The LoHud Yankees Blog

YANKEES (32-23)
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Posada C
Matsui DH
Swisher RF
Cabrera CF

Pitching: RHP Joba Chamberlain (3-1, 3.71).

RAYS (29-28)
Upton CF
Crawford LF
Aybar 3B
Pena 1B
Zobrist 2B
Joyce RF
Gross DH
Navarro C
Brignac SS

Pitching: RHP Matt Garza (4-4, 3.67).

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

STATE OF THE PINSTRIPES: The Yankees have lost two of three. They are 8-6 in their last 14 games.

HOMER HAVENS: Yankee Stadium and Tropicana Field are the only ballparks to have surrendered at least one home run in every game.

THE DEFENSE RESTS: The Yankees have committed at least one error in four straight games.

CLUTCHY CABRERA: Melky Cabrera has 23 RBI. Eleven of them have either tied the game or given the Yankees the lead in the seventh inning of later.

ON A ROLL: Mark Teixeira had 12 home runs and 35 RBI in the last 26 games.

SPEEDY CAPTAIN: Derek Jeter has 11 stolen bases, the same amount he had all of last season.

GARZA AGAIN: Garza allowed two runs over seven innings and struck out nine against the Yankees on April 14. But the Yankees rallied to win 7-2.

UPDATE, 11:50 a.m.: Still no Rays lineup. They want to see Longoria take BP and run before making a decision.

As for the Yankees …

Brian Bruney threw two 15-pitch simulated innings and felt good. “Two thumbs up,” he said as he came off the field. But the Yankees will be cautious with him. He could throw another simulated game, then some live BP and then a go to the minors for a rehab game or two. At an every-other-day pace, he could be 8-10 days away. They want to make sure he is right before they bring him back.

Jose Molina was in uniform and doing some baseball activities. He thinks he’s 7-10 days away. “It’s not nearly as bad as last time,” he said. “But I need to be able to run.”

The Rays were surprised — shocked, really — that the Yankees intentionally walked Longoria to get to Upton yesterday. Longoria had not swung a bat since Tuesday and was under orders not to run hard if he made contact.

Girardi defended his decision, pointing out that Upton was 1 for 7 with six Ks against Mo. He also had no problem with Rivera saying he wanted to face Longoria. “I would expect him to say that,” Girardi said. “We’d have a problem is he didn’t feel that way.”

It’s also worth noting that Mo issued 27 previous intentional walks in his career. So let’s not get carried away because it happened yesterday. It’s a fair argument either way.

Damaso Marte will throw a bullpen in Tampa today. Xavier Nady threw from 90 feet yesterday. That would seem encouraging.

UPDATE, 12:31 p.m.: Longoria was not cleared to play. But he could pinch hit again.

UPDATE, 12:37 p.m.: Here’s Girardi’s pre-game in the dugout. Lots of talk about the decisions yesterday.

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UPDATE, 1:10 p.m.: We’re underway, five minutes late at 1:10 for whatever reason. … 77 degrees and sunny here in the Bronx.

Nick Swisher turned and snapped off a salute to the Bleacher Creatures during roll call. Johnny Dangerously did his usual two-handed point off one knee.

Joba vs. Garza, two guys with good cheese. Should be a fun one to watch.

UPDATE, 1:35 p.m.: Joba’s last 10 innings: 2 runs on 4 hits. … Meanwhile Alex just jogged out a pop-up that was dropped. He could have been on second. Cervelli did the same thing yesterday. The way the wind blows around on this field, running out pop-ups is important.

UPDATE, 1:51 p.m: Teixeira makes at least one and often two plays a game that Jason Giambi wouldn’t have even attempted. Tex is obviously a very good 1B. But when you view it through the prism of having watched The Big G there, he looks like equal parts Keith Hernandez and Don Mattingly.

UPDATE, 2:03 p.m.: Pretty swing there by Swish from the left side as he extended his arms and crushed a high pitch from Garza. All tied up at 1-1.

UPDATE, 2:35 p.m.: The Yankees have made at least one error in five straight games. Wonder what that record is?

UPDATE, 2:40 p.m.: I’m not a big believer in defensive metrics because they can’t possibly account for how a player is positioned by coaches, field conditions and other factors. There is some merit to them, but they can’t tell the whole story. But based on having watched most of the games this season and all of spring training, Jeter is moving laterally a lot better than in recent years and is making more plays to his left and right. His defense has improved considerably.

UPDATE, 2:48 p.m.: OK, Nick Swisher walks a lot. But Melky Cabrera? The Yankees need to make Garza pay this inning. First and second, top of the order.

