The LoHud Yankees Blog

I don’t know why this stat intrigues me, but it does.

Andy Pettitte has won 56 games that Mariano Rivera got the save in. Since the save was invented in 1969, the record for a starter and a closer is 57 by Bob Welch and Dennis Eckersley of Oakland. The ever hard-working Elias Sports Bureau figured that out.

So Andy and Mo can tie the record tonight.

Yes, I know, wins are sort of meaningless and so are saves. But that stat does indicate quality over a long period of time. Or at least durability.

You know what would be interesting? A list of pitchers that Mo has the most saves for. I wonder who is after Andy? It’s got to be Moose or Clemens.

Hey, Elias, get on that.

UPDATE, 2:32 p.m.: Our man David Pinto has the 411:

Andy Pettitte 56
Mike Mussina 49
Roger Clemens 35
Orlando Hernandez 32
David Wells 25
Chien Ming-Wang 23

Pretty good stat by Fox’s Ken Rosenthal: The Blue Jays are 61-41 since Cito Gaston took over last June 20. Only the Angels and Cubs have been better. Meanwhile the great Roy Halladay pitches today.

We saw the Jays a lot in spring training and I thought they would be brutal. But that does not seem to be the case. Just what the AL East needed, another good team.

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Several e-mailers have mentioned this today: Prices on StubHub.com are dropping. If you’re looking for tickets, that may be your answer.

You have to wonder how many people purchased expensive season tickets thinking they could sell off the ones they didn’t want. Now they’re scrambling to get 50 cents on the dollar. That could explain the good deals out there.

Chien-Ming Wang’s next start will be skipped. Meanwhile he and the Yankees try and figure out what is going wrong.

Jason Giambi was happy to be back in New York. This notebook also has news on A-Rod, Xavier Nady and Mark Teixeira.

The Yankees and Oakland will try again tonight. Andy Pettitte will be on the mound.

I think a lot of us — myself included — are getting carried away with proclaiming Yankee Stadium the second coming of Coors Field.

OK, so 20 home runs were hit in four games. That’s a lot. But there were 20 home runs hit at the old Stadium from July 31-Aug. 3, 2007. You can also find four-game, 20-HR stretches during the 2000, 2003 and 2004 seasons.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, there were eight four-games spans of 20 or more homers at the old Stadium, some of them overlapping. So maybe what we saw was just an anomaly.

The AccuWeather people had an interesting theory that the shape of the new Stadium is influencing the wind patterns.

There are also theories that the dimensions are shorter in right field, not exactly the same as the Yankees claim. The fence in right certainly seems shorter.

As we desperately searched for rainout stories today, a few of us talked to Mark Teixeira about it. His point was a good one. “Not yet,” he said when asked if you can judge how the Stadium plays. “It’s way too early. It’s four games.”

Tex said it would be fair to wait until the All-Star Game before deciding. That seems about right.

Joe Girardi sort of dismissed the issue, saying both teams had to deal with it. Within the context of one game or one series, that is certainly true. But if the Yankees’ bullpen is taxed because of high-scoring games, that is going to hurt the team over the length of the season.

As for a few other topics:

• There are increasing whispers in Yankeeland that the team realizes they overpriced the good seats and a correction is coming. The issue may be how they compensate those dupes loyal fans who dropped $2,625 a seat already.

• I mentioned this once already, but it bears repeating. If you’re not reading Kim Jones’ blog on YES.com, you really should be. Kim (who once covered the NFL for the Star-Ledger) is a fine writer and has the right touch for blogging. Her insights into the team are worth your time. If you see Kim, tell her I said this.

• Now that Xavier Nady is hurt and Damaso Marte is a ticking time bomb, how is that trade looking? Ross Ohlendorf threw seven shutout innings against the Marlins tonight, allowing two hits. You watch, he’s going to be a player they regret losing. His stuff is very good.

• Even when the game gets rained out, there are still stories to write. So a bunch of us were at the Stadium in the work room around 7:15. Then somebody from the team told us they were closing the garage across 161st St., where we all park.

I packed up, grabbed my umbrella and headed for the car. There is Noah’s Ark rain and crazy winds and 161st St. is crawling with traffic. As I leave Gate 4, the guy at the door says, “Good luck with that, buddy.”

As I got to the garage, it’s locked up and there are five writers huddled against the locked gate trying to figure out what we do next.

Meanwhile, my umbrella gets blown out and it’s pouring. Good times. Finally somebody who works for the garage hears us cursing and drives over to open the grate. He forgets in his haste to put his truck in park and nearly drives into a wall. Then it turns out the gate has a pull chain and goes up like one inch every 30 seconds.

Did I mention it was pouring?

So we all limbo under the gate and get to the cars. Plus I had to get up the Deegan back home and finish the story I was working on before deadline. The Pulitzer Committee can pass on that one.

The moral of the story: Study harder in school and you can get a job that involves limos and gin and tonics at 7:30, not dodging trucks in the rain and kicking metal grates in the Bronx.

Jason Giambi got his first good look at the new Stadium yesterday.

“It’s gorgeous,” he said. “It’s gigantic, but gorgeous. I’m sure it’s like when people first walked into the Titanic.”

The Titanic?

“I’m sure it won’t sink,” he said.

Tuesday vs. Oakland: Andy Pettitte
Wednesday vs. Oakland: CC Sabathia
Thursday: Day off
Friday at Boston: Joba Chamberlain
Saturday at Boston: A.J. Burnett
Sunday at Boston: Andy Pettitte

So obviously Chien-Ming Wang is getting skipped. No word yet as to when (or in what role) he will pitch next.

This from the AP:

Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez increased his onfield drills Monday as the three-time AL MVP started his second full week working out at New York’s minor league complex in Florida.

A-Rod, comimg back from right hip surgery in Colorado on March 9, did additional defensive work, making 19 throws to first and nine to second after fielding grounders. He also continues to look impressive in batting practice, hitting 10 homers in 75 swings.

“It feels good,” an upbeat Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez is running in the outfield at the start and end of his onfield sessions, but has not started full-speed sprints or running the bases.

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Joe Girardi talked a little bit about Alex today and estimated that it would be two weeks before he got into minor league games. I think it’ll be a lot sooner than that.

Girardi said one of the hurdles A-Rod would have to clear is being able to slide.

Today’s rainout and the scheduled day off on Thursday would seem to take Chien-Ming Wang out of the rotation, at least for one turn.

Joe Girardi wasn’t ready to say that, saying he needed to talk to Brian Cashman first.

All we know about the pitching so far is that Andy Pettitte will start tomorrow.

They just postponed the game. No word yet on when it will be made up.

UPDATE, 3:53 p.m.: The makeup will be in July. Not sure which day.

Just got to the Bronx and it’s not raining at the moment. But if you’re headed this way be prepared.

UPDATE, 3:00 p.m.: Now it’s pouring. I’d wait to hear before you started to drive here.