Spring Training 2016: The Mets host the Yankees

Third game in three days: the Yankees continue their Treasure Coast swing with a visit to the Mets at Port Saint Lucie. While a little early in March to be labeled a showdown, both teams made the post-season in 2015, and expectations on both sides are high. (Below) the ever-present Florida Spring Training logo. It's not just on uniforms, but painted on the field, but as a photographer-pal pointed out, it's even stamped onto the balls being used in exhibition games.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi charts with his boss Brian Cashman during batting practice.
(Below) promising Yankee outfielder Aaron Judge getting his pre-game swings in.
The weather was picture perfect, partly sunny with a temperature in the upper 70s.
(Above) The Mets trotted out another of their four aces, 2014 Rookie of the Year winner Jacob deGrom. He wasn't his sharpest, surrendering a run and five hits over three innings, but his trademark long hair was in prime form.
(Below) Ivan Nova got the start for the Yankees -- as he looks to bounce back from a disappointing 2015. After looking effective following his rehab from Tommy John surgery, his performance declined over the final three months.
(Below) Curtis Granderson also made his spring debut. But it's what he did before the game that caught my attention. He signed over a dozen autographs for fans sitting near the Mets dugout. Give the guy credit, it's not like his name is Greg Bird -- it contains 16 letters. He works a pen as deftly as a bat -- making friends along the 3rd base line.
(Below) the new Mets shortshop, Asdrubal Cabrera.
Yankee prospects Aaron Judge and Rob Refsynder spend a quiet moment in the dugout.
OK... time for some game action... Here's another new Met, reliever Antonio Bastardo.
Here's power potential on display (above) the Mets young first baseman Domonic Smith and (below) Aaron Judge of the Yankees, whose broke a bat facing Bastardo. The game was a good one... the Yankees got back to back ninth inning home runs from minor leaguers Kyle Higashioka and Sebastian Valle off Bastardo to tie the game in the top of the ninth. And it ended as a 4-4 10-inning tie.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rare Remnant of a Lost Ballpark

Image
When the subject of baseball in Brooklyn comes up, the discussion centers around Ebbets Field, the Flatbush venue most famously home to The Boys of Summer.  Those legendary 1940s and '50s teams that featured such historic and beloved players as Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella and Gil Hodges. Ebbets Field hosted its last major league game in 1957 and was torn down during the winter of 1960. But decades earlier, just before World War One, the Dodgers were based in the Park Slope area and played at Washington Park.  Once they moved out, the land was occupied by another stadium, which housed a different franchise.  The upstart Federal League, which played in the 1914 and '15 seasons, had a Brooklyn team called the TipTops.  Owned by a local baking magnate Robert Ward, whose company produced TipTop bread, the club took over the abandoned lot along 3rd Street and built a new brick and steel venue. The only no-hitter in the Federal League's two-year r
Read more

Another Yankee Trade

Image
Yankee fans: here's a last look at shortstop Trey Sweeney .  The 2021 first round draft choice was part of the three player trade with the Dodgers that brings reliever Victor Gonzalez and infield prospect Jorbit Vivas to New York. Now seeking to rebuild their pitching depth after dealing for Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo, the Yanks deemed Sweeney expendable.  While the Louisville native showed promising power in his three seasons with the organization -- he batted only .248 to go with his 36 career homers -- Brian Cashman has committed to Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza as his young middle infielders.  So Sweeney became a trade chip. ( My images of Trey Sweeney are from the Somerset/Binghamton AA games on July 15th and September 19th, 2023. )
Read more

Will He Wear Zero in the Bronx?

Image
The Yankees bolstered their starting rotation with Thursday's signing of Marcus Stroman .  The Long Island native, who spent 2019 and '21 with the Mets before moving onto the Cubs, brings a 77-76 career record to the Bronx, along with a recent loyalty to uniform number (?) zero.  If he requests that, he'd become the third Yank to wear it, following the path of Adam Ottavino and Domingo German.  Of course, neither of their Yankee tenures ended all that well -- Ottavino struggled badly in 2020, before reviving his career with the Red Sox and Mets; German's alcohol and domestic violence issues sabotaged such Yankee highlights as last year's perfect game. Can a number truly be lucky? You can understand kids in little league or high school ball wanting to wear 2 in honor of Derek Jeter or 7 for Mickey Mantle.  But is there an heroic ballplayer associated with 0?  The closest I recall comes from pro football, where the Oakland Raiders Hall of Fame center Jim Otto wore 00
Read more