Plenty of familiar faces at Yankee Stadium
May 11, 2012, 3:48 PM | Updated: 3:55 pm
By Shannon Drayer
Well that was kind of strange. On the big board (and it is big) here they just ran a promo of each Yankee welcoming the fans to Yankee Stadium, one after the other.
“Hello fans, I’m so and so. Welcome to Yankee Stadium,” the line was.
Raul Ibanez, Freddy Garcia, Alex Rodriguez and Rafael Soriano, four ex-Mariners welcoming us all to Yankee Stadium. Michael Pineda could have been up there, too. So strange to see so many who played in Seattle.
What was good, though, was to not see Felix Hernandez making that announcement and I would think that there are plenty of Yankees fans who would have liked to see Jesus Montero up there.
Montero was very popular in the clubhouse earlier today with many of New York media members coming over to interview him. He handled the situation much like he did when he first got to Seattle — very professionally and without giving up much personal information. I was concerned about this after the trade but away from this stage he has opened up quite a bit and I think his personality will continue to emerge as he gets more and more comfortable in Seattle.
Today has got to be a big day for him, not only making his return but making it behind the plate in front of so many who had decided he couldn’t catch. It will be interesting to see if he has a bit of a flare for the dramatic and if we see anything extra from him tonight much like we often see from Felix when he pitches here.
Not much pregame news to talk of other than that as I tweeted earlier today, Blake Beavan threw for the first time. All went well and he is scheduled to start Tuesday in Boston, with Kevin Millwood going Sunday and Jason Vargas Monday. Because of the off day Eric Wedge was able to juggle the pitching a little.
The other bit of news is that it now looks like Miguel Olivo will not be joining the team on the road to catch some bullpens as Wedge first suggested last week. Wedge said that Olivo is progressing at a great pace and will catch some bullpens in Tacoma while the team is on the road and then probably be sent out on a rehab assignment.
While Wedge was impressed with the speed of Olivo’s progress he will be cautious with him. There was some thought that he was brought back a little too quickly from his groin strain last spring and I believe they will err on the side of caution this time.
