MLB Spring Training Running Notes: Twins-Yankees

I'm a little bit bored this Wednesday afternoon, so I thought I'd try out a running notes column on the Yankees-Twins spring training game that's on ESPN right now.

Ian Kennedy is on the hill for New York and though I've heard a lot about him, I've never seen him throw.

Two things so far: 1) I love the stirrups. We've always needed more pitchers wearing stirrups the right way, but never more so than now with Mark Prior having not been in the big leagues for a while.

2) Kennedy, one of the Yankees trio of ultra-hyped young pitchers, is throwing consistently in the mid-80's.  His hardest fastball that I've seen through two innings has been 88.  I understand that Kennedy had a great college career at USC, but when was the last time we were really excited about a rookie right-hander throwing 88?  Maybe I need to watch him more.

Delmon Young seems to like Kennedy's high 80's fastball—he just drove one over the center field wall.  Interesting move for the Rays to get rid of Young and Elijah Dukes this offseason.  I wonder how much of it was for character issues, how much was to acquire pitching, or how much was Tampa perhaps knowing something we don't about those two?

I think if the league is going to keep putting those silly colored inserts on the side of the spring training and BP hats that they need to follow through and put them on the batting helmets, too.  Let's not half-ass this. If we're going to make professional athletes look ridiculous, let's do it right. 

Robinson Cano is up for the Yanks now and he's someone I really enjoy watching, despite not being a Yankees fan. His swing looks really good and I love any solid-hitting second basemen.  He's making me sound like I know what I'm talking about; he just roped a double to center field.

I hope I'm not the only one who's a big fan of Minnesota's TC logo, which they have on their spring training hats and jerseys. It just looks better than the underlined M logo.

We've got another hot prospect on the mound for the Twins in right-hander Kevin Slowey.  He's throwing a little harder than Kennedy (fastball 90-92), but he hasn't really made any Yankee bats miss yet.  It's only spring training, but how long does it take for a 23-year-old pitcher's arm to get in shape?  I always root for young pitchers to succeed, so I hope Slowey and Kennedy are both just trying some stuff out.  

Another sock note: I don't believe I'm the only person who would credit A-Rod's incredible year last year to his decision to roll his socks up to his knees.  I hope he realizes this too and never wears them down the rest of his career.

The Yankees are beating up on the Twins pitching. Slowey is done now and Julio DePaula is on the mound.  He just struck out Wilson Betemit, but the Yankee lead is now 4-1, all on singles and doubles. 

I really feel like teams with classic stadiums, like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Cubbies, should build their spring training homes to be miniature replicas of the real stadiums. 

A) That would be adorable. B) We'd have a reminder of what each stadium used to look like before it got torn down, overly-remodeled, or sold to a corporate sponsor. 

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