Yankees News and Notes: Sunday Stories

Guten tag, Pinstripe Alley!

• Former Yankee Jim Bouton appeared on NPR's "Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me" and did an interview with Peter Sagal. He's certainly an interesting chap with many baseball stories. He also sadly seems to get shafted too often for simply telling the truth about baseball, like he did in Ball Four. Sad.
• Joe Girardi noted that there is a rough timetable of May for Andy Pettitte's return to the big leagues. He will start for Class-A Tampa today.
• Alex Rodriguez doesn't think it's a big deal that he and Robinson Cano have flipped positions in the batting order. Good.
• Former Yankee prospect Jesus Montero hit his first home run with the Seattle Mariners last night. He also chipped in a two-run double in the Mariners' win. Fellow ex-Yank Hector Noesi was superb in his second start with the M's-- he threw eight scoreless innings and struck out six. I've always considered Noesi more than a throw-in player in that deal, and he certainly showed why last night. Best of luck to both Jesus and Hector, though I of course grant more luck to Michael Pineda and Jose Campos.
• Brett Gardner has flu-like symptoms. Sad face. On a happier note, St. Louis native David Phelps had a nice thrill pitching to one of his childhood heroes last night, Albert Pujols. I couldn't imagine how surreal that must have felt.
• Today is Jackie Robinson Day around baseball, but yesterday was the 57th anniversary of Elston Howard's debut with the Yankees. He was the first African-American to play with the Yanks, and he was a legitimately good player, too. Here's to you, Elston.