Wang with Posada at Phillies

1:56pm So, Posada and Wang don't have good luck in terms of rainouts. Yankees don't want them to travel a lot. They end up with moving more than 2 places

2:03pm Wang has very economical pitching counts in first inning. 1 ground ball 2 flyouts

2:08pm Yankees and coach staff probably are scared to death when Phillies pitcher almost walks Wang to first base.

2:11pm Wang is in trouble to begin second inning. Trouble always begins at walk. Guess what? Wang is always one pitch away from double play.

2:20pm Posada is tested for first time of this game. Runner steals second successfully. Since I can't see it, I don't know how Posada looks. But, Wang strikes out the batter to end the inning. Wang throws a lot of balls in second inning.

2:25pm Back to back walk to Posada and Damon. If Posada can catch 110 games, that will be a huge upgrade for 2009 season.

2:30pm Yankees tie the game for Nady's infield single. See. Trouble always begins at walk.

2:37pm Wang's command and control is not so good today, but he comes up with another double play. I think Wang tries to practice his secondary pitches, such as slider, changeup and splitter. When he is in trouble, he always has sinker to go to.

2:45pm Wang is very underrated in terms of his defense. He just makes a great play to end the inning. There are two hits Wang gives up today are basically ground ball. But, his command and control is not too good.

3:16pm It seems to me Wang get tired once he reaches his pitch counts. I am listening to Phillies announcers for this game. Why they talk like Damon hits .200 last season? Come on, I know Damon doesn't have a great arm which everyone knows it, but the guy hits over .300 at leadoff spot.

3:25pm Wang's day is done. Bruney is up and strike out first two batters he face. However, Bruney gives up another run for Wang and 2 runs for himself. I believe Joba should be in the bullpen crowd will be out pretty soon.

4:05pm When Giese follows Bruney's step to get killed, I believe Joba should be in the bullpen and our bullpen are terrible crowd will be all out by now. Come down, guys. This is a spring training game. Sometimes all relief pitchers have the bad days together. It seems to me Tomko will be long man job.

4:09pm The most important thing of this game is Wang pitching solid and hopefully Posada comes out healthy and feel good after throwing to second once.

Upcoming Pitching Schedule

Peter posts upcoming pitching schedule on his blog,

Friday: Hughes vs. Minnesota (Pettitte will pitch in a minor-league game)
Saturday: Joba vs. Detroit
Sunday: Aceves vs. Tampa Bay (CC will pitch in a minor-league game)
Monday: Tomko vs. Philadelphia (Wang will pitch in a minor-league game)
Tuesday: Giese vs. Boston (Burnett will pitch in a minor-league game)
Wednesday: Team is off (Pettitte will pitch in a minor-league game)

Most starters will pitch in minor league game in the day they are supposed to start. I think it's a good idea for two reasons. First of all, Yankees coach staff can use this opportunity to take a look at all candidates for long man in the bullpen. Secondly, we don't have to let other AL teams(especially those AL East teams) get a feeling of our starters before season starts.

Wang 3rd Spring Training Outing

7:35pm Well. I keep waiting and waiting for game and then I fall sleep. When I wake up, I miss first inning and then turn on my computer on time to catch Wang gives up a homerun to Lowell.

7:43pm It looks like Wang makes adjustment on his delivery after letting pitches high in the zone for the first two batters of second inning.

7:49pm That is why we sign Teixeira, right? After watching the way Juan Miranda play defense, I am glad to know Teixeira play first base for us.

7:55pm After the game CC get hit hard, Wang get hit hard by Red Sox as well. This certainly gets many people panic and many experts to claim Yankees are in trouble.

7:57pm It looks like Wang can't find his right delivery. As long as he is healthy, I rather them to get hit hard in spring training and then they can realize their problems. Spring training doesn't count. It's good time to find out their problems.

8:03pm That is why I always say defense is very important. If Teixeira is on first base tonight, Wang will be out of second inning while he only gives up one run. I don't care how official scorer think because spring training doesn't count. Those 6 runs are for Juan Miranda.

However, I am glad Wang faces this tough situation in spring training. It seems to me Wang still struggles with command off his pitches. In the past, we won't see Wang misses location of his pitches time and time again this badly. It looks like Wang has good movement on his sinker, but he hasn't had command yet. And then he leaves all kind of breaking pitches high in the zone.

Wang should be the last guy in the rotation get into game shape. We should not expect him to be ready too soon. Don't forget Wang miss half of 2008 season and hasn't pitched for a long time.

