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Some economy experts may argue that the United States is heading towards or is already in a recession, but the Yankees are in anything but a slowdown at the moment. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Today the Yankees announced that they have already sold a record-breaking 3.8 million tickets for the 2008 season! That is 400,000 more than they had sold at this time last season. And all this with the highest ticket prices in Yankee history (they are the highest whether or not you consider inflation as well.) It is crazy, but then again it is also history. It is the last year at the great Yankee Stadium and it is something which most Yankee fans, including me, would pay a lot to be a part of. No one is really happy with the price hikes, but when it comes to the facts the truth is that baseball is a business.

I think it is pretty obvious that this will be the eighth year in a row where home attendance grows for the Yanks. At current rates this will also be the most profitable season for any baseball team ever. This will also be good for the sport, as the Yankees get more press coverage. Other teams may also benefit due to the revenue sharing agreement, so that should make some owners happy (cough -Marlins owner- cough) This season will certainly be a memorable one for everyone including fans, team owners, and the MLB.

The Yankees got shut out by the Pirates yesterday, 8-0. It’s not really a big deal though because first of all it is just a Grapefruit League game, and second we hardly had any starters out there. I’ll give the Pirates something though, Paul Maholm (the pitcher who started for them) looked good even though he was facing a bunch of minor leaguers. He pitched 6 shut out innings and allowed only two hits. After a couple of relievers, Byung-Hyun Kim came in to wrap it up. He must have felt big and bad when he pitched a hitless ninth. Basically the story of that game was that the Pirates played and we just didn’t care.

Next game for the Yankees is being played as I type this (vs. the Phillies). The score is currently tied, 3-3 and Phil Hughes is pitching. I will update after the game goes final.

Here are some of the latest Yankee stories:

• Andy Pettitte was not able to play catch today like he had hoped due to back spasms. He said that he was fine last night, but this morning his back tightened up and was bothering him. Due to the back spasms he won’t pitch until next Friday. Pettitte hopes that he can recover soon, so that he can prepare and pitch in his first regular season start on April 2 (against the Blue Jays.)
• Speaking of the Blue Jays, the game against them last night got canceled in the second due to rain. Toronto was up 6-0, after a horrible showing by Jonathan Albaladejo. He was taken out in the first and is probably going to be cut soon. Farnsworth came into the second and got out of it without allowing any runs. The game went into a rain delay and was eventually canceled after that.
• Currently the Yankees are taking on the Pirates. We are down 6-0 in the top of the seventh. Part of that is because most of our starters aren’t playing today. Stay tuned for post game results later.

It was a pretty quiet game against the Rays today, with only 2 runs by the Yankees and only 1 by Tampa. Darrell Rasner started for the Yanks and aloud no runs and only two hits in four innings. He is looking for a long relief spot on the roster and today’s performance should give him a boost. Rivera pitched an inning today as well, giving up one hit. Jose Veras left with the save for the Yankees. Yea, there really isn’t much to say about the game.

In other news, Morgan Ensberg got a 40-man roster spot today. This doesn’t necessarily mean that he will make the team, but it gives him a better shot. It also means that he will get the $1.75 million. Ensberg is one of the options at first base that Cashman has added for this upcoming season and he certainly has the potential to be useful. He is a good hitter and he can play first base as well. Ensberg took Carl Pavano’s spot on the roster, after Pavano was added to the 60-day DL.

The Yanks beat the Blue Jays in Toronto today, 7 to 2. Ian Kennedy started, allowing 1 run and 6 hits over 4 1/3 innings. He ended with four Ks on the day. A few relievers also took the field today, but the big story among them was Joba. In his first relief appearance after the official announcement [of him remaining a reliever], Joba struck out all three men he faced. Joba and IPK both looked great today, showing good control over the ball. On the offensive side of things, the Yankees combined for a total of 15 hits in a solid game. Many of the backups were starting today, including Wilson Betemit, Nick Green, Jose Molina, and Cody Ransom. Betemit hit the only homer today, a two run blast. Duncan also drove in two, but it was with a double. It is only the Grapefruit league, but its good to see the young Yankees doing well.

Up next are the Rays again, at 7:15EST tomorrow.

The Yankees beat the Pirates yesterday in the first night game at McKechnie Field. Byung-Hyun Kim allowed two home runs, one to Nick Green which gave the Yankees the lead from a 9-9 tie. Phil Hughes started for the Yanks, and like Kim also didn’t have a great outing. He allowed seven runs (6 of which were earned) and seven hits in the four innings he pitched. Hughes later said:

“I was over-striding, overthrowing a little bit, I got frustrated when a couple of those balls left the yard. I tried to put a little extra on it and that just got me in more trouble.”

