Baseball's back, and with it comes the onset of spring training "competition."
The sarcastic quotation marks make an appearance due to the reality evidenced Friday afternoon in Tampa, where the New York Yankees geared up for major-league spring training games with an 11-0 win in a tune-up game against the University of South Florida.
Curtis Granderson hit an RBI single in the first inning, driving home Derek Jeter in his only at-bat of the game. Jeter reached base on a throwing error, and was 0-for-2. In total, seven Yankee regulars had either one or two at-bats. Robinson Cano, who missed three days of camp to attend his great-grandmother's funeral in the Dominican Republic, did not play. According to ESPN New York's Wallace Matthews, Cano will not play until Sunday. Here's how the rest of the Yankees' first lineup of the spring shook out (box score here):
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Raul Ibanez DH
Nick Swisher RF
Brett Gardner LF
Eduardo Nunez 2B
Gustavo Molina C
Adam Warren RHP
Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. ET, the Yankees will send Ivan Nova to the mound against the Philadelphia Phillies in Clearwater, Fla. According to NJ.com's Marc Carig, Nova is slated to pitch two innings, though he does have an overriding 35-pitch limit. Prospects David Phelps, Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances are also scheduled to pitch for the Yankees.
Cole Hamels will start for the Phillies. Former Boston Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon is one of seven pitchers also slated to pitch.
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