Hughes OK, Joba Bad In First Spring Outings

FINAL	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Tampa Bay	1	0	3	3	0	0	1	3	1		12	11	1
NY Yankees	0	0	0	0	1	0	6	0	0		7	10	1

WP: D. Price (1-0)
LP: P. Hughes (0-1)

Not that it really matters, but it was an all around ugly day for the Yanks down in Tampa today, as they were defeated 12-7 by the Rays.

The battle for the fifth starters spot officially began today down in Tampa, and it was a mix of a little good and a little bad. First for the good; Phil Hughes was decent in his first two innings of the spring, allowing a just one solo homer and walking one. The homer came off the bat of Sean Rodriguez, who now has homered in all three games this spring for Tampa. Hughes threw 33 pitches, with 18 finding the strike zone.

On the bad side was Joba Chamberlain, who got knocked around for five runs on three hits and three walks in just 1.1 innings pitched. He also threw 33 pitches, 14 of them were strikes.

I was out all day and missed the game so it would be unfair for me to analyze a pitching performance I did not see, so I'll just stick with some quotes (via Bryan Hoch, Marc Carig, and Chad Jennings) from the guys that were there:

First from Phil Hughes:

"It was all right," Hughes said. "It was nice to finally get out there in real game situations. My fastball command was all over the place, but I felt like I threw some good changeups. They were swinging early and often, which was good. I got a read on some things."

“Dave [Eiland] told me afterward that was the best he’s seen me throw a changeup. I think I left one up in the zone, all the other ones were at least thigh-high or lower, so I was real happy with that.”

"It's just something that needs repetitions in games, and it's a perfect time for that right now," said Hughes, who believes reestablishing his changeup will be a key to succeeding as a starter.

And Joba:

“My delivery was good. I was just kind of getting back in the swing of things being gone for two or three days. You can forget how quick things lose you.”

"You're not going to win the battle by one game," Chamberlain said. "It's what you do before the game -- how you prepare yourself and how you're getting better. You're going to look at some [results], but it's how you get your work in."

Their catcher, Francisco Cervelli:

"It's the first game -- they're just trying to make adjustments," catcher Francisco Cervelli said. "They will be better the next time. They need a little bit of time."

And finally, their manager:

"I'm not going to make too much of it," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "You wonder how much [Joba] had his legs under him after being fairly sick for a couple of days. We felt he was healthy enough to pitch, and you want him to pitch, because you want him to develop that arm strength. You really don't know exactly how he physically felt."

I'm sure a lot of you out there were hoping to see the competition for the fifth starters spot start off with a bang today, but it didn't and it doesn't matter at all. While you can be pleased with the comments made about Hughes' changeup, Joba's struggles don't mean a thing. First of all he probably shouldn't have even been out their in the first place. He's been throwing up all week, lost eight pounds, and even said himself he was only at about 60%. And second, it's still the first week of spring training.

The pitching star of the day for the Yankees was... wait for it.... Kei Igawa, who threw 1.2 innings of scoreless ball and struck out two along the way. Besides Igawa, David Robertson (1 scoreless inning), and Jeremy Bleich (retired the only batter he faced), pretty much every other Yankees pitcher struggled today.

Offensively the Yankees were kept quiet until the seventh when the broke out for six runs to cut the Rays lead to 8-6. But Tampa would come back with three in the eighth and another run in the ninth to put the game away.

Here are some bright spots from the offense today:

• Francisco Cervelli went 2-for-2 with an RBI.
• Robinson Cano also went 2-for-2 with a double and scored a run.
• Derek Jeter picked up his first hit of the spring.

Again, it's very easy to make too much out of these early spring games, but please don't. Unless someone gets hurt these games, and the results, mean nothing.

YANKEES BOX

	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Jeter, SS	3	0	1	0	0	1	3	.200
Nunez, E, SS	2	1	1	1	0	0	0	.500
Granderson, CF	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	.000
Golson, CF	2	0	0	1	0	0	1	.000
Teixeira, 1B	2	0	0	0	0	1	2	.000
Miranda, 1B	3	1	1	1	0	1	0	.200
Rodriguez, A, 3B	2	0	0	0	0	2	1	.250
Russo, 3B	2	1	1	1	1	0	0	.500
Posada, DH	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
a-Vazquez, Jo, PH-DH	2	0	1	1	0	0	1	.333
Thames, LF	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Gorecki, LF	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000
Cano, 2B	2	1	2	0	0	0	0	.750
Corona, 2B	1	1	0	0	1	0	1	.000
Swisher, RF	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000
Weber, J, RF	2	1	1	0	0	1	0	.500
Cervelli, C	2	0	2	1	0	0	0	.667
Montero, J, C	1	1	0	0	1	1	0	.500
Totals	36	7	10	6	4	8	14
a-Grounded out for Posada in the 6th.
BATTING 2B: Cano (1, Hernandez, C), Nunez, E (1, Ekstrom), Miranda (1, Ekstrom), Russo (1, Swindle), Vazquez, Jo (1, Swindle). 3B: Cervelli (1, Hellickson). TB: Jeter; Nunez, E 2; Miranda 2; Russo 2; Vazquez, Jo 2; Cano 3; Weber, J; Cervelli 4. RBI: Cervelli (1), Nunez, E (1), Golson (1), Miranda (1), Russo (1), Vazquez, Jo (1). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Teixeira; Granderson; Gorecki; Corona. GIDP: Jeter. Team RISP: 5-for-15. Team LOB: 6. BASERUNNING PO: Swisher (1st base by Navarro). FIELDING E: Nunez, E (1, throw).

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Hughes, P (L, 0-1)	2.0	1	1	1	1	0	1	4.50
Chamberlain	1.1	3	5	5	3	1	0	33.75
Whelan	0.0	2	1	1	2	0	0	--
Igawa	1.2	0	0	0	0	2	0	0.00
Robertson, D	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0.00
Noesi	1.0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0.00
Duff	1.0	2	3	3	2	1	0	27.00
Moseley	0.2	2	1	1	2	2	0	13.50
Bleich	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00

RAYS STATS

Tomorrow's Game

The Yankees will face the Toronto Blue Jays tomorrow afternoon at George M. Steinbrenner Field. The game is set for 1:05 p.m. and will be televised on MLB.TV. It will be the first spring start for A.J. Burnett, who, like Phil Hughes, will be working on his changeup. Shaun Marcum will start for the Jays.