Spring Training Game Thread: It’s not raining in Florida
By
There’s nothing better than baseball on a lazy, rainy Sunday. Even if it is just Spring Training baseball.
CC Sabathia will take the mound for the third time in the exhibition season after getting touched up for nine hits, three walks, and five runs in 4.1 IP during his previous two outings. He said he was having a problem collapsing on his back leg, which left his pitches flat and up in the zone, so let’s see if he corrected that.
Meanwhile, Nick Johnson has been the team’s most impressive hitter in March after working with Kevin Long to use his legs a little more in his swing. He’s 5-for-11 (.455-.571-1.182) with two homers, two doubles, three walks, and just one strikeout, and even his outs have been hard hit. Johnson has more walks (432) than strikeouts (410) since 2003, which is pretty cool, though I’d expect it to change as he faces AL East pitching.
Anyway, here’s the starting nine…
Jeter, SS
Johnson, 1B
Cano, 2B
Swisher, RF
Thames, LF
Gardner, CF
Winn, DH
Cervelli, C
Vazquez, 3B – yeah, that Jorge Vazquez, who has played four games at third since 2003 … should be fun
Scheduled Pitchers: CC Sabathia, Jon Albaladejo, Mark Melancon, Zach McAllister, Dustin Moseley, Ivan Nova
Also scheduled to play: Greg Golson, Reid Gorecki, Brandon Laird, Juan Miranda, Eduardo Nunez, Mike Rivera, Kevin Russo, Jon Weber, David Winfree
According to a release, MLB Network has lifted the NY/NJ/CT area blackout on today’s game, so it’ll be shown live at 1:05pm ET. We’ll just have to deal with the Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh broadcast. Enjoy the game.
Photo Credit: Brian Blanco, AP
Stupid Nick Johnson clogging the bases again.
the super annoying thing about the people carping about not signing Damon/how Cashman sucks is that they’re using ST stats to go on and on about how much better Damon is than Gardner/Winn/Thames/etc., but then they still complain about Nick Johnson when he’s having a pretty bad-ass ST. Of course, none of this means anything.
They’re really trying to push these Pirates season tickets. Take a hint, nobody wants to see your crappy team.
heh, now they’re advertising “see these other teams that will be playing the Pirates”
It’s not raining in Florida but it is POURING here. Sucks, waste of a day.
Since I haven’t been able to get on a computer in about a week, how are things in Yankeeland?
i wonder if there r any pirates tickets available? is this a game or an infomercial
I don’t think there are any Pirates tickets left. If there were we would have heard something about it.
this day in Pirates history: Billy Crystal played for the Yankees. ????
I guess the Pirates don’t have much history!
They have the greatest shortstop evah. Sure he played 100 years ago, sure there are probably 2 people alive who saw him play…..but whatever.
a. you forgot Casey Kelly, dude
b. I dunno, the We Are Family Pirates were really fun.
Right. They have that. And Mazeroski, the man who’s in the HOF for one hit– even though that’s not supposed to happen.
And then they have…
(waits patiently…)
http://www.instantcrickets.com
they have losing the 1992 NLCS because Jimmy Leyland was silly and left his starting pitcher in too long
I rest my case!
Brett Gardner not wearing high socks.
Hence the strikeout. He is growing out his hair, whitening his teeth……HE”S LOSING TEH GRITTINESS!!11!!
GIVE THAT MAN SOME DIP!
So. We’ve seen Frankie in the Gazoo helmet. What do we think?
I don’t think it looked that bad on him.
He looks better in it than Dave Wright
I think anyone would look better in it than Wright. That was just unfortunate.
He should have kept wearing it, though. Anything to keep your noggin safe after a concussion.
True. I also would have accepted, “How are you supposed to look good in Mets attire?”
Hand out massive amounts of alcohol and/or hallucinogens to all bystanders within eyeshot?
No, I guess that wouldn’t be enough.
Barry Bonds and his gigantic head probably would look worse
Way to baserun, Lastings.
