The LoHud Yankees Blog

Alex is now hitting balls off a tee. Everything is the other way.

Alex Rodriguez is playing catch from 120 feet. Imagine the excitement.

Here we are at the Amos Otis International Airport in Kansas City waiting for a 7 a.m. flight to Tampa on Southwest. Most of the beat writers are on this flight as there are only so many ways to get from Kansas City to Tampa on a Monday morning.

Memo to the kids in journalism school who think this is a glamorous job: Switch to economics.

It’s cold and rainy in Kansas City and hopefully it’s warm and sunny in Tampa. It was only 12 days ago that the Yankees pulled out of Tampa after nearly eight weeks of spring training.

The Yankees are 3-3 on their nine-game road trip. If they come home 5-4, there should be no complaints. Meanwhile they will get their first look at Alex Rodriguez today since he left camp on March 1. A-Rod is scheduled to work out at the minor-league complex around 11 a.m. and then watch tonight’s game against the Rays.

It has been out of sight/out of mind with A-Rod these last six weeks. The players never talk about him and Joe Girardi seems to get only occasional text messages. Kevin Long appears to be the only person who speaks with him regularly.

At some point soon (a week?) he’ll play in games and then it’ll take another week or so for him to be ready for big-league pitching. I think there’s a decent chance he’s ready around May 1. Given how overmatched Cody Ransom looks, the Yankees need him back.

It’ll be interesting to see what degree Alex has changed — if any — since he has been away. All of his shenanigans have made him a national punch line at this point. You would think he would want to put all that stuff behind him and just play baseball. But given his well-documented need for attention, who knows? If he showed up today with Lindsay Lohan, would you be surprised? The sad thing is, you wouldn’t be.

Meanwhile, I just went through the security line. The woman in front of me had a container of yogurt in her bag. The TSA officers found it and confronted her.

“What is this, yogurt?” she was asked.

“Yeah, I forgot I had it. Sorry,” the woman said.

“You can’t bring this on the plane,” she was told.

“I know. I’m sorry,” the woman said.

“Do you surrender the yogurt?” she was asked.

Do you surrender the yogurt? Now there’s a sentence I had never heard before. Thankfully, she surrendered the yogurt and nobody had to taser her. Because clearly when the terrorists strike again, it’ll be via yogurt-wielding Midwestern women.

Thanks for reading. At some later today, we’ll check in from Tampa with the lineups and a report on A-Rod first day on the field. He’s supposed to take some grounders and hit off a tee. No doubt this will be well-chronicled by the nation’s media.

Joba Chamberlain did his part but the bullpen did not do theirs as the Yankees let a win get away in Kansas City.

Alex Rodriguez will be in Tampa today working out. Good news for Florida cougars. This notebook also has updates on Mark Teixeira’s injury and a long struggle for Melky Cabrera.

Tonight: RHP Chien-Ming Wang (0-1, 17.18) vs. LHP Scott Kazmir (1-0, 1.50), 7:08, YES, WCBS 880

Tuesday: RHP A.J. Burnett (1-0, 3.38) vs. RHP Matt Garza (1-0, 1.29), 7:08, MY9 WCBS 880

Wednesday: LHP Andy Pettitte (1-0, 1.29) vs. RHP Andy Sonnanstine (0-1, 9.64), 4:08, YES, WCBS 880

This calm, reasoned note from Bill:

Tomorrow is a goner with Kazmir going for the Rays, and then a losing streak is likely, and then the next thing you know, April is a disaster and the Yanks are out of the race already like last season. Just win the damn games you should win and things would have been fine.

April 12 and the season is over. Nice to see the team having such good fans.

For starters, I can’t fault Joe Girardi for not using Mariano Rivera in the 8th inning. Mo is a 39-year-old coming off shoulder surgery and did not throw more than one inning all spring training. Oh, and it was raining and 40 degrees. Part of a manager’s job is making sure his players stay healthy.

Beyond that, it was set up perfectly:

• Bruney faced Bloomquist, Crisp and Aviles in the seventh. That left Marte for three lefties in a row: DeJesus, Teahen and Jacobs.

DeJesus and Teahen went down, then KC pinch hit Butler, a right-handed hitter who murders lefties (.956 career OPS). So Girardi went to a RHP in Veras.

This is where the game was lost. Jose Veras cannot walk Butler on five pitches. He just can’t. But he did. This is why I think in a few months it’ll be Mark Melancon or Dave Robertson in that spot.

• Then Phil Coke came in, was all over the place and they lost. The one thing you can question Girardi on, I think, is bringing in Coke to face Brayan Pena. I mean, it’s Brayan Pena.

Is turning him around really that big of a deal? Pena came to the plate 0 for 4 this season. In his career he is .222/.232/.296 against RHP and .234/.280/.340 against LHPs. I think you can leave Veras in. Veras has much more experience than Coke.

It’s the technically correct move to use Coke. If you have the lefty, you might as well use him. But I think sometimes the Yankees get a little carried away with matchups.

Here’s Joe Girardi talking about it:

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All that said, bad loss. Joba pitched well and they got nothing for it.

YANKEES (3-2)
Gardner CF
Jeter SS
Swisher 1B
Matsui DH
Nady RF
Cano 2B
Cabrera LF
Ransom 3B
Molina C

Pitching: RHP Joba Chamberlain.

