Igawa Strikes Back

Kei Igawa had heard the rumblings; perhaps he would lose his starting job to Jeffrey Karstens. But on the heels of Karstens 1st bad outing of the spring, Igawa threw 5 scoreless innings against the Phillies in his best outing of the pre-season, and the Yankees hung out for a 2-0 win.

Igawa's only shaky inning came in the 2nd, when he walked Jayson Werth and fell behind 2-0 to Rod Barajas. But Igawa worked out of the jam and didn't allow a runner past 2nd. The biggest concern that came out of his start, was only starting 10 of 19 hitters off with a strike. Pitching coach Ron Guidry has reminded Igawa to finish his pitches - to follow through completely. Igawa must now do it on a more consistent basis.

Mariano Rivera had yet another easy spring training appearance. He struck out the side, including reigning NL MVP Ryan Howard. Mo struck out Howard with his little used change up.


Bobby Abreu made his 1st spring training game appearance, going 0-3. The oh-fer didn't matter since Abreu took some hard swings (and misses), and was fine after the game. He's expected to return to the outfield on Friday.

With Abreu back, the Yankees biggest concern now revolves around Andy Pettitte. Pettitte's lower back stiffened up and spasmed on him yesterday, and the Yankees have shut him down for the foreseeable future. For now, the team is characterizing the shut down as a precautionary measure. Hopefully it's no more than that.

What, no baseball? The Yankees have their 1st day off today since the start of the spring training games.