Spring Training Game Thread: Facing Derek Jeter
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Derek Jeter has played in 1,985 regular season games in his career, 123 more in the playoffs, and who knows how many more in Spring Training. He’s racked up 2,535 hits, reached base 3,486 times, and scored 1,467 runs, but today he’s going to do something for the first time in his career: He’s going to play against the Yankees.
The second edition of the World Baseball Classic kicks off on Thursday, but Team USA comes in to Tampa today for a little tune-up against out beloved Bombers. Jeter will certainly look weird in an unfamiliar uniform, but he’ll be hitting in his familiar number two spot in the order. Considering that his backup is a former MVP, you shouldn’t expect him to play the entire game.
It’s not often that someone steals the thunder from a Phil Hughes start in the RABiverse, but The Cap’n playing against his team will do the trick. We’ve got quite the matchup today, so here’s each team’s starting nine:
Team USA
Pedroia, 2B
Jeter, SS
Chipper, DH
Wright, 3B
Dunn, RF
Youkilis, 1B
Braun, LF
McCann, C
Granderson, CF
Scheduled Pitchers: Roy Oswalt, Jonathan Broxton, Matt Lindstrom, Brad Ziegler, Matt Thornton, LaTroy Hawkings
Yankees
Damon, LF
Gardner, CF
Teixeira, 1B
Posada, DH
Nady, RF
Ransom, 2B
Cash, C
Berroa, SS
Leone, 3B
Scheduled Pitchers: Phil Hughes, Phil Coke, Mike Dunn, Jose Veras, Eric Hacker, David Robertson, Kanekoa Texeira
The game will be broadcast live on both YES and MLB Network. According to my DVR, YES will replay the game at 11:00pm tonight and 9:00am tomorrow if you miss it.
Photo Credit: Flickr user corellianjedi2
209 Comments»
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The Mason Williams Watch
so is it on mlb.tv for free?
i clicked around yankees.com but it kept asking me to log in and pay.
I payed for mlb.tv and it still won’t play for me, asking me to update to the hd version…
I don’t believe it’s free.
No it’s not.
I got an MLB.tv and ESPN Insider combo package for $20 off. The funny thing is I usually just give my info to my brother who can’t watch Yankee games in Florida, while I use the Insider.
I am endlessly amused that we have two Teixieras on our team, albeit the different spellings.
Oswalt against Phil Hughes…..hmmmm interesting
Oswalt used to be my favorite pitcher pre-arod/steroid tirade
Are any of you fine folks going to liveblog the game?
Would you like me to?
I would *love* you to
Done. Just for you I’ll throw in a Devils reference.
Yay! You’re awesome.
It’ll be a welcome distraction as I suffer through a 2 hour long conference call…
Ouch! I have the introduction to my thesis due tomorrow…I’m about halfway through.
that’s a pretty tall order for Hughes.
hit him
hahahah nice DP Jeter
Cap’n Intangibles is in midseason form already, eh?
LOL..I said the same!
I was at the game this past saturday and had seats right next to the yankees bullpen. Phil was throwing peices of gum at Kyle Anson, Austin Romine, and Jesus Montero for a while without them realizing who it was. it was comical.
Wow, Posada really tried to takeout Jeter with that slide, didn’t he?
Delete this comment if you would like it not to be on the website, but try this link. Wont work for me at work but might work for you. http://www.justin.tv/teamusa
Does anyone on here follow the WBC?
Anyone else noticing that Oswalt and Hughes are at the same velocity?
But-but-but….Hughes is a bust, everyone knows that! Come on, Joe, get with the times.
ZOMG I know, right?!
what are they at? 91′ish?
90-93 for the most part.
Hughes looks VERY good!
Must be Oswalt’s changeup.
IETC
Wow Gardner 1st to 3rd on a single to right, when was the last time we had someone on the team able to do that?
Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez…
i believe there was a study done in 2006 that showed that Giambi was very good at doing this.
but yeah, Gardner is fast as shit.
Yeah, but don’t you know, they don’t count?
I’d say Robbie Cano as well, but that may just be my he-is-my-favorite-Yankee bias talking.
I always thought the knock on Canó’s game is that he can’t run for crap…
I know he’s below average for a middle infielder, but I don’t think he’s that bad in comparison to an average baseball player.
