At a speaking engagement on Wednesday night, Brian Cashman said that the Yankees would monitor the home runs hit at Yankee Stadium.

He noted, however, that home runs are traveling at a rate of eight feet farther in this young season, versus last season, and that it may just correct itself as the year goes on. Time will tell.

Alex Rodriguez ran the bases on Wednesday for the first time since having surgery. He also fielded more grounders, including some that had to be charged. That is all.

Contradicting an earlier report, Hideki Matsui told MLB.com's Bryan Hoch that he did not have his knee drained last week. Rather, he had a cortisone shot.

I know a lot of people are writing Godzilla off because of his knees, but I think we need to give it time - he can be a big part of this season. His .244 batting average betrays his overall line, which includes a .392 OBA and a .856 OPS. In his last 4 games, he's 6 for 14 with 2 doubles, 2 home runs, 3 runs and 2 RBI. It's a short sample, but it could be the start of something.

After watching a total of 14 runs scored in the first seven innings of the game, you'd have been hard pressed to find anybody who expected to see that followed by six straight scoreless innings, but that's exactly how it went, as the Yankees defeated the A's by a score of 9-7 in 14 innings thanks to a walk-off two run homer by Melky Cabrera.

The game was pretty much back and forth as the Yankees rallied early from a 3-0 defecit to take the lead on two different occasions, and Oakland came back both times to tie the score against the Yanks. The game featured five home runs (1 for the A's, 4 for the Yankees), including two by today's hero Melky Cabrera.

CC Sabathia struggled a bit, although he really didn't pitch quite as bad as his numbers indicated. He allowed 6 earned runs on 6 hits in 6 and 2/3 and allowed 6 walks, but was also victimized by some bad defense (Johnny Damon dropping an easy fly ball was an example of that) and was forced to essentially get 4 or 5 outs in a couple innings.

The game was still tied at 7 after 9 innings, and the Yanks and A's wound up playing five innings of free baseball in the Bronx. Jose Veras was a lifesaver in extra innings, as he came into the game with two outs in the 10th and pitched 3 and 1/3 innings of scoreless ball.

The game had gotten to the point where I was kind of enjoying watching every inning go by one by one and wondering just how long this game could go when Melky Cabrera belted his second home run to right field with Nick Swisher on 1st base to end the game and give the Yankees a 9-7 victory.

I was at the game today and I have to say it was a pretty good one to be at, although from the looks of things there were about 20,000 people missing from the seats (the official attendance was listed at 43,342; there is no way there was anywhere near that many people at this game). I even got to participate in the "tradional" 14th inning stretch (I guess because baseball is "traditionally" played for 14 innings now).

The Yankees will have the day off tomorrow before traveling to Boston to play their first series of the season against the Red Sox on Friday evening. Joba Chamerlain will be taking the mound against Jon Lester in a battle of two promising young arms. Game starts at 7:05 ET.

Recap records: Patrick: 5-1, Seamus: 3-4, Andrew: 1-1

MLB.com's Bryan Hoch reports that the Yankees are sending the struggling Chien-Ming Wang to Tampa on Thursday to pitch in an extended spring training game. He is expected to throw around 100 pitches.

Later in the article, Brian Cashman expresses some skepticism regarding Wang's health, despite claims from the pitcher that he is physically fine.

Andy Pettitte went seven strong on Tuesday night, helping the Yankees to a 5-3 victory over the Athletics in New York.

In each of his three starts this season, Pettitte has thrown 7 or more innings, allowing no more than 3 earned runs. He has only walked two batters in the span and holds an ERA of 2.53.

The Yankees offense knocked A's starter Dave Eveland out of this game after four innings, having scored four runs off him - all in the second. Perhaps more noteworthy, there was only one home run in this game and it was hit by Johnny Damon in the sixth.

The offense run in the second was powered by singles, as the Yankees had 5 base hits, as well as a double. Brett Gardner singled in Hideki Matsui and Nick Swisher, Johnny Damon singled in Gardner and then Mark Teixeira singled home Derek Jeter.

Brian Bruney came out for the eighth and ended up allowing a run to score on a double, but that would be the only damage done in the inning, as Bruney was the bridge to Mo in the ninth.

After a lead off single, Mo elicited a ground ball to force that runner out at second and then retired the next two hitters for save number 4 on the season. Bryan Hoch reported that it was the 57th time that Mo had saved a game that Andy Pettitte won - tying the record held by Bob Welch and Dennis Eckersley.

Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon, Jorge Posada and Hideki Matsui all had two hits, with Matsui having a double and Damon hitting that solo home run. He also drove in another run.

At 1 PM ET tomorrow, the Yankees will throw CC Sabathia (1-1, 3.57) against Brett Anderson (0-2, 4.85).

Thanks eluva at MarianoRivera.com for the tip.

It turns out that Xavier Nady will not be having surgery on his elbow after all. Peter Abraham also reports that Nady expects to be back within 4-6 weeks.

It's definitely good news, but it makes me wonder if we're going to be getting a version of Xavier Nady that's less than 100% for the entire season and whether or not that benefits the Yankees much more than just letting him have the surgery.

MLB.com's Bryan Hoch reports that Hideki Matsui's left knee was drained on Thursday.

"During Spring Training, fluid had been coming and going," Matsui told Hoch, through an interpreter. "It's been a repetition of that. I don't really look at it as a setback. I think it can be controlled to a certain extent with treatment and conditioning."

AccuWeather.com says that the home run exposition taking place at the Yankees new home, Coors East, could be due to the wind. Or, more specifically, the way the wind moves inside of the stadium's shape, which is different from the old park. This would be a factor when the wind is blowing in a westerly direction and is going at least 10 miles per hour.

The good news is that, if that is an issue, they also say that it would primarily affect games in the spring and middle to late fall - home run totals would drop in the summer.

Update: Newsday's Kat O'Brien spoke with Brian Cashman who said that the team commissioned a wind study before the stadium was built and it turned up no concerns about right field - just left,

On a related note, Tyler Kepner reports that this 20 home run, four game run is not without precedent. On July 22, July 31 and August 1-2, four consecutive home games, 26 home runs were hit. And 20 or more were hit in a four game stretch in 2000, 2003 and 2004, as well - but it never occurred before 2000.

Via Mike Axisa via Joe Dimino and Steve Lombardi.

ESPN's Jorge Arangure Jr. reports that talks between the Yankees and Cuban exile Felix Perez have cooled due to the U.S. Consulate discovering discrepancies with his age, while processing his Visa application. Specifically, sources say he may be 24 or 25, rather than 20 as he claimed.

As an aside, Arangure also notes that the Yankees are likely to sign 19 year old lefty pitcher Noel Arguelles. That said, negotiations cannot begin until MLB clears him as a free agent.

Via Mike Axisa.