The LoHud Yankees Blog

This is getting better by the second.

Joe Girardi said Friday that he thought Brad Penny intentionally threw at Alex Rodriguez when the Red Sox and Yankees played on Thursday. It would seem Penny did not appreciate the comments.

““I don’t give two f—s what Joe Girardi says,” Penny told reporters today in Philadelphia. “I’m coming inside. I don’t care. Anybody can say that. We can say that about the time they hit our guys. I’m just trying to pitch inside. Maybe he should worry about managing and not trying to be the commissioner.

“Why wouldn’t he say that the night before? Don’t wait a day, then say it. He should worry about managing and let the umpire crew do their job.”

What players from other teams will the Yankees criticize tomorrow? Stay tuned.

Francisco Rodriguez didn’t say much before the game when he heard about Brian Bruney’s comments. But he was a little more opinionated afterward.

“He needs to keep his mouth shut and do his job,” Rodriguez said. “If he was a big guy, I’d probably pay attention. If he was somebody big like Mariano, I’d respect that. But if I don’t know who he is, I just don’t listen.”

UPDATE, 8:59 p.m.: Now we have fighting words from K-Rod:

“Instead of sending a message through the paper, next time when he sees me at Citi Field come up to me and say it to my face. Don’t be sending a message through the media. I don’t even know who that guy is. Somewhere in Double-A? I believe he hasn’t even pitched one full season. He’s always been on the DL. That’s all I know right now.”

Brian Bruney was back at the Stadium by the time the game finished. Asked about his attack on Francisco Rodriguez, he did not back off.

“I stand by what I said. But I’m not going to start a media war with K-Rod,” he said. “I don’t know him, he’s probably a good dude. If he says he doesn’t know me, he doesn’t know me. I learned to play the game a different way.”

I’m still not sure why all this happened. But speaking on behalf of New York baseball writers, we welcome all such stories, especially on an otherwise nondescript day.

YANKEES (35-26)
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Posada C
Matsui DH
Cabrera RF
Gardner CF

Pitching: LHP Andy Pettitte (6-2, 4.22).

METS (31-28)
Castillo 2B
Cora SS
Beltran CF
Wright 3B
Sheffield DH
Tatis 1B
Church RF
Santos C
Martinez LF

Pitching: RHP Fernando Nieve (0-0, 0.00).

TIME/TV: 4:10 p.m., FOX.

STATE OF THE ‘STRIPES: The Yankees have lost four of their last seven games but won an unlikely 9-8 game last night thanks to a dropped pop-up by Luis Castillo. They start the day two games behind Boston in the AL East.

STATE OF THE METS: The poor cousins from Queens have lost three straight and seven of their last 10. They trail the Phillies by four games and are 13-17 on the road.

SUBWAY STATS: The Yankees are 38-29 against the Mets. The Mets have won five of the last eight games, however. Derek Jeter has reached base safely in 48 consecutive interleague games dating back to June 25, 2006. The Yankees are 125-89 in interleague games.

SO WHO IS THIS GUY: Fernando Nieve, a 26-year-old right-hander, has thrown two innings in the majors this season and 109 in his career, most of them with Houston in 2006 when he appeared in 40 games, 11 as a starter. He was 3-1, 4.29 as a starter for the Mets in AA and AAA this season.

ANDY’S NOT SO DANDY: Andy Pettitte has lasted only 16 innings in his last three starts as he has allowed 18 hits and walked 13.

MO WANTS A SAVE: Mariano Rivera has entered a tied game eight times this season. He is 1-2 with a 6.23 ERA and opponents are hitting .316 against him. In 15 save situations, he has a 1.72 ERA and opponents are hitting .217 against him.

A-ROD UPDATE: Alex Rodriguez has one home run in his last 18 games.

THEY’RE HOT: Hideki Matsui has five hits in his last 10 at-bats. Mark Teixeira has nine homers in his last 15 games. He leads the AL with 20 homers. His 54 RBI are third in the AL.