Pedroia packs a pretty fat lip
hmm that was an accidental reply.
Keep looking, Wright, it’ll just give you more time to remember that strikeout against the Cubs when you left Daniel Murphy stranded on third base with nobody out.
hes looking nasty
Hughes just caught Dunn looking on a beautiful, beautiful hammer.
Hughes is looking pretty good today, no?
Hughes is looking pretty damn good here.
Holy crap. That curve was ridiculous.
Hey, Dunn, you look just as bad gazing at strike 3 than you do whiffing at strike 3.
Hughes looks nasty.
Very optimistic about his season.
If you watched close Phil Nailed every single one of cashes spot in that inning he hardly had to move his mit
Damn Hughes look good that inning that curve ball was nasty.
hughes back out for the 3rd?
If it wasn’t a catcher running, the runner is safe.
ladies and gentlemen, your #6 starter.
Hughes looks GREAT. Nasty curve, good command, late life on his FB, and even at 92 (if the YES gun is right), Dunn was late on his FB.
Hughes has looked great so far, but I’d be cautious. Just remember how good Canó looked last March…
how did the run score?
Pop-fly single – in shallow left field – for Jorge Posada scored Brett Gardner from third base,
appreciated.
Posada inside-out hit to left with Gardy on third, teix on 2nd.
*teix on 1st
Excuse me, Michael Kay, Grady Sizemore was the best player in the American League in 2008.
But … but … but he didn’t in MVP!1!!! And I think Mauer was the best player in the AL last year, but I can certainly see the case for Sizemore too.
Did the roster update for The Show hit yet?
I hate Mauer. Mike, you get the show?
Yeah, last Friday.
Thoughts?
Amazing. Definitely the best baseball game I’ve ever played.
I’ve been playing it since Sunday. Not only the best baseball game I’ve ever played, but one of the best game I’ve played overall. Amazing attention to detail.
just remember how good cano looked from the middle of may on… he was a .300 hitter
Over under: Phil winning 10 games this season?
Under- he doesn’t get enough starts for that.
Under. I don’t see him getting enough starts with five pitchers ahead of him in the rotation. I’d say over if he was a sure thing in the rotation.
I think a more appropriate over-under would be for 10 starts.
3rd hit batter of spring for Phil- looks like hes trying to establish the inner half.
Hughes should IBB Pedroia here, and go for the Jeter GIDP.
Eat it says Jeter.
Well, technically, if there was a double play position Berroa would have been playing closer to the bag and could have gotten that.
I hate that I’m stuck at work. From the comments, Phil brought his stuff today. Too bad its against a team of scrub minor league…wait, NO IT ISN’T!!
Bah, should’ve thrown the inside heater, Hughes, Pedroia can’t hit that pitch.
That’s a great commercial.
“You mean aside from you? Hmmm…”
Whooosh.
Yeah, Hughes may have looked sharp….and maybe…he was playing an all star squad…..but…..he only pitched three innings and gave up two runs…….so maybe he stinks…
/
Lombardi’d
Also, he had Angel Berroa, Cody Ransom and Justin Leone in the field behind him, so it doesn’t count.
Berroa’s range at SS sucks.
No bad all told. He was throwing a lot of junk in the 3rd inning, which is good.
I love me some Coke.
Except right there with the base hit.
if ya wanna watch the game theres this guy whos video streaming the game
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/stealthshot
thanks for the link!
Changed it to the Mets
I like what I see from our boy Hughes.
I love the Girardi quote about Jbba
“Hes a four pitch guy, shutdown stuff for multipe multiple multpiple innings guy not just one”
Ted Lily seems like such a boring person.
That he is, that he is.
Not as boring as Igawa.
Sorry couldn’t help it.
His mellowness was nearly Olerud quality.
didn’t he have a fist fight with his manager in Toronto?
Didn’t Gibbons fight with several of his players?
yeah, the guy was a jackass, no doubt. but i don’t think Lilly is as mellow as we may think, either.
he just LOOKS mellow.
Penny’s shoulder is acting up. Genius move!
Well that will certainly put a damper on those people who say the Red Sox have the most depth out of anyone. It isn’t depth if they are all injured.
I’m still trying to figure out how Theo Epstein’s mind works. And, I mean, I’m Jewish, I should have the inside track on this!
