Yankees Beat The Red Sox And Tigers All In A Day’s Work

This afternoon, the Yankees, playing with split squads, excelled in triumphs over both the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers. Once again, even with the split in geography, it was a total team effort.

The Yankees did nothing spectacular today. All they did was win, and not once, but twice. Here a few of the highlights:

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***Gary Sanchez collects his first two hits of the Spring Training season, one of which was a home run.
***Mashiro Tanaka needs only 25 pitches to set down the Tigers in order over two perfect innings.
***Brett Gardner went 2-3, and Clint Frazier entered the game late but picked up two RBI and is now hitting .571 for the spring.
***Greg Bird had two hits, including his second home run of the spring and drove in three runs.

You get the idea. It was a good day in Florida for the Yankees.

Following the game, Bird told the New York Daily News:

"“I just try to have quality at-bats, every day, every at-bat,” Bird said. “I want to drive the ball to the gaps, and whatever happens after that is out of my hands. I want to swing at strikes, swing at pitches I want to hit and I want to do damage. So we’ll take as many (homers) as we can get.”"

Manager Joe Girardi liked what he saw from Bird too, telling the News:

"“He can hit. We just really feel that he can really hit,” Joe Girardi said of Bird, who is the favorite to win the everyday job at first base as long as he can stave off Chris Carter. “We saw it when he came up — lefties didn’t really affect him a whole lot.”"

Tanaka’s performance was welcomed by the Yankees as an indication that he has recovered from a forearm injury. Following the game, Tanaka said Mark Didtler of AP that:

"”I liked everything except the first pitch,” Tanaka said through a translator. ”I’m not really sure (what happened).”"

Yankees pitching coach Mark Rothschild offered his view indicating

"”Overall I thought everything was good,” Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild said. ”It was good to see him stay within his delivery and execute the pitches he needed to execute, and come out of it and feel good.”"

These are early innings being tossed by the one pitcher the Yankees need to repeat what he did for them last season. No one is quite ready to gush platitudes at the moment but Tanaka’s catcher, Gary Sanchez, was also pleased with what he saw and told the Associated Press:

"”The split was really good, and the slider (too)” Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez said through a translator. ”The location of the fastball was a little off. But it’s the first start, so I know he can locate better.”"

Next: It's Beginning To Look A Little Crowded Around Here

So, it sounds like the Yankees are off and running with only one game in the loss column for the spring season. And while the games “don’t count,” their performance is promising, and contributions continue to come from someone different every day. And that’s a winning formula.