NYCurve Yankees Blog

2008 25 Man Roster

Well the cuts have been made and the players have been picked. Here is the starting roster for the 2008 New York Yankees:

Lineup
Johnny Damon LF
Derek Jeter SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jason Giambi 1B
Jorge Posada C
Hideki Matsui DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Melky Cabrera CF

Bench
Jose Molina C
Shelley Duncan 1B-RF-LF
Morgan Ensberg 1B-3B
Wilson Betemit 1B-2B-3B-SS

Starters
RHP Chien-Ming Wang
RHP Mike Mussina
RHP Phil Hughes
RHP Ian Kennedy

Relievers
RHP Mariano Rivera
RHP Joba Chamberlain
RHP LaTroy Hawkins
RHP Kyle Farnsworth
LHP Billy Traber
RHP Ross Ohlendorf
RHP Brian Bruney
RHP Jon Albaladejo

Where is Andy Pettitte you ask? He is on the 15-day disabled list along with Jeff Karstens and Sean Henn. On the 60-day DL are Carl Pavano, Andrew Brackman, and Humberto Sanchez.

Yankees Drop One to the Marlins

We are almost there: the end of spring training! Today, was the second to last game for the Yanks. We took on the Marlins in Florida with Moose starting. The Marlins ended up scoring 5 on Mussina in 5 1/3 innings, including two home runs by Mike Jacobs. Girardi wasn’t too worried since it is just spring training, although he did admit it could have been better. He also said that he saw a lot of good too. The offense was pretty good, with 10 hits, including a homer by A. Rod.

Tomorrow is the last game of spring training, when we take on the Marlins again. Game is at 6:10EST.

Random News

Some big things are happening as the Yankees await their first regular season game on Monday. Here are the headlines:

•  Hideki Matsui has tied the knot! He got married in a small wedding in New York to an unidentified Japanese woman. He didn’t reveal her identity, but he did have a sketch (yes, you read right, a sketch) of her. He said that he was introduced to her by some friends after the 2006 season. With his marriage Matsui looks like he will win the bet between him, Jeter, and Abreu on who would get married first. According to the rules of the bet Jeter still have a year to get married since he is single and Abreu has 6 months, but both have said that they are just going to pay Matsui right now.
• Also today, Legends Field was officially renamed to George M. Steinbrenner Field.  He made an appearance to the field in Tampa today, along with his wife to accept the honor.
• In other news, the Yankees lost to the Pirates today, 5-2. Derek Jeter and Nick Green both hit solo shots, making up the Yankees’ score. Kei Igawa was the starter, pitching 3 1/3 innings and allowing 5 hits and 4 runs. He took the loss, but he’s used to that.
• The last two games of spring training are against the Marlins tomorrow (7:10 EST) and Saturday (6:10 EST). After that, it is the first regular season game on Monday against the Blue Jays (1:05 EST); I for one can’t wait for that.

Yankees Lose This Time (Vs. Phillies)

Chien-Ming Wang started in a 4-0 lost to the Phillies today. He pitched for 5 innings, allowing 6 hits and striking out 2. The Phillies scored all four of their runs in the second against Wang. Wang’s pitching was still solid and part of those runs was not his fault. Everyone just seems ready to start the regular season at this point.

Phillies’ Brett Myers had a good day today, allowing only 2 hits in 5 innings. The Yankees left with four hits, two by Robinson Cano.

Next up are the Pirates, at 1:15 EST tomorrow (the game will be televised on YES.)

Quick update on Andy Pettitte: Pettitte successfully threw a bullpen session today and felt fine. He should be starting in a minor league game come Saturday, so long as his back holds up. As for the regular season he will probably be able to make his 3rd or 4th scheduled start.

Crazy Conseco is Back

Just when all the PED talk seemed to have gone away, it has jumped to the top of the headlines once more. I knew it was inevitable, but its still disappointing. Anyway, the story this time is thanks to crazy Jose Canseco and his new personal rant book, Vindicated.

A few people managed to get copies early, before the book officially goes on sale April 1st. At first it was some Boston columnist, by the name of Joe Lavin who posted about and started a cohort of responses and other posts on the subject. Deadspin later posted some excerpts from the book, confirming that Lavin had the book. You can head over to the site (just click the link) and read some of the excerpts for yourself. The main targets of this book seem to be Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez, and Magglio Ordonez. I’m not going to discuss the Clemens situation because that has already been beat and buried to the ground thanks to Mitchell madness.

As for Ordonez, Canseco said that he personally injected the outfielder. Obviously there are those who argue that he is guilty and those that say he is innocent. I really don’t know what to believe about him at the moment, especially due to the lack of information thus far. Deadspin’s excerpts mostly focus of A. Rod and I haven’t seen much more about what Canseco said about Ordonez, so I’m not going to say much on that either. In my mind he is still innocent because just knowing that Canseco said he is guilty doesn’t sway my mind a bit, since I don’t have much if any respect for Canseco and I don’t find him to be a good source.

What I am more concerned about at the moment is Canseco’s accusations of A. Rod. Again, I think Canseco is just a pathetic ex ballplayer who got caught and is now out to get others, just to make himself feel better. Having a personal vendetta like that isn’t exactly a good quality when investigating this sort of thing and I think Canseco just lucked out his first time around, with Juiced. Hopefully Vindicated will be the joke that Juiced was supposed to be and Canseco can stop writing these diaries he calls books.

Looking at the excerpts posted by Deadspin, it really looks like Canseco’s new book won’t be as credible as his first. As Ben from River Ave. Blues said,

“While the passages are in the book, Canseco’s words come across as jealous, bitter rantings. Vindicated will be no Juiced”

I agree with this 100%. The book just seems like it is a 14 year old girl ranting. Canseco talks about how he didn’t mention A. Rod. in the first book because he hated him for apparently trying to get with his wife. He also hates him because “he has no morals.” That is quite a statement coming from a guy who popped pills like there was no tomorrow to get big. Anyway, Canseco said that he introduced Rodriguez to a few steroid dealers. He said that he didn’t see whether or not A. Rod. actually took steroids, but he was sure and still is sure because of one time when he passed A. Rod. on the street and thought that he “looked buff.” What a load of bull. Canseco even admitted that he isn’t sure whether or not A. Rod has taken steroids; combine that with the fact that he hates A. Rod. and his case basically falls apart.

Jose Canseco is just tarnishing his own name further with this book because with most of his accusations he is personally involved in one way or another. He is making himself out to be the king of steroids (if he isn’t already). Forget Bonds and Clemens, I think Canseco should be the eternal steroids poster boy. It will be interesting to see how the media reacts to the book once it is officially released in a few days. Hopefully this will be the end of Canseco and he can go into the corner of his gym and cry his writing career away.

Indians Squeeze By Bombers

The Indians ended up beating the Yankees due to a three run homer in the eight inning by Andy Marte. The final score was 7-5. Ian Kennedy had an ok day, striking out three and allowing 5 hits in 4 2/3 innings. Cleveland scored 4 in the first inning, but the runs were unearned due to an error by Melky Cabrera. Darrell Rasner left with the loss (he was also the pitcher who Marte went yard on.) Robinson Cano and Jose Molina both looked good today on the offensive side of the ball with three hits a piece.

Next game is against the Phillies tomorrow at 1:15 EST.