The LoHud Yankees Blog

A few random thoughts:

• The Brian Bruney/K-Rod incident is a great example of how technology has changed the media world. Here’s the timeline:

Bruney went to Trenton on Saturday and after he pitched, said something derogatory about Francisco Rodriguez.

In Trenton, reporter Mike Ashmore sent a text message to tell me what Bruney said. My colleague, Sam Borden, went to ask K-Rod about it.

Via my iPhone, I updated my blog with the news, the quote from Bruney and the quote from K-Rod. So within roughly eight minutes of Bruney saying what he said, it was on the web, complete with a response. Within literally minutes after that, it’s on the AP and — whoosh — everybody knows.

Brian Bruney could have set fire to the stadium in Trenton ten years ago and nobody would have known until the next day. The lesson? Be careful what you say, no matter where you say it.

• The Yankees sold out the Stadium on Opening Day. They haven’t sold it out since and that includes games against the Mets, Red Sox and Phillies. I’m sure they’re making more money than ever, but there is something wrong there. The economy is bad, but I can’t believe there aren’t people who wanted to attend those games.

• Meanwhile, can the Yankees please paint some of that stark white concrete in the outfield? It looks like the Attica recreation yard out there. Isn’t blue the team color?

• It’s funny how quickly the rumble broke up in left field on Sunday when CC Sabathia showed up.

• How is is possible that Alex Rodriguez has not had a day off since he returned from hip surgery? Say what you want about the guy (and I certainly do) but you can’t question his desire to play the game.

• Dr. Ronan Tynan’s version of God Bless America with the extra verse is starting to get played out. But as long as everybody understands the Yankees love the USA more than the Godless commies running the other 29 teams, that’s all that counts.

• It’s always a good day at the ballpark when Yogi Berra shows up. We’re working with his people (yes, Yogi has people) to set up a reader Q&A for the blog.

• It’s apparently a condition of humanity that everybody time you attend a sporting event and the scoreboard camera is trained on you, you must do something stupid. Remember when ballpark entertainment used to be trivia questions? Now it’s old men dancing, hot girls who may or may not pull up their shirts and suburban white kids in backward caps making gang signs. We’re advancing every day as a culture.

• Now I sound like my dad. Great.

• The MLB.com At Bat 2008 application for the iPhone is insanely great. Best money you’ll ever spend on an app.

• Third base coach Rob Thomson has a great idea. He wants somebody to make a DVD of Mark Teixeira running the bases hard on Friday night so it can be shown to Little League teams. “If that player can hustle, it means everybody can,” Thomson said. “I was watching him, he never slowed down. He busted it.”

• Bruce Springsteen played with Phish at Bonnaroo on Sunday night. Thanks to those who sent me the MP3s. If I were really stoned, I bet I would enjoy them more.

• Here’s how I know Mike Francesa beat Chris Russo. There are posts every single day on this blog about what Mike said on WFAN. He drives the conversation in New York. There is never — never — anything about what Chris said on whatever satellite radio station he is on. He could be reading the Gettysburg Address in French for all anybody knows. Bad move by the Doggie. As Brian Bruney might say, serves him right.

• Mr. and Mrs. Chien-Ming Wang of Taiwan and New Jersey should be having a baby boy in the next day or two. I asked CMW if he wanted the lad to follow in his footsteps and play baseball. “No,” he said. “Be an agent.”

That Wang is pretty funny. Hope he pitches well on Wednesday or the little guy’s daddy is going to be a reliever.

• In roughly the last 10 days, it seems like every New York baseball writer signed up for Twitter. I personally think Twitter is sort of useless for a beat writer because it’s just giving away more content for free. What is the upside for a media company? I do think it’s helpful to make a “brand name” out of an individual writer, however.

All I’m doing with it is linking to this blog. Whatever info I get will be here, always.

That said, follow these cats on Twitter:

Mark Feinsand

Tim Dierkes MLB Trade Rumors

Jayson Stark

Amalie Benjamin

Sweeny Murti

Joel Sherman

Mike Vaccaro

Joe Pos

Tyler Kepner

That’s it for the blog today. Going to try and enjoy the rest of the day off. Nationals-Yankees tomorrow. Tune in then.

