The LoHud Yankees Blog

YANKEES (20-15)
Curtis Granderson CF
Nick Swisher RF
Robinson Cano 2B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Raul Ibanez LF
Eric Chavez DH
Russell Martin C
Jayson Nix SS

RHP Hiroki Kuroda (3-4, 3.56)
Kuroda vs. Blue Jays

BLUE JAYS (19-18)
Kelly Johnson 2B
Eric Thames LF
Jose Bautista RF
Edwin Encarnacion 1B
Brett Lawrie 3B
Colby Rasmus CF
J.P. Arencibia C
Adam Lind DH
Omar Vizquez SS

RHP Kyle Drabek (2-4, 3.66)
Drabek vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 7:07 p.m., YES Network

WEATHER: It’s Canada. In a dome. But right now the roof is cold, and it’s a little chilly for my taste.

UMPIRES: HP Dan Iassogna, 1B Dale Scott, 2B CB Bucknor, 3B Bill Miller

DISABLED: The Yankees have placed 11 different players on the disabled list this season, eight shy of their total for 2011. They?had placed eight players on the DL by this date last year and?have lost a total of 297 combined games to the DL in 2012.

WHO NEEDS NUNEY AND GARDY? The Yankees have stolen eight consecutive bases without being caught, and overall they’re 21-for-26 on stolen base attempts (third-highest percentage in the American League). Alex Rodriguez is 4-for-4, matching his stolen base total from each of the past two years.

WITH HONORS: Earlier today, New York University held its 180th commencement at Yankee Stadium. It marked the fifth consecutive year the school used the stadium for its graduation. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor addressed the graduates and received a Doctor of Laws degree, honoris causa, at the ceremony.

UPDATE, 7:34 p.m.: Infield single for Encarnacion followed by a big ovation for Brett Lowrie’s first at-bat of the night.

UPDATE, 7:46 p.m.: Two-run homer for Arencibia. That’s only his fourth homer of the year. Meanwhile, the Yankees have gone through three scoreless innings against Drabek. No surprise, they left two stranded in the second inning.

UPDATE, 8:01 p.m.: The first inning has been Kuroda’s problem this season. Of course, he got through the first with no problem tonight, and he’s now allowed a two-run homer in the second and a three-run homer in the third.

UPDATE, 8:22 p.m.: That’s a nice slide by Arencibia for a 6-0 Blue Jays lead. Kelly Johnson’s base hit might have scored the run, but Kuroda really can’t walk Omar Vizquel with two outs to give Johnson that chance.

UPDATE, 8:32 p.m.: The Yankees have one hit in their past 11 at-bats.

UPDATE, 8:35 p.m.: There goes Bautista’s ninth homer of the year. It’s now 7-0 Blue Jays.

UPDATE, 9:08 p.m.: Nix didn’t put up much of a fight, but it sure looks like he was safe on that play at second. Girardi came out to argue a little bit, but it’s now runners at the corners with two outs rather than bases loaded with one out.

UPDATE, 9:12 p.m.: Swisher doesn’t like the call, but he’s out on strikes and the runners are left on base. It’s 7-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh.

In the middle of 16 games in a row, Joe Girardi has decided it’s time to give guys a rest. Derek Jeter is off tonight, and Girardi said another of his regulars will almost certainly sit another regular tomorrow.

“I think I’ve always been concerned with players’ health,” Girardi said. “You see that a lot of times injuries are caused by fatigue, and that’s a concern for me. And I think as you know your players better, you know how many days they can go before you think it physically starts to wear on them. … I think you can wear them down and then they don’t start to swing the bat as well, they don’t move as well defensively and they get frustrated, and you can get into bad habits.”

When the lineup was posted, most of you probably expected something along these lines from Girardi. For better and for worse, he’s been committed to giving players — particularly his older players — regular rest. Today it was Jeter’s turn to sit for the first time this season. Jeter laughed when asked whether he was physically healthy.

“What do you think?” he said.

“Just a day off,” Girardi said. “We’re in the midst of 16 in a row. You give him today and maybe he can play the rest of the way out here. I’ll try to get him a DH maybe somewhere against Kansas City.”

Although he’s dealing with a cough, Mark Teixeira has played all but one game this season, and he’s played all of them at first base. Girardi said he told Teixeira that he wanted to DH him in Baltimore, but Teixeira convinced him that he was fine.

