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New Yankees Manager Girardi Meets With Steinbrenner

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The Associated Press

Published: February 18, 2008

TAMPA - Joe Girardi was summoned upstairs for the first time.

The new manager of the New York Yankees met Sunday with owner George Steinbrenner, who hadn't spoken with Girardi since the former catcher interviewed for the job in October.

"It was great to see him. He was doing well," Girardi said after Sunday's session at Legends Field.

Girardi was accompanied by spring training instructors Goose Gossage and Ron Guidry, Coach Rob Thomson and General Manager Brian Cashman. The Yankees haven't lost any games since Girardi was hired, so the atmosphere was jovial as Gossage and Guidry told old stories.

"We were joking a little bit and we were laughing, so it was good," Girardi said. "He's just encouraging us to do what we always do here. So, Mr. Steinbrenner was great."

Steinbrenner's walking was shaky when he got out of his golf cart with "GMS" on the front. The 77-year-old has relinquished day-to-day oversight of the team to sons Hank and Hal, but Girardi plans to have regular contact with the owner.

•Pitcher Andy Pettitte is due to report today and plans to make his first public comments since telling a congressional committee that Roger Clemens had spoken with him about using performance-enhancing drugs.

According to a New York Daily News story Sunday, Pettitte's father obtained the human growth hormone he supplied his son from a trainer who attended high school with the pitcher.

Kelly Blair, who owns a gym in Pasadena, Texas, was the source of the substance, according to the story.

Pettitte, who has admitted using HGH in 2004, told congressional attorneys he received it from his father, Tom Pettitte, who has had serious health problems. In his deposition, Pettitte said his father got the drugs from a trainer at a gym where he worked out but did not identify the trainer.

BREWERS: Starter Yovani Gallardo has torn cartilage in his left knee and is expected to miss the first four weeks of spring training.

Gallardo will return to Milwaukee today and have the arthroscopic procedure Tuesday. He then will return to the Brewers' camp to begin physical therapy.

MARLINS: The team and two local governments have ironed out the financial details of a $515 million proposal that would give the Marlins a new 37,000-seat ballpark on the site of the Orange Bowl.

The newest version of the stadium proposal requires that Miami-Dade County contribute $347 million in funding, including $297 million in tourist tax dollars, according to a memorandum from county manager George Burgess that was sent to county commissioners.

Marlins spokesman P.J. Loyello declined to discuss the issue, adding: "After a vote, we will comment."

The 94-page document states that the city of Miami would be required to pay $13 million, which does not include an additional $10 million for the Orange Bowl's demolition.

The Marlins would contribute $155 million for the stadium, which is projected to open in 2011.

PADRES: Mark Prior didn't experience any pain in his surgically repaired right shoulder during his first spring training workout with San Diego.

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