After reading my e-mails for the last few days and looking at some comments on the blog, I was surprised to learn that Jorge Posada apparently doesn’t know how to catch.

Unlike the very wise Jose Molina and the very energetic Francisco Cervelli, all Posada apparently does is swipe at pitches and argue with the pitcher.

Enough of this nonsense. The Yankees won three World Series championships with Jorge Posada as their regular catcher and made the playoffs every year with him catching. Then what happened last season? Posada barely played and the Yankees went home in October.

Was that why? I can’t prove that. No more so than anybody can prove that Posada is the reason A.J. Burnett can’t throw strikes.

The catcher calls the pitch. Or as Posada likes to say, “I suggest a pitch.” It’s up to the pitcher to execute that pitch or throw the pitch he wants. The catcher at that point is there to make sure it doesn’t roll to the backstop.

The idea that a catcher can regularly steal strikes by framing a pitch is largely a myth according to Molina. “Maybe once or twice a game,” he said. “Depends on the umpire.”

According to Molina, the umpires are judging where the ball crosses the plate, not where the catcher’s glove is.

Posada is a strong-willed guy and his relationship with the pitchers is not always a tea party. He got into a fight with El Duque Hernandez one day and certain guys (Mike Mussina, for instance) didn’t want to throw to him.

But Roger Clemens always wanted to. He and Andy Pettitte have had a lot of success together. And Mariano Rivera will tell anybody who asks what he thinks of Posada and his ability to focus a pitcher.

Joba Chamberlain laughed the other day when we asked him about his bickering with Posada during his last start. “I probably should stop thinking so much,” he said. “That’s when I get in trouble.”

I will say this: When Molina comes off the DL, the Yankees should seriously consider keeping Cervelli around as a third catcher. That would enable Posada to DH more often. Cervelli is also fast enough to be used a pinch runner on occasion. I can’t imagine how Cervelli would not be more useful than Angel Berroa.

But Posada is the catcher. When he is catching, his offense gives them a huge advantage at that position. When he is the DH, that advantage is lessened. Their best lineup is when Posada is catching.

There have been some rocky moments this season. But let’s not forget that the Yankees won a lot of of games over a lot of years with Posada catching. He didn’t forget how.

We had a live vide chat on Friday. Check out our ProTalkLive page for a replay.

The LoHud Yankees Blog, giving you ways to kill time at work since 2006.

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Kim Jones has updated her blog with the second half of our chat. It’s compelling stuff, trust me. Compelling.

In the interest of shaking things up a little on our respective blogs, Kim Jones and I decided to trade e-mails over the course of a few days and publish what came out of it. She and I talk baseball all the time while we’re standing around the clubhouse. It makes sense to turn it into content.

The first half of the discussion will be here. The second half will be on her blog, Keeping Up With The Jones later on today.

Kim, as you know, is in her fifth season as the pre-game and post-game reporter for YES and really knows her stuff when it comes to the Yankees. What you may not know is that she covered the NFL for The Star-Ledger for four seasons. She also used to cover Penn State football.

Here is our chat:

Pete: OK, Kimberly, let’s get this started right. Do you think the Yankees are getting back in the playoffs this season? I think they’ll win the division myself, edging Boston out in September.

Kim: Pete, I agree that it will be Yankees and Red Sox running 1-2 in the division and both making the playoffs. (I loved the Rays a year ago but it’s hard to fathom how their pitching will hold up this season.) After the way they’ve played since Alex’s return, I would think the Yankees win the division and the Red Sox the wild card. But it could finish the other way around. Like it really matters.

Making the playoffs has become the expectation for the Yankees. But, after last season, how much credit would you give Girardi for changing his approach, loosening up a bit and establishing better communication with his players?

Pete: I think Girardi deserves a lot of credit. We’ve come a long way from the guy who was pounding his fist on the desk in Toronto last September insisting he had not lied about Mariano Rivera’s condition when clearly he had. In his dealings with the players and the media Girardi has been much more forthright. Beyond that, I think he has tried to get to know people as individuals better than he did last season. It was a rough transition last season but starting in spring training, Girardi worked to improve the lines of communications. I think it has helped how they have played on the field.

In that same vein, how do you think CC, A.J. and Nick Swisher have changed the clubhouse? You seem to like interviewing all of them.

