Posted by TMS:

wow, lotsa talk over a Spring training game... geez, i almost thought i'd missed the season opener.

Posted by islesfan:

Man, I left right before Jackson's slam. I was really tired and still had to drive back to Orlando so I figured I'd beat the traffic. Of course I ended up spending the next 30 minutes trying to find my car so it didn't make a difference. I had to park in a huge field between Steinbrenner Field and Raymond James Stadium, where everything looks alike and there are no markers to remember where your car is. Plus it's a rental and I barely remembered what it looked like. I just kept hitting the panic button on the remote until I found it. That sucked.

Good game though and even better time at Mons before the game.

Posted by islesfan:

Nice. Thanks bro.

I have high hopes for that kid. Power would be an added bonus though. He needs to hit for average, cut down on K's and learn plate discipline and he needs to play a solid CF. If he can do all that we're set for CF for the next 10 years.

Posted by islesfan:

Posted by djsunyc:

Posted by islesfan:

Nice. Thanks bro.

I have high hopes for that kid. Power would be an added bonus though. He needs to hit for average, cut down on K's and learn plate discipline and he needs to play a solid CF. If he can do all that we're set for CF for the next 10 years.

brett gardner's starting to look like juan pierre from back in the day...

He needs to bunt and become more of a slap hitter. Use his speed to get on base.

I love what he brings to the table and I hope he sticks around for awhile, even if it's nothing but speed off the bench.

For many fans who can’t afford tickets or live in another part of the country, television will be their window to the new Yankee Stadium.

But how good will that window be?

Word is that the new Stadium is not particularly conducive to television cameras. The camera behind home plate, for instance, will have to shoot through the protective netting. Unlike the steeper old Stadium, there is no position to get a clean shot from that angle.

YES folks also say the camera locations down the lines are not optimal. There is already talk that YES, ESPN and other broadcast entities will request changes.

The Yankees own a percentage of YES, so you would think they would have worked closely with the broadcasters to make sure they were happy.

Presumably, these problems will have solutions. The old Stadium always looked so good on television. You would think the new park should look even better.

A.J. Burnett's best pitches are the ones to Joba Chamberlain

Wednesday, April 1st 2009, 4:00 AM

SARASOTA - The Yankees knew they were getting a lights-out AL East killer when they signed righthander A.J. Burnett over the past winter.

What they didn't know is that they were getting Mr. Chips with a 98-mph heater.

Burnett, the No. 3 starter in a rotation that is expected to pave the way for a Yankee run into the postseason, has taken on a role of helping the Bombers' young hurlers, particularly Joba Chamberlain. This is a big-time free agent signing that can pay double dividends. And in these recessionary times that is a good investment.

Brian Cashman said he has noticed that Burnett is effective at passing along "constructive" information to the younger players. He said that Burnett offered an in-game tip to one "pupil." The pitcher successfully made the adjustment and thanked Burnett.

"Of all the players I brought in, the one I knew the least about his personality was A.J. Burnett," Cashman said. "I am pleasantly surprised. I've heard everything about CC (Sabathia). But this guy has brought a lot to this clubhouse, too. He's been a great teammate."

Burnett said he is merely trying to help his fellow pitchers speed up their learning curves, giving them advice that took him a few years to absorb. He is particularly drawn to Chamberlain, because he sees a lot of himself in the Nebraska product.

"He's a big kid with a big heart. He certainly has a good feel for the game," Burnett said. "I've just been helping him with little things that I've been through in the early part of my career. Our mind-sets are similar. He's got more pitches than I had at that stage of my career."

Burnett, 31, said when he was Chamberlain's age of 23 he tried to blow away hitters with his fastball. It took him a while to learn how to effectively use his power. Last season with Toronto, Burnett recorded a career high in wins (18), innings pitched (221-1/3) and strikeouts (231) in 35games. He led the AL in strikeouts (231) and strikeouts per nine innings pitched (9.39).

Burnett jokingly said he isn't going to issue his secrets for public consumption, but said he has been sharing them with Chamberlain.

"He's got a good idea of what's going on," Burnett said. "I'm just kind of there to help him as much as I can. I'm not going to force anything on him, but if he needs some help, I'm going to make little suggestions - just things that I did that helped me."

This is a mentoring situation that could benefit the Yankees, who are hoping that Chamberlain finds a way to harness his power and conserve his pitches so he can work deep into games.

Joe Girardi was looking to get Chamberlain up to six innings and 95 pitches and have him be efficient against the Reds in the Yankees' next-to-last Grapefruit League game Tuesday. On a muggy day, Chamberlain lasted 5-1/3 innings and was pulled after giving up back-to-back hard hit singles. He gave up five hits, two runs, walked three and struck out six batters on 86 pitches.

The sooner Chamberlain settles in, the sooner the Yankees can breathe easily about the back end of their rotation. Right now they are holding their breath that Chamberlain sticks at No. 5.

Chamberlain said he welcomes any advice that Burnett can give him, because they are similar in their approaches.

"We're strikeout guys and we try to use the fastball to get a lot of guys out," Chamberlain said. "When you're a young kid coming up, you try to blow it past everybody to get them out. A.J. went through that.

"Just having A.J. around and knowing that he's made that pitching transformation the last few years, him being comfortable pitching with that fastball going 92 to 95 instead of 95 to 98 to get guys out is a big help."

Girardi sees Burnett's mentoring Chamberlain as a mutually beneficial arrangement.

"I know that when Georgie (Posada) was younger and I was the older player we did a lot of things together and talked about the game," Girardi said of his days behind the plate for the Yankees. "I learned a lot from Georgie. Minds think differently. You can learn a lot from each other. I think it's a great situation because it's two arms that are similar."

Chamberlain spent too much time flipping back and forth between starting and relief last year. His head was spinning from all the advice he was getting.

"It was just an up-and-down year as to my approach to the game as far as being a starter and a reliever," Chamberlain said. "Everybody kind of helped me in situations, talking hitters and how to approach them. Then you start to overload. That's when I get in trouble when I start to think."

The Yankees need Chamberlain to be a sponge when it comes to what he is absorbing from Burnett. Otherwise that big question mark they have at the back end of their rotation might become a big headache.