Joba climbs the hill for his second outing of the spring. Phil Hughes will follow.
Gametime is 1:05, but it will not be televised.
UPDATE: Damon will not play today. He has turf toe.
- Three of MLB's seven umpire supervisors were recently fired because of the horrendous blown calls in the postseason -
MLB did not cite a specific reason for the firings. Rob Manfred, MLB executive vice president, said, "The change in supervisors is part of our ongoing effort to make our organization as strong as possible."
Yet, [a supervisor] said it was directly related to the errant calls in last year's postseason.
Crew chief Tim McClelland, along with veteran umpires Phil Cuzzi and C.B. Bucknor, each blew key calls during the American League division and championship series. They retained their jobs.
The Yanks were down 6-3 early but came back to win 9-8. Joba breezed through the first two innings before giving up six runs in the third. His overall line was 2.1 ip, 6 er, 5 h, 3 bb, 1 k, 1 HR.
Hughes relieved him and pitched moderately well (2.2 ip, 1 er, 3 h, 0 bb, 2 k, 1 HR). He has the big, early lead over Joba for the fifth spot, sporting a 3.86 spring ERA (compared to Joba's 27.00).
The offense exploded despite missing Jeter, Arod and Posada. Grandy went 2-3 with a walk, Tex went 2-3 with a walk and HR (off Phil Coke), while Jamie Hoffmann and GGBG each had a hit (Hoffmann's was a double).
The hero, though, was 24-year old centerfielder Greg Golson, who hit a two-run homer in the top of the ninth.