ROYALS (2-3)
Crisp CF
Aviles SS
DeJesus LF
Teahen 3B
Jacobs 1B
B. Pena DH
Callaspo 2B
Buck C
Bloomquist RF

Pitching: RHP Gil Meche.

Joba Chamberlain vs. the Kansas City hitters.

Gil Meche vs. the New York hitters.

AT THE START: Over the last three games, the Yankee starters have gone 20 innings, allowed 16 hits, 3 earned runs, two walks and struck out 18.

POSADA UP THE CHARTS: Jorge Posada has 320 doubles, one away from tying Yogi Berra for 11th place in team history. His needs one run to have 765 and surpass Bob Meusel for sole possession of 20th place in team history.

ROYAL FLUSH: The Yankees are 23-8 against Kansas City over the last four years, 11-4 at Kauffmann Stadium.

SWISHER STATS: The versatile newcomer is 7 of 13 at the plate with six extra-base hits, nine RBI, six runs scored and three walks.

It’s supposed to rain today in Kansas City. But one way or another, back with more later.

UPDATE, 10:45 a.m.: Hiroto, a reader in Japan, sends word that Darrell Rasner won his first game. Facing the Lions, one of the better teams, Ras went the distance, allowing one run on three hits with no walks and eight strikeouts. He threw 116 pitches. Good for him.

UPDATE, 10:06 a.m.: Teixeira was in the original lineup then scratched.

UPDATE, 12:50 p.m.: We spoke to Teixeira, who is unavailable today and has a brace on his wrist. He said it remains sore. The plan is to go heavy on treatment today to try and remove the inflammation. “Better one or two days now than two or three weeks later,” he said.

He’s day-to-day. I would expect the Yankees to get him X-rayed tomorrow in Tampa and checked out by their own doctors. Why would they not?

Meanwhile, we have some details on what A-Rod will do tomorrow. He will report to the minor-league facility and start at 11 a.m. His program will be:

· Stretching

· Light jogging

· Groundballs

· Hitting off a tee and soft-toss

· Physical therapy sessions and treatment.

Joe Girardi said he expects that Alex will also join the team at Tropicana Field for the game.

UPDATE, 2:22 p.m.: Showing grittiness along with tremendous guts and a scrappy attitude, Brett Gardner singled up the middle, stole second, went to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch. Yankees lead 1-0.

UPDATE, 2:31 p.m.: Here’s a fascinating concept. Joba just pitched a 1-2-3 inning. Now he’s going to pitch another inning and maybe even six more because he’s a starter. See, you want the really good pitchers pitching more.

Meanwhile, 1-0 might be big. Rain is coming, supposedly.

UPDATE, 2:36 p.m.: Ransom just whiffed and he’s 1 for 19. Joe Girardi said before the game that Ransom is swinging the bat well but isn’t having much luck. He has had at least three hits taken away by nice plays.

Starting to rain a little.

UPDATE, 2:43 p.m.: Joba 2 0 0 0 0 2. 23 pitches / 16 strikes.

UPDATE, 2:51 p.m.: Bad AB for GGBG there. 3-1 count and he pops to left. Rain picking up now. Yankees need to try and get five in fast.

UPDATE, 2:55 p.m.: Joba allows a home run by John Buck. 1-1. Now that gives them an excuse to stop it. If it’s 1-0, they might have tried to plow through five innings. Now it’s raining pretty hard.

UPDATE, 3:11 p.m.: Trouble here as the Royals have two on and two out. If the Royals score, the Yankees are three outs away from an official game. Meanwhile it’s raining hard.

UPDATE, 3:21 p.m.: What a joke. The ball went through the legs of Nick Swisher and Robinson Cano and was called a single. Hometown scoring at its worst there. The scoring here has been brutal all series.

UPDATE, 3:25 p.m.: Bad inning for Joba. He certainly seems to be having trouble with the rain.

2-1 Royals in the rain in the bottom of the fourth inning. Yankees better score in the next inning.

UPDATE, 3:38 p.m.: Ransom is 1 for 20 and 0 for his last 15 with six strikeouts.

UPDATE, 3:47 p.m.: Joba has pitched well. 5 5 3 3 1 4. If Swisher (or Cano) picks up that grounder, he’s allowed one run through five.

UPDATE, 4:03 p.m.: Meche was cruising along until this inning. Then a few hits, a bad error by Jacobs (who is just a terrible defender) and a double-play grounder account for three runs and the Yankees have the lead.

Joba has a 100-pitch limit and is at 88. I think that’s it for him. But Girardi is hard to read in these situations.

UPDATE, 4:28 p.m.: Justice prevails. That ball Callaspo hit in the fourth inning has now been ruled an error.

So the line for Joba: 6 4 3 1 1 5. That’s a good job by him.

UPDATE, 4:42 p.m.: Well, this is a shocking turn of events. With two outs in the eighth inning, Jose Veras walks Mike Jacobs and next thing you know, the Royals score two runs to take the lead.

Poor job by Veras and now Phil Coke.

What irony, Joba pitches well for six innings and the bullpen blows it for him in the eighth inning.

UPDATE, 4:55 p.m.: Soria is sort of like a mini-Mo. Very unflappable on the mound and great stuff. Best player on this team.

UPDATE, 4:56 p.m.: Soria fans the side. Bad, bad loss for the Yankees there.