Rafael Soriano is not only the fastest Yankee to untuck his shirt after a game, he’s a Yankee who has had much to do with where they are right now. Mariano Rivera wrecked his knee May 3 and Soriano has been a rather competent fill-in. We’ll see what happens in October, but the Yankees have [...]
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Brian Heyman here for Chad again today. Mark Teixeira is out of the starting lineup for the second straight game due to his left wrist inflammation. “He’s a little bit better today,” Girardi said. “He’s not a player for me today. I wouldn’t imagine so. We’ll see in the next couple of days if we [...]
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Brian Heyman here for Chad today. Mark Teixeira isn’t in the starting lineup. He missed two games after injuring his left wrist July 29 when Boston was here last time and then aggravated it with a dive the next game against the Orioles. It was sore and inflamed then, and it’s sore and inflamed again. [...]
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Via David Waldstein, manager Joe Girardi will not be suspended by the league for his tirade and subsequent ejection in Thursday’s game following third base ump Tim Welke’s premature foul call on a ball that hit the line. Girardi made his case to MLB’s Executive VP of Baseball Ops Joe Torre, and that was that. No surprises here.
Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog
Girardi will not be suspended for Thursday’s tirade
Freddy Garcia struggled a bit in the heat and humidity, allowing five hits and four walks in five innings. But he only cracked for two runs in this 6-2 victory over the Mariners. “Freddy battled,” Derek Jeter said. “Freddy has been around a long time. He knows how to mix things up.” Garcia snapped a [...]
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Brian Heyman here for Chad today. No Yankees lineup yet. Joe Girardi was waiting for an update on the state of Mark Teixeira’s left wrist from a doctor and whether he could take batting practice. And Teixeira is indeed giving batting practice a try right now at a little before 5. Tonight’s starter is CC [...]
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Brian Heyman back here at the Stadium for this middle game of the series against the Red Sox. Nick Swisher still isn’t in the lineup. This will be the seventh straight time the game has started without him because of his mild hip flexor strain. The thing is, Swisher says he feels available for anything [...]
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Hello there, Brian Heyman here at Yankee Stadium for Chad, ready to watch the first-place Yankees and the last-place Red Sox. Takes a little of the fun out of it. But Ichiro must be excited, slipping on the pinstripes for his home debut. He figures to be greeted warmly. But he knows he’s going to [...]
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I went with short-ish answers this week so I could squeeze in as many questions as possible, but I still only got to six. Remember to use the Submit A Tip box in the sidebar to send us anything, mailbag questions or otherwise.
Missin’ you. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Mark asks: Assuming Brett Gardner is indeed out for the year and that the Yanks’ main AL title competitor, the Rangers, make another big trading deadline splash and acquire either Cole Hamels or Zack Greinke, should the Yanks counter by acquiring a solid hitting left fielder?
Nah, don’t make moves to “answer” another team’s moves. That’s how you end up with a Kei Igawa situation. If the Yankees are able to find a reasonable upgrade for the outfield given Gardner’s surgery, then by all means go for it. What another team — particularly a non-division rival — does is immaterial. Put the best possible team on the field and it doesn’t matter what everyone else does.
Cory asks: One big element missing from the offense this year is speed. Obviously Gardy’s out and his 49 steals from a year ago makes a big difference, but a 36-year-old Alex Rodriguez is the team leader. 38-year-old Jeter is second, and rounding out the top eight are guys with limited action (Jayson Nix, Dewayne Wise, Eduardo Nunez, Gardner), a 40-year-old Ibanez, and Curtis Granderson. Do you expect Cashman to target speed come July 31, or is that an element they can live without this year?
We’re already heard that if they do make a trade to acquire a replacement outfielder, that it would be a speedy center field type similar to Gardner. Overall team speed is the club’s one glaring hole just because there is none of it. They’re very station-to-station but they can live with that because they get guys on base and hit a bunch of extra-base hits. I think they can get by without any speed but it is something that would be nice to have, just to add a different element to the offense and occasionally put some pressure on the pitcher. Like I said, if they find someone reasonable to fill that need, by all means go for it.