Although he plays a position that requires a ton of running, Curtis Granderson has started every single game in center field, but Girardi said he’s not particularly worried about Granderson’s health or durability.

“Curtis is a guy that’s used to playing every day,” Girardi said. “You look at what he’s done in the past, will I possibly give him a DH day here in these next eight days? Probably. But a lot of times last year I thought he might need a day and he’d play and get three hits that day, so he’s a tough one to take out of the lineup because he seems to do well when he plays every day.”

• Ivan Nova said he feels even better today than he felt yesterday, and there’s a good chance he’ll throw a bullpen tomorrow in preparation for a start on Saturday. “He came through the running fine,” Girardi said. “He feels better, and even if he didn’t throw a bullpen I wouldn’t rule out a start. I wouldn’t rule it out. I’ve said before that guys have skipped bullpen sessions before just because sometimes it’s that time of the year. He does feel better. He’s going in the right direction. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

• Girardi said he won’t avoid any of his relievers just because Nova’s next start isn’t a sure thing. D.J. Mitchell pitched today, so I’m not sure you could consider him an emergency option should the Yankees need to promote someone to make that start. Basically, it seems that Girardi is expecting either David Phelps or Freddy Garcia to be available that day, and if one of them isn’t, then the Yankees will adjust.

• Even though he leads the team in homers, Girardi said there was no consideration of anyone other than Granderson hitting leadoff today. “That’s the next guy if Jeet’s not going to be in the lineup,” Girardi said. “Jeet’s done such a good job for us, and Grandy’s done it before, so I’m comfortable putting him in.”

• Eduardo Nunez made two errors in a Triple-A game today.

• Blue Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie got a four-game suspension for hitting an umpire with a thrown helmet last night, but he appealed and will play tonight.

• By the way, I honestly didn’t realize Jose Bautista was hitting .195 until I looked at today’s lineup card. I knew he wasn’t off to a strong start — he does have eight homers — but I didn’t realize he’d been that bad.

• This will be Hiroki Kuroda’s first career start against the Blue Jays.

Associated Press photos

Curtis Granderson CF
Nick Swisher RF
Robinson Cano 2B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Raul Ibanez LF
Eric Chavez DH
Russell Martin C
Jayson Nix SS

RHP Hiroki Kuroda

Tonight
RHP Hiroki Kuroda (3-4, 3.56)
vs.
RHP Kyle Drabek (2-4, 3.66)
7:07 p.m., YES Network

Thursday
RHP Phil Hughes (3-4, 5.50)
vs.
RHP Drew Hutchison (2-1, 5.53)
7:07 p.m., YES Network and MLB Network

The Yankees have one of the highest-scoring lineups in baseball. They rank near the top in all three slash categories, and they’ve built the third-highest run total in the American League.

So how do nights like last night happen?

It seems to come down to consistency – night to night and at-bat to at-bat.

Despite a well above average lineup, the Yankees have been more or less league average with runners in scoring position. They’re slightly below middle-of-the-pack in batting average, slightly above in on-base percentage, and near the top in slugging percentage. Their overall numbers dip when runners get to second base and beyond, and last night they went 1-for-9 in those scoring opportunities.

“That’ll change,” Joe Girardi said. “It goes in cycles. Some days you go 6-for-8 and then other days you go 1-for-9. You’d like to say you can get three or four every night, but it’s not going to happen. … We’re a club that hits the ball out of the ballpark for the most part, and we have guys who hit the ball in the gap, and we haven’t seemed to do that on a consistent basis with runners in scoring position.”

The Yankees also have an all-or-nothing offense at this point. They’ve scored at least five runs in all but one of their 20 wins. They’ve scored three runs or less in nine of their past 10 losses. Some nights the offense shows up, and the Yankees win. Some nights it doesn’t, and the Yankees lose.

“You’d like to be consistent,” Derek Jeter said. “You say the same thing every year. It seems like when guys get hot everyone gets hot. Sometimes when you scuffle, a lot of people scuffle. You just have to keep things in perspective. Pitchers on the other teams have jobs to do too. We’d like to come out and score a lot of runs every day, but it’s not always going to be the case. Obviously we’re a whole lot better when up and down the lineup we’re swinging well.”

