The LoHud Yankees Blog

As I write this, Alex Rodriguez is on the field taking batting practice and – just my opinion – he looks to be moving pretty freely. I know A-Rod is trying to be cautious about whether he’ll return on Sunday (the first day he’s eligible) but at this point there doesn’t seem to be any reason why he wouldn’t.

Much of Joe Girardi’s pre-game press conference centered on CC Sabathia, who is going for his 19th win of the season this afternoon. CC has downplayed the importance of reaching 20 wins for the first time in his career, but Girardi knows it would have meaning to him.

“I think it would mean a lot,” Girardi said. “And I think the longer he was to get away from the game, I think it would mean more. I think you can reflect back on things a lot more when you’re done and things aren’t moving so fast. … A 20-win season for any pitcher, I think, is a big deal.”

Some other tidbits:

• Girardi hadn’t yet seen Andy Pettitte today (he met with us around 11:15 a.m.) and said he was taking that as a good sign that Pettitte’s lower body wasn’t overly sore after yesterday’s bullpen. “If he was here at 9 in the morning, I probably would have been more concerned,” Girardi said. I’ll pass along any updates we get.

• It certainly seems like Girardi had at least a quick word with Jorge Posada about the foolishness of last night’s ejection, though the manager wouldn’t flat-out confirm that. “I’ve talked to him about some things,” Girardi said. “And he understands. But Jorgie is an emotional guy. And that’s one of the things we love so much about Jorgie because he brings that intensity every day, so sometimes with all that great intensity that he brings to the field every day, sometimes things happen. But I don’t want him to change what he’s doing most of the time, because his personality is important to this club.”

Obviously Posada’s tirade at plate ump Dana DeMuth would have been an even bigger deal if rosters hadn’t expanded and Chad Moeller wasn’t available to come in and catch the ninth inning, though Girardi said he believes Posada would have held his tongue if he’d known the Yankees had no catchers behind him. Have to say, I’m not so sure I agree with him on that. Posada was pretty hot over that strike-three call.

• How has Eduardo Nunez, who didn’t play third base much in the minors, looked there so far? “It’s totally different playing third base than shortstop,” Girardi said. “The ball gets to you a lot quicker, the throw is different. I think he’s handled himself very well. I know he made an error the other day, but that can happen to anyone. And he hasn’t let his offense affect his defense or his defense affect his offense so I’ve been happy with him.”

Jeter SS
Swisher RF
Teixeira 1b
Cano 2b
Thames DH
Posada C
Kearns LF
Nunez 3b
Gardner CF

Sabathia P

Joe Girardi remembers how his old manager, Don Zimmer, used to talk about “personality hits.” If a guy was particularly scuffling at the plate and his confidence was down, one hit – just one – could be enough to turn his outlook around. Along those lines, tonight was a “personality win” for A.J. Burnett, Girardi said, as the righthander got his first victory since July 28.

Now obviously Burnett pitched well at points during that stretch – eight innings of one-run ball against the Royals most notably – but there’s something to be said for feeling like you’re a part of the team’s success, and even Burnett admitted it felt good to finally get a win.

“It helps – it’s a good win for the team,” he said. “My job is to go out and do what I did tonight. I’m going to pitch well and now’s the time to do it.”

That was a common theme, as both Burnett and Derek Jeter talked about the importance of forgetting their less-than-appetizing season statistics since all that matters now is what happens over these next four weeks or so. “I don’t look,” Jeter said when asked about seeing his numbers on the scoreboard. “I’d love to be hitting .350 but that’s not the case.”

Does he care? Of course. But he cares more about contributing, and tonight Jeter went 1-for-5, reached on an error and scored two of the four Yankee runs. Knowing Jeter, he’ll take that and a win every time.

Here’s the Girardi audio:

• What stood out about Burnett’s performance? His curveball and change-up. If those two pitches are on, particularly the change-up, it makes Burnett’s fastball even more dominant. “If (the change) is a good one, it gives hitters something different to think about,” Girardi said. For those who were watching tonight, you might have noticed the change-up with a particularly nasty dive to it; Girardi even likened it to a splitter. “I attacked,” Burnett said.

Here’s some of Burnett’s audio:

• Mark Teixeira now has 50 RBI in his last 53 games going back to July 1, though even he admitted his hits tonight weren’t exactly thunderous blasts. “Two of the hits were actually lucky,” he said. “Ground balls with eyes.”