UPDATE, 2:50 p.m.: It’s 1-1 in the fifth inning at home and you have Derek Jeter try and bunt? That is bad, bad, baseball. It’s Derek Jeter, let him swing the bat.

UPDATE, 2:51 p.m.: Brilliant, he fouls off two and then nearly grounds into a DP. You play for one run, that’s what you get. Play for a big inning and a knockout punch. Giving away outs in a 1-1 game is a bad idea.

UPDATE, 2:53 p.m.: The Yankees have handed this situation pretty terribly so far. Now watch Tex blast one.

UPDATE, 2:55 p.m.: Brutal. First and second, nobody out and they fail to score with the top of the order up. Maybe if Jeter had just been allowed to hit from the start he might have done something like get a hit.

UPDATE, 3:06 p.m: Game saver there by the Melkman. That ball gets by him and it’s two runs and a triple for Zobrist.

UPDATE, 3:09 p.m.: Joba’s lack of control is what has cost him this inning. He walked Joyce and fell behind Gross.

UPDATE, 3:40 p.m.: Yankees going quietly these last few innings. Blowing that opportunity in the fifth inning looks like the story of this game, at least so far.

UPDATE, 4:00 p.m.: Well, here is another opportunity. Runners on the corners with two outs for Alex.

UPDATE, 4:01 p.m.: I always find it ironic that Grant Balfour became a pitcher. I wonder if Joe Strikethree is out there somewhere.

UPDATE, 4:03 p.m.: Ball four from Balfour. He’s out of the game. Based loaded and one out for Robbie Cano. He’ll face lefty J.P. Howell, the son of Thurston and Lovey Howell.

UPDATE, 4:09 p.m.: This is like slow torture for the Rays as Howell walks in a run. Now it’s Posada with the bases loaded and the Yankees down a run. Mo is in the pen. A single brings him in to try again.

UPDATE, 4:10 p.m.: There’s where not having Evan Longoria hurts the Rays. That’s an inning-ending DP with him in there. Instead it’s 3-3.

Matsui can make up for a bad day here. By the way, Yankees are 19-0 when holding the opponent to three runs or less.

UPDATE, 4:11 p.m.: Boy, Matsui is brutal. He grounds to second again but it was slow enough to bring in a run as he somehow beats the throw. Yankees lead 4-3. Can Mo handle Joyce, Gross and Navarro? You have to think Longoria pinch hits at some point.

UPDATE, 4:16 p.m.: Very, very, very interesting appearance here for the Sandman.

UPDATE, 4:19 p.m.: Dillon on deck, not Longoria.

UPDATE, 4:21 p.m.: Longoria it is. What a situation after yesterday.

UPDATE, 4:23 p.m.: It would seem Mariano made a point there as he gets Longoria to ground out weakly. Yankees win 4-3. Back later with more.

Mariano Rivera faltered as the Yankees fell to the Rays.

CC Sabathia and David Price did not produce the expected drama. This notebook also has updates on Brian Bruney, some community events the Yankees participated in and some other tidbits.

The Yankees have played well of late. But their roster should improve as injured players return.

It was only one game. But Mariano Rivera is 0-2 with a 3.47 ERA and has allowed 26 hits in 23.1 innings. Seven of those hits have been for extra bases, two fewer than he allowed all of last season.

Rivera has a 13.49 ERA and a blown save in five appearances against the Rays and the Red Sox.

But while the hits are up, he has one unintentional walk and has struck out 28.

My vote is no, not worried. I think these blips are natural as Mo ages, but he’s still better than almost every other closer out there, including Jon Papelbon, who has his own issues with hits and walks. It seems like Mo as a few of these every year then you look up four weeks later and he at 1.79 and blowing people away.

But if you are worried, it’s hard to argue after seeing him walk off that mound today.

The three errors by Tampa Bay’s Dioner Navarro were the most for a catcher since Cleveland’s Einar Diaz had three on June 1, 2001.

The opponent that day: The Yankees.

Pitching for Cleveland: CC Sabathia.

Meanwhile, Randy Choate has three saves in four games for the Rays. He had made 196 relief appearance in his career before that without picking up any saves.

One loss against the Rays does not a disaster make. But the Yankees are a troubling 2-9 against the Red Sox and Rays, having been outscored 79-55.

Sure, most of those games came before Alex Rodriguez returned to the lineup. But the Rays showed up in New York without Jason Bartlett, Akinori Iwamura and Pat Burrell and with Evan Longoria limited to pinch hitting and scored nine runs.