Mike asks: Does signing money from competitive lottery picks factor into a team’s bonus pool? Could you see the Yanks sending a prospect to a team in exchange for the pick and the pool money, someone like a Adam Warren or Corban Joseph? Other team gets a prospect near MLB ready and doesn’t have to pay $1M for him, Yankees get the pick and don’t have to lose the prospect in the Rule 5 draft.
Yep, the extra competitive balance lottery picks comes with extra draft pool money and they can be traded. There are a dozen such picks and the Yankees don’t have one because they’re the Yankees. I have no idea how teams will value those picks in a trade but I’d guess they’d value the draft pool money more than the pick itself. Trading a near-MLB ready guy like Warren or CoJo seems like a backwards move given the high attrition rate of draft picks in general. I’d rather use them as part of a package for a piece to help the big league team or just keep them for depth. These competitive lottery picks seem like they would be the second or third piece in any trade, not the headliner.
(AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
Jon asks: A lot has been mentioned about the Royals looking for starting pitching (now and future). Could a package of David Phelps, Brett Marshall, and another lesser prospect get us Alex Gordon?
I don’t think that’s nearly enough. Gordon’s one of the better outfielders in the game even if his power dropped off quite a bit this year, and he’s signed to very reasonable long-term contract ($50M through 2015 with a player option for 2016). As impressive as Phelps has been in the first half, he’s still just mid-to-back-end starter and that’s not enough incentive for Royals. If they’re going to move Gordon, they’ll need a potential impact, number one type guy in return. Just look at what the White Sox gave up to acquire Nick Swisher at a similar point of his career — a potential front-line guy in Gio Gonzalez, another high-end pitching prospect (Fautino DeLoSantos), and a solid outfield prospect (Ryan Sweeney). Gordon obviously makes sense for New York but they would really need to sweeten that pot.
Michael asks: What do you think it would take for Joe Girardi to get fired in the next couple of years? Losing in the ALDS, losing in the wild card round, not making the playoffs, or maybe even just not winning the World Series?
An awful lot. Hal Steinbrenner, Brian Cashman, and the rest of the brain trust hand-picked Girardi for the job so it would take a ton for him to get fired. They’d have to miss the playoffs a few years in a row I believe, and even then he would just be a scapegoat. More than likely, the end of the Girardi era will come when he says he’s had enough and decides to walk away due to burnout or because another team offers a megacontract.
Anonymous asks: Given Rafael Soriano‘s success in Mariano Rivera‘s absence, do you see the front office pushing Cashman to renegotiate a contract and extend him beyond 2013 when this season is over? Despite the tools, something tells me David Robertson won’t be successful as our closer and there’s no telling how Mo will perform coming back from an injury at 43 years of age. Speaking of which, what kind of money will Mo receive next year if he’s healthy?
I really hope they don’t push to re-sign Soriano. If he opts out, say thank you very much and let him walk. That $14M he’s owed next season can go not just towards replacing Soriano with another high-end reliever, but also replacing Swisher in right (or even re-signing him) and maybe even adding various depth pieces. Soriano’s been awesome, better than we could have possibly expected once Mo went down, but he won’t continue pitching at this level because no reliever not named Mariano ever has sustained a performance like this across multiple years. It just doesn’t happen and I wouldn’t expect a 32-year-old with a history of elbow problems to do it.
As for Mo, I think they’ll re-sign him to a one-year deal at similar money to what he’s making now, so $15-16M. I know he’s 43 and coming off knee surgery and all that, but I have a hard time thinking they’ll play hardball with the money. They might hold the line on one-year but I doubt they’d balk at a high salary. It’s just money and Mo’s one of the few players with legitimate high-end marquee value that transcends his on-field value.
Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog
Mailbag: Draft Picks, Gordon, Girardi, Soriano
It’s hard to nitpick these days. All the Yankees do is win. After this 6-0 rain-shortened victory, they had taken three straight, six of seven, nine of 11, 26 of 35 and 36 of 49, making them a season-high 23 games above .500 at 57-34. This was their eighth sweep, one short of their total [...]
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Brian Heyman here for Chad today at Yankee Stadium for this homestand finale. This is game six of 13 straight coming out of the break. Curtis Granderson had started 89 of the first 90 games, 88 of them in center. But Joe Girardi picked today to sit him at the start with lefty Ricky Romero [...]
