Notes from Spring Training

After an extended break, we are finally back. The baseball world has begun to turn more quickly again, with spring training games and gossip about who's giong to make teams, starting lineups, and starting rotations.

Poor Francisco Cervelli has a broken foot and will definitely not win the backup catcher job for the Yanks. This injury is even more unfortunate because he was the incumbent, so to speak, and was probably going to win the job. Instead, the Yankees will probably have Jesus Montero, who's supposed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. We're a little wary of him, however, because he has a reputation of being bad defensively. After three years of suffering through Jorge Posada's struggles behind the plate, the last thing the Yankees need is a backup catcher who can't catch.

Off the field, things are much the same as always. Kim Jones of the YesNetwork told a story during the Yankees/Red Sox game last night about Ron Johnson, one of the Red Sox's coaches. Apparently his daughter lost her leg in a terrible horse riding accident. Even though the Red Sox had helped him out, he was still hurting a little financially. So Kevin Long, who played for Johnson in the minor leagues, asked the Yankee players for contributions. They responded.

Not to bring anything negative to this great story, but this just shows the difference between the Red Sox and the Yankees. The Yankees take care of their own; if one of their coaches was hurting financially because of some dreadful accident, the organization would likely step in and take care of everything. If not, the players certainly would. But the Red Sox, who are probably the second-richest team in baseball, didn't supply their own first base coach with enough money to get him and his family through this hard time. Whatever else can be said about the Yankees, the organization and its players are very generous.

Hydra
6-4-3 double play... Ballgame over! Yankees win! Theeeeeee Yankees win!