4/3 Liveblog - Blue Jays - Yankees

I'll be in and out tonight.

Here are your starting lineups:

YANKEES
Johnny Damon DH
Derek Jeter SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jason Giambi 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Hideki Matsui LF
Jose Molina C
Melky Cabrera CF

Starting Pitcher: Phil Hughes

BLUE JAYS
David Eckstein SS
Matt Stairs LF
Alex Rios RF
Vernon Wells CF
Frank Thomas DH
Lyle Overbay 1B
Aaron Hill 2B
Marco Scutaro 3B
Gregg Zaun C

Starting Pitcher: Dustin McGowan

Jorge Posada is out again with a stiff shoulder. Based on what I've read, it's likely nothing to worry about. Hopefully he can return shortly.

Blog namesake Phil Hughes makes his first start of the year tonight. He's fully recovered from his injuries, so look for a return of the stuff that made him the top pitching prospect in baseball just one year ago. I can't wait to see the first batter swing through a 93 mph fastball and laughing at the first to be frozen at a nasty curve. Don't let all the hype fool you...there are still some in the prospect community who like Phil's potential more than Joba's. Yes, he's that good.

On a side note, I've got my nonbaseball fan girlfriend to adopt Hughes as her favorite player, largely because he has the same birthday as me. I have no idea why anyone would find that interesting, but I posted it anyway.

It's 6:43 now and my pizza is here. Dinner time!

7:00 - I've finished my pizza and I'm ready for baseball. Already, Michael Kay is irritating me. That was quick.

7:02 - Can we stop using "Generation Trey?" It's lame. They really don't need a nickname.

7:05 - Michael Kay reminds us again that he is Michael Kay and the guy sitting next to him is Paul O'Neil. We know, Mike.

7:07 - Here we go! Hughes sure does look sharp in that uni.

First Inning - First pitch strike! Yeeha!

Is there a more annoying player than David Eckstein. It's nothing against him, but I'm tired of reading about how scrappy and short he is. Thank God he didn't play football.

Broken bat grounder to the great scrappy one to A-Rod. One away.

Matt Stairs is up. Hughes is hitting 88 fastball. And as I type that, he hits 91. Go figure. Beautiful backdoor curve to sit Stairs down. 2 away.

Professional Yankee Killer Alex Rios is up. Beautiful curve on the inside corner for strike 2. The crowd is yelling "Huuuuuuuuuuughes" which I will confuse for booing for years. Painted the corner with a 91 mph heater for strike 3. What an inning for my man.

Bottom 1 - Johnny Damon promply falls behind 0-2. If he doesn't improve over last year, he needs to be bumped from the leadoff spot, in favor of Jeter. Then Abreu can move to the 2 slot, and Cano can settle into the third spot. And he goes down swinging at 96 mph gas. What an awful swing that was.

Jeter does his little shimmy which makes the women here in New York swoon. He then hits a broken bat grounder to Mighty Midget who plays a competent shortstop despite barely being able to reach first base on his throws.

In steps Abreu, who seems to be in much better shape this year. Hopefully his first half is like last year's second half for him.

McGowan keeps throwing BBs. This could be a long night for Yankee batters, as Abreu goes down "swinging."

Top 2 - For some reason, we're showing video of Hughes hurting his hammy. It still makes me cringe.

Vernon Wells flies out to Cano, who makes a nice catch on a flair in shallow rightfield.

The Big Hurt lifts and easy fly to shallow center on the next pitch for the second out. That didn't take long.

In steps Lyle Overbay, who bothers me simply because he's name Lyle. Hughes starts him off with 2 out of the zone. Overbay grounds out on a 2-1 pitch, ending a ridiculously easy inning. I love the efficiency.

Bottom 2 - Let's go fellas. How about at least a baserunner or two here. Perhaps a run or seven.

A-Rod steps in, looking to continue his hot spring and start to the season. He hits it sharply, but almost right at Scutaro. 1 away.

