Yankees 0, Braves 4: We Got the Wrong Francisco

David Phelps started off this game really well. Up until a two out walk in the 5th inning, Phelps had six strikeouts. Then it all unraveled.

Before then the only blemish happened in the bottom of the third. Reed Johnson led off with a double, then moved to third on a Ramiro Pena sacrifice bunt and Jason Heyward singled him in to make the score 1-0 Braves.

Then, in the 5th, Phelps got the first two batter outs, but walked Heyward. He soon stole second and scored on a Justin Upton single. Other Francisco, Juan Francisco, who I originally thought Ben Francisco was, then hit a two run home run to make the score 4-0 for the rest of the game.

The Yankee offense was non-existent as Eduardo Nunez had a hit and a walk, Matt Diaz had a hit, and Dan Johnson finally got his second hit of the spring. That was it. Thomas Neal did reach base twice on two different errors, so I guess there is that. Neither of our Franciscos did anything.

The fielding wasn't any good either as Jayson Nix let a ball clank off his glove and Melky Mesa air mailed a ball to the backstop when trying to get Heyward out at the plate in the 5th inning. Not only did Justin Upton advance to second on the throw, but he also went to third. Phelps had a shot at catching Upton, but instead decided to fire a fastball from behind home plate that almost landed in the outfield.

Phelps gave up four earned runs on seven hits, while striking out six and walking a batter. That's not pretty, but the final line doesn't tell you the whole story. Preston Claiborne pitched a clean inning, Tom Kahnle walked a batter, Jeremy Bleich made a cameo, and finally, Jim Miller struck out a batter, walked one and gave up a hit.

Maybe Cashman thought Ben Francisco was actually Juan Francisco. Honest mistake, I made it too.