The LoHud Yankees Blog

The rotation:

Saturday vs. Tampa: Sabathia
Sunday vs. Tampa: Chamberlain
Monday vs. Tampa: Pettitte
Tuesday at Boston: Burnett
Wednesday at Boston: Wang
Thursday at Boston: Sabathia
Friday vs. Mets: Chamberlain
Saturday vs. Mets: Pettitte
Sunday vs. Mets: Burnett

Rehabs: Brian Bruney threw fastballs and change-ups in the bullpen today and felt fine. Or, given his history, he claimed he felt fine. He’ll need to build up for a while. … Damaso Marte (the Yankees have a player named Damaso Marte?) threw a bullpen in Tampa. … Xavier Nady threw again in Florida and played in an extended spring game.

All that nice preview material goes to waste.

No word as of yet on the makeup.

UPDATE, 4:13 p.m.: I’ll post the pitching rotation once I get it along with any rescheduling news.

UPDATE, 4:20 p.m.: This from the Yankees:

The New York Yankees announced that tonight’s game between the Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium has been postponed due to inclement weather. A date for the rescheduled game is yet to be determined.

For complete information about the Yankees’ rainout policy, please visit www.yankees.com/rainout.

UPDATE, 4:40 p.m.: Sabathia tomorrow. The rotation from there is TBA.

UPDATE, 4:42 p.m.: Tampa’s rotation for the rest of the series is set:

Saturday: Price.

Sunday: Garza

Monday: Sonnanstine

The makeup game will not be this weekend.

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: 7:05 p.m., YES.

STATE OF THE ‘STRIPES: The Yankees have won six of eight, seven of 10 and 17 of 22. They are in a dead heat with Boston for first place in the division.

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 team. The Yankees are 0-2 against the Rays at home, losing twice in April.

TEX’S MESSAGE: Mark Teixeira is 34 of 84 with 19 runs scored, 10 doubles, nine homers and 30 RBI over the last 21 game.

THAT’S CC AS IN CLEARLY CRUISING: 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.

PRICE IS RIGHT: The 23-year-old has a 2.35 ERA in 23 major league innings and had fanned 29. This cat is the Real Deal. 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. The Yankees have a little experience against him.

DESPERATE HOUSE-RAYS: Man, that was corny. Anyway, the Rays are without Evan Longoria, who has a hamstring issue.

WEATHER REPORT: We know, it’s raining. The tarp is on the field. If and when a decision is announced, we will post it. With the Rays a little beat up, the Yankees will want to play. The teams do have a mutual day off Sept. 10, which could coincide with Tampa’s next trip to New York. But the Yankees already have filled one day off in September.

Here’s hoping they play. CC-Price is a great matchup and Tampa is a fun team to watch. Upton and Crawford are two of my favorite players. We shall see what happens.

Stay tuned. Back with more later.

It’s always fun when somebody takes the “Joba belongs in the bullpen!!!!” argument and shoots big gaping holes in it.

Atta boy, Tim Marchman.

————

Meanwhile, 300+ people have sent questions for CC Sabathia. That’s one for every pound. Unless you’re one of the great philosophers of our time, feel free not to keep e-mailing. I think we’re good. But I will keep the question window open until tomorrow as promised just in case.

Shockingly, the Yankees do not consult with the beat writer from The Journal News as to their weather-related plans. So I have no idea what they will do today.

I would imagine they’ll do what they normally do: Open the gates at 4 p.m. and wait and see what it looks like at game time. Then wait an hour or so and either play the game or postpone it.

It’s supposed to rain on the Bronx until around 6 p.m. and then clear up. So there would seem to be at least a decent chance of playing.

If any further news is revealed, it will be posted on the blog.

Friday: LHP CC Sabathia (5-3, 3.46) vs. LHP David Price (1-0, 3.00), 7:05 p.m., YES

Saturday: RHP Joba Chamberlain (3-1, 3.71) vs. RHP Matt Garza (4-4, 3.67), 1:05 p.m., YES

Sunday: A.J. Burnett (4-2, 4.69) vs. RHP Andy Sonnanstine (4-5, 7.07), 1:05 p.m., YES

Monday: LHP Andy Pettitte (5-2, 4.33) vs. RHP Jeff Niemann (5-4, 3.77), 7:05 p.m., YES

We are pleased to announce that CC Sabathia will take questions from readers of the LoHud Yankees Blog and The Journal News.

This is part of a continuing series we’ve been doing for a few years. Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jason Giambi, Brian Cashman and Joba Chamberlain are among those who have participated.

Here is how it works: You have until 6 p.m. on Saturday to submit one question via e-mail. I will pick the 10 best questions and ask them to CC. The full transcript and audio will then be available exclusively on the blog next week.

The rules: You can only ask one question. Only submissions via e-mail will be considered. If you have had a question selected before, please give other folks a chance.

Thanks to CC for joining our list of subjects. “It sounds cool,” he said.

I hope so. But that’s up to you. So come up with your best questions and send them in.

When an athlete gets in some sort of trouble, such as drunk driving or drug use, that he will inevitably promise to amend his ways and donate time or money to fight the problem. It’s an easy thing to say. But actions, as they say, speak louder than words.

So it is worth noting that Joba Chamberlain was at Nutley (N.J.) High School on Wednesday morning, speaking before a crowded audience of students about the dangers of drunk driving. It was was the sort of thing Chamberlain said he would do last fall when he was charged with DUI in Nebraska.

Chamberlain spoke for 20 minutes and took questions for 15 minutes. “Just something I wanted to do,” he said. “It was a good experience.”

A day later, an e-mail came in from a reader named Jaclyn, who graduated from Nutley a few years ago. She heard Joba was going to be there and made her way into the auditorium.

“He was really cool and seemed to enjoy being in a room with a bunch of 17 and 18 year olds. He got a real kick out of a lot of their questions,” she wrote. “After talking about his DUI experience, he sat in with the baseball and softball teams for about ten minutes, along with some of the members of SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions). I asked him to sign a ball for me. He was totally gracious about it and even signed something for my friend. Just thought I’d pass it along.”

It seemed like something worth passing along to you. I saw Joba speak at a college in January and he had pretty much the same message.

Doing some good deeds hardly absolves Joba of what he did. But unlike many of his peers, he kept his promise to try and teach others not to make the same mistake he did. For that, he deserves credit.

Clutchy Cabrera did it again as the Yankees beat the Rangers and bailed out Chien-Ming Wang.

A.J. Burnett was suspended for six games. This notebook also has updates on Dave Robertson, Xavier Nady, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Nick Swisher.

If you haven’t read the story Tom Verducci did on Bryce Harper, here you go. The 16-year-old from Las Vegas is the LeBron James of baseball, a high school sensation.

His goals?

“Be in the Hall of Fame, definitely. Play in Yankee Stadium. Play in the pinstripes. Be considered the greatest baseball player who ever lived. I can’t wait.”

The story reads like a fairy tale and perhaps Harper is the real deal. But before you dream of Harper someday playing for the Yankees, you should know that SI once decided a high school guard from Maryland, Tamir Goodman, would be a huge star in basketball. Goodman came to Queens to play in a tournament in 2000 and a kid from Mount Vernon, N.Y., put 52 points on him.

Goodman went on to play at Towson State for two years before he quit. The kid from New York was Ben Gordon, who led the Chicago Bulls in scoring this season.

Trying to predict which 16-year-old will be a star is only slightly less difficult than winning the lottery. At best, it’s an educated guess.

Still, it’s fun to try and the story is an interesting one.