The LoHud Yankees Blog

Mariano Rivera got his 500th save and Chien-Ming Wang was grateful for it.

Sam Borden writes that Mariano Rivera was the greatest bargain ever.

Derek Jeter was back in the lineup. This notebook also has updates on Johnny Damon and Jose Molina.

Hideki Matsui is glad interleague play is over with.

The Mets continue to sputter. Ernie Palladino has the story.

That was certainly a fun game to watch. It’s not every night you can see a legendary player drive in his first career run and get his 500th save.

Here is the full audio of Mariano’s postgame press conference including the questions asked in Spanish. Take the time to listen because you’ll really get a sense of what kind of person and teammate he is:

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A few notes and quotes for you:

Chien-Ming Wang: The starter had to wait 11 outs to see if he was going to get his first win in 379 days. So, I asked, what were you thinking when you saw Rivera come in the game?

“We’re winning the game,” Wang said.

Wang had a baseball in his locker and he planned to have Rivera sign it. “For my son,” he said. “I want him to know I played with Mo.”

Justin Wang is 12 days old and his old man has had 24 of his 55 wins saved by Rivera. Only Andy Pettitte (59), Mike Mussina (49), Roger Clemens (35), El Duque Hernandez (32) and David Wells (25) have had more,

Derek Jeter: “Yes, No question,” he said without a moment of hesitation when asked if Rivera was the greatest he has played with. “There has never been anybody more consistent. Mo is great in the regular season, the postseason, even spring training.”

Jorge Posada: “I think I’m as excited as he is,” the catcher said. “This means a lot to me, to have caught this game. That man … we’ve been through a lot together. He makes my job easier, he makes all our jobs easier. He’s the best ever.”

Joe Girardi: The manager was the catcher when Mariano recorded his first save on May 18, 1996 against the Angels. Fittingly enough, Andy Pettitte got the win and Jeter was 2 for 4 with an RBI hitting eighth.

With the Yankees up 8-5, Mo entered the game in the ninth inning. He struck out Randy Velarde. Mike Aldrete singled and then Garret Anderson grounded into a double play.

Girardi said that when he caught Mo in spring training of 1996, he knew the Yankees had something special. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘Who is this guy?’ Then he had the best, most dominant year I think I’ve ever seen a reliever have,” he said.

The numbers bear that out. Mo pitched 107.2 innings over 61 appearances with a 2.07 ERA. He allowed 73 hits and fanned 130 with 34 walks.

Cody Ransom: Mo used Cody’s bat and batting gloves again. Cody, no fool, put the bat in a sanitary stocking after the game and was taking it home as a souvenir. Mo said he was welcome to it. “It’s his bat,” he said.

Mariano Rivera: Ever the class act, Rivera talked about how special it was for him to be congratulated by Jeter, Posada and Pettitte, his three long-time teammates. Jeter, he said, has always supported him and said the right thing at the right time.

Mo had a box of balls after the game and was planning to sign them for his teammates.

————

If you’ll permit me a personal aside, I’ve been doing this job since I was 17 and Mariano is the best athlete I have covered. He is the model of professionalism in how he approaches every aspect of his job, how he treats his teammates and how he treats those around the team, including reporters.

A few years ago, he blew a save and was not around after the game to talk to the writers. It turned out he had left the clubhouse quickly because one of the his children was sick. The next day, he apologized and said he would be willing to answer any questions about the blown save. It’s easy to be gracious in victory but the true measure of a man is how he handles defeat and Mo always is there, win or lose.

If at some point, God willing, I’m an old man telling stories on a porch somewhere, the first thing I’ll say was that I got to cover the great Rivera. It has been a tremendously fun part of this job.

It also is tremendously fun to write for such dedicated fans. Nearly 2,100 comments on the blog today and close to 90,000 page views. Thanks to everybody for reading. No baseball on Monday, but we’ll have a few posts.

YANKEES (42-32)
Jeter SS
Swisher RF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Posada C
Cabrera LF
Gardner CF
Wang RHP

Pitching: RHP Chien-Ming Wang (0-6, 11.20).