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New York Yankees OF Nick Swisher left the Wednesday’s 7-5 loss to the Blue Jays with a groin injury, Joe Girardi said.
Girardi didn’t seem to think it was too serious, adding that Swisher is not going for any test. It seems like a slight strain, at this point.
Full story on ESPN
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Joe Girardi rarely goes public with criticism of one of his players, so it was unusual Tuesday when the New York Yankees manager detailed his unhappiness with the physical condition of Phil Hughes last year.
Hughes became a dominant pitcher in 2010 when he went 18-8 and was picked for the AL All-star team, but he slipped to a 5-5 record in an injury filled 2011. Girardi suggested perhaps a sense of entitlement slipped in last year and made clear that Hughes is among four pitchers competing for three open slots in the Yankees’ starting rotation.
“I think you can tell by the way he came into camp that there’s a little bit more of an edge,” Girardi said before Hughes was to make his first spring training appearance, against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Bradenton. “He worked extremely hard this winter. He was here a couple weeks early, throwing off the mound, doing sides. That’s not something we ask our players to do. We had a lot of people come in early, but he knows that there is competition, and nothing is going to be handed to you.”
Only CC Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda are assured of starting spots, with Hughes battling Ivan Nova, Michael Pineda and Freddy Garcia for the remaining three berths.
A laid-back 25-year-old from Orange County in California, Hughes has faced great expectations since the Yankees took him with the 24th pick of the 2004 amateur draft. When he came up to the majors in 2007, he had a no-hit bid through 6 1-3 innings at Texas in his second start, leaving with a pulled left hamstring.
He was just 0-4 in 2008, missing most of the season with a broken rib, then was shifted to the bullpen in June 2009 and became the primary setup man for closer Mariano Rivera. Back in the rotation the following year, he seemed set for stardom.
Then he went 0-1 with a 13.94 ERA in his first three starts last year, when he had trouble reaching 90 mph with his fastball.
He was sidelined from April 15 to July 6 because of an inflamed right shoulder and missed a chance to start in the playoffs when a seven-year-old back injury recurred in mid-September. He threw 2 1-3 scoreless innings over two appearances in the five-game division series loss to Detroit.
“The thing about this game, it’s not just going to happen,” Girardi said. “You’ve got to work it, this game. This game will humble you very quickly, because players make adjustments. You have to have an edge in this game, I think, and if you want to stay and be consistent and continue to get better, there has to be a strong work ethic, because someone is waiting to take your job.”
Girardi made it clear that Hughes had been told to report in better condition.
“The one thing that we expect of our players is that you come in in tip-top shape if you’ve been here before,” the manager said. “Spring training used to be a time when you got in shape. Not the case anymore.”
BOSTON (AP) — A.J. Burnett kept the New York Yankees close, Russell Martin put them ahead and Mariano Rivera nailed down a satisfying victory over Boston.
Rivera struck out AL batting leader Adrian Gonzalez with the bases loaded for the final out and Martin hit a go-ahead double in the seventh that sent New York to a 4-2 victory Thursday night despite stranding 12 runners over the first six innings.
Burnett, coming off an awful August, allowed two runs and five hits in 5 1-3 innings after adjusting his delivery. Yankees manager Joe Girardi thought the changes would work.
“I just had a feeling tonight he was going to get it done,” Girardi said, “and he did.”
Struggling to stay in the rotation after going 1-2 with an 11.91 ERA in five starts last month, Burnett changed the position of his hands at the start of his windup.
“I’ve only really been working on that for three days. I’ve been pitching the same way for 11 years so it’s a big change, but as the game went on I felt more comfortable,” he said. “It all goes down to focus and conviction and that was a lot better.”
The Yankees trailed 2-1 when Burnett left, then scored three times in the seventh off Alfredo Aceves (9-2) in a tense game that took 4 hours, 21 minutes.
Nick Swisher started the inning by striking out. Aceves then walked Andruw Jones and hit Jesus Montero, a top prospect making his major league debut, with a pitch. Aceves was replaced by Daniel Bard, who gave up a double to right-center by Martin, the first batter he faced. Two runners scored and Martin went to third on the throw to the plate. Pinch-hitter Eric Chavez followed with an RBI single.