Joe Girardi said he took CC Sabathia out of the game because the Yankees had a long bottom of the eighth inning. CC said he felt fine and wanted to continue. “That’s up to Joe,” he said. Sabathia had thrown 101 pitches, nine below his average.

Mariano Rivera said he would have wanted to face Longoria. “Because that’s what I do,” he said. But Girardi went with the numbers and walked Longoria to get to Upton.

Those numbers:

Longoria was 2 for 6 against Mo with a homer three strikeouts, Upton was 1 for 7 with six strikeouts. I’d say Girardi made the correct move. But Upton got a hit.

Here is Girardi’s postgame interview:

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YANKEES (32-22)
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Posada DH
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Cabrera CF
Cervelli C

Pitching: LHP CC Sabathia (5-3, 3.46).

RAYS (28-28)
Upton CF
Crawford LF
Aybar 3B
Pena 1B
Zobrist 2B
Dillon DH
Navarro C
Kapler RF
Brignac SS

Pitching: LHP David Price (1-0, 3.00).

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

LET’S TRY THIS AGAIN: The teams were rained out last night. The weather is cooperating today, however. The Yankees have won three of four, six of eight and 17 of 22. They are a half-game ahead of Boston.

A FEW STATS: The Yankees are 16-10 at home, having won 10 of the last 13 games. … The Yankees lead the majors with 19 come-from-behind wins. … They are 8-4 in one-run games.

ABOUT THE RAYS: Tampa is four games back and at .500 despite a +48 run differential. The Rays have won three straight. The Yankees are 2-3 against the Rays this season.

ON THE MARK: Mark Teixeira is 36 of 98 (.367) with 23 runs scored, 21 extra-base hits, 32 RBI and 10 walks in the last 25 games.

CC A-OK: Sabathia is 4-0, 2.08 in his last five starts. He has allowed only 26 hits in his last 39 innings while striking out 32. He is facing the Rays for the the first time since 2007. He is 7-1, 2.44 against the Rays in 11 career starts. CC will be working on six days of rest.

PRICE IS RIGHT: The 23-year-old has a 2.35 ERA in 23 major league innings and had fanned 29. He has velocity, command, versatility and thinks the game through. Price had a pedestrian 3.97 ERA in Triple-A Durham over eight starts, probably because he was bored. He has fanned 17 in nine innings in the majors this season.

SWISH AT THE DISH: Nick Swisher is 9 of his last 19 with five RBI over six games. He has taken his batting average from .223 to .251.

RISP UPDATE: The Yankees were 71 of 292 (.243) with RISP over their first 33 games. They are 67 of 213 (.315) in the 22 games since.

A-ROD UPDATE: Alex Rodriguez has gone 43 at-bats without a home run. He is 8 of 34 (.235) with one extra-base hit in the last nine games.

MILESTONE WATCH: Joe Girardi needs a win to have 200 as a manager. He is 199-179 with the Marlins and Yankees.

RELIABLE ROBERTSON: Since he was called back up from Scranton, Dave Robertson has appeared in six games. His line: 4 1 0 0 2 4.

NO BULL FROM THE PEN: In the last five games, the relievers have thrown 14.2 innings, allowing two earned runs and striking out 14.

Back with more later on. Lots of updates during the game, too.

UPDATE, 11:59 p.m.: Brian Bruney may be a little closer than we first thought. He is scheduled to throw two 15-pitch simulated innings tomorrow. Then they’ll decide what’s next. But if he gets through that OK, he may be only a week away.

“My elbow is fine,” Bruney said. “My body is a little out of whack because I haven’t pitched much. But I feel good.”

A few other notes for you:

• You may remember the story about John Challis, the high school baseball player from the Pittsburgh area who died of cancer last year. He got to know several of the Yankees, particularly Alex Rodriguez. John’s parents and sister are at the game today as guests of the Yankees and were on the field for BP.

• Jorge Posada has good taste in music. He was playing some Kings of Leon in the clubhouse before the game, which Bruney approved of. And somebody with great wisdom was playing the version of Ring of Fire by Social Distortion over the PA system during BP. Good stuff.

UPDATE, 1:08 p.m.: We’re underway and it’s 71 degrees. Perfect weather for a ballgame. Don’t forget, if you have any questions for our Q&A with CC, please e-mail them by 6 p.m.

• No Evan Longoria today for Tampa, although he could pinch hit. Look for him tomorrow.

Beautiful day in the Bronx, great matchup of lefties. Should be fun. Check back later for more updates.

UPDATE, 1:31 p.m.: 11 pitches, 7 strikes in each of the first two innings for CC. Nice and economical.