Associated Press photo

We’ll get to the game in just a bit, for now there’s a little more information on Dave Robertson…

After taking a train to and from New York earlier today, Robertson was back in the Yankees clubhouse tonight. His socks were pulled high as if he were going to pitch.

“It’s really disappointing,” he said. “Because it was something I was hoping would just be a real quick recovery, and in two or three days, hopefully I’d be back. It just hasn’t gone away. I went and got it checked out today, and it turns out there’s a reason why it’s not going away.”

A strained left oblique has landed Robertson on the disabled list for the first time in his career. He called it “weird,” but he said the doctors have told him it’s realistic to think he could be back as soon as the 15 days are up. He won’t pick up a ball for six or seven days, but the strain was caught pretty early, before Robertson did significant damage.

“They said it’s very mild,” Robertson said. “But it’s one of those things where if I kept pitching on it, it’s likely to get worse. If it gets worse, I could be out for six to eight weeks or something like that. That’s the last thing I want to do.”

Robertson said he’ll be able to do some workouts this week — he’ll try to keep his shoulder strong — but he won’t throw and won’t do his full workout routine. He has to give it time to heal. As for rust from what should be roughly two weeks away from the game:

“I don’t think it should be that big of a deal,” Robertson said. “I’ve had to sit before in September at times just from soreness and pitching a lot, and I’ve been able to bounce back from that fairly quickly. … I’m not sure of what the date is that I’m allowed to be placed on the DL retroactively, but I’m hoping to be back as soon as that day is up.”

As for the game…

• CC Sabathia wasn’t sharp today. His sinker wasn’t sharp and his command was off. He limited the damage, but 12 base runners — eight hits and four walks in six innings — were too much. “The two-seamer was a little off,” Sabathia said. “I feel like I had a good one early but it kind of went away from me. The fastball command and the four walks killed me. … Normally, in the last couple of starts, I’ve been making pitches when I need to. Like I said, the four walks, and fastball command wasn’t there.”

• Sabathia wasn’t particularly good, but holding the Orioles to four runs was enough to keep the Yankees in it. Problem was, the offense went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and hit into three double plays. “Sometimes you hope that you can shut the other team down,” Joe Girardi said. “Or sometimes you get some gifts, and we just didn’t take advantage of opportunities tonight.”

• The Yankees won Wei-Yin Chen’s major-league debut earlier this season — Chen took a no-decision — but the Orioles have won each of his starts since. Tonight he didn’t allow an extra-base hit until the seventh, and Curtis Granderson’s two-run homer later that inning accounted for the only Yankees runs. “It’s not like he’s throwing changeups like Moyer, you know what I’m saying?” Derek Jeter said. “He gets it up there 91, 92. He hits his spots. He knows how to pitch. It’s a little unfair to say he’s not overpowering because he mixes in his offspeed stuff and his fastball gets up there pretty good. He knows what he’s doing.”

• The Yankees best chance for a late rally came when they drew back-to-back walks to start the eighth, but Granderson grounded into a fielder’s choice and Robinson Cano hit one back to the mound to start an inning-ending double play.

• Granderson’s 13th homer of the season got just over the wall in left field where Xavier Avery seemed to think he would have made the catch if not for fans sitting in the front row. “It looked like it was over the fence from my view point,” Girardi said. “I thought they might review it. I thought Buck might go out – I probably would have – but from where I was it looked like it was over the fence and a fan caught it. I’m not sure the kid couldn’t have caught it, but if it’s over the fence it doesn’t matter.”

• The other disputed play came in the bottom of the eighth when Chris Stewart seemed to throw out Adam Jones stealing second. Jeter argued, which rarely happens unless Jeter’s positive he’s right. “From where I was, I thought he was clearly out,” Girardi said.

• The call led to a run because Chris Stewart allowed his second passed ball of the night later in the inning. “The first one didn’t do what I thought it was going to do,” Stewart said. “Just spun out there, and I gave it a little more credit than I should have, and it just tipped off my glove. The second one, I just botched it. … That’s inexcusable. I just thought I had more glove than I did. The ball tipped off, and went to the backstop. That just can’t happen.”

• Freddy Garcia struck out three and allowed one hit through two innings of work. He’s actually pitched pretty well since moving into the bullpen.

• For whatever it’s worth, Ivan Nova seemed to be moving around much better in the clubhouse after the game.