“Tremendous,” Girardi said of Martin’s hit. Bard “is one of the best relievers in the game and we were able to get some runs off him.”
The Red Sox threatened in the ninth, loading the bases on walks to Jed Lowrie and Jacoby Ellsbury and a single by Marco Scutaro. But Rivera caught Gonzalez looking at a third strike and picked up his 36th save in 41 opportunities.
“We gave ourselves a chance,” Boston manager Terry Francona said.
Dustin Pedroia’s two-run homer after a double by Gonzalez gave the Red Sox a 2-1 lead in the fourth. Aceves escaped a bases-loaded jam in the sixth, then struggled in the seventh and took his first loss in relief after winning 18 straight decisions out of the bullpen.
The Yankees moved within a half-game of the first-place Red Sox in the AL East by winning two of three in the series. New York is 4-11 against Boston this season, and the teams have one three-game series remaining at Yankee Stadium from Sept. 23-25.
Cory Wade (3-0) got the win after pitching to just one batter, Lowrie, who ended the sixth by flying out.
Boston starter Jon Lester struggled in each of his five innings, throwing 114 pitches, but gave up only one run. That scored in the first when he needed 43 pitches. Leadoff hitter Derek Jeter struck out, but Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira singled and Robinson Cano drove in the run with a double.
“I tried to minimize the damage,” Lester said. “I was happy to get out of the first with one and from there on out it was a struggle.”
Teixeira left the game in the bottom of the seventh and is day-to-day after being hit by a pitch from Aceves on the side of the right knee in the sixth.
“I don’t know if I’ll have him (Friday)” in the opener of a three-game series against Toronto, Girardi said. “We’ll just wait and see.”
Burnett allowed one hit through three innings before giving up Pedroia’s homer into the center-field bleachers, his career-high 18th of the year. He hit 17 in 2008, when he was the AL MVP.
Burnett threw 94 pitches, walking David Ortiz on the last one. Boone Logan then struck out Carl Crawford. Wade came in and ended the inning by retiring Lowrie.
“It feels good to keep my team in it,” Burnett said. “Obviously, you want to go deeper, but to bounce back after a homer and to go as long as I could go and leave it all out there, it’s all I can do.”
NOTES: Aceves is 23-3 in his career. He entered the game as the only pitcher in baseball history to win 23 of his first 25 decisions. … The Red Sox added first baseman-outfielder Conor Jackson, obtained Wednesday night from the Oakland Athletics, and recalled left-hander Felix Doubront from Triple-A Pawtucket. … Montero stranded six runners as the designated hitter. … Bard’s streak of eight scoreless outings ended. … Ortiz extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a single in the second. … Phil Mickelson, playing in the Deutsche Bank Championship starting Friday in Norton, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. … The Yankees return home for the opener Friday night of a three-game series against the Blue Jays. Ivan Nova (14-4) pitches for New York against Brandon Morrow (9-9). … The Red Sox send Andrew Miller (6-1) to the mound against Derek Holland (12-5) in the opener Friday night of a three-game series with the Texas Rangers.
© 2011 The Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) — CC Sabathia finally beat the Red Sox funk, and it took an extra effort to do it.
The big Yankees left-hander struck out 10 on Tuesday night, throwing a season-high 128 pitches in six innings to beat Boston for the first time in five tries and lead New York to a 5-2 victory. The Yankees improved to 3-13 this season against the Red Sox, who still lead the AL East by one-half game.
“It’s always a big game when you’re playing the team you’re chasing,” Sabathia said, conceding to reporters that he had grown tired of the reminders of his struggles against Boston. “Of course, when you guys won’t stop talking about it.”
Sabathia (18-7) had been 0-4 with a 7.20 ERA against the Red Sox this year, and 17-3 with a 2.40 ERA against the rest of baseball. He allowed two runs on 10 hits and two walks; only once in his career has he thrown more than 128 pitches.
“He got big outs when he had to, and that’s CC,” said Yankees manager Joe Girardi, who was ejected with one out to go after Mariano Rivera hit a swinging Jarrod Saltalamacchia with a pitch – the fourth hit batter of the game. “It’s not like me to blow my top, but it’s an important game. This is a huge game, a huge series.”
