Disco: Hey there Yankee Fans. Can you believe it? I’m still here. Yankee Joe has allowed me to continue to assistant coach this mind blowing Yankee Blog. I’m so excited!!! HEEEE HEEE!! We have been very busy and no I did not keep track of the Spring Training games. I’m just waiting for the season to start so I can kick everyone’s butt in Yankee Joe’s Fantasy Baseball League.
Yankee Joe: First and for most Robinson Cano, is having a PHENOMINAL Spring. He is currently hitting .447 with 1 HR and 11RBI’s. If Robbie can carry that into the regular season he should have one hell of a year. Bobby Abrue is showing signs that he might not have his typical slow start. He is hitting .467 with 2 HR and 3 Doubles and 8 RBI’s. Abrue notoriously is a slow starter, but with a good spring under his belt we could get a great start out of him. A-rod is hitting the ball well too at a .500 clip with 3 HR’s and 8 RBI’s. Jeter has struggled at the plate hitting .242 with 0 HR and 0 RBI’s. I would not be too concerned about the Captain thou. He will bring his A game to the regular season, I have no doubt about this. Shelly Duncan has also had a good spring, hitting .333 with 3 HR and 11 RBI’s. Giambi is hitting .407 with 1 HR and 6 RBI’s. If I had to choose between the two I want Duncan playing first on opening day, for no other reason then Giambi in the field is a guarantee of two things. Plenty of Errors at first base and an eventual injury that will plague him all season and bring his offensive numbers down. The way I see it keep Giambi at DH and as a Pinch hitter TO HELL with the paycheck, I’d rather see us win games.Disco: Did Jeter struggle last year? I thought spring training games were just practice. I’m lost. No worries here. It is just practice right?
Yankee Joe: Pitching wise everybody in the Projected Starting Rotation has had good and bad games. Wang was beat up in his first spring start then threw two very strong games in a row. In his last outing he was once again throwing batting practice to the other team. To be fair in the last game Wang was experimenting with a slider and changeup, and really only struggled in one inning. I’d prefer he working on new pitches now in the spring. Work the kinks out and maybe start the season with some more options in his pitching arsenal. Phill Hughes up until his most recent start has been nothing short of un-hittable. In his last outing thou he seemed to be making up for lost time and gave up plenty of base hits including a few HR’s. Again I would not be concerned, it’s spring training and I’d prefer he got hit hard now then latter once the season starts. If what we have seen most of this spring is any indication, Hughes could very well have a hell of a season ahead of him. Andy Pettit has spent most of the spring season dealing with Performance Enhancer scandals and nursing 
injuries. When he has pitched he has looked very sharp thou. Hopefully Andy can leave all the troubling news and injuries behind him in Florida. Ian Kennedy has had a good spring. In 9 innings of work he has a 3.00 ERA and has looked sharp most of the time he has pitched. As our likely number 5 starter I believe he is going to seriously turn some heads this year, although I would not count on more then 12 wins from him for the season he has a lot of work to do still. My bigger concern pitching wise is Moose. He has looked TERRIBLE all spring and I just don’t know WHY the Yankees having him in the rotation. If Moose can’t cut it as a starter then he has to except the BP roll as a long reliever and spot starter. Moose has however taken on the roll of working with and teaching the young pitchers in camp. If anything Moose’s value to the team this year may be measured more in how well these young arms pitch rather then how well he pitches.Disco: When we went to spring training practice, Moose appeared to give the younger pitcher pointers but he seemed to be struggling when he threw. Maybe he is a future pitching coach in the making. A good Teacher/Coach can be inspiring for a young Student/ Player.
Yankee Joe: Now before I call it a week I’d like to talk a bit about Little League Baseball. See both my two sons this year are playing in the local Cal Ripken League. My Youngest son who will be turning 7 in a few moths is in T-ball. My oldest son who just turned 10 is in Minor Leagues where the kids play all the positions including pitcher. For my youngest son this is his first experience at little league baseball, and his coach this year although a very nice person is just not very good at the job. It’s hard to watch him with these kids. He has no interaction with them and most of the kids look bored most of the time- generally not having any fun. I look at other coaches and they interact with their kids teaching them and generally have fun. Personally I think my son’s coach is new to all this and really does not know what he needs to be doing. He seems to be simply going threw the motions. Again it’s nothing personal about him he is a very good person and means well. It’s just very obvious 
by how my son approaches playing and the other kids on the team that they really aren’t having the fun that they should be having. Hopefully before the season ends that will change, but to be honest from what I have been seeing it’s not likely to happen any time soon. Keep in mind we are talking about T-ball here so nobody is keeping track of the scoring the kids all get to hit each inning and chaos generally ensues every time a ball is hit. (Imagine a ground ball to the first basemen and the ENTIRE infield and half the out field go running to field it) My son for example loves to slide into the bases. ALL THE BASES!! See he will get a hit run to first and slide (Or basically flop on top of it) into first base. He then, proceeds to slide into second then third then home. I think I might have caught him sliding into the dugout as wellJ My point hear is these kids are to young to be taking any of this serious and this is supposed to be fun for them.Disco: Little League is so much fun to watch because it is just a Game to the kids and they want to have fun. When the whole team follows the ball it takes all my strength not laughing hysterically. There have even been some occurrences where everyone tackled the ball like in football, just to get the ball first. Sometimes I think if the Major Leaguers and some over zealous fans remembered that it is just a game they would enjoy the game more.
