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 →

Lakeland, Fla., March 4, 2016; Tigers 3, Yankees 0 — “Five Yankee Pitchers Collaborate on a 2-Hitter” would be a nice headline for a piece covering the Yankee/Tigers tilt in Lakeland, but it avoids the painful truth. When Miguel Cabrera crushed a 3-1 Vinnie Pestano fastball in the bottom of the third, it was the lone scoring drive of the game, a 3-run home run to center field. Continue reading →

Tampa, Fla., March 4, 2014 — Coming off four straight wins, David Phelps was handed the ball to start the prime time game against the visiting Orioles Tuesday night, and he succeeded, with mixed results. He almost made it through three innings and allowed one run, but his outing could have been titled “Surviving Adversity.” Continue reading →

Tampa, Fla., March 3, 2014 &#151 Early Spring Training “disappointment” is a pretty specific condition, one the speaker should be able to defend. Six days of rain, much less cold rain, well, we’d all cut that vacationer a break. Losses – ugly losses – in every game attended? Well, the team is here to get ready, not to win meaningless games, but still, most would cut the person whining about that a little slack. Continue reading →

March 2, 2014, Dunedin, Fla. — Lefthander Vidal Nuno was on the mound as the Bombers took their modest two-game winning streak to Dunedin to play the Blue Jays Sunday afternoon, a carbon copy of Saturday, but just a few degrees warmer. And Nuno was pretty much what Yankee fans remembered from 2013: not a lot of straight pitches, lots of strikes, doesn’t throw too hard. Continue reading →

Tampa, Fla., March 1, 2014 — Everything went off as advertised at George M. Steinbrenner Field on Saturday. The place was packed with Yankee fans, Phillie fans, fans of all stripes. The weather delivered a perfect day, dazzling sunshine with temps in the mid-70s. And the Big Three of the Yankee rotation stifled the visiting batters for six frames. Continue reading →

Lakewood, Fla., February 28, 2014 — Thirteen hours after leaving our hotel Friday, we returned having witnessed a very entertaining Yankees 7-4 over the Tigers and a true yawner at Champions Field in Disney, where visiting Houston posted a 7-5 win over the Braves. I’m embarrassed to say it was quite cool at the night game to anyone living in the Midwest or Northeast, and will tread lightly (with those poor souls in mind) describing the brilliantly prefect conditions at game 1 in Lakewood. Suffice it to say that it was sunny and 45 degrees warmer than in New York, 53 digits over the reading in Detroit, when reigning Cy Young winner Max Scherzer threw ball one to Jacoby Ellsbury. Continue reading →

Tampa, Fla., February 27, 2014 — It was another “one bad inning” day in Tampa on Thursday, but a good time was had by all nonetheless. Wednesday forecasts guaranteed some rain, but we awoke to a cool, partly cloudy day where sun shone on George M. Steinbrenner Field for much of the day. The only rain was what the Pirates laid on the Yankees once free agent signee Robert Coello took the mound in the eighth. Continue reading →