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Yankees Notes through 8 Games:

I spent an early season moment in thought today. It was completely unfamiliar territory but I wanted to mention some things I've noticed through 8 games. The Yankees so far, while playing to a 5-3 record, have hardly played their best baseball. The starting pitching has been hit or miss and half the line up isn't hitting yet.

CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett and Andy Pettitte have all pitched well in their first 2 outings. Together they've won 5 out of their 6 starts. Javier Vazquez has pitched poorly in both of his starts but it's really too soon to make any conclusions about him. Although watching today's game, you could hear some boos. Not a good sign! The bullpen has also pitched well for the most part and kept the Yankees in some close games.

Robinson Cano,

Sometimes when you set goals, you have to be prepared for obstacles that prevent you from reaching them. Or immediately reaching them.

Welcome to my Twitter world. Last night, I could not tweet from my Blackberry. I tried. I failed. I do not know why.

I will try to rectify the situation by tomorrow evening. I can’t make any promises. Like the IPod –- which every single person I know told me was simple to set up but took me days -– my initial Twitter experience has not reached expectations. And I had big expectations -- to equal the number of followers of Ozzie Guillen. At this writing, I’m 47,222 short. I’ll keep working on it.

Hey, the IPod thing worked out well, even if it was a slight struggle. I have no reason to believe Twitter won’t have a similar

Is it yet time to call up Mark Melancon?

In fairness to Chan Ho Park, not only is it too early for me to say “I told you so” on that particular signing, but the debacle of Opening Night had multiple authors. These can be separated into two groups, “likely transient” and “likely permanent:"

Likely Transient
• CC Sabathia’s lack of location.
• Chan Ho Park’s lack of location/nervous overthrowing.

Likely Permanent
• Brett Gardner’s weak arm.
• Curtis Granderson’s vulnerability to left-handers
• Jorge Posada chasing balls to the backstop.
• Joba Chamberlain being wild and hittable.

Of the second list, Gardner’s range should compensate for his arm. Granderson will eventually be treated like a platoon player in

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The stalking will begin early. The Yankees and the Boston Red Sox don’t have to wait a week or a month to play each other. They get to do it in the first game of a new season, which is a perfect opener on Sunday night. The comparisons between the teams never cease. So why delay the inevitable?

Why wait to compare CC Sabathia and the Yankees’ rotation to Josh Beckett and the other Red Sox starters? Why wait to assess the new Yankees like Curtis Granderson and Nick Johnson against the new Red Sox like Mike Cameron and Marco Scutaro? Why wait to see the first night of Boston’s not-so-revolutionary strategy of stressing run prevention in conjunction with run production?

Wrestle with these comparisons and others while the Yankees and the Red Sox are side-by-side

Andy Pettitte can see the end of his gratifying career approaching and can feel the number of games he might have left reduced to a precious few dozen. Pettitte is fine with that scenario, content with trying to help the Yankees fashion another memorable season before probably retiring.

“I can’t just keep on playing,” Pettitte said. “I need to get back home.”

With no prompting, Pettitte veered from discussing how comfortable he has felt as a pitcher this spring to how uncomfortable he feels as an absentee father. When some players lament how much they miss their family because of the draining season, their words seem choreographed. When Pettitte says those same words, he seems sincere.

As soon as Pettitte vividly described how much it bothered him to see Josh,

I am talking about Yankees ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte who made his first appearance in Yankees’ camp on Tuesday, taking over for CC. Venditte was on the mound for 1 and 1/3 innings, giving up 1 run.

Hem, hem - I am somewhat ambiguous about it.

First of all – nothing works better if it has multiple functions (printers, that have copying and faxing abilities are much worse than just good printers; food-processors with blenders and meat grinders attachments – no comparison to just a good meat-grinder; universal battery powered drills with gazillion functions – poor imitation of even a mid-price electric drill (Yeh -  I use it a lot!); etc.).

Second - I wonder if the same principle can be applied to pitchers. Acknowledging the fact that sometimes switch-hitters

WHAT’S THE USE OF WONDERIN’?
If Alfredo Aceves has to start the season on the disabled list, does that open up a spot for Mark Melancon, or is it more likely that Boone Logan claims the spot, giving the Yankees the fabled “second lefty?”

WHAT’S THE USE OF WONDERIN’? II
Anyone at all bothered by CC Sabathia finishing spring with an ERA of 7.23 in 18.2 innings? I don’t think I am as much as I have been bothered in the past by consuming a dish of bad mussels, and chances are it’s nothing to worry about given that his strikeout rate has been solid, but it’s definitely food for the paranoid.

NATE ROBERTSON TRADED, SO WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH THE YANKEES?
Only this: Robertson is a 31-year-old left-hander who has been rather mercilessly

Some Yankee notes from Today

OK so for some good fodder and feedback before Opening Day.  Most of us on here who follow baseball are likely in a fantasy baseball league, be it on Yahoo!, ESPN, CBS or elsewhere.  And this past weekend I'm sure a lot of us had a marathon draft (or five). 

So my questions for those of you out there, how many Yanks ya got?  Do you cater towards your favorite team when push comes to shove?  Make any pacts with fellow fans in your league not to take players from certain teams named say the Red Sox or Mets? 

Who was that player you drafted and held your nose in the process?  Ever draft one of those star players from a team you hate and get offered somebody from the team you love and maybe that player wasn't as good as the one you had and really put you