Yanks Lose 8-0

The Yankees lost 8-0 today to the Pittsburgh Pirates dropping them to 12-8 on the spring. Jeff Karstens got the start for the Yankees and didn't pitch well. He gave up four runs on seven hits, while striking out two in 3+ innings. Of his seven hits allowed five were doubles. ... Scott Strickland came on and allowed two hits in his .2 of a inning, one of the hits allowed the fourth Pirates run to score. ... Left-hander Health Phillips was the next Yankee pitcher and threw a strong 1.1 IP. Phillips allowed no runs, one hit, and struck out one. ... Jose Veras was next out of the Yankees bullpen and continued his shaky spring, going one inning and allowing two runs on two hits and a hit batsman. One of the runs was scored on a sac-fly by former Yankee Doug Mientkiewicz. ... Edwar Ramirez struggled a bit, giving up one run on two hits with a walk, but he did strike out the side. ... Ross Ohlendorf pitched an inning, an also gave up a run on two hits, while striking out two.

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Karstens(L)	3.0	7	4	4	0	2	0	9.64
Strickland	0.2	2	0	0	0	0	0	3.38
Phillips	1.1	1	0	0	0	1	0	7.11
Veras	1.0	2	2	2	0	1	0	9.00
Ramirez	1.0	2	1	1	1	3	0	4.91
Ohlendorf	1.0	2	1	1	0	2	0	2.35

PIRATES PITCHING

The Yankees offense was held in check all day. Four Pirates' pitchers combined on a two-hitter. The only Yankees who had hits were Hideki Matsui (1-for-2, BB) and Chris Woodward (1-for-3). Pretty pathetic day all around for the Yankees offense.

An update on the utility-man situation: Wilson Betemit (still a loser) went 0-for-3 with a strike out dropping his Spring Training average to 175. Cody Ransom went 0-for-2 and Chris Woodward went 1-for-3. Woodward is now hitting .400 for the spring, and Ransom is hitting .257. Can someone please tell me why the Yankees are going with the guy hitting below the Mendoza Line?

	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Cabrera, CF	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	.333
Nunez, E, SS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Cano, 2B	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	.417
Gardner, B, CF	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.379
Matsui, LF	2	0	1	0	1	0	0	.393
Castro, B, 2B	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.278
Ensberg, 1B	3	0	0	0	0	1	2	.250
Porter, LF	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.292
Betemit, SS-1B	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	.175
Lane, RF	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	.250
Ransom, 3B	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	.257
Green, 3B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.182
Woodward, DH	3	0	1	0	0	1	2	.400
Moeller, C	2	0	0	0	0	0	3	.160
Brown, C	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250
Totals	28	0	2	0	3	3	9

TB: Matsui; Woodward.
GIDP: Moeller.
Team LOB: 4.

PIRATES HITTING

The next game for the Yankees is tomorrow night against the Philadelphia Phillies at Steinbrenner Field. Phil Hughes gets the start for the Yanks, and will be going up against left-hander Jamie Moyer. The game can be heard on WCBS-AM 880.