BRADENTON, Fla. -- The battle between Ryan Vogelsong and Dave Williams for the Pirates' fifth starting job opened with a scoreless tie.

A hitless tie, too.

	Peter Diana, Post-Gazette Pirates Mark Redman pitches in a workout at Pirate City in Bradenton, Fla. Click photo for larger image.

Vogelsong and Williams each turned in two spotless innings in a 12-0 rout of Manatee Community College yesterday at McKechnie Field. Vogelsong, a right-hander, started and struck out three, walked one and threw a wild pitch. Williams, a left-hander, faced the minimum six batters and struck out three.

"It's early, but I was impressed with both of them," Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon said. "They had velocity ... poise ... they were down in the zone ... worked the count. Very impressive. And everything counts."

Vogelsong's outing marked the major-league debut of his split-finger fastball.

He began tinkering with the pitch on the side after last season, then introduced it into games in the Venezuelan winter league. His motivation was to replace his changeup, which he described as ineffective in 2004, when he went 6-13 for the Pirates and lost his starting job.

"After the season I had, I figured it wouldn't hurt to try something different, you know?" Vogelsong said. "I've got confidence in it, but I'm still not sure what it's going to do all the time."

Yesterday, he threw five splitters, roughly one of every five pitches. Two resulted in strikeouts, two others in groundouts. McClendon recalled two of the splitters as being "up in the zone," but otherwise expressed satisfaction with how they worked.

Other game highlights:

Manatee did not have a hit until Ryan Kennedy's one-out single in the sixth off left-hander John Grabow. Manatee ended up with six hits.

Infielder Edwards Guzman hit a grand slam in the seventh and finished with five RBIs.

Nate McLouth, one of the Pirates' top outfield prospects, went 3 for 3.

Yankees on deck

The Pirates will take a veteran group to Tampa, Fla., for their major-league exhibition opener against the New York Yankees at 1:15 p.m. today. Among the participants will be projected starters Jason Bay, Craig Wilson, Benito Santiago, Matt Lawton, Jose Castillo and Ty Wigginton.

Right-hander Kip Wells will start for the Pirates. Other pitchers expected to see duty are right-handers Todd Ritchie and Brian Meadows and left-hander Mike Gonzalez. The Yankees will open with right-hander Tanyon Sturtze.

It never is an ordinary experience for opponents of the Yankees, even in spring training. The game will be televised by ESPN and played before a capacity crowd at 10,387-seat Legends Field. And many of New York's top players are expected to start.

"It's just an exhibition, but it's going to have a pretty real feel to it," left-hander Mike Johnston said. "It's the Yankees."

Bradenton bits

Major League Baseball is scheduled to begin testing players for steroids today, but Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield said he had not been informed if the Pirates would be tested at the same time. He added that he does not expect to receive advance notice at any point.

Left-hander Oliver Perez will throw a 12-minute bullpen session today, an increase from nine minutes Tuesday. Pitching coach Spin Williams said the next step for Perez will be throwing live batting practice, which could happen as soon as Saturday.

Right-hander Joe Roa, slowed by an ailing lower back, had a long-toss session from 120 feet and will move ahead to bullpen work.

Former Pirates' catcher Manny Sanguillen reported for another stint as one of the team's special instructors.