Weekend Update

Today's game against the Tigers has been cancelled due to inclement weather. Johnny Damon was actually in the lineup this time, but mother nature had other plans. At this rate, he'll never play against his former team. Because of the rain, the Yankees had to get creative in order to get their pitchers adequate work. Tomorrow there'll be an intrasquad game in Tampa. The pitchers for team one: Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and DeMaso Marte. Pitchers for team two: Joba Chamberlain, Chan Ho Park and David Robertson. The rest of the team will travel to Clearwater to take on the Phillies. A.J. Burnett will start that game with Phil Hughes coming on in relief.

On Friday evening the Yankees lost to the Rays 6-2. Sergio Mitre threw the ball very well, going five innings and allowing two runs on two hits and one walk while striking out seven. His curveball and change up were both working well. He was locating his fastball and was getting good sink on his pitches. Girardi said after the game that if Mitre doesn't win a spot in the rotation, he would have no problem using him as a reliever. Meanwhile, Chad Gaudin continued his string of poor pitching. His final line - two and 1/3 innings, seven hits, four runs, three earned runs, three walks and one strikeout. Amaury Sanit pitched a perfect 2/3 of an inning and looked good striking out one. Curtis Granderson was 2-for-2 before being hit by a pitch on his right hand, he was taken out of the game for precautionary reasons. He's fine and was in today's lineup before the rainout. Nick Swisher extended his hitting streak to seven games.

On Saturday, the Yankees fell to Houston 8-6. Alfredo Aceves had his worst outing of the spring, allowing five runs in four and 1/3 innings. He gave up five hits, one walk and struck out two. He threw 74 pitches, 48 for strikes. Aceves didn't have his best stuff and lost some momentum in the fifth starter competition. Boone Logan pitched a scoreless inning with one strikeout, but he gave up a hit to the one lefty he faced. Mark Melancon pitched 2/3 of an inning and gave up two hits and one run. Brett Gardner had a triple and a beautiful bunt single to raise his spring batting average to .281, his speed is flat out amazing sometimes. Robinson Cano hit a solo homer, his first of the spring. A-Rod went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and two RBI. Marcus Thames went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts to lower his spring average to .107 to go along with a 11/1 K/BB ratio.

Over the weekend Girardi mentioned several times that the team needs to start serious discussions regarding the fifth starter competition. He feels that a decision needs to be made soon and the brass will be deliberating heavily this week. As of right now, Hughes is the front runner in my mind, his spring ERA is the lowest of the candidates at 2.08 and his change up has looked great. Joba and Aceves are not too far behind, but there is a distinct separation at this point.

Jesus Montero, Colin Curtis, Reid Gorecki, Austin Romine, Jason Hirsh and Dustin Moseley have all been reassigned to minor league camp. Hirsh is going to start out as the number one in the Triple-A rotation. Montero will be up with the big club sometime this year.

Updated spring statistics can be found here.