out two. Jason Hirsh struck out both men he faced. Amaury Sanit worked a perfect ninth. Those six pitchers allowed just one baserunner, McCutchen, and no runs while getting all 27 outs, seven by strikeout.

Who Didn’t: Jonathan Albaladejo started the seventh by hitting a batter on the thigh, then giving up a single and a two-run double, then got pulled.

Nice Plays: Nick Johnson made a nice, soft-handed pick at first base on a wide and low throw by Eduardo Nuñez.

Oopsies: Chad Gaudin fired a pickoff throw past Mark Teixeira in the first. Greg Golson threw wild on Erik Kratz’s RBI double in the seventh, missing two cutoff men and allowing Kratz to move to third, from where he was able to score on an groundout to first.

Ouchies: Francisco Cervelli was hit by a pitch on the meaty part of his left forearm in the third, but wasn’t injured, though is pride might have been when he tried to avenge the HBP with a steal and was thrown out. Joba Chamberlain (flu-like symptoms) threw his scheduled bullpen before the game, but looked tired and was sent home immediately after, in part to avoid his infecting his teammates, though Kevin Russo is already feeling sick. Joba is still expected to pitch in Friday’s game.

Other: It took Michael Kay less than a minute to annoy me . His narration over footage of Jeter breaking Lou Gehrig’s Yankee hit record during the YES broadcast’s opening montage included this sentence: “The record book was assaulted as milestones were etched into forever.” That’s the verbal equivalent of a Michael Bay explosion, making the similarity between two names seem like more than a coincidence. The inanity and wrong-headedness of his and, to a lesser degree, Ken Singleton’s commentary throughout the game reminded me why I started blogging. On the other hand, Jack Curry made his YES debut as a field reporter and brought some logic, wisdom, and restraint to the proceedings. I’m encouraged by his addition.

The new spring training hats worn by Pirates (the Yankees wore their regular season home duds) look really stupid, though less obnoxiously stupid than the ear-cutout caps they’ve replaced.

Curtis Granderson said he’s experimenting with contact lenses this spring, which suggests that he took his poor showing last year pretty hard.

La Comtesse d’Haussonville, by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1843-44)

The Yankees’ first spring training game is this afternoon on YES.

Chat away, you lucky few who happen to be near a TV.

In a recent issue of Saveur, I saw this:

From the Lingham’s website:

The success of Lingham’s Chilli Sauce today can be partly linked to its continuing use of the original 1908 recipe. In those days there were no food preservatives as we find now, and so the sauce was and is still made from pure ingredients, fresh chillies, sugar, vinegar and salt. With the current use of colourings, flavourings, preservatives and all manner of other chemical additives in many of today’s sauces and condiments, Lingham’s sauce makes a pleasant change that consumers world wide appreciate. It is a natural, quality product, no chemicals, no bulking ingredients such as tomato added, and with a flavour that is popular in both the East and West. Incredibly Lingham’s now sells in over 25 countries, including UK, Finland, Switzerland, USA, Japan, Australia and Chile, well over 60% of production is destined for export. And being a pure product it meets with many international standards, Vegetarian Society approval, US FDA approval and it is of course halal certified. That is quite a success story for the company and also for Malaysia. Surely few other Malaysian products sell as widely as this sauce, a little bit of Malaysia on supermarket shelves in every continent bar Antarctica, and who knows I bet one could find the odd bottle there too, something to alleviate the icy cold!

The company now produces four other products alongside its original chilli sauce, and those are, chilli sauce with ginger, chilli sauce with garlic, chilli sauce with ginger and garlic, and Thai chilli sauce. Not to let the grass grow under their feet, the experts in the Lingham’s kitchens are working on new products as you read this, some still secret, but look out for 100% organic chilli sauce for one.

Everyone has their own preferred way to enjoy Lingham’s sauce, whether it be with noodles, nasi goring or chips. And now the company is compiling some alternative recipe ideas from Lingham’s fans world wide, look out for a chilli crab recipe from Asia, a gourmet beef burger recipe from the USA, not to mention recipes to make spicy new salad dressings, etc. using Lingham’s chilli sauces.

I love hot sauces and condiments of all kinds. I had a belated Christmas gift coming to me from my better half so I ordered a couple of bottles of this Lingham’s stuff from Amazon. They arrived Monday night. I eagerly unwrapped the package and tasted the bright red sauce. It was sweet, like chili sauce, and at first, I was disappointed. Sweeter than I thought. Good, a nice, clean and lasting kick, but it wasn’t love at first bite.

I tell you this because I cook all sort of healthiness for the wife–groats, flax seed, oat burgers, you name it. For Emily, food is primarily fuel–she is concerned with health, first and foremost. Her mother and her mother’s mother were health food nuts way before it became fashionable. They grew up eating tree bark, as Em likes to say. Taste, flavor, that stuff comes a distant second to nutrients.