METS (37-36)
Murphy 1B
Cora SS
Wright 3B
Sheffield RF
Tatis LF
F. Martinez CF
Schneider C
Castillo 2B
Hernandez RHP

Pitching: RHP Livan Hernandez (5-2, 4.05).

TIME/TV: 8:05 p.m., ESPN.

LAST STOP ON THE SUBWAY: The Yankees are 4-1 against the Mets this season, having outscored their city rivals 40-15. The Yankees have outscored the Mets 29-1 in the last three games.

BACK ON A ROLL: The Yankees have won four straight. They have hit .306 with 33 runs and 17 extra-base hots in that stretch while pitching to a 2.00 ERA with 38 strikeouts over 36 innings.

BACK-TO-BACK DOMINANCE: Led by CC Sabathia and A.J Burnett, the Yankees have held the Mets to one run on four hits over the last two games with three walks and 19 strikeouts.

CHANCE TO GAIN GROUND: The Braves and the apparently great Tommy Hanson are about to beat the Red Sox. Yankees can get to within three games of first with a win. Toronto also lost, so the Yankees can move a game against of those plucky Jays.

YOU, ME AND NEARLY .233: A-Rod is 7 of 22 with 11 RBI in his last six games with two home runs. His batting average is up to .227.

TRYING IT WANG MORE TIME: Chien-MIng Wang has not won since last June 15. He has a 5.68 ERA since coming off the disabled list. The Yankees have scored only seven runs in his last three starts. Wang is 1-1, 4.90 in two career starts against the Mets.

LIVAN IT UP: Livan Hernandez is 0-3, 6.94 in six career starts against the Yankees. He allowed six runs on seven hits over 5.1 innings at Yankee Stadium on June 12. Jeter, Teixeira and Cano homered. Career numbers against Hernandez: A-Rod 11-19. 3 HR, Jeter 8-19, Posada 4-12, Swisher 5-14, Cano 4-9, HR Teixeira 3-6, 2 HR.

NOT MUCH MATSUI: Hideki Matsui has seven plate appearances in the eight interleague road games, going 1 for 5 with two walks. He is 2-15 in his last 10 games with no RBI.

MO”S MILESTONE: Mariano Rivera needs one save for 500.

BRUNEY UPDATE: Brian Bruney has appeared in four games since coming off the DL. His line: 3 1 1 1 2 2. The Yankees are 13-1 in the 14 games Bruney has appeared.

Beautiful day at the ballpark. Too bad the game doesn’t start until 8 p.m. Back with more later.

UPDATE, 5:14 p.m.: Jeter pronounced himself healthy. “Good to go,” he said.

UPDATE, 6:12 p.m.: Ryan Church scratched, Fernando Tatis in.

UPDATE, 6:16 p.m.: Damon is still sick. Phil Hughes told me he felt fine and could pitch.

Meanwhile, here is Joe Girardi’s pre-game interview session:

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And, just for kicks, here is Hideki Matsui. The questions and answers are translated by Roger Kahlon. Hideki speaks decent English but in a group interview, which this was, he likes to use the translator.

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UPDATE, 6:23 p.m.: Jose Molina said he as “close to 100 percent as I can get.” He will run again on Tuesday and hopes to start a rehab assignment after that.

UPDATE, 6:35 p.m.: Joba is a smart kid. He just went over to ESPN’s Baseball Tonight set on the field and shook hands with John Kruk, Peter Gammons, Jon Miller and Dave Winfield.

UPDATE, 6:43 p.m.: Derek Jeter hit .321 in 34 games at Shea Stadium. Does he miss the old place?

“I do not,” he said. “I’m not trying to be disrespectful, I just didn’t like that stadium. The field conditions weren’t good. Hitting in that stadium was a lot different than playing defense in that stadium. You liked the atmosphere but the field conditions, and even the clubhouse conditions weren’t good.”

UPDATE, 6:59 p.m.: Jesus Montero just hit his first homer for Trenton. He connected against Reading’s Mike Stutes at Waterfront Park. Ball went out to center.