Yankee Joe: Then there is my 10 year old son and his coach. Let me tell ya my son’s coach is STERN, and does not like to see goofing off. Now don’t’ get me wrong at this age I don’t’ mind seeing this at all. Here’s the thing thou as stern as this coach is he also knows when and where he needs to do this. He reminds these kids all the time that “Hey this is all supposed to be fun!!” and more importantly he has passion for the game and is actually teaching them about the game while having fun. He has a VERY GOOD balance. In their first 5 games thou the team has yet to win a single game. Unfortunately these kids have not quite come together as a team, and tend to make a few mistakes that cost them some runs during the games. What I really love about this coach is that he never really keeps track of the score. We parents all know it’s getting ugly but the coach who probably has figure it out as well is more concerned with how the kids are playing the game and making sure they don’t’ get to down on them selves and are having fun. Don’t’ get me wrong he wants them to win, it’s just not the most important thing he worries about and if you ask me that makes him an EXCELENT coach. Now if only the same could be said about a few of the parents. I swear some of these people don’t’ realize the pressure they put on their kids. One dad in particular spends half the game screaming at his kid. Between this dad and his wife their kid is berated with a steady stream of advice and criticism. I just don’t’ understand how this kid puts up with it. At one point during a bad play the dad stood up swore out load and started pacing around like a wild beast. I calmly looked over to him and said “Hey relax it’s just little league baseball”. He gave me the look like I had lost my mind smiled and said “O Right that makes it better”. He then proceed the rest of the game to tell his kid (And a few others on the team) that they better start playing like the guys in the big leagues who make millions if they want to win. I Just don’t’ understand this mentality at all. I mean it’s baseball, 
and yes this is competition and we want to see our children win and play well. At what cost thou?? The chance that we might make playing the game they love so much a miserable experience. My oldest son who absolutely LOVES the game of baseball is needless to say not the best player on the field. Actually, truth be told at the start of the season he was struggling A LOT. He has in a short time come a long way but still has a lot of work to do. The thing is I don’t envision him as some great ball player playing in the majors in a few years. If that happens that would be great I know it would make him happy. For me I don’t want to expect that kind of thing from him, all I want is for him to enjoy the chance he has to play the game he loves. If he can’t enjoy himself then he will grow to hate the game and I just could not bear to be the one responsible for that. It’s not about how well he plays the game that makes me proud of him. It’s the fact that he goes out there to play it every time, and no matter how much he struggles he still gives it everything he has because he LOVES to play. Parents who don’t see this in their kids and constantly push their kids take all the fun out of playing the game. When you do that you’re going to push them away from wanting to play the game, because you made them. For all those that may read this if you have kids and they play Little League baseball or ANY Sport for that matter. No matter how badly you want them to win, no matter how much they struggle. PLEASE for the love of the game JUST LET THEM BE KIDS and have fun. The truth is no matter how much the pros get paid or how big and exciting the Majors become. Baseball is still just a kids’ game and it should REMAIN that away. So please don’t’ take the fun away from your kids and ruin the experience of the game. If you let them just have fun and leave the coaching to the coaches, I promise you they will love this sport for the rest of their lives.Disco: These kids just want to play the game. Our oldest son’s Coach Is the greatest. He has shown our son the encouragement he has needed to try hard and practice more. It is very frustrating to watch a parent yelling at his kid, “Do it like the Major leaguers!”, when most of the kids are still figuring out how to read the coach’s signs and how to do a double play. I don’t see Derek Jeter’s parents telling him how to play while he is fielding a ball. Remember it is just a game. Let’s them have fun.
Disco: I’m not sure what Yankee Joe will talk about next week but if he lets me I will still be here putting in my two cent as Assistant Coach to the most mind blowing Yankee Baseball Blog you ever read. See ya!
Yankee Joe: Next week?!?!? Hmmm Lets see the season is fast approaching so Id say next week Ill lay out my Predictions for next year. Ill give ya Details on who will win the East Central and West in both leagues and of course where the Yankees fall into that. So till next week I plan to feed the two Geriatric Hamsters that power my Crystal ball some extra special kibble. Maybe this year ill actually get a few right.
Till Next Week.
The Yankee Fan (And Disco)