He’s taking baserunning lessons from Posada.
Swisher intentionally let that ball get by as he knew Lastings would try for the triple and get stuck.
what happened? I missed it but it sounds highly entertaining.
Ball got past Swish, so he tried to stretch a double into a triple. Got caught into a rundown.
Pretty much what sleepykarl said; Milledge hit a ball that got past Swisher, but he got greedy and went too far past second, and got hung out to dry in a rundown.
whoa, i didn’t know that
The Pirates have a Philly Phanatic, too???
Re: that club they keep advertising: “Come to our ballpark and don’t watch the team! Instead, eat and drink in an isolated club!’
I never understood people who go to games and spend the whole time texting, yapping on their phone, hanging out in the stadium clubs, etc. Why not stay home and do all that, and avoid the ticket charge?
It’s like my younger days when I played in bands, and would wonder why people went to clubs and paid the door charge, and paid exhorbitant drink prices, only to pointedly ignore the bands playing, with their heads turned away, yapping endlessly during the quiet songs, etc.
Were you in Duran Duran? Are you Andy Taylor?
God forbid!
Nope, my bands had a lot more…edge… to them than frickin’ Duran Duran!!
One example.
Are we playing 20 Questions? I’m bigger than a breadbox…
How can you not go by Andy Trash? That’s an awesome name. You punks were so cool.
Heh.
Wait, whaddaya mean, were??
Iggy Pop = Lou Whitaker, except it will take Lou Whitaker longer to get in the Hall of Fame.
Unlike my major influence Iggy (at least during his Stooges days), though, no one in my bands was doing steroids. Anything else available, yes…steroids, no. No kick.
Iggy has looked…positively wood-carven from the last time I saw him at the old Ritz in the late ’80’s, and has only gotten scarier lately!
Eh. Not all people are like us. Many people are more than happy not watching every AB. Also, with 9 TV’s in that place it might be nice to cool off and eat some good food. Lastly, it’s the Pirates.
Yeah, this was the subtext of my comment: I’m glad my team is worth watching, and has been since I was a wee little Bucky Dent fan…but given that you’re at a Yankees game, not a Pirates game, why would you spend the entire game not paying attention?
I’m not talking about people who are mostly paying attention, but take an inning or two off. I mean the annoying ones yapping on their cellphones to their wives/girlfriends the entire game. That bewilders me. Why not stay home or go to a bar/restaurant?
Sounds like the Audi Club…
Is Chop Shop on iTunes? I’d love to throw some cash your way. I’ve been waiting on a new RAB Podcast since December. Fucking slackers.
Reply FAIL?
Nope, not on iTunes. Yet, anyway. Feel free to grab the songs from SoundClick, though.
To many DFA IPA’s last night.
I didn’t know where to put the question.
Yikes, anyone else see the news about Westmoreland??
http://content.usatoday.com/co.....-surgery/1
I don’t wish that on anybody. Damn.
That was discussed in the open thread yesterday I believe.
I know brain surgery is never routine, but from what I read yesterday, doctors are pretty confident in the procedure. Hopefully he’s fine in the long run.
Pleaseeeeee come to our games! We have concerts and bobbleheads! Fireworks too! PLEASE!!
Every date is a good date! Can’t wait til Astros-Pirates in late September!
Is this a baseball game or a telethon? Good Mo, this is shameless.
I hear Johnny Depp and and Keith Richards will make an appearance.
That…would be worth watching! Keith’s the man!
I am sending you the bill for cleaning off the coffee I just spit all over my monitor.
“Ok, everyone. Look busy, we’ll be live any minute. Act like your talking on the phones.”
the 20 game plans are pretty sweet even as bad as the pirates suck.
im waiting for jerry lewis to come out already.
Are there Pirates tickets available?
Holy shit… I rather listen to Joe Morgan than this. Time to put the TV on mute and turn on the MLB at bat audio.
Hey Guys…. Anyone know if this game is on ‘Extra Innings’?