• Assuming he feels OK tomorrow, Andy Pettitte will throw a simulated game on Saturday. If all goes well, he could be headed on a minor-league rehab outing after that.

• Jorge Posada definitely had a legit gripe over the strike three call from Dana DeMuth in the eighth, but Posada is lucky that he threw his fit tonight instead of yesterday. Since rosters had expanded, the Yankees had Chad Moeller available to come in and catch the ninth. Girardi said he was “really glad” he had Moeller since Eduardo Nunez was already out of the game and Ramiro Pena – who is the emergency catcher – was set to go to third base.

• Nice work out of the bullpen, with Joba Chamberlain getting into and out of trouble in the seventh and Boone Logan, Kerry Wood and Mariano Rivera following him to close the game out. Asked about Logan and Wood, Girardi said, “They’ve meant a lot. They’ve given us options. They give us a nice group of guys down there that can get big outs.” For the record, Logan has retired 27 of the last 31 lefties he’s faced while Wood has allowed just one earned run in 13 1/3 innings since coming to the Bronx.

That’s it for tonight. Back at it tomorrow with CC looking for the sweep. Thanks to everyone for reading.

A few hours after getting a good report from Andy Pettitte, the Yankees got another round of positive news on their pitchers as A.J. Burnett broke out of his latest funk. Burnett allowed three runs in six innings to earn his first victory since July 28, and the Yankees beat the A’s, 4-3.

Mark Teixeira drove in three to provide most of the offense on the night, while Derek Jeter singled and scored twice. Joba Chamberlain, Boone Logan, Kerry Wood and – of course – Mariano Rivera got the final nine outs as the Yankees won their fifth straight.

YANKEES (82-50)
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Marcus Thames DH
Austin Kearns LF
Curtis Granderson CF
Eduardo Nunez 3B
Francisco Cervelli C

RHP A.J. Burnett (9-12, 5.17)
Burnett vs. Athletics

ATHLETICS (65-66)
Coco Crisp CF
Daric Barton 1B
Kurt Suzuki C
Jack Cust DH
Kevin Kouzmanoff 3B
Mark Ellis 2B
Jeff Larish LF
Rajai Davis RF
Cliff Pennington SS

LHP Brett Anderson (3-5, 3.32)
Anderson vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 7:05 p.m. / YES Network, ESPN

UMPIRES: HP Dana DeMuth, 1B CB Bucknor, 2B Kerwin Danley, 3B Doug Eddings

WEATHER: Hot. Really hot, actually, but cooling. Clear skies.

KINGS OF THE MOUNTAIN: The Yankees took over first place in the division on June 20 and have either led or been tied for the lead every day but one since then. In one of the more random facts I’ve ever seen, Elias says that the Yankees have been tied for the division lead 23 times this season, setting a franchise record.

DAYS OF OUR LIVES: Starting tomorrow, the Yankees will play five straight day games (including Monday’s Labor Day matinee). That’s the first time since 2004, according to Elias, that they’ll play so many day games in a row, though Joe Girardi said he’s hopeful that – if the forecasts he’s seen are right – they’ll only be stuck in brutal heat for one of them. “The heat will be somewhat of an issue, but after that, it’s going to cool off and it shouldn’t be much of an issue,” Girardi said.

ALEX AWAITING: Alex Rodriguez hit on the field before tonight’s game and is taking a cautious approach about when he’ll return to the lineup. The Yankees expect that A-Rod, who hasn’t played since Aug. 21, will be activated from the disabled list on Sunday which is the first day he’s eligible. “I’m taking a very precautionary approach and we want to be conservative and we want to make sure we are as close to 100 percent as possible,” Rodriguez said.

UPDATE, 7:43 p.m.: Sorry for lack of updates but I’m plowing through some newspaper work. The Yankees have to be pleased with Burnett so far, particularly with his change-up, which has looked nasty (he used it to strike out Ellis). He needed just 10 pitches to get through his last inning.

UPDATE, 7:49 p.m.: That was what you’d call a seeing-eye single for Teixeira — bounces just past Kouzmanoff, just past Pennington and into left. It’s now 4-0 Yankees.

UPDATE, 8:09 p.m.: After needing just 16 pitches to get through the third and fourth innings, Burnett gives up a leadoff double and then a towering home run to Kevin Kouzmanoff. Temporary blip or start of a meltdown? It’s 4-2 Yankees.

