The Minors today.

AAA: 7-6 loss for SWB. Emergency starter Kelvin Perez 5 R in 2 IP (scheduled starter Brett Marshall may be activated for the DH tomorrow. Him or infielder Corban Joseph). Mark Montgomery 3 scoreless, 4 K, ERA to 1.45. Curtis Granderson RF, 3 for 5.  Dave Adams 3b, 3-run HR. 1B Dan Johnson HR, 3 RBI. DH Thomas Neal 2 h, .343.

AA: Trenton got shut out 4-0. Jose Ramirez 6 Ip, 3 R, 2 ER, on only 2 H. 0 walks and 9 K. 1B Kyle Roller, 2 doubles, .306.

High A: Tampa off.

Low A: Charleston won 9-8. 1B Rey Nunez 2 H, HR, 4 RBI.

The Minors today.

AAA: SWB won 7-0. Graham Stoneburner 6 IP. C Bobby Wilson, HR, 4 RBI. 3B Dave Adams 3 H.

AA: Trenton lost 10-6. 3 R in 5 IP for Francisco Rondon. 3 R in 2 IP for Kelvin Perez. 4 R in 1 IP for Danny Burawa. 2B Jose Pirela 3 H. LF Kevin Mahoney 3 H, 2 RBI.

High A: Tampa won 9-4. Shane Greene 3 R, 2 ER in 6 1/3. SS Ali Castillo HR, 2 rbi.

Low A: Charleson won 4-1. Gabe Encinas 5 shutout IP. 3 H 2 rbi for 2b Rob Refsnyder.

The minors today.

AAA: SWB split a DH. Both 7-inning games.

Gm 1: 6-1 loss. Dellin Betances was awful, 6 R in 2/3 IP.

Gm 2: 12-5 win. Brett Marshall 5 R in 4 1/3, but Cody Eppley 2 2/3 scoreless. LF Zoilo Almonte 3 for 3, 2 RBI. C Bobby Wilson 4 RBI. 2 H, 2 RBI RF Thomas Neal.

AA: Trenton won a 15-1 laugher. Caleb Cotham 1 R in 4 IP. Shaeffer Hall (1), Kelvin Perez (2) and Josh Romanski (2) with five scoreless innings of relief. CF Ramon Flores 2 for 2, 4 RBI. RF Tyler Austin 3 H, 5 RBI. C J.R. Murphy 3 H, 4 RBI. Six players with 2 or more hits.

High A:    Tampa lost 3-1. Scottie Allen 3 R in 6 IP. DH Francisco Arcia 2 hits.

Low A: Charleston’s game was suspended, tied 7-7 after 13. 2B Rob Refsnyder 3 H, 2 RBI.

The minors today.

AAA: SWB lost 8-4. Vidal Nuno, who had a great S.T., gave up 2 R in 4 2/3 IP. He struck out six. Sam Demel, just picked up this week, gave up 1 R in 1 1/3.

Demel is 4-4, 4.95 in his MLB career. He pitched in one game for Arizona last year. Most of his MLB experience came in 2010 & 2011. He is a 27 yr. old righty.

Mark Montgomery pitched a scoreless inning, Juan Cedeno 2/3 scoreless and Preston Claiborne a scoreless 1 1/3.

It was tied at 3 going into the top of the 10th, when Jim Miller imploded, giving up 5 runs in the top of the 10th as SWB lost 8-4.

SWB was 3 for 18 with RISP and left 17 on.

Dave Adams and Corban Joseph each had 2 hits.

AA: Trenton won 13-5. Nik Turley gave up 5, 4 earned, in just 2 2/3 but the BP picked him up. Dan Burawa (1 1/3), Shaeffer Hall (2), Kelvin Perez (2) and Branden Pinder combined for 6 1/3 scoreless IP, 12 K, and NO hits.  J.R. Murphy had a 3-run HR, as did Kyle Roller. Rob Segedin and Neil Medchill also HR’d, and Medchill had 4 RBI for the night.

High A:  Tampa won 7-4.  Bryan Mitchell 1 R in 5 IP. Gary Sanchez 2 H, double, 2 RBI.

Low A: Charleston’s game was ppd.

S.T. Game 28. Yanks win 9-7 and bring back an old ace.

The Yanks beat the Twins today, 9-7, and also brought back a one-time ace for some pitching depth.

Eduardo Nunez had 2 hits today, and Corban Joseph had two hits and an RBI. Robbie Cano had 1 h and 2 rbi. Tom Neal had 2 hits, and Ronnier Mustelier had a big day, going 3 for 4 with 2 RBI.

Ivan Nova gave up 5R, 4 ER, in 5 1/3. Jim Miller (an outside shot for making the team) gave up 0 R in  1 2/3. Brendan Miller pitched an inning, giving up and unearned run, and Kelvin Perez gave up a run in his one IP.