Kim: I think winning changes any clubhouse or locker room. Players would do handstands while conducting postgame interviews if it contributed to a winning environment. So, as long as the Yankees win, every player on the roster will probably embrace the whipped cream pies, the passing along of the championship belt, the Swish-hawk and everything it brings.

That said, CC seems to be the consummate teammate; the other players and coaches love him. AJ and Swisher appear to enjoy interacting with the media and their enthusiasm can be contagious in the clubhouse and on the field. (And, yes, I understand that fans don’t care how players treat the media.) But, in the end, it all goes back to performing and results not Ready Whip and haircuts.

All right, Pete, let’s get to it: We have disagreed on whether Joba would be better as a starter or reliever for the 2009 team. But, given that Wang continues to struggle — and mightily — there is no option to move him to the bullpen. There’s just not enough depth right now among the Yankees young pitchers to go deeper than Hughes in options for the rotation.

So, I’m not necessarily conceding the point, but right now the Yankees need Joba as a starter. And preferably the starter that pitched in Cleveland.

Pete: Where is Mike Francesa when we need him? JOBA CHAMBERLAIN IS A STARTING PITCHER! I respect your view on this, Kim, because you’ve spoken to so many people about it and formed an intelligent assessment. I respectfully disagree, mainly because I think a top-notch starter is more value to building a championship team than a top-notch reliever. It is sort of a moot point because they need Joba in the rotation given there is no reasonable choice to replace him as Phil Hughes could be needed to sub for Chien-Ming Wang. I think the toughest thing any team has to do is weigh what is needed now as to what is needed down the road. If I was Andy Pettitte, I would want Joba following me in games. But if I’m Brian Cashman, I want to develop him into a front-line starter I can build a team around.

Now let’s deal with this issue: Do you think they’ll get anything out of Brian Bruney this season?

See the rest of our chat on Kim’s blog later on today.

According to this story in the Dayton Daily News, a dog named Jeter saved two people from a fire last Thursday. Tragically, the dog went back in the house and died in the blaze.

“My dog was just amazing,” said Glenda Moss, who named the dog after the Yankees shortstop.

Meanwhile, a dog named A-Rod bit his owner and ran away.

The Yankees pounded the Mets in an unconventional Subway Series.

The Brian Bruney/Francisco Rodriguez feud escalated before the game yesterday. Josh Thomson has the story.

Brian Cashman thinks the team’s problem can be fixed internally. This notebook also has notes on Jerry Manuel, Joe Girardi’s tangle with Brad Penny and other tidbits from the series.

Johan Santana struggled like he has never struggled before, giving up nine runs. Jake Thomases has the story.

Not much point in over-analyzing this game. So here are a few assorted facts and figures:

• It was the largest shutout for the Yankees since a 15-0 victory at Toronto on Sept. 25, 1977. It was the largest shutout at home since a 15-0 victory against Detroit on Aug. 4, 1953.

• Yankees have won 14 of 19 at home.

• It was A.J. Burnett’s longest scoreless outing since last June 28 when he threw seven shutout innings against the Braves.

• Matsui has hit 10 of his 16 homers against lefties.

• The 15 runs were the largest margin ever in a Subway Series game.

• The nine earned runs were the most ever allowed by Johan Santana.

As for the Bruney/K-Rod thing, Bruney apologized for his actions after the game, saying he should have never criticized Rodriguez in the first place. Rodriguez took a pass on commenting other than to say that he considered the matter closed.

Bruney was hoping to apologize in person but before he could, K-Rod started to come at him and was intercepted by Mike Pelfrey and Jose Veras. Bruney never budged. There was a lot of yelling but no actual scrapping.

“I wasn’t trying to pick a fight,” Bruney said. “If anything I was hoping we could cross paths and bury the axe. For me it’s over with and hopefully for him it’s over with. It’s in the past.”

YANKEES (35-27)
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Matsui DH
Cabrera CF
Cervelli C

Pitching: RHP A.J. Burnett (4-3, 4.89).

METS (32-28)
Cora SS
Martinez LF
Beltran CF
Wright 3B
Church RF
Sheffield DH
Murphy 1B
Schneider C
Castillo 2b

Pitching: LHP Johan Santana (8-3, 2.39).

TIME/TV: 1:05 p.m., YES, WPIX, TBS.

