Pitchers Impressive For Both Teams in Yanks-Phils Spring Tilt

Counting the remaining spring training games and the regular season schedule to come there are "only" about 170 games until the first round of American and National League playoffs. At that point we will not have even gotten to the World Series. But, last night's spring match-up of the reigning world champion Yankees and their foe from just south on I-95, the Phillies, gave a glimpse of what could be, again.

Pitching was the name of the game. MLB bio says Phillies veteran lefty Jamie Moyer was born 11/18/62. You do the math. To say Moyer has been around a long time is a bit understated. Moyer is the definition of a crafty southpaw. His fastball, if he really muscles up and tries extra hard, might crack 82 mph. But, his ability to change speeds with his off-speed pitches, then spot an occasional "fast ball" (relative terms) with impeccable precision keeps betters off-balance. That's the name of the game.

To see him in-person is even more impressive. The Yankees lineup facing him was legitimate. The only non-starter hitting against Moyer was back-up catcher Francisco Cervelli. Other than that, Moyer stared down the 27-time World Champions and set them down quietly. He twirled 6-2/3 innings, grudgingly giving up just a first inning single,issued no walks while striking out six. If the Yankees did get a piece of he ball the southpaw's finesse induced soft fly balls from power hitters Mark Teixeirea and Alex Rodriguez and routine infield grounders from everyone else.

Just a day prior to this ballgame the Yanks announced that young righty Phil Hughes would fill the last remaining starting pitching slot which was hotly contested throughout spring among four NY hopefuls, including Job Chamberlain. Hughes came out strong throwing all hard stuff, moving it in and out while doing a good job of keeping it down in the strike-zone. In just three innings of work Hughes struck out five. In addition to whiffing Rollins a second time, Hughes also mowed down all-stars Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Jason Werth. He gave up one earned run and yielded two hits. The only stat to mar a good performance was his four bases on balls. Strangely, Hughes wasn't wild; he was just missing and the Phillies exhibited good patience and plate discipline. The fact Hughes only gave up one run in spite of four bases on balls showed he pitched aggressively and got a strikeout or key ground ball when he needed it.

The oddity of spring training baseball is that for both the manager and the players these games are still basically a practice. Evidence was Yankee closer supreme, Mariano Rivera, who came in to work the sixth inning. Usually Rivera is still in the bullpen spitting sunflower seeds until warming up in the eighth inning. But, Girardi wanted to let Mo get some good work in against the middle of the Phils lineup while their starters were still in the game. Rivera responded with a perfect inning including one strikeout while throwing just 10 pitches. Efficient and sharp was Rivera.

All in all, for a spring training game, it was a great game to watch. We had the two starting pitchers, with 20-some years difference between their ages, pitching with completely different styles, and doing so very well. Then we see one of the game's greatest relief pitchers on display doing his thing and doing so against the best possible competition, the heart of the NL champions line-up, and he just did his job as we have come to expect.

You can't beat fun at the old ballpark.

When I watched the Yankee infield toss the ball around and get it back to the pitcher in-between innings I couldn't help but think how many times Cano, Jeter and A-Rod will do this over and over again as the marathon of the baseball season plays out. Only 170 games until the post-season.