• Of course, Sabathia took the blame for tonight’s loss. “If we don’t score runs, it’s time to pick them up,” he said. “If we score runs, give up less than we score. So, I wasn’t able to do that tonight.”

• Hard not to notice, though, that the Yankees seem to have an all-or-nothing offense, and tonight was one of the nothing nights. “It’s consistent at-bats,” Girardi said. “There’s good pitching in our division. There’s no doubt it about, there’s a lot of good pitching in the American League and you’re going to see it day in and day out and you’ve got to sometimes find ways to score runs.”

Associated Press photos

CC Sabathia’s five-game winning streak came to an end tonight, partially because Sabathia wasn’t particularly sharp and partially because the Yankees lineup couldn’t handle Orioles starter Wei-Yin Chen. The 5-2 loss was Sabathia’s first loss of the season. Although he occasionally limited the damage and pitched out of trouble, Sabathia allowed four runs through six innings. When Chen made his big league debut back in April, he took a no-decision and the Yankees got their second win of the year. The Orioles haven’t lost one of Chen’s starts since. He pitched seven innings tonight and didn’t allow a run until Curtis Granderson got a two-run homer just over the wall with two outs in the seventh. Chris Stewart allowed two passed balls in the game, the second of which led to an Orioles insurance run.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (20-15)
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Robinson Cano 2B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Curtis Granderson CF
Andruw Jones DH
Jayson Nix LF
Chris Stewart C

LHP CC Sabathia (5-0, 3.51)
Sabathia vs. Orioles

ORIOLES (22-14)
Robert Andino 2B
J.J. Hardy SS
Nick Markakis RF
Adam Jones CF
Matt Wieters C
Wilson Betemit 1B
Bill Hall DH
Steve Tolleson 3B
Xavier Avery LF

LHP Wei-Yin Chen (3-0, 2.68)
Chen vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 7:05 p.m., MY9 and MLB Network

WEATHER: Slight chance of rain tonight, but right now it looks pretty promising.

UMPIRES: HP Lance Barksdale, 1B Fieldin Culbreth, 2B Adrian Johnson, 3B Gary Cederstrom

POWER VS. POWER: The Yankees are second in baseball with 55 home runs this season. The Orioles lead the Majors with 57. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Yankees are the only team in the Majors that has not won a game in which they have not homered this season. The Yankees are 20-8 when they hit a home run, 0-7 when they don’t.

CANO CAN: In his past eight games, Robinson Cano is hitting .469 (15-for-32) with four doubles, two homers and 10 RBI. He?has raised his season average from .255 to .303 over the stretch.?

GRANDY MAN: After last night’s homer, Curtis Granderson is tied for second in the American League and third in the Majors with 12 home runs this season. He trails only Josh Hamilton (18 homers) and Carlos Beltran (13).

UPDATE, 7:33 p.m.: That’s Jones’ 11th homer of the season and the Orioles have a 1-0 lead in the first. The Yankees only base runner has been a leadoff walk by Rodriguez in the top of this inning.

UPDATE, 7:44 p.m.: There’s a wasted opportunity for the Yankees. A pair of singles had runners at first and second with one out, but Nick Swisher hit into an inning-ending double play. The Yankees are through three innings without scoring a run.

UPDATE, 7:49 p.m.: Double, bunt single and a hit batter have loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the third. Sabathia has J.J. Hardy, Nick Markakis and Adam Jones coming up next. Tough spot. Obviously.

UPDATE, 7:53 p.m.: Double play and a ground ball to second. Sabathia limits the damage, but one run scores and it’s 2-0 Orioles.

UPDATE, 8:14 p.m.: Sabathia’s been limiting the damage and getting out of trouble, but the Yankees are going to have to score some runs for him. Obviously this isn’t Sabathia’s finest work, but he’s giving the offense a chance.

UPDATE, 8:29 p.m.: So much for limiting the damage. An RBI double by J.J. Hardy has pushed the Orioles lead to 3-0, meanwhile the Yankees have just two hits.

UPDATE, 9:00 p.m.: Cano’s bobble, Jeter’s not at the bag in time for the out and the Orioles have another run in the sixth. Freddy Garcia is starting to get loose for the Yankees. It’s a 4-0 Baltimore lead. Sabathia has allowed four earned runs once in his past five starts.