UPDATE, 8:55 p.m.: Burnett’s 91st pitch of the night is a nasty curveball to get Jeff Larish with a man on in the sixth, giving him eight strikeouts on the night. Got to say, this is legit progress for Burnett (albeit against pretty weak competition); now the Yankees need to tack on and give him and the bullpen a little room.

Andy Pettitte came through his bullpen session this afternoon without any major issues and said he it was “a great day” for him as he recovers from a groin injury.

“I’m going to come in tomorrow and see how it feels,” Pettitte said. “I was a little tender after my last time and obviously I did more this time. I hope I just have a little bit of soreness. I imagine I will.”

Pettitte had initially suggested that he could be back about a week-and-a-half from now and he said he’s not sure how today’s bullpen would affect that estimate. Pettitte threw 30 pitches, sat down for about five or six minutes, then threw “a good hard simulated inning,” he said.

Although Pettitte’s schedule is still to be determined, he expects to face hitters in a simulated game before making at least one minor league rehab start. “It’s just a matter of where,” he said.

The best part of today for Pettitte was that he was able to focus on the location of his pitches, instead of feeling for any pain every time he threw the ball. “I’m a long way from the command that I need,” he said, “but this is a good start.”

As you’ll hear if you listen to the audio of Joe Girardi’s press conference, the manager didn’t even wait for a question to announce the news that Javier Vazquez is returning to the rotation. Jason Zillo asked who wanted to start and Girardi said, “Why don’t I start?” before telling the media that Vazquez will replace Dustin Moseley as Saturday’s starter.

Asked to explain his decision, Girardi said Dave Eiland has worked with Vazquez on his leg kick which, ostensibly, will allow Vazquez to stay “on top of” his pitches more effectively. Girardi pointed to how Vazquez responded to being skipped earlier this season as an encouraging sign (in addition to the crispness he’s shown in his last two relief outings) and said, “I don’t sense that he’ll need another one of these” when asked if he was concerned about Vazquez twice needing extra time off to get his velocity back.

That doesn’t mean, however, that Girardi is committing to this particular version of his rotation. Phil Hughes has innings limits; A.J. Burnett has been (incredibly) erratic; Andy Pettitte is throwing a bullpen session as I write this and his health remains a question mark. There are, obviously, a number of moving pieces.

“We might skip someone at some point or we might give a guy a shorter outing at some point,” Girardi said. “This is not permanent. I’m just saying this is what we’re going to do now.”

• Much like some of you asked during today’s live chat – go here to watch a replay of it – Girardi was asked about the possibility of Derek Jeter being moved down in the order. His answer, essentially, was a variation on “don’t hold your breath.”

“I don’t see it happening,” Girardi said. “We still see him as a top of the order guy.”

• Is A.J. Burnett pitching for his job at all tonight? “That’s not a thought in my mind,” Girardi said. “A.J. is a guy that we need, and we need him to pitch at a high level so it’s important that we get him going.”

• Brett Gardner is just getting a day off; look for Curtis Granderson to get one soon, too.

• Alfredo Aceves will throw for Trenton tomorrow and, performance-wise, “he’s just not up to where we believe he can be yet,” Girardi said. In other injury news, Lance Berkman was activated, Damaso Marte was shifted to the 60-day DL and Nick Johnson is still out for the year.

• For those interested in locker-room geography, Greg Golson and Jonathan Albaladejo are now set up on the right-hand wall right when you come in the door to the clubhouse, near where Aceves’s locker is. There’s an empty locker next to Golson which, one imagines, will be used for another call-up at some point. Chad Moeller is across the room, on the left side, in between Gardner and Austin Kearns. He’s actually using Johnson’s old locker.

Here’s the audio from Girardi:

Joe Girardi just announced that Javier Vazquez will start Saturday in place of Dustin Moseley.

Jeter SS
Swisher RF
Teixeira 1b
Cano 2b
Thames DH
Kearns LF
Granderson CF
Nunez 3b
Cervelli C

Burnett P

The Yankees have responded to reports out of Florida that the team is considering moving at least part of its operation out of Tampa, where the team currently has its spring training facility and and its High-A affiliate.

Here’s the statement from the Yankees.

“Reports today that the New York Yankees are considering moving the spring training facility from Tampa are completely erroneous. The Yankees are in very preliminary discussions regarding the possibility of a partial sale of their Single-A Tampa minor league affiliate to a potential group of Orange County, Fla., investors. The investors will make an announcement tomorrow. These exploratory conversations will have no impact on the Yankees’ spring training facility or the Major League team.”