With Chris Capuano out of action for a few weeks, the Yankees are holding a competition for the fifth starter’s spot, a competition Joe Girardi said more or less begins in earnest this week. “The competition’s on now, in a sense,” said the skipper to Chad Jennings last night. “These guys are competing for jobs. Even if they felt it before, this is when we’re really going to start playing attention.”
Fifth starter candidate Esmil Rogers is on the bump tonight — fellow fifth starter candidate Adam Warren starts tomorrow — and he’s pitched well so far in camp, striking out six and walking none in five scoreless innings. He’s made some mechanical changes at the behest of pitching coach Larry Rothschild (he doesn’t bring his hands over his head anymore) and supposedly his control has been good this spring. We’ll see.
Tonight’s reason to watch: Rogers, if only because he’s a serious candidate for the rotation at the moment. Jose Pirela is also scheduled to come off the bench to play center field tonight after starting in left field last night. He’s played both positions before in the minors, but Girardi & Co. want to see Pirela out there for themselves. He might work his way onto the bench at some point. If not Opening Day, then later in the season.
The Phillies are visiting from Clearwater and brought most of their regulars. Here’s their lineup card and here is Girardi’s starting lineup:
- SS Didi Gregorius
- 2B Stephen Drew
- RF Carlos Beltran
- 1B Mark Teixeira
- 3B Chase Headley
- DH Alex Rodriguez
- C Austin Romine
- LF Ramon Flores
- CF Slade Heathcott
RHP Esmil Rogers
Available Position Players: C John Ryan Murphy, 1B Francisco Arcia, 2B Rob Refsnyder, SS Nick Noonan, 3B Cole Figueroa, LF Jonathan Galvez, CF Jose Pirela, and RF Tyler Austin will be the second string off the bench. C Kyle Higashioka, C Eddy Rodriguez, IF Ali Castillo, and OF Mason Williams are the extra players.
Available Pitchers: RHP David Carpenter and LHP Chasen Shreve are the only pitchers scheduled to follow Rogers. RHP Chris Martin, RHP Danny Burawa, RHP Cesar Vargas, RHP Nick Goody, LHP Jacob Lindgren, LHP Fred Lewis, and LHP Tyler Webb are the extra arms. I’m sure a few of them will get in the game as well.
It’s warm and a bit humid in Tampa this evening, but there’s no rain in the forecast. Tonight’s game will begin at 7:05pm ET, and you can watch on YES locally and both ESPN and MLB.tv nationally. MLB.tv will not be blacked out in the Yankees’ home market but I’m not sure about ESPN. Enjoy the game.
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