Ninety percent of the time, I don’t eat what I make for her. But last night I was too tired to cook anything so I helped myself to a few spoonfuls of the lemon and dill brown rice, ricotta-feta, bell-pepper, olives and garlic casserole I made a few days ago (from the Fruitwood, er, Moosewood cookbook).

I got it down thanks to the Lingham’s hot sauce which was excellent in quantity and mixed with food. A little sweet at first but then not overwhelmingly sweet at all, with an appealing spicy aftertaste. Now, I wish I’d brought a bottle to work because all I can think about is that hot sauce. They also have garlic and ginger variations…

I could get into this stuff.

There’s not a lot of intrigue in Yankee camp this year. The team arrives as defending champions and, as I wrote in my campers post, the 25-man roster is fairly predictable given the players in camp. Joe Girardi does have to work out how he’s going to distribute playing time in left and center field and decide on a basic batting order, but the roles of the players involved aren’t likely to change much no matter what he decides. The only significant suspense March holds for Yankee fans, save wondering if Nick Johnson can survive the month with all of his bones and ligaments intact, is in the battle for the fifth spot in the rotation. Fifth-starter battles are typically slap fights among assorted marginal minor leaguers and veteran retreads, but the battle in Yankee camp this spring pits the organization’s top two young arms against one another in a four-week competition that could have significant repercussions for the futures of both pitchers.

That would be a lot more exciting if there wasn’t as much fan fatigue over Joba Chamberlain’s pitching role as there is over Brett Farve’s flirtations with retirement, but it’s important to note that, for all of the debates, role changes, rule changes, and innings limits, the Yankees have Chamberlain exactly where they want him this spring, coming off a season of 160 innings pitched and ready to spend a full season in the rotation without having a cap placed on his innings pitched. For that reason, I believe that the Yankees are looking at the fifth starter’s job as Chamberlain’s to lose, though they’d ever admit it. Chamberlain is nine months older that Hughes and a season ahead of Hughes in terms of his innings progress (Hughes threw 111 2/3 innings between the minors, majors, and postseason last year; Chamberlain threw 100 1/3 in 2008). If Chamberlain claims the fifth-starter job this year, and the Yankees can find Hughes 150-odd innings, Hughes can follow Chamberlain into the rotation as a full-fledged starter in 2010 on the heals of the free agency of both Andy Pettitte and Javier Vazquez. If that happens, the Yankees will have established both young studs in the rotation before their 25th birthdays. They’re thisclose.

There are just two problems. First, Chamberlain got his innings to the right place last year, but his head and stuff seemed to go in the opposite direction. Second, getting Hughes 150 innings this year with Chamberlain eating up close to 200 in the rotation could prove to be as challenging as limiting Chamberlain to 160 last year.

Taking the latter first, the flip-side of the fifth-starter battle is the assumption that the loser will move back in to the eighth-inning role that both young pitchers have excelled at in recent seasons. In his 50 career major league relief appearances during the regular season, Chamberlain has posted a 1.50 ERA and struck out 11.9 men per nine innings while holding opposing hitters to a .182/.255/.257 line. Hughes, in 44 regular season relief appearances, all from last year, posted a 1.40 ERA and 11.4 K/9 while opposing batters hit .172/.228/.228. That sort of late-game dominance is hard to resist (thus the endless Joba debates), but both pitchers would be more valuable throwing 200 innings a year than 60, and given the impending free agency of Pettitte and Vazquez not to mention A.J. Burnett’s injury history, the Yankees have to resist slotting the loser of this spring’s competition into that role to such a degree that they’re unwilling to stretch him back out during the season, as they were with Hughes last year. Doing so would reset the clock on that pitcher’s journey toward the rotation and thus could severely damage his career path.

(more…)

Tyler Kepner catches up with Hideki Matsui at Angels camp (sniff):

Matsui is already comfortable in the clubhouse. He played with Abreu and Juan Rivera on the Yankees and has known Torii Hunter since an all-star event in Japan in 2002. Matsui and Hunter have adjoining lockers.

“He’s got a really good sense of humor,” Hunter said. “It’s unbelievable. I’ve been bringing him up in our meetings at 9:30 every morning. It’s like a comedy show. He gets us warmed up, laughing, cracking up, sweating, and we go out on the field happy. He fits right in. He told me, ‘Man, I feel comfortable here.’ ”

And here’s another bit from Kepner:

“You hear about the professionalism, you hear about the talent level, you hear about how he prepares,” Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said. “When you see it first-hand, it just validates everything that’s said about him.”

Scioscia added, “I think when a guy like Derek Jeter says he’s the most professional guy he’s played with in his career, that statement says it all.”

One last piece on Matsui, this one from Robert Whiting, author of the classic baseball book, You Gotta Have Wa.