The pitching conditions weren’t great last night, which may be part of the reason for the poor performances. On the flip side, many batters had good nights. Jorge Posada had a home run and three RBIs and Nick Green and Chad Mueller also had homers. Kei Igawa got the win after pitching one scoreless inning.

Next up are the Blue Jays. The game is currently being played, with the score 4-0 Yanks in the top of the third.

Just some random news from the Yankee kingdom:

• The Yankees played the Virginia Tech Hokies yesterday in a great event. The school is still recovering from last year’s tragic shootings and this was the Yankees way of helping out. Tons of fans came out for the game where many of the players and coaches interacted with them. The players signed a cohort of autographs and paid respect to the memorial for those who lost their lives. The Yankees won the game 11-0, but that was far from the story of the day.
• Today Girardi said that Joba will start in the bullpen. It really isn’t big news, but this just makes it official.
• The Red Sox almost weren’t going to go to Japan, oh no! It was a stupid discrepancy over the money and it was solved fairly quickly.
• The Yankees play the Pirates at 7:05EST today; I will post results afterwards

Two World Series wins in three years. Yea, that’s a great achievement, I’ll give them that one. But to say that the Red Sox are a dynasty… no. Just no. The Yankees of the late 30s and the early 50s were both dynasties. Then of course you have the Bombers dynasty of the late 90s, with 4 World Series’ in 5 years were a dynasty. The A’s of the early 1910s and early 70s were both dynasties. Heck, even the Red Sox had one during the early/mid 1910s. But the current Red Sox don’t have one, at least not yet. Winning 2 World Series in a span of three years does not give you that right. Boston didn’t even win the division all of those years. If you counted the current team as a dynasty simply based on winning 2 World Series in 3 years then there would be a cohort of dynasties in baseball history including teams like the 1992-1993 Blue Jays.

I know there is no formula for deciding whether or not a team is a dynasty, but you have to look at the facts. The Red Sox have not dominated the sport compared to what most baseball historians would agree are the real dynasties. They have not been able to win consecutive division titles, let alone pennants and they have not been the “shoe-in” team. They haven’t even been called the team to beat at the beginning of a season until this year. I am sure it is exciting to finally be winning after almost 100 years, but Red Sox fans must think of it practically. Ok, say they win one or two more championships and they continue to win the division (god forbid both), then they may start talking about a dynasty. But after winning two World Series’ and not even being the dominant team throughout all of those seasons, the word shouldn’t even be uttered.

It took some teeth grinding to admit that the last 3 years were a great achievement, but I had to do it to get the point across. Hopefully this will shut up some of those BoSox clowns fans. The bottom line is: the current Red Sox are NOT a dynasty.

Andy Pettitte started against the Red Sox today and didn’t have any problem with his elbow, which had kept him away from his last scheduled appearance. He ended up pitching for three and a third innings, allowing three hits and three runs in the process. Later he said:

“My arm felt good, felt real good in the first. Got a little tired in the last inning. All in all, it was a good day for me.”

Pettitte was the main concern of the Yankees going into the game and every thing looks good after today. Of course today was also the first match-up with the BoSox, but its only an exhibition game so it doesn’t count. We did leave with the win though. The final score was 8 to 4. We had a tremendous started with a 4-0 lead in the first with Matsui and Cano both getting some RBIs (Bartolo Colon, who started for the Sox, wasn’t able to make it out of the first.) Abreu hit a homer in the second and Giambi got a RBI, which made it 7-0 going into the third. The Red Sox scored a couple in both the third and fourth innings and the Yanks added one to their total in the fourth as well. From there on out it was pretty quiet, with no more points during the remaining five innings.

Tomorrow the Yankees play the Virginia Tech Hokies in a 7 inning game; I will keep you posted on that.

Chien-Ming Wang started today against the tribe and had a good performance except for giving up 3 runs in the second and a homer to Grady Sizemore. Ok, maybe that wasn’t the best way to start out saying how he had a good game, but he really did. He looked solid with his pitches and ended with 7 strikeouts in the four and change innings he pitched. His slider and change-up looked great today. The Yankees were down early on, but came back in the ninth with a three run single by Nick Green. Shelley’s two run home run in the second also helped.

Up next its the Red Sox, at 1:15pm EST tomorrow (game will be on YES and NESN.) Andy Pettitte will take the mound for the Yanks.

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