Just a few notes and observations from the Yankees 5-4 loss to the Phillies today in Tampa:

• I guess we might as well get this one out of the way; Bartolo Colon is huge. But other than that, he didn’t embarrass himself out there today, and he only allowed one really well hit ball, a shot to right that would have been a loud single had Nick Swisher not misplayed it and allowed it to go for a triple.
• On the other hand, Joba Chamberlain really didn’t look fat to me at all. Or, at least, he didn’t look any bigger than he was last season. But maybe my vision was skewed by the fact that he was following Colon.
• Obviously results mean very little in spring training, let alone the first game, but still, I was struck by how good A-Rod’s swing looked right out of the gate.
• David Robertson pitched the 4th inning, and just about everyone on my Twitter timeline noticed that he had a decidedly lower leg kick in his delivery. He was also trying to work in a change up, and threw a very nice one to strike out Raul Ibanez.
• Hector Noesi has some seriously long legs.
• It might have just been me, but it sure looked like Brandon Laird was swinging really hard in his at bats.
• This one really doesn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things, but Jorge Vazquez hit a monster home run in the 7th inning. It cleared the batter eye and everything. Again, doesn’t mean anything, but it was really cool to watch.
• For some reason, Hank Steinbrenner did not attend the pre-game ceremony honoring The Boss. Seemed a little weird, given what a production that was.

The New York Times reports further on the dire financial situation of the Mets:

Major League Baseball provided $25 million to the owners of the Mets as they struggled to deal with a cash shortfall last fall and a looming lawsuit seeking hundreds of millions of dollars for victims of Bernard L. Madoff’s vast Ponzi scheme, according to two people briefed on the arrangement.

[...]

The Mets have exhausted baseball’s standard bank line of credit, tens of millions of dollars that Mr. Selig and the sport’s owners make available to teams for a variety of reasons in the course of a year. The owners also have more than $400 million in debt on the team. Thus, the additional money provided by Mr. Selig — done in secret last November — might have been crucial in keeping the club functioning. Three weeks ago, after months spent denying that they were in any significant financial trouble, Mr. Wilpon and Mr. Katz announced that they were willing to sell 25 percent of the club, which is valued by Forbes magazine at $858 million. In recent days, the men indicated they were willing to sell even a larger share of the team, but they have insisted they do not want to give up majority ownership.

Mr. Selig’s decision to give what amounts to extraordinary assistance to one of the sport’s most highly valued teams — one owned by Mr. Wilpon, a man Mr. Selig has long regarded as a close personal friend — could anger other team owners, who might wonder why their money is being used to rescue a team with a $140 million payroll.

The top line takeaway here is that the Mets are in even more trouble than originally thought (how many times have we said that?), and while that certainly seems true, I’m a bit more interested in Selig’s role in all of this.

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Admit it, you can’t wait to hear those words soon. After the jump, today’s lineups, pitchers, and some rotation thoughts.

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I’ve reached an exalted status in life: I’m officially a baseball journalist blogger Joe Posnanski wannabe friend of Jason’s. I figure I can’t do my job adequately without video access to every baseball game there is (subject to blackout restrictions). How can I post adequately if I can’t watch Cleveland battle Kansas City for bragging rights in the second division of the American League Central?

Only I’m not sure the best way to do this.

There’s MLB Extra Innings through DirecTV. That’s about $200. I’m supposed to be able to watch 8 games at a time. Subject to blackout restrictions. I live in L.A., so I won’t be hit with Yankees’ blackout restrictions all that often. But then I’m limited to watching on the TVs in my house.

There’s MLB.TV ($100) and MLB.TV premium ($120). I can watch games on my computers, iPod, iPad, Droid phone, presumably all at once, with picture-in-picture on my computers if I pay for MLB.TV premium. I figure if I do that, it will take my wife and daughter about an hour to access their email, but that’s not my problem. If I invest in a Roku box, then I can watch the same stuff on a regular TV. I think.

Then there’s At Bat 11, available for $15, though I might have to pay for each device I want to use to access this service. At its heart, this program looks like a way to track ongoing games (like ESPN’s GameCast) and access statistics, but apparently you can use it to watch ballgames if you also subscribe to MLB.TV. Or maybe not.

Has anyone figured out the best way to access MLB Advanced Media content? Is it worth an extra $20 for MLB.TV premium? Do I need At Bat 11 on top of everything else? How about Roku? What are the cool kids doing at your school? Please post your thoughts in the comments below.

(This post continues our series previewing the 2011 season for each American League team. You can see the rest of the series here.)

2010 record: 81-81 (3rd place A.L. Central)

2010 run differential: +8 (751 runs scored, 743 runs allowed)

Key additions: Victor Martinez C/1B/DH, Joaquin Benoit RHP

Key losses: N/A

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