UPDATE, 8:06 p.m.: Wow, the Mets have a live person sing the National Anthem before the game instead of using a recording. What a concept. I had no idea such a thing was allowed.

UPDATE, 8:09 p.m.: Change for the Mets. Tatis in left and Sheff in right.

UPDATE, 8:10 p.m.: We’re underway as the Captain returns. It’s a nice 69 degrees in Queens. Enjoy the game, everybody.

UPDATE, 8:11 p.m.: Derek back in style with a double. That ball is 10 rows deep in the Bronx. Be nice if they could stake CMW to an edge.

UPDATE, 8:17 p.m.: The beat(ing) goes on for the Yankees as Tex slams a two-run double into left field. Still no outs.

UPDATE, 8:25 p.m.: Tex is not particularly fast but he is a heck of a base-runner. 3-0 Yankees. It’s on a silver platter for Wang.

UPDATE, 8:38 p.m.: Not a very pretty inning but Wang will take it. Yankees lead 3-0 and they have outscored the Mets 32-1 over the last 28 innings.

UPDATE, 8:45 p.m.: Here’s how bad the season is going for the Wanger: He just got robbed of his first career hit by Fernando Martinez.

You know what? The Yankee pitchers have handled the bat pretty well in these nine games.

UPDATE, 8:50 p.m.: A-Rod more mobile and agile at third base lately.

Man, I sound like Clyde Frazier.

UPDATE, 9:09 p.m.: Derek Jeter … to his left? Yes, his left. Wang bailed out with the pretty 6-4-3.

Meanwhile, the Mets just gave out these cool trucker caps. I’m defecting back to Queens. The Yankees only give us water bottles and cheesy stuff.

(Photo credit: Sam “Annie Leibovitz” Borden)

UPDATE, 9:14 p.m.: I’m not overly impressed with Wang so far as he’s having trouble throwing strikes. But a 3-0 lead and a one-hit shutout through three innings can’t be argued with.

UPDATE, 9:29 p.m.: Mets just snapped a streak of 16 straight innings without scoring. Wang scuffling again. Either can’t or won’t throw strikes.

UPDATE, 9:31 p.m.: Why not walk Castillo to get to Hernandez? Isn’t that what you do in this league?

UPDATE, 9:34 p.m.: The press box at Citi Field (which is poorly designed by the way) is right above a walkway, so you can see fans going back and forth.

Here’s a question I have for you Yankees fans. Why buy a white home jersey with “Jeter” or “Posada” or whatever on the back? Isn’t the cool thing about the Yankees that they don’t have the names on the back? I don’t get it.

UPDATE, 9:40 p.m.: Poor bunt by Wang. But why not have GGBG steal second first then bunt him to third? I thought Girardi was Mr. National League?

He’s at 67 pitches through four. Be interesting to see how much rope he has. Girardi has a very rested bullpen (4 innings the last two days) and a day off tomorrow.

UPDATE, 9:48 p.m.: That is just the kind of inning the Wanger needed. A-Rod with another nifty play. Seems that rest helped, hope the Yankees remember that.

10 ground-ball outs in five innings for CMW and three K’s. He’s two innings away from this being a real solid outing.

UPDATE, 9:56 p.m.: Its unclear how the Yankees have only three hits off Livan Hernandez. They probably need to do something about that.

Say this for the big fella, he’s creative.

Bad spot here for him as A-Rod owns him. Best to walk him.

UPDATE, 9:59 p.m.: Yes, walking him. Now will Cano go 4-6-3 or 6-4-3? Nah, big hit time.

UPDATE, 10:01 p.m.: 6-3 DP and on a 2-0 count. Just brutal. Might be time to get him out of the 6 hole.

UPDATE, 10:07 p.m.: Girardi with the quick hook, which is the smart play.

Now Wang has to sweat out the final 11 outs to see if he gets a win. He can win, he cannot lose. His ERA is down to 10.06 at the moment. Down to 10.06? Yikes.

UPDATE, 10:12 p.m.: I just realized the Mets had their No. 5 hitter bunt in the sixth inning down a run. Wow, is that desperate.

