Bomber bits

• Andy Pettitte threw another bullpen on Wednesday and said that he expects to have no problem making his start as scheduled on Friday against the Blue Jays in Toronto. Pettitte was sidelined as a precaution after he experienced back spasms following a flight home from Cleveland last week.

• Yankees captain Derek Jeter took ground balls and batting practice at the club's training complex in Tampa, Fla., again on Wednesday.

• Yankees right-hander Michael Pineda threw a live batting practice session of 35 pitches, split into two parts, on Tuesday. The outing was Pineda's third BP session, and a return to the big leagues in late May or early June remains possible. Also on Tuesday, left-hander Cesar Cabral pitched a scoreless inning in his second extended spring outing.

• On this date in 1951, Bob Sheppard announced his first lineup at the original Yankee Stadium, a batting order against the Red Sox that included Mickey Mantle playing his first Major League game. Mantle went 1-for-4 with a sixth-inning single off Bill Wight.

On this date in 1953, Mantle hit a home run off the Senators' Chuck Stobbs at Washington's Griffith Stadium that was estimated at 565 feet. Yankees PR representative Red Patterson said that he retrieved the ball and paced off the distance, giving birth to the phrase "tape-measure home run."