Can you feel the sadness in the air?
Javy Vazquez starts for the major league Yankees against a squad of 'Future Star' Yankees.
The lineup for the prospects team is:
Slade Heathcott, CF
Corban Joseph, 3B
Jesus, C
David Adams, 2B
JR Murphy, DH
Colin Curtis, LF
Brad Suttle, 1B
Eduardo Nunez, SS
Melky Mesa, RF
And pitching, perhaps the top 'future star' in the system, Jon Albaladejo. (I've heard a lot about this guy's devastating fastball, slider combo to go along with superb command. He ranks up there with Strasburg.)
Look for Austin Romine, Ivan Nova, Zach McAllister, Jose Ramirez, Andrew Brackman, Manny Banuelos and maybe even Gary Sanchez to also get playing time.
If I was Girardi, I'd give the MLers one PA each, then pull them. I don't want to see what happens when Brackman's wildness faces Arod and Tex.
Gametime is 1:05 on YES.
- Postgame notes of a 9-6 ML Yankees win -
This was a fun, relaxing way to end spring training. The Future Star hitters largely did their job. The pitchers, though, did not.
Alby failed to reach the expectations that come with being an elite prospect, surrendering two earned runs while recording just two outs.
Ivan Nova came in and gave the baby bombers length, if not quality (5 ip, 5 er).
The hitters were led by none other than Jesus, who went 2-4 with a double. Behind the plate, he stuck his glove out to get a jump on a potential base-thief but interfered with the hitter, whose swing took his glove off. I think Girardi (and me) let out a sigh of relief when he proved to be okay (he broke his finger at the end of last year behind the plate) and had three more at-bats.
Slade Heathcott surprised me with his blazing speed (rivaling Brett Gardner's), beating out a routine grounder to thirdbase to lead-off the game. He also showed good range and a strong arm in centerfield, but was more concerned with velocity than accuracy.
Brad Suttle went 2-3 with a long-ball.
For the Big Yankees, Javy Vazquez was merely mediocre: 4.1 ip, 2 er, 7 h, 1 bb, 2 k.
Jeter, Tex, Arod and Gardner all had one single apiece. Thames homered, Posada doubled and Cano went 2-2 with a double.
Next game: at Boston, tomorrow at 8:05.