A Review of the Weekend

Clearly, I didn't keep up to my end of the bargain over the weekend. The Yankees played three games against the Philadelphia Phillies from Saturday until today. There are a few things that are worth noting.

On Alex Rodriguez: A-Rod clearly wants the season to start judging from his at-bats on Sunday. He hit a first pitch home run off of Roy Halladay to right center field, which is hopefully a sign of things to come. It is difficult to get excited over Rodriguez because last Spring, he had an amazing March and the end result was the worst offensive season of his career. The three hits that he crushed on Sunday certainly make it hard for fans not to get excited, however.

On Michael Pineda's debut: Pineda is a really big guy. He is a force on the mound and can intimidate a lot of hitters. His fastball explodes out of his hand and he has a nasty slider. He still needs to develop the changeup. He threw it a few times and it looked like it could be a promising pitch for the big right-hander. Victorino looked foolish swinging at the change and he struck out Thome on a high heater.

On Freddy Garcia: He was hardly impressive in his Spring debut. He is a guy who doesn't have over-powering stuff and relies on deception to get outs. Garcia is a smart pitcher, but I don't see him cracking the rotation if Hughes is healthy. He has a better chance to break camp as a long man out of the bullpen.

On Eduardo Nunez: Nunez was hit by a pitch on the hand in today's game. It was classified as a hand contusion (bruise). He exited the game afterwards and went to get a precautionary x-ray in Tampa. The Yankees have a ton of infielders who would love Nunez's job, but I don't see it as anything serious.

On David Robertson's Debut: Robertson came into the season wanting to decrease his walk totals. After starting the inning with two consecutive outs, he walked Rollins on four pitches and ended up giving up a run. Still needs to work on that control. Then again, it was his first game of the Spring. Wouldn't make sense to make much of it.

Overall, the weekend was a success. Aside from the wins, we got to see the Killer B's pitch on Saturday, Francisco Cervelli has not suffered his annual Spring Training injury (yet), and you liked what you saw from A-Rod.