Meanwhile, A-Rod just snapped a streak of 43 ABs without a homer with a blast to right center. 1-0 Yankees. Good sign for Alex when he goes the other way like that. When he’s locked in, he’s going oppo with power.

UPDATE, 1:39 p.m.: Price is a very impressive young pitcher. He’s hammering the strike zone and froze Swisher with a very nasty fastball that had late life. But the Yankees have the lead.

UPDATE, 1:50 p.m.: 31 pitches in three innings for CC. The Yankees are making Price work harder as he is close to 50 in the third.

UPDATE, 1:52 p.m.: Jeter now has 11 SBs. That’s as many as he had all of last season.

UPDATE, 2:10 p.m.: Joe Girardi said before the game that he wanted his hitters to work the count and drive up the pitch count on Price. As I write this in the fourth inning, the Yankees have drawn three walks and gone to six three-ball counts.

That said, Price looks like somebody the Yankees are going to be dealing with for a long time. He has some great stuff.

UPDATE, 2:15 p.m.: That was A-Rod first SB attempt of the year. That would seem to indicate his hip is healing nicely. Alex at third and one out. They need to get him in and give CC a little cushion.

UPDATE, 2:16 p.m.: What was Aybar thinking there? He had Alex at home if he made the throw. But 2-0 Yankees. CC is dealing through four innings and is at 47 pitches. He’s not leaving this game any time soon.

UPDATE, 2:24 p.m.: Trouble here for CC. Zobrist sneaks a 1-2 pitch inside the foul pole in left. Then Dillon reaches on a bad-hop single and takes third when Damon air mails the cut-off man. Navarro follows with a sac fly and it’s 2-2.

UPDATE, 2:27 p.m.: Remember when the Yankees went 18 straight games without an error to set a Major League record? They’ve since committed at least one error in four straight games.

UPDATE, 2:34 p.m.: Rays playing the infield in with the score 2-2 in the fifth inning. Guess they don’t think they’re going to score a lot more with CC.

UPDATE, 2:27 p.m.: Three throwing errors for Dioner Navarro. The Melkman takes one for the squad there as he runs down the down rubbing his face like he took a punch from Thomas Hearns.

Price has allowed one earned run in five innings and trails 3-2.

UPDATE, 2:44 p.m.: Another rough inning for CC. Leadoff walk, single, homer by Aybar. Rays lead 5-3. The Yankees have some work to do. Price is at 92 pitches, however. The next inning could be his last.

UPDATE, 2:53 p.m.: Price through 5 innings: 2 hits, 3 runs, 1 earned run, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts. If he gets through the sixth inning unscathed, he’ll have done a great job.

Outside of Alex’s home run, he has pitched extremely well.

UPDATE, 3:00 p.m.: Two walks knock Price out of the game. Joe Nelson for Swisher with runners on first and second and two outs. Big spot for Swish here. One swing for the lead?

UPDATE, 3:04 p.m.: Swisher pops up. Good call by Maddon. … Meanwhile the YMCA thing is so played out.

UPDATE, 3:31 p.m.: Tampa is begging to give this game away, making four errors and issuing five walks. But the Yankees have only two hits.

UPDATE, 3:27 p.m.: Make that three hits as Tex blasts one nearly into the upper deck in right field. He has 17 homers and 48 RBI. What a last five weeks he has had. Yankees trail 5-4.

UPDATE, 3:48 p.m.: Another big spot for Swisher. Runners on first and second, one out, Yankees trail 5-4.

UPDATE, 3:51 p.m.: Swisher walks to load the bases for Clutchy Cabrera. Can Cano score from second on a single?

UPDATE, 3:53 p.m.: High feed from Brignac to Zobrist or the Rays might have turned two. Brand new game as it’s 5-5. Yankees have runners at the corners with two outs for Matsui as the Yankees will give up the DH.

UPDATE, 3:55 p.m.: Very interesting move here for the Yankees. But a smart one. The pitcher would go into the ninth spot. So either Matsui gives them the lead or they don’t have that spot up for a while. It should not hurt them.

UPDATE, 3:59 p.m.: Just so we’re clear here, Mariano is in the ninth spot in the order. They have Gardner and Berroa to pinch hit. So this game would have to go a long way for that move to matter.

Plus they have the top of the order coming up in the bottom of the inning. Somebody is bound to hit a Yankee Stadium cheapie to right field to win it.

UPDATE, 4:02 p.m.: Bad start for Mariano as Zobrist triples and Dillon singles him in. So much for the well-laid plans.