Girardi using his bullpen a bunch, double-switching Coke out of the game and bringing in Phil Hughes to face the right-handed pinch hitter Omir Santos.

Hughes in the middle of an inning. Interesting.

UPDATE, 10:16 p.m.: Look at that Joe Girardi messing with Jerry Manuel. One pitch, one out for the Franchise.

If you’re scoring at home — and good for you — Hughes in the second spot and Damon hitting ninth. I want to see Hughes hit. He claims he’s the best hitting pitcher on the team not named CC Sabathia.

UPDATE, 10:32 p.m.: A-Rod having a nice night with the glove. Nice pickup by Jeter, too. Big out for Hughes.

UPDATE, 10:53 p.m.: Six outs to get for the Yankees. They could sure use A-Rod to give them a little more cushion to work with as he bats with two on and two outs in the eighth.

UPDATE, 10:54 p.m.: Another big spot for Cano.

UPDATE, 10:59 p.m.: Another bad job by Cano. If he’s hitting fifth on Tuesday, somebody’s not paying attention. Now it’s up to Bruney.

UPDATE, 11:05 p.m.: Brian Cashman is probably calling the Rockies now. Huston Street! Whatever it takes!

Here’s the issue with Bruney, two actually: You have to worry about his elbow and he goes into these “I refuse to throw a strike” phases in big spots. But he usually squirms out of the mess.

UPDATE, 11:07 p.m.: No messing around, right to Mo.

His last six appearances: 6 1 1 1 1 9. This would be No. 500 if he can get four outs.

UPDATE, 11:14 p.m.: Swing the bat, Omir. Man, is Mo clutch.

How do you figure Wang is doing right now? He might change little Justin’s name to Mo.

Mo Wang. Now that’s a name.

UPDATE, 11:20 p.m.: Kind of disgraceful that the Yankees have four hits, no? 1 for 6 with RISP. Teams have combined for 14 walks. Yeesh.

Brett Gardner 0 for his last 7 as he comes to the plate. That train to Cooperstown slid off the tracks the last two days.

UPDATE, 11:29 p.m.: The scoreboards here are twice as good as they are at the Stadium. Both lineups are up at all times, the pitch count with strikes is up at all times, the count is easy to find, there are scoreboards that show the scores from the minor-league affiliates and a full, complete dedicated out of town scoreboard.

UPDATE, 11:31 p.m.: How is this complicated? Walk Jeter and get to the guy who has had two at-bats in his life.

UPDATE, 11:33 p.m.: Again, not as complicated as the Mets made it. … Mo has one at-bat in his career before this year and two this week.

UPDATE, 11:37 p.m.: Mo drove in a run. I never thought I would see that. Too much. He must be thrilled.

The Mets are a disaster.

UPDATE, 11:40 p.m.: So you walk Mo with the bases loaded and strike out Mark Teixeira. Yeah, that makes sense.

Do yourself a favor and read the nice feature Chad Jennings wrote on Austin Jackson.

There’s a Q&A with A-Jax as well.

I’ll say this again: Yankees fans are very fortunate to have good coverage of the minor league teams.

Also:

Mike Ashmore of Thunder Thoughts wrote to tell me that Christian Garcia is done for the season with elbow surgery. It seems like his career will be short-circuited by injuries. And Jason Johnson is with Trenton as he recovers from a torn labrum.

Also heard that J.B. Cox quit baseball after being demoted to Trenton.

UPDATE, 5:23 p.m.: Mike also reports that LHP Jeremy Bleich is on his way to Trenton.

Got to Citi Field early today to do some work and get ready for the game.

Came across two statistics that struck me as unusual:

• Hideki Matsui has played in only 321 of the last 528 games because of wrist, knee and hamstring injuries. Playing in those 1,768 consecutive games — many of them on turf in Japan — really caught up with him. There is a zero percent change the Yankees will retain Matsui after this season. It’ll be interesting to see if there is a market for him in the majors or whether he has to return to Japan.

