There is always a lot of attention on pitch velocities, especially when they correspond with any hint of trouble, but Joe Girardi said that he won’t be glued to the radar gun readings when CC Sabathia takes on the Tigers this afternoon.

“This is typical for CC,” Girardi said. “In the seasons that we’ve had, his velocity in April is not the same as it is in June, July, August. That’s been his DNA. I can’t tell you how high it’s going to go, but I know it’s going to go up. I believe it’s going to go up, just like it did last year.

“There were a lot of pitches he threw 89, 90 mph early in the season. But I think, because of what he went through last year, I think people are paying closer attention to it. But this is not abnormal for CC.”

Sabathia has said numerous times that he does not get caught up in marquee pitching matchups – a lesson he learned the hard way in his young Indians days, when he tried to match Pedro Martinez pitch-for-pitch and wound up heading to the showers early – but this promises to be a good one with Sabathia and Justin Verlander locking up. Girardi said his hitters don’t need any reminders about the mission here today.

“They know what they have to do,” Girardi said. “The thing about Justin is, he has four swing-and-miss pitches. You have to be patient on him. You have to hope he’s having a hard time commanding a few early in the game, because once he gets on a roll, he’s pretty tough.”

There was a nice pregame ceremony to honor Mariano Rivera. Tigers manager Jim Leyland shook hands with Rivera behind home plate and unveiled the team’s gift to the retiring 43-year-old, a photo display of Rivera pitching at both Tiger Stadium and Comerica Park. The display also included glass bottles containing dirt from the pitcher’s mound at both ballparks. Rivera doffed his cap to the cheering crowd and raised both hands in appreciation, offering Leyland a hug.

The Yankees and Tigers are underway. Lineups for both teams and expanded game information is available via MLB GameDay.

In a perfect world, the Yankees would have received a report sometime today about Phil Hughes’ outing for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. This is not a perfect world, so they’ll be able to watch Hughes get his work in against the Tigers right here in Detroit.

Manager Joe Girardi said that the team’s overtaxed bullpen left them with little padding if anything were to happen with David Phelps, who’d originally been the Yankees’ scheduled starter today, so they changed Hughes’ travel itinerary coming from Florida and told him to skip the extra Minor League outing.

“We don’t really have a long guy if we start Phelpsie today, so we felt if something were to happen with Phelpsie we’d have a little trouble there,” Girardi said. “It was kind of out of necessity. We wanted him to make one more start, but he’s going to make it here.”

If you’re wondering what Derek Jeter is up to, he took 41 ground balls this morning on the outfield grass standing near the left field fence. If this update sounds at all familiar, it’s because Jeter basically was doing the same thing on Feb. 11.

Jeter tried to suggest on March 24 that he hadn’t actually had a setback, but the fact that he seems to be starting Spring Training over points to that he is still weeks and not days away from being in a big league game.

That increases the importance that the Yankees get Eduardo Nunez back as soon as possible from his bruised right biceps; he is expected to only be available as a pinch-runner today but said he could play tomorrow.

The Yankees and Tigers get started here at Comerica Park at 4:05 p.m. ET. Lineups for both teams and expanded game information is available via MLB GameDay.

Greetings from Detroit! After last night’s vintage turn back the clock experience with Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera leading the Yankees to their first victory, the Bombers are here in the Motor City on a quick turnaround to try and spoil the Tigers’ home opener.

One interesting note from the last few days has been the defensive overshift on Robinson Cano, who has been limited to one hit in his first 12 at-bats of the young season. The Red Sox saw some success with it, and you’d imagine other teams may also give it a try as the year goes on, daring Cano to hit ground balls to the left side.

As Boston manager John Farrell explained back in New York, “He can hit to the opposite field a lot of times, but that’s typically in the air. When you see the spray charts, it’s pretty evident where a high number or high percentage of the balls on the ground will travel. We look to defend those areas.”

Joe Girardi said this morning that he hasn’t seen teams shift against Cano much, but teams are already doing it with Travis Hafner and (when he returns) Mark Teixeira. It’s not clear if Cano is really going to be in that group — the Tigers didn’t use the dramatic overshift during his first at-bat on Friday — or if he can make the adjustment to stop teams from trying it.

“Robbie’s a guy that has the ability to hit the ball the other way, so I’m curious to see how it’s going to play out,” Girardi said. “Robbie hits the ball the other way. A lot of times for a lot of guys, when they hit the ball on the ground it’s more to the pull side. That’s just the way it is for a lot of guys. We’ll see how it works out.”

Lineups for both teams and expanded game information is available via MLB GameDay.