Mariano Rivera finished the ninth for his 35th save.
John Lackey (12-10) allowed five runs – four earned – on seven hits and four walks, striking out three. Nick Swisher had three hits, and Francisco Cervelli hit a solo homer in the fifth, clapping as he crossed the plate. That may have been why, when he came up again in the seventh, Lackey hit him in the back, sparking a bench-clearing staredown.
“I totally understand how it could look that way. Guy hit a home run. Next at-bat, first pitch, you hit him,” Saltalamacchia said. “We had no intent on hitting him. It just happened that way.”
After getting hit, Cervelli moved toward the mound as the dugouts slowly emptied and home plate umpire Ed Rapuano tried to maintain order. There was nothing more than jawing back and forth, and in the end Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild was ejected.
In the first inning, Curtis Granderson took one off the end of the bat – or the hand, depending on whom you believe – and then Sabathia plunked Jacoby Ellsbury to lead off the bottom half.
“It’s part of the game,” Cervelli said. “Yankees-Boston, everybody wants to win.”
New York took a 1-0 lead in the second and made it 3-0 in the fourth when Robinson Cano hit an RBI double and scored on Eric Chavez’s single. After Boston cut the lead to 3-2 on Carl Crawford’s homer and an RBI double by Marco Scutaro, New York added Cervelli’s solo homer in the fifth and Derek Jeter’s run-scoring double play in the seventh that made it 5-2.
The Red Sox had 13 hits in all, but Saltalamacchia stranded seven and Adrian Gonzalez stranded five; each struck out three times. It was also a rough day at the plate for Jorge Posada, who left five men on and grounded into a pair of double plays, and Jeter, who returned after missing two games with a bruised kneecap, grounded out five times.
Notes: Game 2 of the series will match Phil Hughes and Josh Beckett. Beckett is 3-0 vs. the Yankees this season in four starts. Hughes is coming off a rocky start against Oakland, when he allowed six earned runs in 2 2-3 innings of a 22-9 Yankees victory. … Keegan Bradley, a Vermont native who won the PGA Championship this month, threw out the ceremonial first pitch and gave a big fist pump afterward. … Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield won’t pitch in the upcoming series against Texas. Instead he’ll make his start against Toronto. Andrew Miller, Erik Bedard and Lackey will face the Rangers. … Manager Terry Francona said RHP Clay Buchholz, on the 60-day disabled list with a stress fracture on his back, threw 25 times from 60 feet and did well in the limited workout. Francona said Buchholz will continue to rehabilitate slowly. “Whether this turns into him pitching (this season) or not, we don’t know, but it’s still exciting in the fact that he’s done so well to this point.” … Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez was out of the lineup, one day after receiving a cortisone injection for his sprained left thumb. Rodriguez said he hoped to play in the three-game series at Boston, but felt this weekend at home against Toronto was more likely.
© 2011 The Associated Press
New York Yankees pitcher C.C. Sabathia is 0-4 with a 7.20 ERA against the Boston Red Sox this year. Weird considering that Sabathia is 17-3 against everyone else this year.
Joe Girardi tried to offer somewhat of an explanation.
“It is somewhat surprising,” Girardi said. “We’ve seen him throw really good games against them, so I think he’s due. I think it’s probably a little bit of everything — their ability to adjust, when he makes a mistake they don’t miss it. They’re going to make you work. That’s the kind of club they are, a lot like our club. So like I said, you just go as long as you can go.”
With a win today, Sabathia would become just the fifth Yankees pitcher to win at least 18 games in three or more consecutive seasons and the first since Vic Raschi had four straight seasons of at least 18 wins from 1948-51.
Source: MLB
NEW YORK (AP) — CC Sabathia squandered a late lead, then Rafael Soriano served up a 10th-inning homer. And by the time Coco Crisp was done leveling the Yankees, they had slipped to second place in the AL East.
Crisp homered twice and drove in five runs, going 4 for 4 with a three-run shot in the 10th that sent the Oakland Athletics to a 6-4 victory Wednesday night.
