Happy Monday, Yankee fans.
Today’s lineup is already posted:
Gardner 7
Jeter 0
Ichiro 9
Youkilis 3
Nunez 6
Stewart 2
Joseph 4
Mustelier 5
Heathcott 8
Kuroda P
The big news this weekend, aside from Mariano Rivera‘s retirement, was Derek Jeter‘s return to the field on Saturday. He was the DH and had one hit. He’ll be the DH again today against the Cardinals this afternoon.
Andy McCullough of the Star-Ledger had an interesting read yesterday about something almost happened in the Spring of 1996. Now, this story isn’t a new one but there are some people out there who haven’t heard it. It seems George Steinbrenner was dangerously close to making a trade before the 1996 season that would have sent Rivera to the Seattle Mariners to Felix Fermin. Could you imagine? What a weird universe we’d all be living in right if that trade went down. I get goosebumps – and not the good kind – thinking about it.
More from McCullough, this time on David Phelps and his impressive Spring. Phelps had another great outing yesterday, throwing five scoreless innings, giving up three hits and striking out three batters. So far this Spring, Phelps has thrown 14 innings and has only given up one run.
Some quick hits:
- CC Sabathia is set to make his Spring debut on Friday – MLB.com
- Boone Logan pitched pain free this weekend – NJ.com
- Is Ronnier Mustelier a new contender at third? – ESPN NY
The upcoming pitching rotation for this week is:
Tuesday: Ivan Nova
Wednesday: Andy Pettitte
Thursday: TBA
Friday: Sabathia
Saturday: Hiroki Kuroda (home), David Phelps (away)
Sunday: Nova
Speaking of pitching, Phil Hughes threw a 26-pitch bullpen session and says he felt fine.
Phil Hughes after throwing 26 pitches in bullpen this morning: “today was a big step. (Felt) just like a normal bullpen…Just let it go.”
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) March 11, 2013
That’s good news.
And we continue to hear what a great owner George Steinbrenner was. What everyone should realize is that the Yankees were successful in spite of this buffoon. He was incredibly lucky from 1973 through 1978 and again from 1993 until his passing to have bright executives to save him from himself. Amazing what people overlook in the grand scheme of things.