Their suites have temperature control?!?!?!? I’m fucking in!
They’re talking about
CC’s pants…
(Stupid enter button prematurely ending my post)
lmao they just slammed on CC tree trunk thighs.
They have to find something to talk about, you can’t push the season tickets all game long
But they’re gonna try!
So-o-o-o…
…I guess there are few enough Pirates season ticket holders that they can mention every single one by name during the first few innings of a baseball game?!!111!
How would you like to be the old lady who has been a season ticket holder since 1946? WTF?
I’d rather be Corey Lidle’s co-pilot
No dice? Sorry, I’m an awful human being. How about this one: I’d rather be the kid Brett Pedroia is babysitting.
http://www.instantcrickets.com
I think you meant to link this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TylvUGJIi_w
Nice try.
The average age in Bradenton? Dead.
or aspiring tennis pro
How awkward is it for the lady to see that Lastings Milledge and Andrew McCutchen have stolen her hairstyle?
CC looked pretty solid today, I love how this broadcast just keeps filling us in on the ticket plans.
Hey guys, any input on me dealing Greinke for Kemp…
Smart move or bad move?
Not as smart as renewing your Pirates season tickets plan!
I don’t think the Fantasy guys are here today.
I would do that. Kemp is a Top 10 fantasy player while I would probably rank Greinke in the 20’s.
Ooh, there’s one! a sighting!
I know they say that Spring Training stats don’t mean much…
But Albaladejo isn’t earning himself a major league job right now.
Yep. He still s*cks. Same Albie.
Slider looks flat and fastballs are all groove jobs.
Okay, talking to no end about the season tickets plans is one thing, not showing the game because of your “interview” with some chick of the Pirates PR department crosses several lines.
Unless she’s really really good-looking…
…and scantily-clad.
All of the above are prerequisites. I’ve been to Pittsburgh.
Oh, wait, we’re talking about Pittsburgh. Right, never mind.
Yes, not showing the game because of your “interview” with some chick
of the Pirates PR departmentfrom Pittsburgh is just wrong.as annoying as this broadcast is, it would be nice to know that your team REALLY wants you business
Eh. To me it comes across as pathetic.
Is it possible to be re-assigned during a game?
But Pirates tickets don not include the same seats for the post season.
Because they know the Pirates won’t make the post-season in the lifetime of anyone currently living. Why bother printing them?
I was being sarcastic…
As was I…
Does anyone kinda wish that they let Albaladejo go instead of Edwar? I just loved that change-up. I realize that it really doesn’t matter at all, just a thought.
Alabaladejo is probably the next one to go anyway.
Yeah, I figured it really didn’t matter, but that change was dirty.
Problem is, Edwar had nothing else. You need a quality second pitch to keep hitters guessing, unless your main pitch is a blazing fastball with movement, or another pitch with movement: cutter/splitter/slider.
Edwar was never going to succeed in the AL East.
Look at that slow jog by Nick Johnson. He’s not nearly as gritty as Damon!
The Pirates’ broadcasting team needs to update their stats. Melancon’s saves record at Arizona was broken about two years ago.
But they have some really good stat guys seasoning in the minors! They’ll contend stat-wise in a couple years!
Nice throw there…
OK, this is getting to be like a cheesy late-night used-car ad.
I’m waiting for: “Come on DOWN!”
Wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man!!!
I’m cracking up: “…we’ve got the Cleveland Indians coming in. If that’s not big…
If you think the 2010 Cleveland Indians are gonna sell tickets for you, you’re just frickin’ delusional!
Bahahahaha
Maybe they still think it’s like 1995-1997?
I did not know that Maz was the greatest 2nd basemen of all time. Thanks guys!
He’s in the Hall of Fame. It’s indisputable.
I can’t believe these idiots are talking about Mazerowksi being the best second basemen ever.
.260-.299-.367 career hitter, 27 WAR.
Joe Morgan had 27.1 WAR in the first 9 seasons of his career, before he got to Cincinnati.