“He’s an aggressive hitter, we know that,” New York manager Joe Girardi said. “He was aggressive tonight and he was the guy who beat us.”
The loss dropped the Yankees a game behind division-leading Boston when the Red Sox finished a 13-2 rout of Texas. New York has a 7½-game cushion in the wild-card race.
No. 9 batter Scott Sizemore was 4 for 4 with a tying double off Sabathia in the eighth and Oakland won at Yankee Stadium for the second consecutive night to clinch a series victory. The A’s had lost 10 straight series against New York, an Oakland record for futility against any team.
“It’s tough,” Sabathia said. “Obviously, a 2-1 lead in the eighth inning, you want to shut it down.”
Nick Swisher homered twice and Mark Teixeira also connected for the Yankees, who played without Alex Rodriguez (sprained left thumb) for the second straight game. New York had dropped only two of its previous 20 series since June 10.
Oakland goes for a three-game sweep Thursday afternoon with Rich Harden on the mound against Phil Hughes.
“Feels good,” interim manager Bob Melvin said. “We win the first two, got to try to get greedy. We’ll talk about that a little bit tomorrow, but it’s certainly a nice start to what looks to be a tough road trip.”
Trevor Cahill finally held New York in check, Brian Fuentes pitched out of a seventh-inning jam and the A’s improved to 7-26 against the Yankees since 2008. The last time Oakland won a series against New York was the summer of 2007, when it took two of three at old Yankee Stadium.
“They have the best players in baseball without a doubt,” Crisp said. “You go every position, there’s no letup. For us to come out here with our young guys and keep our composure in this intense ballpark said a lot.”
Fautino De Los Santos (2-0) struck out two in a perfect ninth. Andrew Bailey earned his 18th save, closing out the Yankees for the second straight night.
Bailey gave up a solo shot with two outs to Swisher, who barely missed a game-winning grand slam against the right-hander Tuesday when the ball was caught at the fence for the final out.
Cliff Pennington and Sizemore singled with one out in the 10th against Soriano (2-2), who had been very effective since returning July 29 from a long stint on the disabled list. Jemile Weeks struck out but Crisp hit the next pitch, a hanging slider, into the second deck in right for his seventh homer.
“Today wasn’t my day. I left a couple pitches up,” Soriano said through a translator.
It was the second career multihomer game for Crisp — the other one came on June 18, 2007, with Boston at Atlanta. He went deep from both sides of the plate Wednesday, jumping on the first pitch both times.
Teixeira tied it in the eighth with a long leadoff homer against Grant Balfour.
Looking for his 18th win, Sabathia coughed up a one-run lead in the top half. Sizemore tied it with an RBI double and Crisp gave Oakland a 3-2 lead with an RBI single off David Robertson.
Derek Jeter kept it close by stretching out for Hideki Matsui’s low liner to shortstop, starting an unassisted double play that ended the inning.
Sabathia gave up a home run to his second batter, Crisp, but little else until the eighth. The big lefty also benefited from some sharp defense: New York opened the sixth with a pinpoint relay when Weeks tried to stretch a long double.
Swisher put the Yankees ahead 2-1 in the bottom half with an opposite-field homer to left-center off Cahill, who allowed two runs in six-plus innings. The 23-year-old right-hander, an All-Star in 2010, entered 0-4 with a 13.50 ERA in four career starts against New York.
“I felt pretty confident out there. I wasn’t afraid to get hit. It couldn’t get too much worse than it did last time,” Cahill said.
Swisher also had a three-run shot Tuesday night.
Jeter delivered an RBI single in the third, his fifth hit in five at-bats. That gave the captain 3,055 career hits, tying ex-Yankee Rickey Henderson for 21st place.
NOTES: Harden matched a career high with 11 strikeouts in his most recent outing, a 2-0 victory Friday over Toronto, and is 3-0 with a 1.78 ERA in four starts against AL East clubs. … Yankees GM Brian Cashman wouldn’t comment on reports that the team claimed Chicago Cubs 1B Carlos Pena off trade waivers. … After the series finale Thursday, New York plays 17 of its next 23 games on the road. … Cano extended his hitting streak to a season-high 15 games. … Two injured relievers, LHPs Pedro Feliciano and Damaso Marte, are scheduled to pitch in a Gulf Coast League game Thursday. “Are we counting on them? No. Is it possible they get back? Yes,” Girardi said. “Obviously they’re taking steps in the right direction if they’re going to throw in a game. But we have to see how they feel after they throw in the game. I mean, it’s a pretty big step for both of them.”