The Yanks have not announced it, but apparently they have reached a deal with ex-ace Chien Ming Wang on a minor league deal.

 

S.T. Game 13. Life after Mo?

Granted he probably won’t make the team, but Kelvin Perez gave us a glimpse of what life could be like after Mariano Rivera.

It was announced earlier today that there will be a press conference Saturday, at which time Mo is expected to announce that this season will be his last.

The Yanks lost 7-6 to St. Louis today, giving up 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th.

Singles by Ichiro and Cervelli gave the Yanks a run in the first. In the second, they went up 2-0 with the help of an error by St. Louis after Ronnier Mustelier was HBP and stole second.

The Cards got a run back in the third. Ivan Nova went 3, gave up that one run, 3 h, 1 walk and 2 K.

Brett Marshall didn’t do too badly for three innings, giving up a HR to Pete Kozma to tie the game in the fifth. The Yanks got a run back in the sixth to go back up 3-2. Cervelli walked, Stewart singled and Mustelier had an RBI groundout.

But Marshall may have run out of gas after 3. He (4 IP, 3 R, 5 H, 0 walks and 3 K) gave up a 2-run HR to Daniel Descalso in the bottom of the seventh. 4-3 Cardinals.

Singles by Dan Johnson, Thomas Neal, a PB and an RBI single by Austin Romine tied it up in the 8th.

The Yanks then scored two in the 9th to go up 6-4. Addison Maruszak doubled and scored on a single by Ramon Flores. After a WP, J.R. Murphy doubled in Flores to make it 6-4.

Matt Tracy tossed a scoreless 8th, then Kelvin Perez came in for the 9th.

Kolten Wong tied it up with a 2-run HR, then some bad defense (again) helped cost the Yanks the game.

Zoilo Almonte and Dan Johnson made errors, and Adron Chambers single won the game for the Cardinals, 7-6.

As I wrote a few days ago, the Yanks need to tighten up their defense. Johnson, for one, has been brutal (2 errors yesterday, 1 today), and right now, he may be Teix’s replacement.

Perez 1/3 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 H, 0 walks, 1 K.

Josh Spence 2 batters—the error by Johnson and the GW single.

The Yanks S.T. record falls to 3-10. Nova did well, Marshall was OK until that 4th inning.

The defense needs to tighten up.

…. and we got a glimpse of life without Mo. It’s so easy to take the great one for granted. He made it look so easy.

S.T. Game 10. Warren, Ramirez solid in Yanks’ 5-2 win

The Yanks took advantage of two errors by Boston 3B Drew Sutton in the same inning and prospects Adam Warren and Jose Ramirez pitched three solid innings each in a 5-2 spring training win over Boston today.

The win ups the Yanks S.T. record to 3-7.

Warren gave up just one run (a Mike Napoli HR) in three innings of work, while Ramirez tossed three shutout innings.

Brett Gardner continued his hot spring with another hit.

With one out in the sixth, Corban Joseph singled, and Bobby Wilson  (who was PR for) reached on the first of Sutton’s errors. After a WP, Gardner walked, and he was PR for. Eduardo Nunez singled in a run and another scored when Jayson Nix bounced into a force out. Sutton made his second error of the inning on a ball hit my Juan Rivera to put the Yanks up 3-1.

Doubles by Jose Pirela and J.R. Murphy in the 8th made it 4-1, and OF Thomas Neal, trying to make the team as a righty-hitting OF, hit a HR in the 9th to make it 5-1.

The Yanks prospects got a bit sloppy again late in the game as Rob Segedin and Addison Maruszak made errors. For Maruszak, that’s 3 errors this spring.

Chase Whitley pitched a scoreless inning, Preston Claiborne (1/3) and Josh Spence (2/3) combined for a scoreless inning, and Kelvin Perez gave up a run in his inning of work. Perez hurt himself by throwing two wild pitches. As I wrote earlier in the week, some youngsters need to relax and tighten up their play a bit.

But a very good day for Warren and Ramirez, Gardner is at .563 for the spring, Jose Pirela at .556, J.R. Murphy at .500 and Tyler Austin at .571.

Ichiro Suzuki escaped injury when he was involved in a car accident on Saturday. His car was totalled.

Yanks split squad, but lose both games

The Yanks split the squad today, but lost both games, dropping their spring record to 1-6. It’s worth noting that we haven’t seen CC, Kuroda, Hughes, Nova, Pettitte, Jeter or Rivera yet.