• Alex Rodriguez has not had a triple since May 31, 2006 — 1,624 at-bats ago. His last three-bagger came off Nate Robertson at Comerica Park in the eighth inning of a game the Yankees won 6-1.

How weird is that? Alex is obviously a guy who runs well and hits more than his share of line drives into gaps. You figure he would have had a triple at some point. He has 26 in his career.

Here’s a prediction: That streak ends tonight. A-Rod owns Livan Hernandez (11 of 19) and Citi Field is as spacious as a national park.

UPDATE, 4:07 p.m.: Jose Molina is on the field right now doing some base-running drills. That would seem to be a sign he’s close to re-starting a rehab assignment. Oddly enough, Alfredo Aceves is also doing the same drills.

No clue whatsoever why.

A.J. Burnett lost his no-hitter but won the game as the Yankees beat the Mets again.

The Yankees have found Citi Field to their liking as their offense is on a roll.

The Mets have been seeing some good pitching in this series. Ernie Palladino has the story.

Derek Jeter missed another game. This notebook also has updates on Johnny Damon, Jose Reyes and Chien-Ming Wang.

Mark Teixeira thinks departing MLBPA chief Don Fehr deserves some credit.

Here is A.J. Burnett talking about his performance tonight:

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A few stats and such from tonight:

• Phil Hughes is the latest victim of the Yankee Flu.

• Nick Swisher on Burnett: “He was absolutely tremendous. That just goes to show how electrifying he can be. Topping out at 95- 96-miles per hour; a slider that you can’t even see, let alone hit. He was on point tonight. I know he needed that.”

That “slider” is really a curveball. That’s how tight it is.

• Alex Cora was 0 for 21 against Burnett before the hit (“I was due, man,” Cora said. “I’ve been saying that the last five years) and hitless in his previous 21 at-bats this season. Inexplicably, he was hitting leadoff.

• The Yankees have won the season series against the Mets for the first time since 2003.

• The Yankees have held the Mets to one run on 10 hits in the last three games against the kings of Queens.

• The Yankees have scored 33 runs in the last four games and collected 17 extra-base hits.

• The Mets have gone down in order 14 times in 18 innings in the series.

• A-Rod has 11 RBI in the last six games.

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

Shameless plug: I think I’m going to be on WFAN shortly.

A.J. Burnett lasted 2.2 innings and gave up five runs against the Red Sox on June 9.

He said afterward: “I’m not very consistent right now. I’m not a negative guy, so I’m not going to beat myself up over it. But when I do get on that run, it’s going to be impressive. I promise you that.”

His last three starts: 20.1 innings, 10 hits, one earned run, 10 walks, 26 strikeouts.

That’s delivering on your promise. Burnett has shaved his ERA from 4.89 to 3.93 and right now no team in baseball has a better 1-2 punch than do the Yankees.

YANKEES (41-32)
Gardner CF
Swisher RF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Posada C
Cabrera LF
Pena SS
Burnett RHP

Pitching: RHP A.J. Burnett (5-4, 4.24).

METS (37-35)
Cora SS
A Reyes 2B
Wright 3B
Church RF
Sheffield LF
Murphy 1B
Reed CF
Schneider C
Redding RHP

Pitching: RHP Tim Redding (1-2, 6.08).

TIME/TV: 7:10 p.m., YES, WPIX, MLB.

THEY MEET YET AGAIN: The Yankees are 3-1 against the Mets this season, outscoring their city rivals 35-15. The Yankees are now 8-8 in interleague games.

WELCOME BACK: A.J. Burnett ends his five-game suspension today for throwing near the head of Texas Nelson Cruz earlier this month. He faced the Marlins last Saturday and allowed one earned run over 6.1 innings in a 2-1 loss.

OUTBURST: The Yankees have scored 28 runs in the last three games while hitting 40 of 122 (.328). They have drawn 19 walks and had 12 extra-base hits.

HARD TIMES: Mark Teixeira is hitting .213 (10 of 47) over his last 12 games with no homers and four RBI. His batting average has fallen from .290 to .276.