SUBWAY STATS: The teams meet again at Citi Field June 26-28. … The Mets have won six of the last nine meetings between the teams. … The Yankees are 2-3 in interleague games this season.

WHERE’S HANK WHEN WE NEED HIM? Johan Santana is the hurler Little Stein wanted so badly before the Twins dealt him to the Mets for Carlos Gomez and assorted bums. Santana has been great for the Mets this season but allowed five runs on eight hits in six innings against the Phillies in his last start. He is 4-1, 3.15 in 10 games against the Yankees in his career.

NOT SO BAD: Robinson Cano is 6 of 15 against Santana. Derek Jeter is 8 of 23 with five extra-base hits. A-Rod is 5 of 21 but with two homers.

OLD FRIENDS: A.J. Burnett was drafted by the Mets in 1995 then sent to Florida as part of the deal that landed the loquacious left-hander, Al Leiter. Burnett is 2-6, 3.83 against the Mets in his career. He has not faced them since 2005.

SLUMPING: Johnny Damon is 1 of his last 18 with five strikeouts.

A-ROD HOME RUN STUFF: Alex has 562 homers, one shy of tying Reggie Jackson for 11th place all-time. … Alex has hit nine homers in his last 14 games against the Mets. … Of his nine homers this season, eight have home at Yankee Stadium.

COMEBACKERS: The Yankees are 4-22 when trailing after eight innings. They were 4-122 in such situations from 2007-08.

COKE IS IT AGAIN: Phil Coke has thrown 5.2 scoreless innings in his last six appearances and put only four men on base.

HOMER HAVEN: There has been at least one home run in all 31 games played at Yankee Stadium this season. The Yankees have hit 100 home runs, a franchise record over 62 games.

RISP REPORT: The Yankees are 6 of their last 40 (.150) and 10 of their last 74 (.135).

Back with much more later on.

UPDATE, 11:55 a.m.: Francisco Rodriguez tried to confront Brian Bruney during batting practice today and was held back by Jose Veras. The incident attracted enough attention that several Yankees, including CC Sabathia, came over to keep the peace.

Bruney was in left field as the Yankees were finishing up their BP. The Mets were coming into the field at the same time and Rodriguez went over to Bruney and appeared to be yelling at him.

I did not see the incident myself but watched video taken from the outfield by a fan, Frank from VoteSwisher.com. (The video is not on his blog as of yet. Frank is at game.)

I asked Bruney what happened and he smiled. “We talked about our dinner plans,” he said. “That was it.”

But the video showed a lot more than that. It was testy for a few seconds before cooler heads prevailed. Bruney, for his part, remained calm. It was Rodriguez who seemed agitated.

This goes back to yesterday’s incident when, unprovoked, Bruney said Rodriguez had a “tired act.” Rodriguez then said he didn’t know who Bruney was. He also challenged Bruney to say something to his face.

UPDATE, 12:11 p.m.: YES has video. Watch their pre-game show. If Rodriguez did make contact, that is something MLB will want to look into.

UPDATE, 12:18 p.m.: Meanwhile, Brian Cashman said today that Bruney would be activated on Tuesday.

Cashman talked about assorted other topics. But whenever he was asked about the Stadium, he passed. “You’d have to talk to Randy (Levine) or Lonn (Trost) about that,” he said when asked about all the home runs. Are the dimensions really the same? “”You’d have to talk to Randy or Lonn about that,” he said. Is the team doing any studies on the wind? “You’d have to talk to Randy or Lonn about that,” he said.

So, yes, the Stadium has become an issue within the organization. Dave Eiland said today that the park is part of the reason his pitchers are afraid to throw strikes.

UPDATE, 12:33 p.m.: The YES video of the K-Rod/Bruney incident shows no shoving. K-Rod tried to get at Bruney and was walked away by Mike Pelfrey. It looked like one of those “hold me back, hold me back” kind of things. Bruney just stood there.

UPDATE, 1:02 p.m.: No Mets and Yankees have tried to fight in the last few minutes.

UPDATE, 1:12 p.m.: Nice catch by Swish to start the game. He jumped into that impossible-to-see scoreboard in right field and jostled the “Mets” sign. He better hope it’s not broken or Lonn Trost will send him a bill.