UPDATE, 9:12 p.m.: Avery’s not too happy about it in left field, but Granderosn has his 13th homer of the season to put the Yankees on the board and make it a 4-2 game in the seventh. He barely got it over the wall and Avery thought fans got in his way of an over-the-wall catch.

UPDATE, 9:23 p.m.: Stewart threw out Jones at second but didn’t get the call, then Jones scored on a passed ball. So it goes. It’s 5-2 Orioles.

UPDATE, 9:37 p.m.: That might have been the Yankees chance to do something, but Cano grounds into the double play and the Orioles get out of the eighth without allowing a run. It’s still 5-2. The Yankees have one more chance at the plate.

Dave Robertson isn’t expected to pick up a baseball for seven to 10 days, meaning a strained left oblique has robbed the Yankees of yet another closer. Of course, their third-stringer just so happened to lead the American League in saves two years ago.

“You know, to me, I don’t think nothing changed,” Rafael Soriano said. “Sometimes, something happens like that and you got to keep going, because we lost Mariano first and the bullpen tried to do whatever it had to do. Now, with two guys down, it’s not going to be easy for us. We’re trying to be together, the bullpen and the team, and win.”

The ninth inning belongs to Soriano now, and Joe Girardi said he’ll likely mix-and-match the other innings. Boone Logan and Cory Wade seem to be at the top of the depth chart for the seventh inning, but Girardi said situations might push Clay Rapada or even David Phelps into a setup role at some point.

“We are testing our depth, and time’s going to tell if we can sustain what we’re doing,” Girardi said. “They’ve done a good job so far. You look at the job those guys have done there, they’ve been really, really good. I think the distance from your starters becomes maybe a little more important now.”

Before the end of spring training, Soriano specifically asked Girardi which inning would be his. He wanted a defined role, wanted know what exactly he would be asked to do. He’s gone from the seventh to the eighth and now he’s back in the ninth, a role he cherishes, and a role in which he thrived with the Rays in 2010.

“When it’s close,” Soriano said. “No matter if it’s the sixth, seventh, ninth — I feel better when the game is tied, or close, losing by one run, winning by one run. … That’s what I like. That makes me feel more better, when I face the 3, 4, 5 hitters. Whatever happens, come back next day, try to do it again.”

• Ivan Nova’s ankle was wrapped today, but he said it feels significantly better than last night. Girardi said he expects Nova to make his next start, but that decision might not be made until Saturday. “It hurts a little bit,” Nova said. “But not like last night. Last night was really bad. They take care of it and it’s much better right now.”

• Nova had a similar injury last year. He said this one is much less severe. “Today I’m better,” he said. “Last year, the next day I can’t even walk.”

• The preference is for Soriano to be limited to one inning, but Girardi said he wouldn’t be shocked to occasionally use him for four outs. He had Soriano getting loose in the eighth inning last night just in case he needed him to finish off that inning.

• Girardi on whether Phelps could be a one-inning reliever at some point: “I think I’m going to have to use him somewhat like that, and use him sometimes (like) that and sometimes multiple innings. It’s a guy that has done a pretty good job against left-handers and right-handers, and I think you can do that along with Cory.”

• Just to get this out of the way, Girardi said he doesn’t plan to move Phil Hughes into a setup role just to fill the late-inning gap. “Not right now,” Girardi said. “We’ve talked about that he’s starting to turn it around as a starter and he’s given us some distance and that becomes very important.”

• Cody Eppley was supposed to land at 5:15. The Yankees expect him to be at the part in time for the game.

• Rapada said it was a combination of medication that made him so light-headed last night, but he feels well enough to pitch tonight. Girardi said he thinks Rapada will be available. “Just dealing with the bullpen flu,” Rapada said. Turns out just about every reliever has had this cold at one point or another.

• Raul Ibanez said he can swing and should be available to pinch hit tonight. “He said he felt OK,” Girardi said “But it’s one thing when you’re not moving it.”

• Claimed off waivers this weekend, reliever Justin Thomas has reported to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to replace Eppley.

Associated Press photos

Dave Robertson has been placed on the disabled list with a strained left oblique. He hasnt walked into the clubhouse yet, and theres no word on how long hes expected to be out.

Cody Eppley replaced him on the roster.

Theres better news on Ivan Nova who said his left ankle feels better than last night. Hes expecting to make his next start.