Despite allowing six runs in an extended Spring Training game, Andy Pettitte declared himself "ready to help" the big league ball club -
I feel I'm strong enough and ready to make my next start with [the Yankees]... I feel good and it was another solid day. I felt the quality of pitches were as good as I've had in any of my starts up to now, and I was able to hold my velocity throughout [the outing]. I feel like I'm ready to help the team.
He threw 96 pitches and will probably make one more minor league start before getting called up. The earliest he could re-join the team is May 10.
- Eduardo Nunez had an adventure in left field last night due to Nick Swisher's injured hamstring. Swish won't go on the DL but is expected to miss about a week. With Brett Gardner also injured, it's made for comedy (and tragedy) in the outfield the last few games, what with Nunez and Raul Ibanez. Nunez had played in five previous ML games in the outfield and none in the minors. And Ibanez is just a terrible outfielder.
- Detroit's Delmon Young has been suspended for seven games without pay for making anti-Semitic remarks and getting into a scuffle last Friday morning in New York.
- David Wells is auctioning off Babe Ruth's cap that he wore for one inning 15 years ago. He paid $35K for it, but it's now worth approximately $400K! Talk about appreciation.
- If you haven't heard of Yankees prospect Tyler Austin, well... you will, and I'm guessing quite a lot this season. The 1B/3B/RF is raking for the Charleston RiverDogs. The 20-year-old has six home runs in his last 10 games and is slugging .857 on the season (1.246 OPS). Josh Norris interviewed him yesterday.
- Uber-prospect Bryce Harper doubled in his first big league game. But take a closer look at that at-bat.
- Reds prospect SS Billy Hamilton might be the fastest player in pro baseball. He has 194 steals in 270 minor league games (and 29 in 23 so far this season).
- The Yanks-Orioles series continues tonight as Phil Hughes fights to retain his spot in the rotation with Andy Pettitte's return looming. Check out TiqIQ for tickets.