Giambi has looked decent in the field so far, but not so much at bat. Hopefully he can get going soon...a bounce back from him would be huge for the Yankees this year. McGowan falls behind 3-1, but he's still looking phenomenal. This could be another low scoring affair.

Giambi walks. His batting eye never ceases to amaze me. Even when he's slumping, he still takes his walks.

Cano, first pitch hacking, chops one to third, but just manages to beat it out to avoid the DP. I had high hopes for that AB starting a rally.

Based on how Hideki checked his swing there, I predict a strikeout here. And Hideki doesn't disappoint me, flailing at low breaking ball. I'm not sure he could have looked any worse there.

Well, at least Hughes has thrown fewer pitches so far.

Top 3 - Hughes just got away with a hanger in the middle of the plate. Luckily, Aaron Hill fouled it back, before hitting a liner to Melky for the first out.

Scutaro up. I'd like to break his shins for the walkoff against Mo last year, which ruined my night. Preservation of my good mood should be the top priority for these guys.

Lazy fly ball to Abreu for the second out. There have been a number of very poorly hit fly balls off Hughes tonight. And Zaun grounds one to Giambi, fulfilling the request I was in the middle of typing for more grounders.

Yet another efficient inning for Hughes. He had me a tiny bit worried this spring about how efficient he'd be this year, as he had problems going deep into games. Perhaps I have nothing to worry about.

Bottom 3 - Jose Molina up now. I really wish Jorge was in the lineup tonight...we could really use the offense. Molina somehow manages to stay alive on a weak hack at a breaking ball down and away...that was some good hand-eye.

I now feel like an idiot for pining for Jorge's offense as Molina singles up the middle for the first hit of the night.

Here's hoping soon-to-be-sitting Melky continues his hot start to the season. He's up 3-0 in the count now. Let's get something going here, fellas.

Melky obliges to my request with a walk. 1st and 2nd, no one out for Damon to either strike out or GIDP. Any Johnny falls behind 1-2.

One of the highlights of the early parts of the season are the comical statlines. Johnny is currently sporting a .111 OBP. Nice.

Damon proves me wrong, hitting a screamer directly at the right fielder. He couldn't have hit it much harder. I hate when that happens.

2 on, 1 out for el Capitan. Now would be a nice time for his first ribbie of the year.

Instead, we get a continuation of last years GIDP happy Derek. It's good to have him back.

Top 4 - In steps the Mighty Mite. He looks adorable in that uniform...he's looks all growds up, just like Daddy.

Yes, that wasn't funny. I don't care.

Man, I wish Paulie would do more games. I like his style, and he's got a good voice for it.

David just got himself the cheapest double in the history of the sport. I hate when opponents get those kinds of hits.

Stairs grounds out, but moves the runner over to third. Despite what Kay says, I have a feeling Stairs was trying to get a hit, rather than tap one to Cano.

I don't like Rios. He looks like a putz. Rios taps a breaking ball of the end of his bat over the infield for the first run of the game. What a cheap run.

Molina has Rios nailed on a steal, and Cano boots it. Way to go, Robbie.

Vernon tries to hit a curve to Pluto and came up empty. Hughes strikes out Wells on another beautiful curve...he was totally fooled.

Hughes follows that up with another beauty to Thomas. That's back to back buckled knees, for those of you scoring at home. This ump is not giving Hughes anything on the inside part of the plate. That's 3 borderline pitches called balls in this AB alone. I hate when umps give hitters calls just because the have reputations and the pitcher is a rook. It cheapens the game.

As I say that, Hughes paints the black with a beautiful fastball. That was perfect location. Frank blows several gaskets and gets tossed, despite the fact that everyone in the stadium knew that pitch was coming and that it was a strike. He gets run. See ya, Frank.

I'll now be blogging intermittently, as my girlfriend is here and we will be switching channels frequently.

Through 6, the Jays are up 2-0. The second run scored on a walk, double, and infield hit. Both of the runs Hughes has given up have been the result of cheap singles. The Yankees just can't sustain a rally so far this year...maybe they've got a few cheapies of they're own up their sleeves.