In the road game, the Yanks lost to Houston 7-6. Some good points about the game came from a couple of minor leaguers eager to win the Granderson job while he is out. Zoilo Almonte went 2 for 3 with an RBI. Melky Mesa was 2 for 3 with a 3-run HR. Top prospect Tyler Austin had a triple and scored a run. Matt Diaz went 1 for 3 and drove in a run. In this, and the other game, every candidate for that LF job that Granderson vacated with his injury did well. Even Adonis Garcia had a hit and an RBI in this game.

Brett Marshall started this game. He is probably AAA bound but did a good job, impressing if he needs to be a mid-season call-up. The 22 year old righty was 13-7, 3.52 in AA last year. He pitched 3 scoreless innings, giving up 1 hit and striking out 3. Dellin Betances, the former top prospect who slipped badly last year, had a scoreless inning and K’d 2, but also showed the wildness that has set him back, walking two. Mikey O’Brien gave up 3 R in 1 1/3 and Shane Greene gave up 4 in only 1/3 IP which led to the loss. Shaeffer Hall and Kelvin Perez each pitched a scoreless inning.

In the home part of the split squad, the Yanks lost 1-0 to Toronto. Dave Phelps, bidding for a starter’s job (esp. since Hughes may not be ready come Opening Day), pitched 3 scoreless innings. David Aardsma pitched a scoreless inning. The Yanks are counting on him, as well as Joba, to fill the 6/7 inning role. Branden Pinder pitched a scoreless inning as did Clay Rapada. Chase Whitley gave up the game’s only run in his inning and a third. Juan Cedeno 2/3 scoreless. Jim Miller a scoreless inning.

The Yanks didn’t score in this game, but Brett Gardner and Ichiro Suzuki continued their hot springs so far by each going 1 for 3. Ronnier Mustelier, in the battle for Granderson’s position, went 1 for 1. Juan Rivera, also fighting for an OF spot, was 2 for 2.

Overall, today was a better day than yesterday, which featured sloppy play. There was some impressive pitching, and the OF candidates all did well.

Now (1-6) to start winning some of these games.

S.T. Game 3. Yanks fall, 5-1, Nuno K’s 5 in 2 IP

Brett Gardner went 3 for 3, and Jayson Nix 2 for 3 as the Yankees lost 5-1 to Baltimore today. They accounted for five of the Yankees eight hits.

Most of the players in the game were players competing for jobs (Diaz/Rivera; Cervelli/Romine) or players who are most likely ticketed for the minors.

The Yanks only run came in the ninth inning when with two out, Corban Joseph walked, stole second and scored on a single by Walt Ibarra.

No pitcher the Yanks used fits into their immediate plans. Vidal Nuno, a 25 yr. old lefty who came out of nowhere to go 10-6, 2.54 between A+/AA last year (21 starts, 10 relief appearances) gave up a run in two innings, but struck out five, which was encouraging considering that the K’s came against Markakis, Wieters, Chris Davis, Conor Jackson and Manny Machado.

Brian Mitchell gave up 1 R in 1 IP, Corey Black 2 R in 1 IP. Shane Greene pitched a scoreless inning, Ryan Pope gave up a run in his inning. Kelvin Perez and Josh Spence each pitched a scoreless inning.

S.T. Game 1. Cano, Almonte HRs spark 8-3 Yankees win.

Robinson Cano and Zoilo Almonte each homered, and David Phelps pitched two scoreless innings as the Yankees beat the Braves 8-3 in their spring training opener.

Almonte is a 23 year old switch-hitter who had a good camp last year. He is expected to begin this season at AAA. In AA last year he hit .277-21-70 in 106 games, stealing 15 bases in the process. His BB/K ratio needs some work, 25/103.

Almonte also had an outfield assist in the game.

2B Jose Pirela, who replaced Cano, went 2 for 2 with an RBI. Pirela, a 23 yr. old, righty-hitting 2B, hit .293-8-33, 9 SB in 82 games at AA Trenton last year.

In the competition for righty-hitting OF (and we can’t count out the switch-hitting Almonte), Juan Rivera DH’d today, going 1 for 2 with a walk, while Matt Diaz went 0 for 3 as the left fielder.

In the catching competition, Francisco Cervelli started and went 0 for 2 with a walk while Austin Romine went 1 for 2 and drove in 2 runs. Cervelli did throw out a runner attempting to steal.

Phelps, battling Ivan Nova for the 5 spot in the rotation, pitched 2 innings, giving up 0 runs on 3 hits. He didn’t walk or strike out anyone.

Brett Marshall gave up a run in 2 IP, Nik Turley pitched a scoreless inning, Mikey O’Brien gave up 2 runs in his inning of work, and Kelvin Perez, Brandon Pinder and Chase Whitley each pitched a scoreless inning.

The Yanks will open the home part of their exhibition season tomorrow. YES will have the game, and it’ll be broadcast on WCBS 880 AM radio as well.