Clippard looked very nice indeed. I have to imagine the Yanks are trying to keep him on the way DL while propping up the value of guys like Dorf and Jackson. Jackson didn't do his part. Nor has Sanchez for that matter. Hopefully teams don't come looking for Clippard first come mid-season.

Gotta love KT's performance too, esp the bunt single - it was perfectly placed.

The baby arms all looked good -- even stephen jackson had his moments -- take those moments and string them together and a pitcher we may yet have.

Lots of bullpen arms, thank god. I'm still looking for our number one though. Wang needs another year as number one to convince. With everyone's job on the line, I still find it hard to believe Wang/ Moose/Andy/Kei/YoungArms is our starting rotation. Put you-know-who in there and we're gold.

Went to Yanks at D-Rays (in St. Pete) on Friday, and Pirates at Yanks Saturday:

- Pettitte was throwing free and easy, curve had a nice break to it, freezing batters or throwing their timing off.

- Phelps is huge and slightly ungainly, befitting his number (31)- very similar in build to the Farns. He ripped a double off the top of the wall that got there so quick and bounced back, holding him to a single.

- He is also Tino-style slow. On Saturday he ripped a liner that hit 3rd base on the fly and skipped down the left field line. Jack Wilson made a nice sliding play to recover the ball and gun Phelps down at 2B by about 15 feet. Wilson seems like a fun player to watch, with a strong arm able to throw wrongfooted no problems (as I noticed in warmups, a few innings prior to throwing out Phelps.)

- Matsui's swing seems to be in midseason form. He is so calm and unruffled, no wasted motions; I'm expecting a big year from him.

- Chris Basak's homer was a moon shot, that just kept carrying. I read on the Banter that he was seen as the Mets' Cannizaro type, but I don't know how that could be. The guy is huge- looks way too big for a middle IF position.

- On Saturday, Henn either could not find the plate or was overthinking things, my bet is the latter. I don't know what he's done in the intervening time periods, but I hope his appearances in the majors, having been woefully unready, haven't messed his head up. DeSalve however, looked sharp.

- I've been to spring training before but not to actual games, and I was surprised as to how relaxed they were. Managers and pitching coaches wandering along the screen behind the plate...on Saturday, Jeter, A-Rod, Matsui, etc came out after a few innings and were doing their running in the OF while the game was going on. The second wave did the same thing a bit later on.

- Britton is a big boy.

- Watched some minor leaguers take BP on another diamond before the game, and came away impressed w/ Gardner. He's short, but fairly compact and muscled- maybe to the point where he can develop some power. Carries himself well- like he felt he belonged there, better body language than some of the other guys we saw.

- Goose Gossage still looks like a mean sumbitch. I'm growing a 'stache like his as soon as I retire from the business world, or maybe I should do so before, to intimidate people I'm dealing with.

- Hondo, at age 70, standing 6'7" and with wrecked knees, still wearing a uniform, and hitting grounders with a fungo bat to the kids while BP is going on, busting their balls all the while. As that BP session wound down, most guys signed autographs as they walked back towards the clubhouse, but Frank took out a folding chair and sat down near a fence, and signed for a line of probably 150+ people. Signing, joking, asking and answerinf questions. He's always been one of my favorite old timers, dating back to the days when we'd see him hitting fungoes to the Mel Hall and Jesse Barfield era Yanks, and seeing him again this weekend only solidified things.

- ST PA announcers doe a woeful job of announcing new pitchers, defensive and offensive subs, etc.

1 What reason is needed to show a couple of hot babes. (Could be that Igawa needed rescuing yesterday)

Good news on Murcer and Phillip's mom, plus a come from behind win. Nice day.

Sounds like you're having a blast. Keep the comix comming!

Steven Jackson looked pretty lost; he got a few lucky bounces and then Guillen's double unwound everything for him. He's still a couple years away. I can hear Jim Dean's head spinning from here...

As for the "battles" section, Ben Davis did fly out but I thought he made really good contact against Zumaya. I'm sure Pratt has the inside track but I hope Davis can pull it together.

Also, two things happened that have never happened before: A-Rod got a hit with a runner in scoring position. And then later A-Rod struck out with runners on second/third, and there weren't very many boos! Progress!

2 Heredia was traded to the Mets for Mike Stanton. Stanton was then released on July 1 after putting up a 7.07 ERA in 28 appearances, while Heredia blew out his arm after 2 2/3 IP with the Mets and hasn't pitched in the majors since. After yesterday's game it doesn't look like Heredia has much hope of making the Tigers (as if he ever did). Stanton, meanwhile, will split closing duties with ex-Yank David Weathers in Cincinnati this year.

If anything that series of events speaks to the fact that you can never have enough pitching. Otherwise you go dumpster diving for guys like Felix Heredia, or take desperate second chances on 38-year-old Mike Stantons.

This look into the recent past has made me feel a lot better about Mike Myers and Ron Villone.