UPDATE, 1:29 p.m.: I get it, Burnett needs to face teams from New York to pitch well. 22 pitches after two innings? That is usually two batters for him.

UPDATE, 1:36 p.m.: The Yankees are bunting their No. 6 hitter in the second inning of a scoreless game. Just brilliant.

Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad baseball.

UPDATE, 1:40 p.m.: First and third, one out. They’re due for a hit in a situation like this.

UPDATE, 1:45 p.m.: What a moment for the Cisco Kid. Facing his legendary countryman, he dumps a little RBI single into right field. 1-0 Yankees. They’re making Johan work.

UPDATE, 1:49 p.m.: No team goes after Brian Bruney and gets away with it.

UPDATE, 1:53 p.m.: Best part of that inning for the Yankees? Three straight two-out, two-strike hits with RISP. 4-0 against Santana. Burnett has to win this game now. No excuses.

UPDATE, 1:57 p.m.: Ladies and gentlemen, A.J. Burnett. Gets a 4-0 lead, walks the next batter who is a .241 hitter.

UPDATE, 1:58 p.m.: If the Yankees make a highlight video of this season, it’ll be called “Here comes Dave Eiland to the mound, the story of the 2009 Yankees.”

UPDATE, 2:04 p.m.: Federal government will stop water-boarding prisoners in favor of making them watch A.J. Burnett pitch. “I give in! Here are the secret plans! No more!”

UPDATE, 2:11 p.m.: If Burnett turns it around and makes something of this season, that third inning will be where it happened. Bases loaded, no outs and he escapes.

UPDATE, 2:17 p.m.: Didn’t get to this before. Here are the pre-game interviews with Joe Girardi:

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and Brian Cashman:

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UPDATE, 2:40 p.m.: Wow, shocking turn of events here as Santana is out of the game after getting hammered by the Yankees. 3+ innings, nine hits and seven runs so far.

UPDATE, 2:48 p.m.: So A-Rod nearly grounded into a triple play. Then Cano homers and it’s 11-0. The nine ERs are the most ever allowed by Santana.

UPDATE, 3:02 p.m.: I think I broke my pen keeping score. What a crazy game. Can’t imagine anybody saw 13-0 coming against Santana.

Cano is now 7 of 17 against Johan and Jeter is 11 of 26.

UPDATE, 3:15 p.m.: In other news from the ballpark, Burnett is working on a three-hit shutout in the sixth inning.

UPDATE, 3:49 p.m.: Angel Berroa just got hit in the hip by a pitch. He didn’t mind, he had that hip replaced years ago.

UPDATE, 4:04 p.m.: Nice game for Burnett. 7 innings, 4 hits, 0 runs, 4 walks, eight strikeouts. That third inning could prove very important to him. He threw 66 of his 111 pitches for strikes.

UPDATE, 4:28 p.m.: It’s finally over. Yankees edge the Mets 15-0. Back later with some more.

The Mets were somehow the team with more life as they beat the Yankees yesterday.

Sam Borden writes about Fernando Nieve joining the ranks of unknown pitchers who come up big in the Subway Series.

The Mets rebounded quickly from the their Friday debacle. Ernie Palladino has that story.

Brian Bruney has no time for Francisco Rodriguez. K-Rod has no idea who Bruney is. The fight is on. This notebook also has updates on Gary Sheffield and Johnny Damon.

Is Mariano Rivera merely really good instead of dominant?

Finally, check out the touching story Sam Borden did on why Joe Girardi and Michael Kay are so committed to the fight against Alzheimer’s Disease.

Andy Pettitte’s last four starts:

21 innings
30 hits
13 runs
12 earned runs
14 walks
17 strikeouts
396 pitches (18.8 an inning)

I was in favor of signing Pettitte all winter under the belief that a veteran No. 4 or No. 5 starter would be of great value to the pitching staff. Pettitte has largely delivered on that promise. But a 2.10 WHIP isn’t going to get you very far and it’s wearing down a bullpen that already has been exposed.

Pettitte, for reasons unexplained, had trouble breathing in the second inning. That went away. He also says his sore back is fine. The biggest problem, it seems, are poorly located 89-mph fastballs.

Now the Yankees need A.J. Burnett to go deep in the game with the bullpen battered.

Yikes.

Thanks to everybody for reading today. Back at it tomorrow.