The LoHud Yankees Blog

Tonight: LHP CC Sabathia (1-3, 4.85) vs. RHP Jeremy Guthrie (2-2, 5.05), 7:05, YES

Saturday: RHP Phil Hughes (1-1, 2.70) vs. RHP Adam Eaton (1-3, 7.18), 7:05, YES

Sunday: RHP Joba Chamberlain (1-1, 3.77) vs. RHP Koji Uehara (2-3, 4.42), 1:35, YES

Alex Rodriguez returns to the Yankees later today. How do you think he will perform?

Since we last saw Rodriguez in pinstripes, he has been outed as a steroids user and then had surgery on his right hip. He is 33 and will turn 34 in July. After an MVP 2007, he had a bit of a down season (by his lofty standards) in 2008. Although his “down” season would be a career year for many players.

Do you think he will be better then ever? About the same, a lesser player or a shell of what he used to be?

Vote in the poll over to the right.

Since people are asking …

Jose Molina (left quad) appears headed for the DL based on what Joe Girardi said tonight.

Unless Brian Cashman can make an overnight trade, Kevin Cash and Chris Stewart are the catchers at Triple-A Scranton. I would think one of them will be summoned.

A 40-man roster move will have to be made. That could be Angel Berroa.

From “Kingdome” at 11:21 p.m. this evening:

A-Rod will provide the leadership and heart this team needs. He is a winner and a leader. He will show us why he is the best player in baseball and what we missed the past month.

Congratulations. We’ve asked the Yankees to provide a prize and they said Kingdome can buy the $2,625 seat of his or her choice for the next game.

Mariano Rivera has thrown 11.1 innings this season and allowed 15 hits. Four of them are home runs.

To put that in some perspective, there were eight full seasons in Mo’s career when he did not give up four home runs. Tonight was the first time he has given up back-to-back homers.

Does his shoulder still bother him? Poor command is usually a sign of injury and Mo has yet to issue a walk. His velocity is down a tick or two but that is not unusual given his age and inconsistent workload this season.

If something is wrong with Rivera, it’s incomprehensible to think about what will become of the Yankees.

UPDATE, 11:07 p.m.: Girardi just said that Mo has been battling “arm strength” issues. Uh oh.

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Meanwhile, who gets fired for screwing up the new Yankee Stadium? The ball flies out in right field like it’s shot out of a cannon. We were lied to when they said the dimensions are the same. They’re obviously not. The wall is significantly shorter and the the gap in right field goes straight across, not out like it did at the old Stadium.

Between the homer-happy dimensions, Monument Cave, the prison-wall white concrete in the outfield and the empty premium seats, the new park needs a lot of work.

YANKEES (13-14)
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Matsui 1B
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Cabrera CF
Pena 3B
Molina C

Pitching: LHP Andy Pettitte (2-1, 3.82).

Notes: I’m off today in advance of the road trip. Thanks to Ernie Palladino for calling in the lineup. … The Yankees, who have lost four straight, have never lost five straight under Joe Girardi. … The Yankees trail the Jays by 5.5 games in the East and are 2-4 on the homestand that ends today.

UPDATE, 4:16 p.m.: Girardi just told the media that no decision has been made on A-Rod regarding his activation tomorrow. I have no idea why the Yankees play games like this. Alex shook hands with everybody in Tampa, thanked them for their assistance with rehab and then left. Where else is he going?

One way or another, it’s a pretty good bet that A-Rod will be playing third and batting fourth against the Orioles tomorrow night.

UPDATE, 5:01 p.m.: The Yankees just made it official: Alex will be back tomorrow.

UPDATE, 6:03 p.m.: This from Joe Girardi:

“Alex will be in Baltimore. Unless something happens overnight, we expect him to be in (the lineup). It’s great having your No. 4 hitter come back. In a sense, it’s like we just made a huge trade.”

Meanwhile, I see that people are debating whether Mariano should have pitched a second inning last night. The answer is no, I think. He is coming off surgery and he should not be abused in May. The last time they asked him for more than three outs, Jason Bay took him deep in Boston.

It’s not worth the risk on a cold night.

This from the AP:

Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez played what could be his final rehab game Thursday, going 0-for-2 with two walks and putting in three innings of defense.

Coming back from March 9 surgery on his right hip, Rodriguez said “not yet” when asked if a decision had been made about rejoining the Yankees for Friday night’s game at Baltimore. He said he would be involved in a conference call with team officials about his status later Thursday.

The three-time AL MVP did shake hands and thank support staff at the Yankees’ minor league complex for their work after taking extra grounders and batting practice following the intrasquad game.

Rodriguez credited Dr. Marc Philippon, who operated on the hip, and Dr. Mark Lindsay, a soft-tissue expert who has worked with him daily in Florida, for the success of his rehab program.

“They have worked (hard) with me,” Rodriguez said. “Philippon did a good job with the surgery. I feel blessed.”

Also, Yankees pitcher Chien-Ming Wang, on the disabled list due to weakness of the abductor muscles in his hips, allowed three hits over five scoreless innings in the extended spring training game. He struck out seven during a 72-pitch outing.

“He was fine,” Yankees vice president Billy Connors said. “Good sinker. He’s feeling good, too. He’s healthy. That’s the most important thing.”

Wang, who missed the final 3 1/2 months last season with a right foot injury, said he felt better and hopes to return to the Yankees after one or two more minor league outings.

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The abbreviated outing is a sure sign that Alex is headed to Baltimore. He’ll probably be on a plane within a few hours. It also sounds like CMW is making good progress. We’ll see what Joe Girardi says later on.

Check out this note from a reader who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of reprisal from the Yankees:

My family has 4 seats in the most expensive seats that are separate from the moat (the ones that cost $325), and they are great seats. Our 4 seats became 6 last week when the Yankees made the changes to their ticket policies and gave us 2 complimentary seats 4 rows back from our usual seats for the rest of the year.

They need to just admit they made a mistake and do something (else) about it!

Good for the Yankees for moving fans closer. If they have those seats available, they might as well put somebody in them. Meanwhile, are they upgrading somebody else into those now-vacant $325 seats?

These cannot be good times for the people who work in ticket operations for the team. It’s quite a mess.

The Red Sox are not too pleased with Joba Chamberlain.

This from our friends at WEEI’s Full Count blog:

Speaking on the Dale and Holley (radio) Show, Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell insinuated that the Sox were suspicious of the motivations of Yankees starter Joba Chamberlain when he hit Jason Bay in the fifth inning of the Red Sox’ win Tuesday night.

“Typically, we let the game play out itself because I think our guys have each others backs and they are certainly going to be supportive if a situation like that were to arise,” Farrell said. “Speaking specifically about last night, he strikes out 12 guys, doesn’t seem to have too many command issues, and if there was a purpose or intent to throw up and in you can disguise it a little bit more than making it very obvious with the first pitch in the middle of the back to Jason Bay. Those things aren’t forgotten. We know there is a history there between the pitcher in New York and our guys here and not to say that he was specifically out to do that but I think history speaks for itself and we’ve got a number of games left with these guys.”

Given that Joe Girardi thought Boston 1B coach Tim Bogar was swiping signs the night before, it’s not much a surprise Joba hit somebody. Plus Bay has just been murdering the Yankees.

The team play again on June 9 in Boston. We’ll see what happens then.

The losing streak hit four games as the Yankees fell to the Rays.

Alex Rodriguez could be back tomorrow. This notebook also has an update on Brian Bruney.

Rays-Yanks again tonight, the final game of the homestand. It’ll be Andy Pettitte against Jeff Niemann.