Yankees vs. Twins - March 5 Recap

Not a stupendous day for the Yankees pitching, though starter Ian Kennedy and relievers Heath Phillips and Ross Ohlendorf looked good. Edwar Ramirez certainly didn't help his cause in trying to gain a spot in the bullpen. On top of that he already had Michael Kay using his "Girl with the Curl" metaphor.

Robinson Cano is already tearing the ball off the cover. 3 more hits today put his spring average at .700.

And how about the statement Shelley Duncan is making? One at-bat, one home run. He's already got 9 RBI and is making an early push to share 1st Base duties with Jason Giambi (and maybe right field duties against certain left-handers).

The Twins newly acquired left fielder, Delmon Young, hit his 1st home run of the spring. It was really the only mistake that IPK made in his 2 innings of work.

The Yankees head to Bradenton tomorrow for a 1:05 match up with the Cincinnati Reds.

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, LF	3	1	1	1	0	0	0	.250
Duncan, 1B	2	1	1	1	0	1	1	.636
Jeter, SS	2	0	2	0	1	0	0	.375
Woodward, SS	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	.556
Abreu, RF	3	0	1	1	0	0	2	.600
Lane, RF	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	.273
Rodriguez, A, DH	2	0	0	0	1	1	2	.333
a-Porter, PH-DH	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
Giambi, 1B	3	1	1	0	0	1	2	.429
Curtis, LF	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Posada, C	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Cervelli, C	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500
Cano, 2B	3	1	3	1	0	0	0	.700
1-Castro, B, PR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Green, 2B	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Betemit, 3B	3	1	1	1	0	1	0	.200
Ensberg, 3B	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Cabrera, CF	3	0	0	0	0	2	3	.375
Gardner, B, CF	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Totals	37	5	11	5	2	8	12
a-Struck out for Rodriguez, A in the 7th. 1-Ran for Cano in the 6th.
BATTING 2B: Cano (1, Slowey), Betemit (1, Slowey). HR: Duncan (2, 9th inning off Sosa, 0 on, 2 out). TB: Damon; Duncan 4; Jeter 2; Woodward; Abreu; Giambi; Cano 4; Betemit 2. RBI: Betemit (3), Damon (1), Abreu (1), Cano (3), Duncan (9). 2-out RBI: Damon; Abreu; Duncan. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Giambi; Rodriguez, A 2; Abreu; Duncan. GIDP: Cabrera. Team LOB: 7. BASERUNNING SB: Damon (1, 2nd base off Slowey/Mauer). FIELDING Outfield assists: Cabrera (Morales, J at 3rd base). DP: 2 (Cano-Jeter-Giambi, Cabrera-Betemit).

NY Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Kennedy	2.0	2	1	1	0	0	1	4.50
Phillips (H, 1)	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0.00
Chamberlain (H, 1)	2.0	2	2	2	1	1	1	9.00
Albaladejo (BS, 1)	1.2	4	1	1	0	2	0	3.38
Ramirez (L, 0-1)	1.0	2	3	3	1	1	0	13.50
Britton	0.2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Ohlendorf	0.2	1	0	0	0	2	0	0.00

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Yankees vs. Twins - March 5

Yankees taken on the Twins today in a televised game (both YES and ESPN) at 1:05 pm. Here are the lineups and pitching probables, courtesy of PeteAbe. The guy I'm most interested in seeing again today is Jon Albaladejo (unfortunately I can also already hear Chris Berman calling him Jessica Albalaedjo), who could be a big acquisition for the pen.

YANKEES
Johnny Damon LF
Derek Jeter SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Alex Rodriguez DH
Jason Giambi 1B
Jorge Posada C
Robinson Cano 2B
Wilson Betemit 3B
Melky Cabrera CF

Pitching
Ian Kennedy (2-3)
Joba Chamberlain (2-3)
Jon Albaladejo
Ross Ohlendorf

TWINS
Carlos Gomez CF
Brendan Harris 2B
Joe Mauer C
Justin Morneau
Delmon Young LF
Brian Buscher 3B
Jon Knott DH
Garrett Jones RF
Matt Tolbert SS

Pitching
Matt Slowey
Randy Keisler
Dennys Reyes
Pat Neshek
Julio DePaula

Kei Igawa threw 2 scoreless innings against the Jays yesterday and Joe Girardi, doing his best Joe Torre imitation, was very upbeat about it. But can anyone really see this guy having any kind of long term success, even in the less offensive National League?

Listen to what Igawa's countryman Hideki Matsui told the NY Times' Tyler Kepner...

“In Japan, he had pretty good velocity and he was the type of pitcher that usually threw fastballs and changeups to strike out hitters,” Hideki Matsui said through an interpreter.

“In Japan, you don’t see that many pitchers throw changeups, as opposed to here, where a lot of pitchers throw changeups. And in Japan, his fastball was pretty fast. But when you compare it to pitchers here, it’s not as fast.”

Well here's the thing. This isn't Japan. You can't pitch up in the strike zone in MLB either. Every day, in ever way, we are reminded that the Yankees scouting system did not do their home work on Igawa (or Carl Pavano for that matter). Some people are going to take longer to convince.

“It was too early to cut the cord,” Cashman said. “I had conversations with ownership, and there was a financial commitment made, a big number on the posting system. Because of the financial investment and the small sample size of information and the adjustments that need to be made for a player coming over from Japan, we felt we should keep trying.”

Good luck with that Brian.

With only 1 inning of work in yesterday's exhibition game, the Yankees got permission from the Blue Jays for Phil Hughes to use their indoor pitching mound to complete his work (2 innings of simulated pitching).

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