Hi everyone! I'm writing another blog tonight! I want to inform you of things that happened yesterday (March 2nd) because TODAY IS OFFICIALLY THE FIRST GAME OF EXHIBITION GAMES! I am going to report on three things -- Joba Chamberlain's health, Yanks getting ready to battle against the Pirates tomorrow, and another field trip the day before the first Spring Training game. Joe Girardi is such a cool manager. I'm so jealous!

Joba Chamberlain, physically, is a little down. He is currently suffering from flu-like symptoms. His bullpen session for Tuesday was cancelled because he was feeling so under the weather. He is scheduled to pitch another bullpen sometime soon. Hopefully this'll heat up the competition a little more -- with Joba being sick, Philly may want to to take advantage of this! I wouldn't be surprised. After all, his nickname IS "Phil-thy", isn't it? (:

The Yankees are playing their first game today (March 3rd) against the Pirates! Of course, the Yanks have been working very hard, training every day, working out, and getting back into the rhythm. With a new team, the Yankees are looking to take the 2010 by storm, winning the world series again! However, Jorge Posada thinks that it is going to be harder to win with a new team. With a new team, he thinks, we need to figure out how everyone works. We want to see how everyone takes a pitch, their hitting zone, how they field, etc. You never know what you have until you really look at it and attempt to understand. The Yanks are going to have to do a LOT of understanding this Spring Training. We have a new team, and we have more new players than last year! We especially need to look out for the young ones (Jesus Montero, Andrew Brackman, etc.) to see what they have in store for us. This will be the Yankee debut for some guys, others, it'll be the norm. However, Girardi did tell us that we will see a familiar face -- Ross Ohlendorf, a former Yankee reliever.

The last point I want to talk about tonight is the male bonding that the guys had today -- they went to an arcade after practice! I am so jealous...I LOVE ARCADES! WHY DIDN'T JOE INVITE ME?! BACK TO THE BLOGGING...The guys had a ton of fun on Tuesday. The three games were video Indy Car Racing, Skee Ball and Pop-A-Shot. AJ Burnett and Dana Cavalea owned at Indy Car Racing, Royce Ring and Mark Melancon dominated at Pop-A-Shot, and Andrew Brackman and Eduardo Nunez took a bow as the first and second place winners at Skee Ball. Mark Teixeira laughed and said that Royce Ring was hands down the best at Pop-A-Shot. The rookies enjoyed it because they got a chance to bond with the guys that they are learning from on the field. For example, Francisco Cervelli got to bond with Jorge Posada, the guy he's learning from as a second catcher. He said that he benefitted from last year's trip to the pool hall, and because of that little trip, he gained more confidence in himself. One person that truly enjoyed this trip was Curtis Granderson. He has never had anything like this before, so this was a great experience for him. He really enjoyed himself. Mark Teixeira said it the best -- "We all felt like kids again."

I hope everyone watches the Spring Training game! Good luck, Yanks! Make us proud!

http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100302&content_id=8654070&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy (Joba Chamberlain’s health)

http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100302&content_id=8646208&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy (The Yanks Prepare for Pirates)

http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100302&content_id=8647390&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy (Male Bonding)