THEY’RE NOT: Johnny Damon is 1 of his last 14 with four strikeouts. Jose Veras has appeared in one game since June 2.

TOUGH IN TOUGH TIMES: The Yankees lead the majors with 21 come from behind wins. They have won 12 games in their final at-bat and are 10-6 in one-run games.

MAKE A PLAY: The Yankees have made at least one error in nine of their last 10 games.

Back with much more later on.

BRUNEY UPDATE: 1 perfect inning, no strikeouts. 12 pitches 8 strikes, hit 94 on the gun. Pop to short, fly to center, grounder to third. Girardi said they would consider activating him after the one appearance. They would wait until Tuesday I would guess.

UPDATE FROM THE CLUBHOUSE, 1:35 p.m.: Johnny Damon feels fine and things he made need to cit down on the caffeine. … Girardi said he needed to talk to Joba and Posada about the bickering during the game. That has been going on since 2007, actually. Two strong-willed guys. … I asked Girardi about using Damon for Swisher instead of Gardner last night in the ninth inning. He said, correctly, that Swisher has bad numbers against K-Rod. He was hoping Gardner would get on and steal second.

The tarp is on the field and it is raining lightly. I’m sure they’ll try everything to play.

UPDATE, 1:43 p.m.: Here is Joe Girardi’s pre-game interview session. He touched on assorted topics:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Oh, yeah, just a regular day off for Swisher. He could use one.

UPDATE, 2:54 p.m.: So Brian Bruney pitched his one inning for Trenton then spoke to a few writers there. He had this to say about last night’s game and Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez:

“Couldn’t have happened to a better guy on the mound, either. He’s got a tired act,” Bruney said. “He gets what he deserves, man. I just don’t like watching the guy pitch. I think it’s embarrassing.”

Bruney is talking about how Rodriguez celebrates after the final out. In the interest of being fair, we asked K-Rod for his response. He seemed baffled by what Bruney said.

“I don’t even know who that guy is,” he said. Rodriguez seemed tempted to say more but declined further comment.

Bruney and Rodriguez have no history as far as we know.

As for how he pitched, Bruney offered this: “It was important for me to face hitters, just because it’s kind of a different gear than throwing live BP or bullpens or anything like that. I think everything came out well and everything felt good. I think the next step will be rejoining the team.

“I felt good. I did what I wanted to do, attack hitters and pitched in the zone. I threw all my pitches. I was just looking to just throw and make sure it felt good.”

UPDATE, 3:11 p.m.: MLB.com has has a cool link. It’s of the four calls of last night’s final play. In order: Michael Kay, Gary Cohen, John Sterling and Howie Rose. They all did a good job for the most part.

I did notice one thing on the relay: Castillo was on his knees when he retrieved the ball, which prohibited him from throwing it to the plate.

UPDATE, 3:19 p.m.: Tarp still down, light rain falling. Doesn’t look like an on-time start. It always rains on the Subway Series.

UPDATE, 4:04 p.m.: I should learn not to underestimate the grounds crew. We’ll have baseball at 4:10 p.m. Cloudy but dry at the moment.

UPDATE, 4:06 p.m.: You know what would be funny? If Yankees fans gave Castillo an ovation when he comes to the plate to start the game.

UPDATE, 4:33 p.m.: Hey, the Yankees walked a guy. Pettitte headed for 40 pitches in the second inning. This pitching staff has serious problems that the offense is covering up.

UPDATE, 4:36 p.m.: Name one Yankees pitcher who has met or exceeded expectations this season. Just one. CC Sabathia, I’d say. Who else? Pettitte is headed for another five-inning outing — if that.

UPDATE, 4:44 p.m.: Pettitte got lucky there as Jeter went to his left (yes, his left) to snare a hot shot off the bat of Cora and turned it into the final out of the inning thanks to a nice scoop by Teixeira. But he is already at 54 pitches.