So you’re saying you don’t think any of the moves he makes are good moves? You don’t understand why he’d take a chance on a Brad Penny? Really?
Dont worry. Anyone who the Sox lose, the media will pick a new prospect to put at the end of their depth chart to suggest they have great depth. “Who cares about Penny!!! They have Hagadone!!!”
Gardner is kinda short.
I’m shorter.
So that is 2 strikeouts for Dunn?
Dunn doesn’t look like he is “in the best shape of his life”
ughh accidental reply again.
u can the game here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/stealthshot
thats wat i said
If Dunn got a bit fatter and dyed his facial hair, he could totally be the villian in one of those Major League movies.
He has quite the gut
Not quite fat enough. He also needs to spit more.
bernie has a hit against the twins, if anyone cares
is that game on tv
no
. not even mlb.tv, but the box score is
where?
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/boxsco.....t_minmlb_1
Mike, or whomever,
Do you see Wang as a power pitcher in essence? He has power stuff. I think he is.
Holy crap I’m addicted to Coke.
Groan. Well I guess I’ll play along.
Brett Gardner is high on Speed.
Nick Swisher smokes weed!
red bull came out with red bull coke… tastes better
Yeah I saw that, I always wondered how it tasted.
Is there a bigger outfielder than Adam Dunn?
Carlos Lee?
Bigger in volume, anyway.
Meh, Not used to a real shortstop?
I blame Youk.
Wait till LaTroy comes in. I’ll look forward to that.
Whoops. Not supposed to be a reply MAHHHH MADDDD homie
The funny part is that about 80% of big league shortstops would have gotten to that ball with ease and made a clean throw. For Jeter, it was an adventure.
But Youk is a gold glover!
What are you talking about. Jeter is awesome at short, take your head out of the spreadsheets, watch a game!!!!
/
Costas’d
BOOOOOO… your right , but BOOOOOOO anyway.
LOL
Anyone else just lose their feed?
Guess your cable is just more sux0r than Cashman
ANyone elses YES network just crap out on them?
Me too. Thought it was just me.
anyone notice how fast and strong ransom is? he could be a football player…
it’d be nice to have a utility player with average defense, some speed and pop… maybe kevin long can help his swing? his only negative is his below average contact
Dunn coming to pitch now?
Well, I hope they keep him in right. Just kidding. Yeah he’s up next I think.
Ziegler just needs to throw strikes down the middle Gardner can’t hit anything !!!11!!
Anyone else please with Gardner? lol. I hope he saves it for the season
F’in TEX! Waive him!
Its days like today that shows why there are all the BG supporters
LMAO Gardner beat the YES cam to second base!
Gardner’s pretty motivated out there, huh?
Tex blows, cut him
$180 million waste of money! Cash screwed up another one!
E-Hack
STRIKE THIS BUM OUT!
So let’s see this “95 with ease” Hacker supposedly has.
It would help if YES would occasionally show the gun.
Even Michael Kay admits that Hacker doesn’t have overpowering stuff and needs to hit the corners. And he thinks most of the Yankees throw 95….
90 easily into the dirt.
Who said that?
Posada did. He also wanted Joba in the pen. Starting to get that Jorge should stick to calling the games.
Heh…must have been trying to raise Hackers trade value
Posada and Pinstripes Plus.
I cant believe team USA carries LaTroy Hawkins
I cant wait till we tee off on him.
Watch him blow a big spot in the tournament
Nice to hear Joe G loosens it up.
So who is going to win the utility IF job?
I’m becoming very impressed with Gardner thus far. Guess he wants that job.
He hit over .390 last spring. There’s still a month til the season starts, and the pitchers barely know where the ball is going. Joba was throwing 90 MPH 4 seamers. Is hitting well right now better than hitting poorly? Yes. Does it have all that much bearing on how he’ll do in the regular season?
Probably not. Temper your expectations, folks.
Mo is pretty decent with that pitching thing too.
Doesn’t suprise me Mo is good at pool
I could see him hustlin at pool halls.
I think Hacker is in trouble here….
Fuckin Berroa. Way to make a bad situation worse. While you’re at it, give Hideki his ROY Award that he deserved….