As I noted above, Mazeroski, along with Don Larsen, is the poster child for breaking the HOF rule that “you don’t elect someone for a single accomplishment, but rather what they’ve done over their career”. Which implies that his career wasn’t that great…
I suppose I can understand Pirate fans idealizing him, though; outside of Clemente, they don’t have much else in the modern era. And that was a pretty big event for them.
Willie Stargel was awesome. He also had a great hat.
Right, forgot Stargy. Pirates were pretty decent in the ’70s. Parker was OK for a minute there too.
But that’s still not much, compared to, say, a certain team in Gotham…or even that team in Cincinnati.
Yup.
I was gonna say the Pirates had a long and storied history, but I was looking at the franchise history and I didn’t realize how generally bad that history was. They were great in the ’70s and good in the very early ’90s (as in 1990-1992). Other than that, though, other than some things here and there, it’s a lot of meh. I really love Clemente though, so I may be thinking the Pirates were better off than they were throughout history.
They did have fantastic uniforms, though.
Rogers Hornsby and Eddie Collins must be rolling in their graves.
Albie’s ST stats
2IP 15H 11R 10ER 1HR 2BB 1HBP 0K
sexy.
zomg we can’t beat the Pirates!!! Truly we are haunted by the ghosts of 1960.
Teix and A-Rod should use Moseley as their personal pitcher in this year’s homerun derby.
Heh.
Yep, “you’ve gotta act quickly to get Pirates tickets”. Mmm hmm.
Right. Sure.
Because if you don’t, you’ll…still be able to get lots of ‘em.
laughing soooo hard
How many times are they gonna show these people on the phones?
…waiting for Bexy’s post:
“ZOMG WE NEVER SHOULD’VE TRADED KARSTENS!!”
Nah. Inspired by a certain other site, I’d rather get mock-upset that the Red Sox and Rays have better ST records than we do.
I’ve been meaning to mention that to you. It’s funny, you seem to love to torture yourself going to all these mouth-breather sites and reading the comments, then getting upset. I’ve found it’s better for my mental health to stay away from the comments on mlb.com, mlbtraderumors, etc. because I get dragged in to defending the boys in blue. I stay away from LoHud entirely. And I’m a happier person for it!
mlbtraderumors’ posts are good, but the comments there…
I generally don’t get upset. If I did, I’d stop reading them. I’m more highly amused.
I never go to MLBTR or the comments on MLB.com.
OK. But you seem to get so upset at some of the idiot things you re-post here…just concerned for your well-being.
After all, no one else on this board has said they love me!
WHAT’S THAT YOU SAY?
LA-LA-LA-I-CAN’T-HEAR-YOU!!!
(Walks away with fingers in ears)
Nah. Good example, there was someone’s Twitter I was reading the other day, and I was like, wow, do you even *like* the Yankees? So I stopped reading it. I saw like two comments on the Mo article from the Daily News today and stopped reading them because they infuriated me. But like, that thing from Bleacher Report from a few days ago? I just laughed and laughed and laughed at that.
I love all Andys. Though of course, you are special.
Right, because I’m not
mucusYoukilis!Hey! WAIT a minute! “special” as in “special”, or “special” as in…you know…special??11!!
Heh… you’re gonna have to guess.
nice! definately could use a little shot of NOVAcaine after albie and mosley.
The Pirates paid off the Yanks pitchers to help them sell tix.
Bobby Crosby = MVP candidate. You heard it here first.
For Diamond Cutters . . .
Delmon Young is on the Pirates???
Delwyn.
Durrrr. Thanks for that.
Heh. I’ve been half-expecting one of those “we should trade for Delwyn Young, then switch him for Delmon” comments…
…but I guess no one wants Delmon on the Yanks that much!
this is exactly like all the commercials for the Nets that are like “hey come see LeBron!”
W-e-l-l…why else would you go to a Nets game?
/had-to’d
After reading the comments in a lohudd game thread of this idiot, dubbed “whatever”, I will never read their comments again. I mean, I though SBGLMJ were bad.