Amazing how that team managed to pull off a division title in 2005 with 3/5 of their rotation battling injury or ineffectiveness (Pavano, Wright, Brown)

Meanwhile, the Yanks have 63 RHRP's with Britton and Bruney likely to start the year in Scranton with Beam, Bean, Cox, Veras, and DeSalvo. Whelan will be in Trenton. If there's ever too much, it's that when they're carrying a Minky and a few Stinkies (Cairo, Pratt, Nieves). "Never have enough pitching" assumes you don't have those 63 relief pitchers. At some point, enough is enough and other needs need addressing.

My question: If Minky goes hitless for the Spring, does he still make the team? What about a nice .150 average?

7 Let me second all the good wishes for Knuckles. Good reading here and at your comix.

And you're completely right about Lofton continuing to be useful, but, as you pointed out initially, the problem was that Torre refused to play him. Lofton wasn't traded because the Yankees needed pitching. Lofton was traded because Torre didn't want him around. Felix Rodriguez just happened to be all they could get for him.

Every team that has ever traded him has gotten shafted except the Indians, who shafted the Braves.

The Astros traded the 24-year-old Lofton for Willie Blair and Ed Taubensee.

The Braves got him and Alan Embree from the indians for Marquis Grissom and David Justice, only to have Lofton resign with Cleveland after one season in Atlanta.

The White Sox traded him to the Giants for Felix Diaz and Ryan Meaux then watched Lofton go to the World Series with San Francisco.

The Pirates traded him the the Cubs with Aramis Ramirez for Jose Hernandez, Bobby Hill and Matt Bruback.

Finally, the Yankees traded him for Felix Rodriguez, a deal which almost looks good in the context of the above.

Good luck with the Goose 'stache.

At some point you have to stop "rebuilding" and go for it .... the Pirates of 1993-2006 didn't understand that .... they traded away Brian Giles too.

http://tinyurl.com/2f8xwv

http://tinyurl.com/ypw3fc

http://tinyurl.com/27dwhh

Matt Bruback was a 23 year old AA starter who went 9-7 with a 3.16 ERA in 2002. He was claimed on waivers by the Padres less than a month later.

Bobby Hill was the player to be named later, and was a 24 year old infielder who played mostly at AAA in 2002, hitting .280/.382/.429

Aramis Ramirez, meanwhile, had just come off a 112 RBI season. So, yeah, this was a terrible trade at the time, and in retrospect.

31, per 29, Ramirez was two years removed from that 112 RBI campaign, though he was in the process of driving in 107 when he was traded.

30 I don't see the need to be fair when it's the fault of the folks running the team that they haven't been competitive.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/PIT/attend.shtml

"Counting special tax breaks, meanwhile, federal, state, and city subsidies for the two projects now total just about exactly $800 million--pretty impressive for [Yankee Stadium and CitiField] that were supposed to be 'privately financed.'"

Jesus!

June 6, 1972: Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 7th round of the 1972 amateur draft.

December 11, 1975: Traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates with Ken Brett and Dock Ellis to the New York Yankees for Doc Medich.

They haven't been in the top HALF of their league's average attendance since 1972!

Wow!

Is Hughes pitching again this afternoon, after Wang?

Oh, and Knuckles - 7 was an awesome post, as is BronxComix. Thanks for sharing with us.

I know a lot of folk hate Sheff, and he has a lot of foot-in-mouth time, but the guy speaks candidly. I think he will have a great year this year. I hope he doesn't hurt us in the PS.

That double off of a closing Schilling in 2005 after Schilling talked so much much crap before the series was so freaking cool. Stare - Wag - KABOOM. I bet it took three gallons of spackle to fill in the dent in the green monster.

Re: Pirates attendence, the team essay in Baseball Prospectus 2007 (shameless plug) addresses this issue in the context of the city's declining population.

40 I've not heard any concerns about Clippard's delivery. Most of the doubts about him are that he's a finesse righty that doesn't throw that hard. He's been doing a fine job of quieting those doubts thus far.

45 Sheff was in fat and bearded mode yesterday, but I still struggled with seeing him on another team, yanking foul home runs as always. He might have been my favorite player during the 2004-2005 seasons.

36 There were a lot of empty seats during game 7 of the 1991 NLCS. Same thing a year later. The Pirates have, for the most part, had a hard time attracting people to their games. I wish their organization was run better, so they'd be competetive again. Same goes for KC, Baltimore, Cincinnati, and the rest of the "small markets." As much as I don't like Bud (I know he gave up his share), I hope the Brewers turn the corner and become (and remain) competetive. I wish baseball was back in Montreal, and MLB didn't kill it. If baseball could survive in Cleveland (and lets face it, the Expos where NOWHERE near as bad as the Indians), it could survive anywhere.

38 Shouldn't come as that much of a suprise, IIRC I think we're still paying the bill on Yankee Stadium's renovation...

Anyway, I just wanted to get that off my chest. In other note, thanks, Knuckles, for the first hand observations in 7. That was great!

So Wang was a bit rough today?