Copyright 2011 Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Even with Alex Rodriguez back in the lineup for the first time in more than six weeks, the New York Yankees still found themselves needing an offensive spark in the later innings against Minnesota.
Manager Joe Girardi wasn’t surprised in the least that Curtis Granderson was the one to provide it.
Granderson flew around the bases for an inside-the-park home run to help the New York Yankees to a 3-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday, A-Rod’s first game back since July 7.
“Nothing he does really surprises me anymore,” Girardi said. “You just kind of expect him to do something great every day.”
Rodriguez went 0 for 5 in the cleanup spot, but Mark Teixeira followed Granderson’s seventh-inning speed show with a more conventional homer and Ivan Nova (13-4) pitched seven shutout innings as the Yankees took three of four from the Twins.
Nova allowed five hits and struck out five to rebound from a poor start in Kansas City and Mariano Rivera picked up his 33rd save in 38 tries.
Joe Mauer had three hits for the Twins, who lost starter Nick Blackburn in the second inning because of a strained right forearm. Phil Dumatrait (1-2) got the loss in two innings of relief.
In a breakout season in the Bronx, Granderson has launched 34 balls into the seats to help the Yankees weather Rodriguez’s long absence.
The powerful Yankees offense left the bases loaded twice in the first five innings and seemed to be slogging through the final game of a seven-day road trip when Granderson stepped to the plate against Jose Mijares in the seventh.
His drive hit high off the out-of-town scoreboard in right-center field and got away from both center fielder Ben Revere and right fielder Jason Kubel.
“I’ve never seen a ball hit up into that area,” Kubel said. “I just thought it was like every other ball, 99 percent of the time it just drops down and hits the fence.”
Instead it kicked away and Granderson motored around the bases and easily beat the throw home for his third career inside-the-park home run.
“The main thing is that each day I try to do everything I can, at any point, whether it be a sac bunt, a hit-and-run, try to steal a base, drive the baseball to help this team win a ballgame,” Granderson said.
It’s the kind of play MVPs make, and A-Rod wasn’t shy about making that connection.
“When people compare him to other players, you can’t forget he’s a center fielder and he’s playing a high quality defense out there,” Rodriguez said. “He’s scoring a bunch of runs, RBIs, the two most important stats in baseball. And he’s helping our first-place team do what they’re doing. In my eyes, he’s the MVP.”
Teixeira followed with a solo shot to left field to make it 3-0, giving them enough room even with Rodriguez still shaking the rust off in his first game in more than a month and a half.
Rodriguez missed 38 games after having surgery to repair the meniscus in his right knee. The injury sapped a lot of the power from his muscular swing, limiting him to 13 homers in his first 80 games. He still has not homered since June 11.
Even though they went 25-13 in his absence, the Yankees were elated to have him back in the cleanup spot to help them in their duel with Boston for the AL East title. New York started the day with a 1/2-game lead over the Red Sox in the division.
A-Rod grounded out to shortstop twice, popped out to first base with bases loaded in the fifth, flew out to center field in the seventh and popped out to right field in the ninth.
“I was happy with the way I saw the ball and happy with my balance,” Rodriguez said. “I got a lot of good pitches to hit and just missed them by a little bit. But I liked the way I felt up there.”
He was tested in the field when Revere laid down a soft bunt down the third baseline to start the sixth inning. Rodriguez pounced on it, bare-handing the ball and firing to first just in time to get him. But he also mishandled a hot grounder to his backhand in the eighth off the bat of Mauer, who was awarded a hit in a close call by the official scorer.
“Today was a big success, especially because we won the game, most importantly,” Rodriguez said. “I got five at-bats, got some work on the field. But for the most part I liked the way I felt up there.”
