Tampa, Fla., February 28, 2017; Yankees 9, Tigers 5 — It is always a thrill when Masahiro Tanaka pitches for us, at any Yankee — or nonYankee — venue, and his Spring debut in Tampa Tuesday was no exception. Despite a Chase Headley miscue on a grounder on the great righthander’s fourth pitch, he still managed to turn in two stellar innings, retiring the visiting Tigers on six at bats by throwing just 25 pitches. Not only did he shut down the visitors on two strike outs and four ground-ball outs, he did it while getting five called strikes, six strikes when the bat hit the ball, and five swings and misses. Continue reading →

Sarasota, Fla., February 27, 2017; Yankees 4, Orioles 1 — The entertainment level was maintained when the Yankees visited the Orioles in Sarasota on this Monday afternoon, but the weather kicked it up a notch, as we baked under a high blue sky with intermittent puffy clouds; the humidity crept up, as did the temperature, to 87 degrees. Continue reading →

Tampa, Fla., February 26, 2017; Yankees 7, Blue Jays 2 — Behind a strong start from Luis Severino and an early three-run bomb from second baseman Starlin Castro, the Yanks upped their Spring mark to 2-1 with a 7-2 spanking of the visiting Blue Jays Saturday afternoon. But the powerful right arm and quick reactions of catcher Gary Sanchez played just as large a part in the victory.

Once Severino retired six of seven around a walk, and Castro reached southpaw Brett Oberholtzer for his second-inning tater, righthander Johnny Barbato — who showed promise last Spring, only to struggle in the regular season — threatened to put Toronto back in the game by walking the first and third Jays batters in the third.

DH Anthony Alford had stolen second base in the second when Didi Gregorius ended up on the seat of his pants corralling Sanchez’s one-bounce throw. If Toronto manager John Gibbons thought he had found a way to attack the New York defense, he was quickly proven wrong. Following his leadoff free pass, second baseman Jon Berti was clearly beaten on a close play at second by a Sanchez peg. But when center fielder Ezequiel Carrera tried to stretch his free pass one out later, the result was laughable — Starlin Castro was literally waiting for him with the ball when he finally slid into the inning’s third out.

Barbato would pitch a one-two-three fourth, and lefty Jason Gurko a scoreless fifth around a single and a walk. Despite whiffing two, young Brady Rail ran into trouble in the sixth because he threw 14 off the plate to go with 17 strikes. A leadoff walk got it started, and veteran catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia battled him for seven pitches before homering to right on the eighth. But that barely dented what had become a 5-0 lead built on a Matt Holliday rbi groundout and a Brett Gardner run-scoring single. And one frame later nonroster Yankee outfielder Billy McKinney forged the final 7-2 score with a two-run shot of his own.

Worthy of mention is some solid glove work by Chase Headley, though his bat continues to be a concern; a sharp opposite-field double by Aaron Hicks; and the work of veteran DH Holliday, who through two games is 3-for-4 with an rbi groundout.

It was a brilliant, sunny afternoon in Tampa, with none of the morning cloud cover and midday humidity of the last few days. More of the same is expected tomorrow in Sarasota vs the Orioles, with Chad Green scheduled to take the mound.

BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!

Clearwater, Fla., February 25, 2017; Phillies 6, Yankees 5 — While Yankee arms subdued Phillie bats for much of their 9-4 home opening win on Friday, adding multiple late runs on a series of extra base hits, it was the Phillies who had the big hits Saturday, good for an exciting 6-5 walkoff win. Continue reading →

Tampa, Fla., February 24, 2017; Yankees 9, Phillies 4 — 2017 is going to be a strange year for Yankee fans. With much of New York assuming the Mets will charge into the postseason, the Yankees not so much, you’d expect to hear dire descriptions of the team and pessimistic predictions for their chances. But to all appearances, the fanbase is in a better frame of mind than they’ve been in in years. Continue reading →

Tampa, Fla., March 7, 2016; Houston 1, Yankees 0 — Back in the days when the world stage was dominated by just two global powers; one of them, Russia, or the USSR, loved to show off its military prowess and armament on one day: May Day. If there was one thing a Yankee fan could be happy about on Monday afternoon following the team’s loss to Houston, it was the display of power arms, so many on one day. Continue reading →

Clearwater, Fla., March 6, 2016; Phillies 6, Yankees 5 — There are plenty of reasons to not get invested in team success or failure in Spring Training games, but by far, the unbearable, unending, utterly disastrous inning is the No. 1 culprit. Continue reading →

Tampa, Fla., March 5, 2016; Yankees 6, Red Sox 4 — For all of 2 minutes or so, it appeared the Yanks might be hard pressed to beat the visiting Red Sox Saturday. Mookie Betts raced to third after drilling free agent righthander Tyler Cloyd’s third pitch, then scored when Brock Holt singled sharply to right. Continue reading →