UPDATE, 4:47 p.m.: So much for that home run drought. Meanwhile, this park is a farce. That was a routine fly ball and it just kept going. I have no idea what the cause is, but the Yankees have some serious remodeling to do. They’re going to wreck their pitching staff playing 81 games a year here.

Raining again, by the way.

UPDATE, 5:11 p.m.: The immortal Fernando Nieve has allowed one hit in three innings, a Yankee Stadium home run by A-Rod. Is that fancy new video room they have actually open?

UPDATE, 5:22 p.m.: Pettitte is at 83 pitches after four innings. He has allowed seven hits and a walk but only two runs. Fernando Nieve is still pitching like Fernando Valenzuela.

UPDATE, 5:29 p.m.: Nieve is perfect outside of A-Rod’s solo homer and walking A-Rod in the fourth. Pettitte needs a quick inning here and maybe be can give them six innings. But getting through Beltran, Wright and Sheff quickly won’t be easy.

UPDATE, 5:35 p.m.: Like I said. … Another brutal start for the Yankees. Pettitte has (so far) allowed 10 hits in 4.1 innings. Mets lead 4-1.

After getting the gift last night and knowing Santana starts tomorrow, this is a poor effort all the way around for the Yankees, as dreary as the weather.

UPDATE, 5:44 p.m.: Omir Santos and Fernando Martinez are 5 of 6. … Pettitte so far: 4 12 5 5 1 2.

Yankees down 5-1. This does not look much like comeback win No. 22. The Mets are going to have to drop a lot of pop-ups.

UPDATE, 6:00 p.m.: One day you’re the set-up man in the eighth inning, the next you’re pitching in the sixth inning with the team down 5-1. No wonder the bullpen is a mess. Go get ‘em, Alfredo Aceves. Jose Veras, it would seem, is completely useless.

Yankees have put a big stamp on this game and mailed it in so far.

UPDATE, 6:08 p.m.: Pettitte has allowed 12+ hits 10 times in his career, twice in the last 26 days.

UPDATE, 6:15 p.m.: Fernando Nieve has thrown a two-hitter through six innings. The one run he allowed was a cheapie home run. It’s his first start in the majors since June 15, 2006.

UPDATE, 6:20 p.m.: Gotta love Sheff, the man does not get cheated when he swings. That ball stayed hit.

This game is over. Mentally the Yankees have picked up the bill and checked out.

UPDATE, 6:24 p.m.: It’s 6-1 in the seventh inning … Jose Veras warming up. So that’s his role.

UPDATE, 6:36 p.m.: That’s it for Fernando Nieve, who departs in the seventh having allowed four hits and two walks. Yankees have runners on the corners and two outs.

UPDATE, 6:42 p.m.: With Bruney knocking on the door, this outing could determine whether Veras is DFA’d or not.

UPDATE, 7:17 p.m.: This game is three hours of my life I’ll ever get back. What a tedious affair. The Mets finished with 17 hits. Sadly, that’s eight fewer than the most the Yankees have allowed in a game this season. Cleveland had 25.

Back later with clubhouse reaction.

Brian Bruney will start Game 1 of Trenton’s doubleheader today at Waterfront Park. He’ll pitch an inning.

The Yankees will decide then what he does next. They were close to activating him last night but decided to be cautious and send him on a rehab.

Mike Ashmore, you can be sure, will have the details over on Thunder Thoughts

The Yankees received a gift from the Mets in the form of a dropped pop-up.

Sam Borden writes that there is more to Mark Teixeira than there sometimes seems. He and John Henry have become sparring partners.

Luis Castillo was devastated by his mistake. Ernie Palladino has that story.

Francisco Rodriguez blew his first save for the Mets. Not that he deserved it. This Subway Series notebook has a host of other items including news on Johnny Damon, Xavier Nady, Brian Bruney and Joe Girardi.

The Yankees have a new belt fit for a King. From the King, really.

