During the two games witnessed in George M. Steinbrenner field, I was able to see CC Sabathia’s first ever appearance for the Yankees, witness Hideki Matsui continue his comeback from knee surgery and hear about 10,000 opinions concerning Alex Rodriguez.

After initial reports (and my thoughts) that he was going to try playing through the injury, Alex is now contemplating surgery for the labrum tear in his hip. If he decides on surgery, Alex probably will miss four months, and depending on the severity of the problem, should be back by mid July. As I stated in my earlier piece, Alex’ return on July could be similar to a team making a big, trading deadline deal.

Alex has stated that he could have the surgery on Monday, and while that is possible (according to Joe Girardi), the Yankees likely should delay the surgery decision to see how Mike Lowell responds to his rebuilt hip when he begins playing games this week. If Lowell responds well to his surgery FOUR MONTHS AGO, then the Yankees could persuade Alex to get the surgery done now.

Whether he plays or gets the surgery, the Yankees offense will probably struggle to score runs early in the season. If he plays, Alex will not be the same player, because he has already complained of reduced power in his swing, and if he decides on surgery, the lineup will suffer from his missed bat. Last year when Alex missed three weeks with a strained quad, the Yankee lineup really suffered, scoring less than 4 runs per game Alex missed.

I wonder if GM Brian Cashman has spoken to his good friend Theo Epstein about this situation as Epstein went through the same deal last year when Lowell couldn’t continue playing.

Anyway, that is about it on Alex, although most fans want Alex to get the surgery now and come back to the team in July.

Remember, now matter how bad things have gotten for Alex with the Joe Torre book, the steroids allegation and subsequent admission, and now the first major injury of his career, Selena Roberts’ book about Alex is coming out soon. Roberts is the SI.com journalist who first broke the A-Rod tested positive for steroids story and her book supposedly has more juicy information within.

At this point, who really cares?

Back to baseball. Sabathia’s first start was a success, as he went two innings, giving up an unearned run while getting 5 ground balls (one of the errors) and three K’s. Shortstop Angel Berroa had no shot at making hte team anyway, but has really done nothing to even warrant a spot on Scranton’s Triple A roster, making several errors already this spring including the one last night.

Brett Gardner continued to impress with another hit, scoring another run and is hitting .400 for the spring with two doubles and two homers. He also made a spectacular catch later in the game. No matter how the rest of the spring goes, Gardner should be the Yankees everyday center fielder. Without A-Rod inthe lineup, the Yankees are going to have to manufacture runs and Gardner’s speed helps them do that.

Plus, Gardner adjusted very well after his recall from Scranton last season, hitting much better in September. After a slow start to his 2008 ML season, Gardner hit .357/.386/.667/1.034 OPS in his last 10 starts in CF. And these weren’t your typical out of contention September starts, either. Starting pitchers in those last 10 starts included Mark Buehrle and Gavin Floyd of the Chicago White Sox, Jesse Litsch (13-9, 3.85 ERA), AJ Burnett (we all know who he is) and Roy Halladay of the Toronto Blue Jays and Dice-K and Tim Wakefield in Boston. Gardner had 3 of the 6 Yankee hits (including a double) against Halladay in Roy’s 20th victory that day.

Gardner plays great defense, has great baseball instincts and has also been nothing short of a winner in every stage of his pro career. While speaking with several scouts, they agreed with my assessment and thought Gardner could become even better than he is showing. They said he is the type of player who needs to play every day. Also, Melky will make the team, but is more valuable as the fourth outfielder, who can play all three OF positions and could spell the overrated Xavier Nady for defense late in games.

In addition to Sabathia, other Yankees on Friday night who threw well were Alfredo Aceves, who earned the win, Anthony Claggett and David Robertson who struck out all three batters he faced. When Robertson has his nasty curve ball working, he is virtually unhittable. I feel he should be a lock for the opening day bullpen.

Claggett is now on everyone's radar, especially Joe Girardi’s. Claggett was obtained in the Gary Sheffield trade, and has thrown 5 innings this spring, allowing three hits, one run (1.80 ERA), walking one and striking  out two. He was the Trenton Thunder (AA) saves leader last season and he is a strike throwing machine.

He won’t make the big team now, but is likely a call up later in the year after his good showings this spring.

I wasn’t a big fan of the Xavier Nady/Damaso Marte trade, but I can see why the Yankees can send three pitchers to the Pirates when they have so many great arms in their system.

They should be confident in using their own developed resources.