Should have made that part of his minor league deal. You can come battle for the utility infielder role…but you gotta give Hideki that ROY award.
Berroa deserved it. If you factor position and defense in, he was more valuable than Matsui. Plus, he was a real rookie.
Berroa was a horrible SS while Matsui was a decent/good LF (at the time, no longer). I know SS is more valuable than LF, but their offense wasn’t close.
As for the real rookie, plenty of other guys have come from Japan and sucked. Besides Ichiro, Matsui, Okajima, and Dice-K, there have been a lot of failures. And no one had a problem giving the ROY to Ichiro, and he was one of the greatest players ever in Japan.
According to UZR you are very wrong, the comment below me shows their similar wOBAs, and berroa’s UZR at SS(2nd toughest position to play) was -5.6. Matsui’s UZR at LF(2nd easiest position to play) was an astounding -18.8). It is clear to my that Berroa definitely deserved the award and anyone who thinks otherwise isn’t really doing their research.
I know SS is more valuable than LF, but their offense wasn’t close.
you might want to double check that one
I was just joking, realistically Berroa was deserving of the award, the offense wasn’t very different and the position premium gives a big edge to Berroa.
People really only talk about it because of the demise of Berroa’s career while Hideki has continued to play well, though that really doesn’t matter.
i don’t get why everyone still harps on this.
Berroa had a legitimate claim to the award regardless of what happened afterwards.
Berroa: .287/.338/.451 wOBA .344
Matsui: .287/.353/.435 wOBA .341
one guy was a SS, the other was a LFer….
Matsui: 0.5 WAR
Berroa: 2.7 WAR
thank you.
I stand corrected. My frustrations of my youth were obviously colored by my bias.
By the way, where does everyone get these stats so easily? Every time I search for anything like this, I end up at a paysite. I could definitely reduce my stupid comments if I could get this stuff free…
fangraphs
no problemo. ignore my comment above, should have kept reading.
for the record, i remember being annoyed about it at the time as well b/c there were two writers who SPECIFICALLY said that they didn’t vote for Matsui b/c he was from Japan.
*Ehem Ehem* I’m warming up my yelling at the television voice.
Seriously, Gardner is 3 for 3?
Not going to be a good outing for Hacker
I would say command is a bit of an issue for Hacker.
Gotta get it in shape… don’t want to pull something yelling at the TV opening day
whoops, wrong place
He is a “command guy” …. “Well he didnt have his command,” Michael Kay, Author of the Paradox
Not a pretty outing. I wonder how long he is for the 40 man roster.
cut the guy some slack, he’s never pitched above AA and is facing team USA in his second appearance of the spring.
Sure…the thing is, the Yankees have a bit of a roster crunch. Assuming someone not on the roster needs to be used at some point during the season, Hacker was on the short list of guys that they might let go, and he isnt doing much to help his standing.
Just a bit inside….
Tell me he didnt just say gritty grindy…
Nice job by Dunn.
dunn is straight garbage. i love it.
Get used to it Nationals fans
Nice job by Mike Dunn. As for Adam Dunn in the field? Wow, not so much.
Look at that. Bonehead defensive play to open the inning, and now it’s first and second with no outs.
berroa seems slooooooooooow. doesn’t run like a middle infielder.
Now pitching for the Mets … I mean Padres … Heaaaaath Bellll!!!
Now pitching for the Mets … I mean
PadresMarlins …Heaaaaath BellllMatt Lindstrom!!!Heath Bell > Francisco Rodriguez.
The Padres must love seeing Bell throw to innings in this warm-up exhibition game for another set of exhibition. That’s a double whammy.
Nevermind, Broxton’s pitching. I confused the two fat relievers with goatees.
Nice 9th inning …blowing one by Jeter and DeRosa and getting the midget out on a bounce.
Damon can’t buy a hit. I guess Joe Torre’s comments got to his head.
And here’s another excellent young former Met reliever.
I’m too slow.
Good thing they got rid of Bell and Lindstrom, not like those guys could have helped them out of the bullpen recently.
Heh, Melky’s like “see, I can steal bases too!”
He stinks…
But he has a good arm!
[...] got just 33 plate appearances (.276-.382-.345) and played just six games in the field (couting the exhibition against the Yanks) during his 22-day hiatus, so he has plenty of work to get in before the team heads [...]