Back later on with the game post.

The Yankees still can’t believe they won that game.

“You never assume, but that’s about as close as you can to the game being over,” Derek Jeter said. “It’s one of those things that happens. You can see that play 1,000 more times and it’ll never happen again.”

Said Mariano Rivera: “That’s baseball, anything is possible. But I have seen a lot of baseball and I have never seen that.”

A-Rod was 1 for 17 against K-Rod in his career, counting the postseason. So it made sense for Jerry Manuel to walk red-hot Mark Teixeira to put the winning run on base. It made even more sense when Alex undercut a 3-1 fastball. A-Rod flung his bat in disgust.

Then the Yankees won. Luis Castillo will spend his life remembering that play.

As for Mo, Girardi said he was willing to use him in the eighth inning today to protect a tie because Beltran was up. But he was not willing to use him the night before in the eighth inning to protect a lead?

Managers really need to forget about roles on certain occasions and just use their best guys when they are needed, period. But will take somebody to have success doing that for others to follow. Most mangers are just too afraid to take chances and open themselves up for criticism.

That’s 21 come from behind wins for the Yankees and 12 wins in their final at-bat.

As one wise-guy e-mailer put it, A.J. Burnett should have given Castillo a pie.

————

Have to share this: Joba’s son, 3-year-old Karter, was in the clubhouse after the game watching as a few of us spoke to his dad about his dreadful start.

“Daddy,” Karter interrupted. “You didn’t throw strikes.”

“He knows me,” Joba said. “Pretty scary, huh?”

It was a very cute scene. Then as I walked out, Joe Girardi was taking his son Dante to hit in the cage. The Yankees should have juice boxes in the post-game spread.

Thanks to everybody for reading today and to those to watched the live video chat 13 hours ago. It was a busy day, but it was great to have so many people participating on the blog. We’ve had about 500,000 page views these last four days. People just love talking baseball.

Two quick injury updates for you:

Brian Bruney will pitch in the first game of Trenton’s doubleheader tomorrow. The Yankees did consider activating him but decided against is. With the bullpen in the shape it’s in, they could make another move tomorrow to bolster it.

Damaso Marte is going to see Dr. James Andrews on Monday. That can’t be good.

Mark Teixeira is the first to claim the new belt. Let that be a lesson to you young ballplayers, always run hard.

Back with more later on.

YANKEES (34-26)
Jeter SS
Swisher RF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Posada C
Matsui DH
Cabrera LF
Gardner C

Pitching: RHP Joba Chamberlain (3-1, 3.79).

METS (31-27)
Cora SS
Martinez LF
Beltran CF
Wright 3B
Church RF
Sheffield DH
Murphy 1B
Schneider C
Castillo 2B

Pitching: RHP Livan Hernandez (5-1, 3.88).

TIME/TV: 7:05 p.m., YES, SNY.

STATE OF THE SERIES: The Yankees were 2-4 against the Mets last season and are 13-17 against their city rivals since 2004. They are 20-13 overall against the Mets.

INTERLEAGUE KINGS: The Yankees are 124-89 in interleague games, the best mark in baseball.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GODZILLA: Hideki Matsui turns 35 years old today. He hit a game-winning, sixth-inning grand slam on his birthday last season at Oakland, becoming the 19th player all-time and the first Yankee to hit a grand slam on his birthday according to SABR’s David Vincent.

WRONG DIRECTION: The Yankees have lost three straight, four of their last six and five of their last eight.

THEM, TOO: The Mets have lost two straight and six of their last nine. The Subway Series! Only on Fox!

GETTING EVEN: The Yankees are now 9-6 in one-run games after leaving Fenway Park.

PITCHING, PITCHING, PITCHING: The Yankees are 21-0 when the opposition scores three runs or less.

LEADING MAN: Derek Jeter has 11 hits in the first inning of the last 19 games.