I”’d rather have Melky, a guy who PLAYS every day and can make an impact on the field everyday than Javier Vazquez who only pitches once out of every 5 days and has proven nothing but unclutch in the American league. BAD TRADE.”
“granderson hitting 214 this spring, i have a feeling he’s the next gary matthews jr, a bust.. don’t like it at all.. melky has been outperforming him this spring training, check the stats, they dont lie.”
“OH PLEASE.. tell me in the 8th inning with the Yankees down 2 runs and Jon lester on the mound.. who would you rather see up there facing LESTER? Granderson who can’t hit lefties or Melky, the switch hitter who has been nothing but clutch in pinstripes.. its not even close.. i’m not having this argument again, cashman made some really bad mistakes this off-season.
TBR 9-2
BOS 7-3 1.5 GB
TOR 6-3 2.0 GB
NYY 5-6 4.0 GB
BAL 2-8 6.5 GB
As you can see, the much more talented Red Sox and Rays are ahead of the Yankees by quite a margain. This is how you can expect the season to be.”
Wow, someone likes to put a lot of stock in spring training.
I just realized this, but he actually shows a games back next to the teams. its like he thinks we’re are actually competing with them right now,
Yes, your first mistake was reading the comments at LoHud.
Some of the posts aren’t bad these days, but the commenters…eeeh…
LoHud is a really good site but the comments are… um… that comment with the AL East placing by ST was special. To be fair, most of the other people leaving comments completely trashed that person.
Also, even if this WAS the regular season, quite a “margain”? It’s four games. And they’ve played like 10-12.
It’s like most websites. MLB.com has some good articles, but the comments there make lohud seem tame for their sheer righteous rage and idiocy. Heck, just check out the comments on that article on Rivera posted earlier
another reason why RAB is awesome
the comments at MLB.com don’t even make sense. It’s like there’s some word generator somewhere with random baseball terms/players and they all come from there.
Agreed. That’s why we’re all here and not there.
It’s too bad we’re slowing down on the memes. Granderson = GMJ could be a fun one.
I think Mike and company should start running an “Odds” list to the right of all threads.
The Odds should allow us to vote or bet (not with real money) on how soon the idiot comments from above will surface during in game threads once the season begins.
Very comical to say the least. And for all of you who complained about hearing about the season ticket options for the Pirates, you know you are secretly jealous you won’t be able to see the powerhouse known as George Thorogood following a game. Ok not really but thought that part was a sad indication on the need to sell tickets – might as well offer a free Prius drawing.
You know, I’m starting to think that going to a Pirates game during the season would be a lot like…going to a Trenton Thunder game. Only not as much fun.
My money is on the Thunder vs Pirates.
I meant the minor-league atmosphere, not the quality of the players. Bobbleheads of minor-league players, fireworks, lame promotions, sausage races…oh wait, there’s a major-league team that does that, right?
Laughs ass off, thanks Mo my team doesn’t have to do such nonsense
The phillies are an odd team in that they are actually good, but have a minor league atmosphere. I think the pirates think if they do that, they’ll be like the Phillies.
You know you’re a Pirates fan when: you’re worried about a 7-run lead in the bottom of the ninth.
I smirked.
This franchise has nothing going for them really. A poor team and poor system at least teams like the Rays and the Athletics have really good minor league systems.
And the Rays are no longer a poor team, not even close.
Wait so ESPN is running a story that the Phillies and Cardinals discussed trading Pujols for Howard. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.
Ruben Amaro: Hey John, how about Pujols for Howard
John Mozeliak: HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAAH
{click}
Yeah no kidding. The article says STL would get a PR boost because Howard is from the city. I’m pretty sure dealing Pujols more than negates whatever positive PR comes from it.
