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Joe Girardi used a parade of relievers that he affectionately referred to as Johnny Wholestaff to complete a game against the Phillies in which the offense failed to do any inspiring. Nine Yankee pitchers toed the rubber for one inning tonight, starting with Adam Warren and concluding with Matt Daley. David Phelps, Vidal Nuno, David Robertson, Matt Thornton, Shane Greene, Shawn Kelley, and David Herndon picked up all the innings in between as the Yankees fell to the Phillies, 6-0.
Phelps allowed an unearned run in the second inning after Kelly Johnson made two errors in the same inning. Nuno was next up out of the pen, and he allowed back-to-back home runs to Ryan Howard and Marlon Byrd before departing with the Phillies up 3-0. Robertson and Thornton, two relievers guaranteed to be on the big league squad, held the Phillies scoreless for two innings before Greene allowed two RBI singles to Domonic Brown and Carlos Ruiz to pad the Philadelphia lead. Daley was responsible for the remaining Phillies run in the ninth.
It wasn't a banner day at the plate or in the field for the Yankees, who committed three errors and couldn't string any of their nine hits together. Brett Gardner had the best offensive day by far, chipping in three singles. Kelly Johnson, Brian Roberts, Carlos Beltran, Derek Jeter, Dean Anna, and Scott Sizemore (who was responsible for the third error of the night) each reached base on singles. Yangervis Solarte worked the Yankees' only walk of the game.
Jeter's hit was only his second since March 7th, which may be expected after his absence from the field for nearly all of last year. Mark Teixeira, also returning from a long hiatus, struck out three times. Teixeira is a notorious slow starter, and not playing the vast majority of last year only stands to further impact how long it takes him to get his timing back.
The Yankees travel to Dunedin, Florida, tomorrow to take on the Blue Jays at 1:05 pm. Chris Leroux is listed as the probable pitcher, opposite R.A. Dickey for Toronto. The game will be televised on MLB.tv only via the Blue Jays' broadcast. Spring training is almost over!
