Winter Haven, FL, March 6 — The best news to come out of the Yanks’ first loss of the spring season, 6-5 to the Indians in Winter Haven, is perhaps the performance of Phillip Hughes in his second time out. Despite the fact that he took the loss, the second best report concerns the work of Russ Ohlendorf. The two prospects pitched the fourth through seventh innings and posted four strike outs, and should have been clear with no runs scored and just three hits.

Tribe center fielder Grady Sizemore threatened to win this game for the home team all by himself at the start. Once Fausta Carmona escaped a Johnny Damon walk and Hideki Matsui single in the first by coaxing a double play grounder from Alex Rodriguez, the Indians center fielder and leadoff man blasted a home run on Chien-Ming Wang’s third pitch. In the third, Sizemore denied Derek Jeter the equalizer by diving for his long drive in the right center field gap with Wil Nieves poised to score from second base. And finally, Grady doubled the Cleveland lead with a hard liner to center after second baseman Mike Rouse’s triple in the bottom half.

The Yanks have largely used the home run to win three of the five straight victories they had strung together to start this season, and it was the long ball that got them back in this one. There was a near miss in the fourth when Alex Rodriguez boomed what appeared to be a 500-foot moon shot off Roberto Hernandez. It not only cleared the left field fence, but a practice field and two parking lots beyond. Had it been a line shot, it would not have had the time to curve foul, but this one drifted foul before finally landing. The Yanks then tied it at 2-2 when Kevin Reese homered to right in the fifth after Miguel Cairo had singled. In the sixth, Josh Phelps took a Brian Sikorski fastball the opposite way to right after Matsui had singled leading off and the Bombers had a 4-2 lead.

Wang allowed the two Sizemore rbi’s over three innings, serving up five hits while throwing 35 pitches. He threw 11 of 13 first-pitch strikes and garnered six of nine outs on the ground. Hughes took over in the fourth, and walked David Dellucci on four pitches, but never missed by much. He picked Dellucci off while striking Ryan Garko out swinging, and closed the frame on a grounder. Phillip followed a fifth-inning single with two ground balls, one a double play. Ohlendorf got a grounder, a popup and a swinging strike out in the sixth around a single and a walk. He sandwiched a seventh inning single in between two strike outs, both taking, and showed a lot of athleticism in a smooth and relentless pickoff move. Once a two-out grounder evaded Gonzalez at third, ex-Twins infielder Luis Rivas beat him with a double to center, a hard drive that Kevin Thompson could have caught had he not stumbled. Michael Aubrey singled to right for the lead, but Ohlendorff opened eyes with his fastball, his offspeed stuff, and his mound presence.

Kyle Farnsworth surrendered a decisive run in the eighth, forcing the Yanks to attempt a ninth-inning rally from two down. They plated one on a hit by pitch, a single, and a sac fly. The hit was by Kevin Reese, who was 3-for-4 with the home run. Reese ran from first on a 2-2, one-out pitch to Monday hero Bronson Sardinha. The young outfielder blasted a hard liner down first that would have tied the game if it got through, but Aubrey speared the sphere and doubled Reese off to end the game.

Cleveland grabbed an early lead with lineup stalwart Sizemore leading the way. And they earned a hard-fought win on a few late nonroster performances from pitchers Tony Sipp (a two-strikeout seventh) and Aaron Laffey (a one-walk eighth), and a big blast from Luis Rivas, a nonroster guy seemingly certain to earn a spot.

But Yankee fans will be thrilling to the exploits of Phillip Hughes and Russ Ohlendorf for seasons and seasons to come. The 1955 Carl Perkins hit Blue Suede Shoes, given worldwide exposure by Elvis Presley, tells us that “It’s one for the money, Two for the show.” Once they “get ready,” I give you Phillip Hughes and Russ Ohlendorf:

Two for “The Show”

BTW,TYW

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!