Short post today

I'm fighting off a cold and have little energy, but if I get out of the habit of posting, I'll have a hard time getting back to it.

Shelley Duncan got off to a red-hot start this spring:

Shelley Duncan warns against gushing about the sizzling first exhibition game performance he delivered yesterday against the Phillies.

"You can't make too much of it," said Duncan, who clubbed a three-run homer in the first inning and drilled a two-run double off the left-field wall in the third that propelled the Yankees New York Yto a 9-3 win at Bright House Networks Field. "In spring training you can get locked in and the feeling goes away."

I like Shelley, but I have some concerns about him at the Major League level. It's quite possible he'd make an excellent platoon player, but I fear the holes in his swing will be overexposed. Then again, I think some of that is just my desire to see Morgan Ensberg make the team.

Chien-Ming Wang is working on developing his change up, which is good news for the Yankees and bad news for the rest of the league. Improving this pitch will allow him to strike more guys out, which, combined with his extreme groundball tendencies, makes for one hell of a pitcher. I hope he uses the pitch more throughout the season.

"Winning 19 games is all well and good but you have to change," pitching coach Dave Eiland said of Wang's willingness to make the change-up an out pitch that can be used eight to 10 percent of the time.

Wang learned the circle change in the minor leagues but basically has been a two-pitch hurler. And since his signature sinking fastball is so filthy, Wang has been able to get by. Yet, good hitting teams like the Red Sox and Indians have spanked Wang recently. Who can ever forget the paddling the Indians gave Wang in two ALDS games last year when the Yankees' ace went 0-2 with a 19.06 ERA. In 52/3 innings he gave up 14 hits (three homers).

"He puts it in the hitters' mind that instead of two pitches, now they go up there and think he might throw another one," said catcher Jose Molina who caught Wang's two-inning effort yesterday at Bright House Networks Field, where the Yankees topped the Phillies, 9-3.