There’s a game on tonight.

[Photo Credit: Life in My Eyes]

Phil Hughes has looked good this spring. Mark Feinsand has more.

Michael Pineda pitched well yesterday. Over at ESPN/New York, Kieran Darcy has the details as well as a post on the unsung heroes of Yankee camp so far this spring.

At It’s About the Money, Stupid, Brien Jackson thinks it’s time to stop worrying about Pineda’s velocity. 

Meanwhile, at River Ave Blues, Mike Axisa recaps last week’s top Yankeeness.

According to this piece by David Waldstein in the New York Times, Freddy Garcia would like to pitch for the Yankees but would consider a trade.

And Bobby V got his panties in a bunch last night. I assume they will be bunched for the rest of the season, especially when the Yankees are involved.

Some bad news. According to a tweet by Jack Curry: “Joba Chamberlain dislocated right ankle yesterday and had surgery last night. Cashman called it a significant injury.”

[Painting of Fab Five Freddy by Jane Dickson]

Yanks Sox.

[Picture by Bags]

Andy Pettitte is back. Peter Kerastis has the report in the Times.  Here’s more from Mark Feinsand in the News.

Meanwhile, Chad Jennings has the recap of last night’s game (Swisher hurt; Pineda improves).

Michael Pineda pitches tonight. Andy Pettitte will talk with reporters.

[Photo Credit: N.Y. Daily News]

The Yanks won today. Hiroki Kuroda pitched well and the bats went to work. Here’s Chad Jennings on Mariano and Wallace Matthews with the Alex Rodriguez quote of the day;

Meanwhile, Tyler Kepner looks at the Rangers bullpen in the New York Times.

Tonight, the Knicks are in Indy to play the Pacers. I’m curious to see how the New Yorker’s will respond after a beatdown at the Garden last night.

More NCAA, too.

Go Sports.

Yankee game is on TV this afternoon.

Chad Jennings does a nice job of recapping the Andy Pettitte story over at Lo-Hud. And here is more from Ken Rosenthal.

Play Ball.

[Picture by Bags]

Here’s Cliff,  William Juliano, Craig Calcaterra, Andrew Marchand, and Jack Dickey  on the return of Andy Pettitte.

[Picture by Craig Robinson; featured image by Larry Roibal]

According to Jack Curry, Andy Pettitte has signed a 1-year, $2.5 million minor league deal with the Yanks. Was retirement that boring? Is Freddy Garcia that hurt? Maybe Andy’s wife couldn’t stand having him around the house.

Go figure.

Here’s Chad Jennings on Michael Pineda’s outing yesterday:

“That’s my baby,” Pineda said. “I threw a very good slider today, but I’m very excited because my changeup was great. I threw a lot of changeups today and felt comfortable. … Last year, I didn’t throw a lot of changeups, so this year, I’m focused a little more on my changeup and making a good pitch all the time. I’m not worried about my fastball. I don’t know how my fastball is right now, but it feels good.”

That’s the progress the Yankees were hoping to see.

“It’s nice to have success when you’re working at something,” Girardi said. “If you’re making a change or you’re trying to learn a new pitch, it’s nice to have success because I think if you don’t, you’re going to get frustrated, and you’re going to question, do I use it or not? But he’s had some success.”

And more, from Russell Martin:

“I think he was like 88-90 in Clearwater, so it’s coming along. I’m not worried about it. I just want to see the guy pitch. He’s a pitcher like anybody else out there. I just wanted to see him execute pitches. His velocity, he has it in him, it’s just a matter of time. As soon as you put on your uniform, you’re in New York and you get the juices flowing, the velocity is going to pick up no matter what.”

…And if you’re looking for more fastball specifics: “(Pineda) was a little inconsistent trying to throw his fastball away to right-handers. It looked like he was pulling off a little bit.” Martin said it’s an easy thing to correct and could be fixed in a single bullpen.

I’m really looking forward to seeing this kid pitch.

Over at River Ave, Larry Koestler looks at the 2012 NY Yankees All-Projection Team.

Here’s more on Freddy Garcia from George King in the Post.

[Picture by Bags]

Freddy Garcia was hit in the hand today.

[Picture by Bags]

Yanks and the Sox tonight. Game is on TV.

Have at it.

[Photo Credit: Zstrike131]

Over at the Captain’s Blog, William Juliano explains what this 2014 payroll tax business is all about and I, for one, am grateful.

[Photo Credit: Alice Kokaine]

Our man Bags with some flix from Tampa.

Mr. Rivera made his first appearance of the spring yesterday.

The nature of sports coverage continues to change and this year more than ever we get almost instant updates from spring training. ESPN New York has a Yankee blog in the tradition of the Lo-Hud blog and of course there is MLB.TV and twitter and a host of fine Yankee sites. It is impressive all this information but I often feel turned in the other direction, wanting to know less and not more. I crave a sense of mystery and discovery, an illusion that I find spoiled by too much analysis.

I don’t have much interest in worrying about Ivan Nova after two spring training starts. On the other hand, I appreciate that this news is out there, just like I find comfort in the 24-hour pharmacy around the way. I may not visit but I’m glad to know it exists.

The MLB Network has exhibition games on all afternoon. Enjoy.

[Picture by Bags]

There is a muted kind of tension about spring training, maybe apprehension is a better word, and it has to do with injuries. I’m less interested in how players perform in Florida and more concerned with nobody getting hurt. Which is a fool’s wish, of course, because someone is always getting hurt.

David Robertson is the first to go down with what could be a serious injury. Let’s hope it’s not severe.

[Photo by Bags]