"Now you know you can trust your arm again," Posada said. "That's the only thing I wanted to do - come out of spring training knowing you can throw somebody out and trust your arm again."

Three of the baserunners were inserted into the game by Pittsburgh's Triple-A Indianapolis team to give Posada the opportunity to make throws. After Gemmy Gonzalez stole second on the first attempt, which Posada said he rushed, the catcher then threw out Brian Friday, Shelby Ford and Gonzalez.

"I told myself, just slow everything down, and that's what I did," Posada said. "It worked out. We're going to keep building from today, but today is special. You throw a couple guys out and you feel good about that. It feels good that I'm back to 100 percent."

Yankees manager Joe Girardi, before departing for the Yankees' game against Tampa Bay in Port Charlotte, said it's important for Posada to have success throwing the ball.

CC Sabathia, the Yankees' expected opening day starter, allowed one run and seven hits over five innings for Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes-Barre against Indianapolis.

"Working with Jorge, that was good," Sabathia said. "We're starting to get on the same page."

The left-hander struck out three and walked one during an 81-pitch outing.

"Every club wants to have a guy like that," Girardi said. "CC is an innings eater and a winner. That's the best combination that you can have."

Notes: Injured 3B Alex Rodriguez (right hip surgery) was listed on a clubhouse bulletin board as one of the players scheduled to attend the Boys and Girls Clubs luncheon Tuesday in Tampa, but it turned out the list was outdated. Girardi said A-Rod, who is rehabbing in Vail. Colo, will not be there. Rodriguez is expected to out until May. ... Posada went 0-for-3 at the plate in Sunday's game. ... Yankees minor league LHP Kai Liu, one of the first Chinese players to sign with a major league team in 2007, threw batting practice.