THAT’S RISP AS IN REALLY INSIGNIFICANT SCORING PRODUCTION: The Yankees were 3 of 28 with runners in scoring position in the Boston series and are 7 of their last 62, a fine .113 average.

HISTORIC DAY: This from the Yankees: Today marks the 14th anniversary of the first career home run for Alex Rodriguez. It was against Tom Gordon at the Kingdom. Rodriguez’s 561 home runs through today are the most for any player within 14 years of hitting his first homer.

METS MAKE A MOVE: This release from the Mets … The Mets today announced righthanded pitcher John Maine will be placed on the 15-Day Disabled List, retroactive to June 7, with right shoulder weakness. To complete the team’s 25-man roster, the Mets have selected the contract of lefthanded pitcher Jon Switzer from Buffalo (AAA) of the International League. Switzer, who was signed as a minor league free agent on January 22nd, was 0-2 with a 2.13 ERA with Buffalo. The 29-year-old had allowed 21 hits with nine walks and 29 strikeouts at the time of his promotion. The 6-3, 210-pound southpaw has spent parts of four seasons on the major league level, all with the Tampa Bay Rays.

Back with much more later. Lots of posts today.

UPDATE, 5:13 p.m.: Sounds like Brian Bruney could be activated tomorrow. They’re discussing it now.

UPDATE, 5:57 p.m.: Johnny Damon is out of the lineup for assorted reasons. He hasn’t played well of late and he said his eyes have ben “fluttering.” Damon said he felt like he was going to pass out on the field last night. He wondered whether it was a lingering side effect of the concussion he suffered five years ago.

He’s getting checked out today and said he is available.

In terms of other stuff:

Girardi said Brad Penny threw at A-Rod on purpose and should be disciplined by MLB. He also hinted the Yankees could be waiting for payback. … The Yankees had their flight delayed last night and most of the players didn’t arrive home until 4:30 p.m. … Sounds like Xavier Nady is still a ways off. “Good days and bad days,” he said. X did not sound particularly confident in his ability to throw. But he said it is improving over time.

UPDATE, 6:02 p.m.: Here is the greatest blog update ever. Yes, ever.

CC Sabathia knows the famed wrestler Jerry “The King” Lawler. The King heard about the Yankees awarding a toy WWE championship belt to the player of the game and sent them an actual championship belt. CC handed it to me and the has to weigh 15 pounds. Here’s a photo of it:

The King said he is getting a special belt made with the Yankees logo. How great is that? CC said his son, CC III, is a big wrestling fan and they attend the matches several times a year. As somebody who once went to Lincoln Park Ballroom to see the fabulous Don Muraco and Mr. X of Parts Unknown, I know where CC is coming from.

In the interest of keeping you in the loop, I requested permission to snap a photo of the belt. Thanks to Jason Zillo for the help. The LoHud Yankees Blog, bringing you ridiculous clubhouse news since 2006.

UPDATE, 6:14 p.m.: Mark Teixeira was fired up today. It seems that Red Sox owner John Henry has a Twitter account and last night wrote “The MT curse?” when the Yankees lost. Boston is still steamed, apparently, that Tex signed with the Yankees.

“How old is Mr. Henry?” Tex said, who said he didn’t want to get into it with a “70-something-year-old man about baseball. … I think it’s a little silly. It’s actually very silly.”

Henry is actually 59, which makes Tex’s comment even funnier. Of course he looks about 80.

UPDATE, 7:03 p.m.: Beautiful weather as we’re about to get underway. Lots of empty seats. Heard the traffic was brutal today. Several players were late arriving to the park.

UPDATE, 7:06 p.m.: It’s the Subway Series, a showcase for baseball in New York. Here’s who the Yankees had sing the anthem and throw out the first pitch …

… Nobody. Yes, nobody. The Army Band recording and that was it. Hey, it’s not like there are any singers in New York or famous former players around. Wouldn’t want to distract folks from going to the art gallery or the Steiner Sports display of Game-Used Dirt.

