3.27 Night Reds at Yankees

On Friday night the Reds traveled north to play the Yankees at the newly named George M. Steinbrunner Stadium, which used to be called Legends Field. As befits the Yankees, their minor league park has a major league feel. There is a large upper deck and several luxury box areas.

Their concession stands serve something out of the Flintstones, a large turkey leg. The guy in front of me was eating one, although he only took one bite and threw it under his chair. No kidding.


Yankees Notes

The news broke this week about Derek Jeter leading off for the Yankees. He'll do well in that role, I expect to see him stealing more bases this year as a result.


Johnny Damon still has a weak arm in the OF. The Reds took advantage of every opportunity to take the extra base on him.

Mark Teixeira made a few nice plays at 1B, and also had a single with an RBI.


The most noteworthy performance was by C.C. Sabathia who pitched 7.2 innings and basically shut down the Reds after we scratched out three hits on him in the second inning. He gave up a total of 4 hits and had 7 Ks and no walks. He's ready for Opening Day.




Reds Notes

The Reds left their left-handed starters at home. Dusty had seen first-hand the way LHP C.C. Sabathia handled the likes of Joey Votto and Jay Bruce last year when Sabathia was with the Brewers. I'm sure our lefties didn't mind the day off, or not facing C.C.

Brandon Phillips, who is our best hitter against LHP, did have a single, but also made an error in the field.


Dusty played his former LF Jacque Jones at 1B in this game, for a reason that escapes me. Jones made two really bad plays in the field in one inning leading to Aaron Harang being charged with 2 unearned runs.

Ramon Hernandez looked a little shaky behind the plate, giving up a passed ball and not controlling the Yankees running game (Yankees running game?) very well. Dusty was clearly unhappy with something Hernandez did, or didn't do, on a successful double steal.

Aaron Harang, who has had some good starts and bad starts this spring, causing some concern about his readiness to return to his 2006 and 2007 form, pitched really well in this game. His line score doesn't reflect it, but he was in control pretty much for all of his 6 innings. He struck out 5 and walked 2. I'm starting to feel pretty encouraged about his upcoming season.