UPDATE, 4:09 p.m.: CC has averaged 110 pitches in his starts. Girardi pulled him today after 101. CC had retired six of the last seven batters he had faced, too.

UPDATE, 4:12 p.m.: For the second time this season, Rivera is removed in the middle of an inning as he fails.

Mo has allowed 26 hits in 23.1 innings. That is alarming given his history.

UPDATE, 4:19 p.m.: They just turned on the “everybody leave” sign at the Stadium apparently as the crowd starts to run for the exits thanks to the latest epic failure by the bullpen. The Yankees have allowed four runs on four hits and now an error by A-Rod.

Rays lead 9-5.

UPDATE, 4:23 p.m.: Mo allowed three earned runs for the first time since Sept. 28, 2007 when he allowed three against Baltimore.

Meanwhile, the Yankees show two inspirational movie clips of coaches talking to their teams on the scoreboard: Matthew McConaughey from We Are Marshall and Al Pacino from the wretched Any Given Sunday.

Aren’t there any baseball movies with inspirational speeches?

Anyway, check back later for reaction from the clubhouse. Mr. Girardi has a few questions to answer about this one.

UPDATE, 4:30 p.m.: Hold everything. Single by Jeter, double by Damon, two-run double by Damon and now Alex is the tying run at the plate. Phil Hughes warming up.

UPDATE, 4:34 p.m: Alex grounds out. But Posada has a chance to tie it.

UPDATE, 4:39 p.m.: Posada lines to center. It’s left up to Cano, and he will face old Yankee Randy Choate.

UPDATE, 4:45 p.m.: And that is that as Cano lines out. He crushed it, too. Yankees lose 9-7 in a supposed duel between two great lefties that turned into a mess as the teams committed six errors and walked 11.

Back with reaction from the clubhouse later on.

Mark Teixeira has been on a roll lately. Ernie Palladino has the story and a few notes from a rainout.

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In his La Esquina blog, Jorge Arangure Jr. of ESPN.com reports that a Cuban outfielder the Yankees were close to signing, Felix Perez, was suspended by MLB for a year for falsifying his age. Read more here if you’re an ESPN subscriber.

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The Demolition of Yankee Stadium blog has some new photos of the place being taken apart.

My two favorite Twitter Tweets of the day:

From MikeVacc (Mike Vaccaro of the Post): Mets medical staff is listing David Carradine as day-to-day …

From NickSwisher: Nice weather. Hahaha. 2 tomorrow. Let’s get them both.

Um, Nick. One game tomorrow.

You can follow this blog on Twitter. Go to twitter.com/peteabe.

As for the blog, that is it for today. A Friday night off awaits. Check back tomorrow morning for the lineup and plenty of posts as the Yankees face the Rays.

Thanks to everybody for reading today. Much appreciated.

This press release arrived today:

Sirius XM announced today that New York Yankees captain and star shortstop Derek Jeter will sit down for an exclusive one-on-one interview on a special edition of Sirius XM’s Ripken Baseball, the weekly show hosted by the Ripken brothers — Hall of Fame shortstop Cal Jr. and veteran major league infielder Billy — this Monday, June 8.

The interview will air live starting at noon ET from Sirius XM’s Midtown Manhattan studios on MLB Home Plate, XM channel 175 and Sirius channel 210 with the “Best of XM” programming package.

Two releases from the Yankees:

At 2 p.m. on Saturday, General Manager Brian Cashman and right-hander Brian Bruney will kick off Summer Reading 2009 at the New York Public Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building – ground floor at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street. Kids will be able to sign up for their summer reading lists with the first 150 readers receiving a free pair of tickets to an upcoming Yankees game. There will also be face painting, break dancing demonstrations and games on-site.

The Yankees have donated $50,000 for the purchase of 2,500 books for the kids. They also recently donated $75,000 to assist with renovating the Grand Concourse branch to better serve the residents of the Bronx.

Kind of strange this is during a game. But nice of C-Money and Brian to take the time.

The second release:

One hour after the conclusion of the 1:05 p.m. Rays-Yankees game on Saturday, Alex Rodriguez will join actor Richard Gere for an All-Star Little League game with players from the Dominican Federation in Manhattan (coached by Gere) playing against players from the United Youth Baseball League in the Bronx (coached by Rodriguez) at Franz Siegel Park— 153rd Street and Grand Concourse. After the three-inning game, Yankees scouts and personnel will be on hand for a special-skills clinic with all of the kids.

A-Rod and Richard Gere coaching a baseball game? Now there is something you don’t see every day. There’s a joke in there somewhere. But in the interest of common decency, I’ll pass.