UPDATE, 7:14 p.m.: Thats quite a lineup the Mets are running out there. Beltran, Wright, the ghost of Sheff and assorted other dudes.

UPDATE, 7:38 p.m.: “It’s a C-Bomb for Robbie … ” Oh, wait a second. Anyway, 1-0 Yankees.

UPDATE, 7:47 p.m.: Well-placed sources in Scranton (OK. Chad Jennings) report that OF Todd Linden has been sold to the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in Japan.

UPDATE, 8:02 p.m.: Joba has suddenly lost his control. Three walks and a hit batter have given the Mets a run. Beltran walked on a 10-pitch AB to tie the score.

UPDATE, 8:06 p.m.: Joba hits Church with an 0-2 pitch to force in another run. The Mets have scored twice without a hit. He is over 70 pitches in the third inning. Another mess for a starter.

UPDATE, 8:10 p.m.: That was a 43-pitch inning for Joba. Why does this happen to him so often? Again, the Yankees have trouble with their pitching.

UPDATE, 8:20 p.m.: New Tex hitting approach: Picture face of John Henry on ball, smack hard. Yankees 3-2. That ball was crushed, too.

UPDATE, 8:28 p.m.: Joba working on a one-hitter!

UPDATE, 8:40 p.m.: Joba with the one-hitter along with five walks and two HBPs. Looks like he is dunzo.

UPDATE, 8:46 p.m: I’m starting to see why Ozzie Guillen felt the way he did about Nick Swisher … Meanwhile, Carlos Beltran is the best at stealing third I have seen. He picks his spots very well. Yankees in trouble again as Tomko has runners on the corners and nobody out.

UPDATE, 8:51 p.m.: The Yankees have some issues here. Hughes is not available, Aceves threw 10 pitches last night and he’s apparently the new set-up man. They may need somebody to give them three innings. But who?

Ugly game for the Yankees so far. Walks, HBPs, errors, etc.

UPDATE, 8:53 p.m.: Sheff just did what Sheff does, crushing a pitch down the line in left. Mets lead 6-3. Sheff pimped it a little when he hit it.

That’s 505 homers for Sheff, 24th in history.

UPDATE, 9:12 p.m.: Another game, another four homers in five innings at Yankee Stadium. You wonder if those road RISP numbers are related to a false sense of security built up at home because the ball flies out here.

At any rate, 6-4 Mets. I’m guessing that’s not how it ends here.

UPDATE, 9:22 p.m.: Lots of Mets fans here. Even the vaunted Legends seats are mostly full.

UPDATE, 9:28 p.m.: Jeter slugging .529 at home, .389 at the road at the moment. Based on my scorebook, six of his seven homers at Yankee Stadium (out of nine overall) have come to right field.

UPDATE, 9:41 p.m.: He did it again, a home run for Matsui on his birthday. The three-run shot makes it 7-6 Yankees.

A slam last year, a three-run shot this season.

UPDATE, 9:50 p.m.: Can they activate Bruney now? Yankees are going to need another home run or three by the time this inning is over.

UPDATE, 10:06 p.m.: Alex smacked himself in the helmet after that strikeout like he was Curly of The Three Stooges. Yankees blew a big chance there.

UPDATE, 10:18 p.m.: Mariano in the eighth inning of a tied game. I guess the Yankees really want this one. But it makes sense with Beltran up.

UPDATE, 10:21 p.m.: So much for that. Beltran walks, Wright RBI double. More issues for Mo. This all goes back to Joba giving them four innings. Plus Girardi has no faith in useless parts like Jose Veras. Yankees down again, 7-6.

UPDATE, 10:36 p.m.: If the Mets finish this off, they will have beaten the Yankees in six of the last eight games between the teams. The Yankees also would have losses in six of their last nine games this season. The heat will be on full blast.

UPDATE, 10:53 p.m.: Wow, walking Tex to get to A-Rod. Shows you what they think of him. What a crazy game.