Your New York Yankees are back in action today as they play the Tampa Bay Rays at George M. Steinbrenner field at 1:05 PM. The starting lineups are as follows:
Tampa Bay Rays
- Bartlett, SS
- Rodriguez, LF
- Longoria, 3b
- Zobrist, 2b
- Upton, CF
- Navarro, C
- Johnson, DH
- Rugiano, RF
- Richard, 1b
The starting pitcher for the Rays is lefty David Price.
New York Yankees
- Jeter, SS
- Granderson, CF
- Teixeira, 2b
- Rodriguez, 3b
- Posada, DH
- Thames, LF
- Cano, 2b
- Swisher, RF
- Cervelli, C
The starting pitcher for the Yankees is #65 Phil Hughes.
What2Watch4
- Curtis Granderson, in the two hole, versus lefty David Price. Hopefully he silences some critics for the day and takes some good swings against a tough lefty.
- Marcus Thames is in left field today and will hopefully get an AB against Price. Thames started in the first spring training game in hopes of getting an at bat against LHP Paul Maholm, but that plan backfired as Maholm was pulled before Thames’ first at bat.
- Obviously all eyes will be on Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain today. I hope they both go out and throw well. The Yankees starters have been lights out in the first two games.
- Yankee substitutes will be Jesus Montero (woo!), Juan Miranda, Reegie Corona, Eduardo Nunez, Kevin Russo (first action this spring), Reid Gorecki, Greg Golson, Jon Weber and Jorge Vazquez. If you couldn’t tell, I’m very excited about Jesus. I’m also excited to see Jorge Vazquez swing the lumber. Word on the street is that he’s a masher.
Top 1st
And we’re off. Phew, Jason Bartlett hits a very far foul ball on the second pitch of the day. Hughes throws one right down the middle and Bartlett hits a one hopper to Jeter who makes a good play and throws Bartlett out from the outfield grass. Sean Rodriguez battled Hughes and on the 6th pitch hit a fastball that was left over the plate over the centerfield fence. Granderson probably could have made an attempt to rob it but the wind and sun made it a tough play for him.
Hughes got better as the inning went on. The first two batters saw a lot of pitches up in the zone and that’s why Rodriguez teed off on him. Hughes threw his fastball (88-91mph), curveball (77-78mph) and changeup (82mph). He threw three straight changeups to Zobrist and they were solid. All of the Rays hit his fastball hard though.
Bottom 1st
As Kay put it: “A Jeterian hit to right field.” You’ve seen this one for fifteen years now. Jeter starts the game off with a single between the first and second basemen.
Granderson worked a full count against Price but ended up flying out to left. His swings against Price were much better than his swings against Maholm the other day.
Tex worked a 7 pitch AB and took some good swings but grounded into a fielders choice; Bartlett to Zobrist but Zobrist dropped the ball on the transfer which prevented the double play.
Following suit with the previous two hitters, Arod worked the count but struck out looking at a fastball on the outside corner. I don’t know if Price will be back out there next inning; lots of pitches in that inning.
Top 2nd
Hughes is out there again. Threw a good changeup to Upton low and away for a strike. Upton ended up grounding out to first. Hughes couldn’t locate his fastball against former Yankee catcher Dioner Navarro and walked him on five pitches. He’s sitting 88-89mph but just can’t keep the ball down.
Cano made a nice over the shoulder catch in short right field on a popup by Johnson. Rugiano hit a fly ball to center to end the inning.
Bottom 2nd
Price is still on the mound for the Rays. The crowd gave us some hip-hip-Jorges, which is always great. Despite the support Posada went down swinging. Price is apparently aware of Thames’ reputation against lefties and threw him nothing good to hit. He ended up chopping an offspeed pitch to short.
Mr. Robinson Cano smoked an inside fastball back up the middle for the Yankees second hit of the day. Cano advanced to second on a passed ball.
Swisher looks different up there for some reason. After staring at him for a couple minutes I’ve realized his batting stance is very different. He’s keeping the bat still and closed that front shoulder. I also think he’s changed the type of bat he uses, but I’m not 100% sure. This is more like the Nick Swisher we saw in the world series after he changed his stance. Different Swisher, same results. Swisher worked a full count and took his base. First and second two out.
Price out after he’s reached his pitch limit.
Oh Swisher. After taking his lead he managed to stumble a little, prompting Navarro to throw him out going back to the bag. Let’s hope he didn’t hurt himself there. After further replay, Swisher was safe going back into the bag but also appears to have hurt his left wrist a little bit. I’ll update you if anything else comes up.
Top 3rd
Joba isn’t following through and the ball is staying up in the zone. Walking the number nine hitter on five pitches is never a good thing. After walking Richard, Joba laid a fastball in there which Bartlett smacked into left center for an RBI triple.
Rodriguez, who had three homers in four ABs prior, hit a triple to deep left to score Bartlett. That’s some way to start off your spring as a hitter. Joba left a fastball up in the zone and he just smacked it. Rodriguez scored on a Longoria grounded out. Not the ideal start for Joba.
With one out and no one on, Zobrist worked a full count walk. Dave Eiland took a walk out to the mound to calm down Joba. Upton popped up to short right for the second out of the inning. Cervelli tried a snap throw to first to get Zobrist leaning but ended up throwing it by Tex. Cano backed up the play and gunned Zobrist at second on a close play.
Joba threw his fastball (89-92mph), curveball (77mph), slider (84mph) and changeup (82mph). He relied pretty heavily on his fastball (as he should) but couldn’t locate it enough.
Bottom 3rd
Jeremy Hellickson is still on the mound for the Rays (he came in for the last out of the 2nd). Cervelli began the at bat by looking over-matched by a couple of fastballs from Hellickson but ended up hitting a “triple” to left center. It was really a double with an error, but the official scoring was a triple.
Hellickson, who Kay continues to mention “idolized” Jeter as a kid, made Jeter look silly on a curve away. He then got Granderson to ground weakly back to the pitcher for the second out.
Hellickson looked great. After falling behind 3-0 on Tex, he got Tex to swing at a changeup in the dirt to end the inning.
That’s all for today guys, sorry. I’ve gotta go do some non-baseball related stuff. If I come back and watch the end of the game I’ll continue with the gamelog. Adios.
The House that George Built 