It seems like a good chunk of Phillies fans look at Howard getting traded as an inevitability. I don’t know how true this is.
getting traded or leaving after his contract runs out after 2011? They owe him $39M over the next two seasons, seems to be a steep price for any team to take on. Check out Posnanski’s article about low-average, big-RBI guys, it’s his usual awesomeness
Linkage?
http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlo.....z-houston/
The short series he has been running about one player from every team has been awesome
Of course short for JoPoz means 2,000 words.
Well, if they’re all good words…
Thanks JGS, goes off to read article…
…steps back into room…
Great article. Really crystalized some things for me.
Thanks for the link, will have check in on “the other Joe P.” more often.
JoPoz = must read. Best sportswriter on the planet.
Agreed. Will check his work on a more regular basis than I have been, now.
Most were saying getting traded. It’d probably be smart to get something of value for him if he’s going to leave. Obviously Howard’s exact production would be hard to replicate, but getting a 1B with pop isn’t.
Would they be better off taking the draft picks? They won’t get anyone good unless they pay a huge portion of his salary
His splits were really exposed in the World Series last year, no?
Maybe the fans are realizing he’s only half a great hitter, and likely to be overpaid soon.
…the fans are
realizingthinkingperhaps.
Though I suspect most Philly fans still think Howard > Pujols.
Bwahahaha!
Yeah, I forgot we were talking about Phils fans here.
Can somebody work up a Pythagorean expectation for our ST?
Given that this season’s Spring Training record seems to be more important than last season’s postseason record to some unnamed individuals, I’d like to know whether we are out- or underperforming our expected winning percentage.
we’re probably actually outperforming it because the 11-0 loss to the Twins would weight it fairly heavily against us
You know it’s ST when: the Twins beat the Yankees
Yeah, have we lost an actual real game to them in, like, 5 years?
We swept ‘em last year in the season and playoffs, I think we mighta swept ‘em the year before, too, or almost…
haha.
Since they introduced the unbalanced schedule:
2001 2-4
2002 6-0
2003 7-0 (10-1 inc. playoffs)
2004 4-2 (7-3 inc. playoffs)
2005 3-3
2006 3-3
2007 5-2
2008 6-4
2009 7-0 (10-0 inc. playoffs)
I was reading a Twins fan’s blog and it said that since 2002, they’re 3-22 at Yankee Stadium… yikes. I think they haven’t won a game there since 2007.
It gets better. Two of those three were to Johan Santana, and the third the Yankees used three pitchers in the game: Jeff Karstens, Ron Villone, and Brian Bruney
Hmm…I was a little off, then. Shows how fallible memory is. I guess my mind conveniently forgot about ‘05 & ‘06.
But we still pretty much dominate them, except for 2001…but that was the year of the strike, like ‘04, anyway!
Evil $$$ beats gritty
small-mindednesssmall-market-ness once again!Thanks for looking that up, I was too lazy.
Twins 2010 payroll: $94.7M
that’s more than the Dodgers.
But I have nothing against the Twinkies. Possibly ‘cuz we do very well against them and all, but they don’t cry poverty or anything.
also, imagine if the Twins had kept Santana, Garza, Bartlett, and Hunter? They’d be quite scary.
I often amuse myself thinking how much better the Royals could have been if they’d kept a few of their players over the years, to go along with Mike Sweeney and Grienke: Johnny Damon, Carlos Beltrán, Raul Ibañez, Jermaine Dye, etc.
Although, of course, most of those guys are past their expiration date now, and wouldn’t all have played together. Still…
Ooh, and Paul Byrd!
continues studying Royals FanGraphs page…
Wow, totally forgot Chuck Knoblauch was a Royal in ‘03…and Ron-D.L. White…
Dude, you *do* realize I was 100% joking with that characterization, right?
Just checking
of course. I just take any opportunity I can to point out the Twins payroll
Which will be going up in the new stadium…there, I helped you out!
Actual: 5-7
Pythag: 4-8
Ooh, 189 comments on a meaningless Spring Training game. Yay!
Uh oh… and like half of them mine! Yikes! I need to get a life!
(Goes off looking for a life…)