Mood Music - Celebration by Kool and the Gang
The New York Yankees played baseball today. Take a moment to smile, be happy, and enjoy life.
I know that it's very silly to draw any type of conclusion after a few innings of spring training, but it's been a while since we've had baseball to dissect. As spring training is much more about individual performances and roster speculation than wins and losses, let's take a look at a few players after the jump. I'm in a truly happy mood (due to the presence of baseball), so prepare for relentless positivity.
Bartolo Colon - Working primarily against the starters for the Phillies, Colon looked sharp. He touched 93 MPH, mixed two-seam fastballs, four-seam fastballs, and a variety of off speed pitches, and did a fairly good job of keeping the hitters off balance. I have Freddy Garcia and Ivan Nova as my clear favorites to land rotation spots, but Colon looked like he had the ability to make things interesting.
Joba Chamberlain - Joba really looked great. He breezed through his inning with good command, sharp stuff, hit 94 on the gun, and a strikeout on a nasty slider. With the mixed reviews coming into the spring (fans calling him tubby vs. Cashman calling his bullpens great) it was encouraging to see Joba get off to a good start.
Jorge Vazquez - Vazquez was 2-2, with a moonshot home run over the batter's eye in straightaway center field and a line drive single. While it's tough to imagine where Vazquez fits in with the Yankees, he truly has remarkable power (watch) and could be exciting coming off the bench, DHing, and filling in.
David Robertson - Robertson looked sharp in a scoreless inning, including a strike out on a beautiful change up. Adding an effective change up to his repertoire could really help D-Rob. I do wish he'd stop walking people though.
Alex Rodriguez - In two plate appearances, the Centaur flew out to the warning track in center field and roped a double to right center. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come, and his return to a healthy line drive machine.