By Jon Lane
While I remain in New York dealing with a stubborn Jack Frost, Team Tampa is in Clearwater today covering today’s Yankees-Phillies game. Keep it locked in for a live blog and later, Chris Shearn and Co. will have interviews, news and nuggets as the Yankees take another step towards April 6, Opening Day in Baltimore.

Some quick hits and observations from today and over the weekend:

BREAKING NEWS: Curt Schilling has retired, posting a message on his blog. More on this later.

Xavier Nady would be the starting right fielder if the season started today, said Joe Girardi, but Nick Swisher will play an important role with the team. Swisher’s versatility is well-documented, as is his penchant for keeping things loose in Yankeeland. Shearn interviewed Swisher this morning, which YESNetwork.com will have up later.

Chien-Ming Wang will start the exhibition game against the Cubs on April 3. Andy Pettitte and A.J. Burnett will split the game on April 4.

As Shearn reported on Saturday, Phil Hughes was optioned to Triple-A Scranton. He was simply a victim of a numbers game and needs to pitch multiple and complete innings rather than sporadic innings. This makes sense to everyone except the Loyal Order of Joba to the Bullpen (LOJB).

In case you care, Alex Rodriguez made the news again for something not related to baseball, but his personal live. The New York Daily News first reported that Kristin Davis (not the actress but the former Manhattan madam who supplied Eliot Spitzer with hookers) dated A-Rod and supplied him with clients.

Draw your own conclusions. If you want to read the story, it’s here. (Racy photo alert!)

In more refreshing news, Yankees senior advisor Ray Negron’s new book, One Last Time: Good-Bye to Yankee Stadium was released last Tuesday and rose to No. 1 on the Amazon’s Best Seller List. Negron’s second book, The Greatest Story Never Told: The Babe and Jackie was No. 4. Negron doesn’t make a dime on the proceeds. They all go to multiple charities, so keep up the support.