8:18pm It's funny Yankees play long game with Red Sox even though they are in the spring training.

8:28pm Tomko looks good and should be leading candidate on long man in the bullpen.

8:31pm I don't care the result of spring training, but I really hope Yankees somehow hammer Papelbon. Well, it's not happening.

8:44pm I am interested in watching Saito pitching. Saito has a very similar delivery to Dice-K.

9:08pm I am listening to the game right now instead of watching the game because of the price of internet in Australia. It looks like Igawa gets more chances now. We certainly need to give him every chance to succeed.

Joba first spring training game

1:27pm Posada has been scratched because of shoulder discomfort. Hopefully, He is fine. I never want any player get hurt including players on other teams. That's why I don't want to see Santana hurt as well.

1:35pm It seems both starters have rocky start. I don't think Joba has his velocity back yet.

1:45pm Giese is up. I believe Girardi will have a long man in the bullpen. Giese should be a leading candidate for that role. Is wind blowing out today?

1:55pm Is this the Yankees team I know? Two sacrifice flies in a row? Play small ball well?

2pm Why every ball is flying out(or almost) the ballpark? It seems to me Giese doesn't have command yet.

2:20pm Even though Cano has a down year last season, he is still better than many second baseman in the league. We really need him offensively and defensively. He certainly can help out Jeter defensively and lengthen lineup offensively.

2:25pm Veras is up now. When I look at Veras's velocity, it seems not so many players have their velocity back to normal at this stage of spring training.

2:35pm I switch audio between Kay and Sterling. I must say this. If I have to choose one among them, I definitely go with Sterling. Kay is really boring.

2:45pm Teixeira just makes a terrific play at 1B. His defense will help us a lot. By the way, did I mention Molina throw out another base runner? Yankees should send a note to every other teams in the league,"Don't even try to steal off Molina"

3:20pm Because internet is so expensive in Australia, I switch to WCBS once Yankees put Igawa on.

Yankees vs Pirates

I still won't worry about starters during spring training. As long as they stay healthy, I won't panic for outcome of spring training games. I know Hughes doesn't pitch well, but I rather they struggle in spring training than regular season in order to find out what is wrong with them.

After watching all spring training games so far, I can sense one thing for sure. We definitely need a long man in the bullpen because they all need tons of pitches in order to go through inning no matter how they pitch. Of course, I mean Hughes, Kennedy, Mussina, Joba(once move him back to rotation) except Wang and Pettitte.

As for Bobby Meacham's issue, Of course, I miss Larry Bowa because of not only being a good third-base coach but also his great personality. I knew Bobby Meacham waved A-Rod home again and this time almost let him get throw out again, but I don't think this time is his fault because pirates' short stop(I think) cover very well for that play. Once Bobby Meacham know more about opponents in the AL East, he will be fine.

I still like what I see from Traber, especially you consider he obviously doesn't have his stuff today and also pitch to righties as well. If A-Rod don't throw that double-play ball away, his line will look much better. By the way, the defense of both teams in this game are ugly.

The more I see from Brett Gardner, the more I like. Opening day roster?? You never know. Joba also officially announce in the bullpen before the game. Man, I like Yankees have those happy problems and difficult decisions to make among a lot of different competitions.

The way to reduce workload from Big Three

This is a quote from Joe Girardi,

"We have to be creative in their(young starters) innings. If we get a chance to take them out of a game when there's a big lead ... that guy(long reliever) becomes very important."

We can sense how Yankees plan to be creative about their innings limitation. I will take a step further. Yankees should do that to every starter once they have a big lead in a game since Yankees have too many good pitchers down their farm. Of course, this doesn't mean take all pitchers out at 5th or 6th inning. But, I mean don't push starters into 8th or 9th inning. This will make Yankees look like using 6-man rotation.

This also can reduce the workload of "better" middle relievers.

Broadcast

I guess no news is good news during spring training. As you guys know, Internet is so expensive in Australia, so I couldn't afford to watch every Yankees spring training games. I was listening to WCBS for Pettitte first spring training game. I actually enjoy listening to John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman, but It's quite difficult to figure out exactly what happened on the field.

I may be too picky about broadcasting because of my background. When I was watching FSN for Mussina first spring training game, I couldn't tell pitcher's location very well from their center-field camera.

By the way, Jason Lane(Defense+Different positions) and Jeff Karstens(pitched well against starting lineup) are impressive so far for me.