HOW TO LOSE A SLUMP IN FIVE DAYS: Alex Rodriguez is 6 of his last 17 with two home runs and seven RBI.

MO’S MILESTONE: Mariano Rivera has 499 saves. He has allowed one earned run in his last six appearances and struck out nine.

ON THE iPOD RIGHT NOW: Loaded Gun In The Closet by the Drive-By Truckers.

PEACE IN OUR TIMES: Please review the commenting guidelines if you are new to the blog. The link is over to the right.

Back later with more.

UPDATE, 4:57 p.m.: Damon has joined Jeter on the sick list. Both have the flu.

UPDATE, 6:02 p.m.: Slow news day so far. … Talked to Chien-Ming Wang, who said being on regular rest and having some pitches under his belt should lead to a good performance tomorrow. “I need a win,” he said. “It has been too long.” … Jeter wanted to play. But the team doctor put the kibosh on that and Girardi went with that recommendation. Now Damon is fighting the same illness, which has spread through the team in recent weeks. … The organist just played Bohemian Rhapsody and I Wanna Be Sedated.

UPDATE, 7:11 p.m.: We’re underway at Citi Field. 74 degrees on a pleasant night. Enjoy the game.

UPDATE, 7:29 p.m.: 15 pitches, 11 strikes for Burnett in the first inning. He just froze Wright with a deuce to end the inning.

UPDATE, 7:35 p.m.: Ramiro Pena, doubles machine. Credit to him that he sat for so long and is 4 of 6 the last two nights with three doubles.

UPDATE, 7:38 p.m.: Heck of an at-bat for A.J. He saw eight pitches before striking out.

UPDATE, 7:53 p.m.: The out-of-town scoreboard here is tremendous. Every game is displayed, there is the score, the inning, the number of the pitcher in the game for each team and a red light for which team is up. Just perfect.

UPDATE, 7:59 p.m.: Swish did not play last night outside of a defensive cameo. We were chatting before the game and I asked him what he thought of Citi Field big dimensions and high walls. “It’s huge,” he said. “But I think I can get it out of here.”

He was right. 1-0 Yankees. Swish has hit 14 homers this season, 11 on the road.

Wilson Betemit for Swisher. Amazing.

UPDATE, 8:23 p.m.: A.J. dominating the Mets. … They have three hits in 13 innings against the Yankees. … In 13 innings, the Mets have gone in order 11 times.

UPDATE, 8:29 p.m.: Tim Redding (5 2 1 1 2 6) is throwing a gem, too, by the way.

UPDATE, 8:34 p.m.: Now that was a great accomplishment-saving catch if ever there was one.

UPDATE, 8:56 p.m.: Burnett has thrown 78 pitches. He could probably throw 125. Since a no-hitter has to be a complete game, he would have to average about 12 pitches an inning the rest of the way. That’s going to be hard for him to do.

Back in 2001, when he no-hit the Padres, A.J. threw 65 of 128 pitches for strikes. He walked nine, hit one and threw a wild pitch. Marlins won 3-0.

Meanwhile, the pointless “Posada should not catch” debate is losing steam every day.

UPDATE, 9:01 p.m.: Oh, well. At least it was a clean hit. Now Burnett can just worry about winning the game.

UPDATE, 9:04 p.m.: Cora had been 0 for 21 against Burnett before that hit.

UPDATE, 9:17 p.m.: Yankees have outscored the Mets 40-15 this season. Bad times in the House of Wilpon.

Meanwhile, shutout or not, this needs to be the last inning for Burnett.

UPDATE, 9:30 p.m.: Season-high 10 Ks for Burnett. 23rd time in his career he has fanned 10 or more. His high is 14, done twice.

Mets this series: 1 run on 4 hits over 16 innings with 19 strikeouts. Embarrassing.

UPDATE, 9:34 p.m.: Smart move by Girardi as Bruney replaces Burnett. Let’s see if the Mets fans are paying attention.

UPDATE, 9:35 p.m.: Nope, no boos when he was introduced.

I’ll be on ESPN Radio 1050 in New York at 2:10.