Pavano dives right in

The ball was trickling along the first base line and Carl Pavano - he of the balky back - lumbered after it. Pavano bent down, fielded the grounder and, in a move that could hardly be called graceful, tumbled to the ground and tagged the bag with his glove as he rolled. For just a moment, everyone feared the worst. Pavano was making his spring debut two days before the Yankees leave Florida because he's been nursing an injury and this couldn't have helped. But Pavano came up smiling, shot a goofy look at Joe Torre and pitching coach Ron Guidry - who was laughing hysterically - and then proceeded back to the mound to finish his lone inning of work.

He threw 11 more pitches after that - one of which Chase Utley hit over the right field fence - and exited having allowed one run and one hit in the Yankees' 3-0 loss to the Phillies. He spoke afterward about being pleased with his velocity (which reached 92 mph, according to YES Network radar) as well as his command, but conceded that his flop into first will almost surely be the lingering memory from his first appearance since last Aug. 3. Continue