The Pittsburgh Pirates clearly are no match for the Yankees' minor leaguers. Of the 10 runs the Yanks scored through the seventh inning, eight were driven in by top Bombers prospects.

Some of the details:

- Austin Jackson hit a two-run home run, his first of the spring, off Denny Bautista.

- Uber-catching prospect Jesus Montero also notched his first spring home run -- a grand slam, no less, off Chris Bootcheck.

- Former Thunder shortstop Ramiro Pena had no hits but still managed to drive in two runs.

- Both Jackson and Pena stole a base.

It wasn't all rosy for the Yanks' prospects, though. Mark Melancon, the reliever whom most predict will succeed Mariano Rivera at closer, had possibly the worst outing of his career.

His line: 2/3 innings pitched, 6 hits, 5 earned runs, 1 walk, 1 strikeout and 2 home runs. Not pretty, but I guess even Melancon is due for a bad day now and again. To put it in perspective, Melancon allowed just 24 earned runs in 95 innings pitched last season.

All in all, a pretty nice seven innings for some of the boys in Bradenton.

UPDATE: Our long national nightmare is over, folks. Kevin Russo has a spring training hit. He got a single late in the game, going from 0-for-17 to 1-for-18. Good for him.