With the Yankees offense struggling in the early innings, it was up to Nova to keep them in the game. The right-hander wiggled out of a two-on, nobody-out jam in the fifth. It was a good sign for Nova, who gave up seven runs in 5 1-3 innings of his last start against the Royals.
Blackburn left after walking the bases loaded with one out in the second inning. The team called it a lateral forearm strain and said he would be re-evaluated on Monday, and manager Ron Gardenhire said a trip to the disabled list could be needed.
“I was struggling bad enough,” Blackburn said. “Couldn’t throw any strikes, figured it was time to shut it down.”
NOTES: With Rodriguez on the field and Jim Thome in the lineup for the Twins, it was the first time two players with 600 career homers had met in a game since Hank Aaron’s Braves played Willie Mays’ Mets on July 17, 1973. Thome went 1 for 3 with a walk. … Yankees 1B Mark Teixeira had a fielding error in the third inning that allowed Rene Tosoni to reach base. It snapped an 87-game errorless streak that was the longest single-season streak of his career. … The Twins drew 41,242 fans on Sunday, their 53rd sellout of the season. The series attendance was 164,950, the highest total for a four-game series since Target Field opened last year. … The Yankees said RHP Freddy Garcia will pitch a maximum of four innings or 65 pitches in a rehab start for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Monday. … The Yankees are off on Monday before opening a series against the Oakland Athletics in the Bronx on Tuesday. They will send Bartolo Colon (8-7, 3.54 ERA) to the mound to face RHP Brandon McCarthy (6-6, 3.74). The 38-year-old Colon gave up five runs on seven hits in five innings of his last start against Kansas City. But he is undefeated in his last three home starts, going 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA. … The Twins will open a series against the Baltimore Orioles on Monday night. Carl Pavano (6-9, 4.52) will start for the Twins against Zach Britton (6-9, 4.66). After a rocky finish to July, Pavano has a 2.01 ERA over 22 1-3 innings pitched in three August starts.
© 2011 The Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)—Alex Rodriguez is almost there.
The New York Yankees weren’t ready to take their star third baseman off the disabled list for Saturday night’s game at Minnesota, but manager Joe Girardi said he plans to play Rodriguez on Sunday against the Twins if the three-time AL MVP feels all right in the morning.
“My mouth’s getting watery here,” Rodriguez said. “I’m ready to play, and I’ve watched enough baseball.”
Rodriguez went through another pregame workout on Saturday afternoon. He hasn’t played for the Yankees since July 7, due to a torn meniscus in his right knee that required surgery.
“Another good day for us,” Rodriguez said. “Hopefully today was the last day of workouts.”
He added: “The last three days have progressively gotten better. I’m not as winded after going first to third or first to home, and I’m pretty much ready to go.”
Girardi said he was pleased with what he saw on the field.
“I thought he was moving well, I thought he swung the bat well and I thought he moved in the field well,” Girardi said. “He answered all the questions. Let’s just see how he bounces back when he comes in tomorrow.”
Rodriguez said he hopes to play third base and Girardi didn’t rule that out, but the manager was noncommittal about where he’d put him.
The Yankees don’t play on Monday. They return home to host Oakland on Tuesday.
Rodriguez had surgery in July so he’d be at full strength for the stretch run in September, and so far his plan has played out. He’s said his power at the plate—an uncharacteristic 13 home runs in 305 at-bats—was diminished by the injury that made it difficult for him to push off during his swing.
“Hopefully tomorrow is the day we get it going,” Rodriguez said.
Copyright 2011 Associated Press
New York Yankees pitcher Freddy Garcia hasn’t pitched since Aug. 7. He was supposed to throw a bullpen session Thursday “to see if the cut on the right index finger had healed enough for him to throw” a split-fingered fastball, but he wasn’t able to throw, according to the New York Post, leading to some speculation that he’ll be put on the DL.
“He wasn’t ready,” Manager Joe Girardi said, the Post reports. Garcia could be put on the disabled list, the paper reports, and be eligible to come off on Tuesday.
Ivan Nova would take the start Sunday if Garcia is unable, according to the Post. That cut, by the way, came in a “kitchen accident.”
The 34-year-old Garcia has gone 10-7 with a 3.16 ERA this season.
Source: NY Post, Yahoo Sports