The LoHud Yankees Blog

Just heard that David Carradine has died.

He was the star of the classic 70s television show Kung Fu. It was about a half-Chinese martial arts expert inexplicably wandering the old West putting a beating on gunslingers. This led to such cultural touchstones as G.I. Joe with the Kung Fu grip and the hideous song Kung Fu Fighting. The age of enlightenment it was not.

Carradine was actually much better when he played Woody Guthrie in Bound For Glory in 1975. If you’ve never seen that, it’s a very solid film. He also was Bill in Kill Bill.

Randy Johnson won his 300th game today. He must have received at least one or two text messages from his good friends around the league.

Johnson is a strange guy beyond that fact that he is 6-foot-11, left-handed and looks a roadie for Motley Crue.

Two stories:

• During Johnny Damon first season with the Yankees, there was a big game on a particular day and Johnson was pitching. Before the team went out to the field, Damon stood in the middle of the clubhouse and said something along the lines of, “Let’s go get ‘em, boys!” and Johnson promptly told Johnny in particularly obscene language to sit down and shut up.

Nobody knew what to say. Then again, nobody knew what to say to Johnson during his two years in New York. He barely spoke to his catchers. Even nicest guy in the world John Flaherty had words with him.

• When I started covering the Yankees in 2006, I made it a point to introduce myself in spring training to the players I didn’t previously know. I had heard Johnson was an ogre, but when I walked up, he thanked me for coming over, wished me well and said he would see me around.

I was impressed, figuring what I had heard about the Big Unit was all wrong. So the next day I approached Johnson to ask him some questions about Phil Hughes, about whom I was writing a feature story on. Who better to ask about pitching than a future Hall of Famer?

“Excuse me, Randy,” I said. “Can I ask you a question about Phil Hughes?”

Johnson looked down, made a face and said, “Hughes? What the $%&# do I know about Hughes?” Then he walked away. So much for us being pals.

But say this for Johnson: He was a young pitcher without much control who became one of the best of his generation. He may not have been the friendliest guy in baseball, but he could well be the last 300-game winner we ever see.

So good for him.

Tim Brown from Yahoo! Sports wrote a good piece on Johnson earlier this week.

Joe Girardi said that Chien-Ming Wang would stay in the rotation and face the Red Sox on Tuesday at Fenway.

They would like to see more consistency with the sinker. But Girardi and Dave Eiland felt he pitched better than the numbers indicate. Beyond that, you can’t just keep changing the rotation. This is actual baseball, not fantasy baseball.

“I can do better,” Wang said. “But throwing 70 pitches (actually 69) was good.”

Teixeira laughed about his three-run double in the fifth inning that rolled around like a marble on a glass table. “That’s for all the times you hit a ball to the warning track or a line drive right at somebody,” he said.

I’d like to tell you what Melky Cabrera had to say. But the Yankees had team advisor Ray Negron translating and much of what he said was, shall we say, dramatically enhanced. The general message was that Melky is happy that Joe Girardi has confidence in him.

That’s 17 of 22 for the Yankees and wins in seven of the last eight series.

A few other notes for you: Dave Robertson is 5-0 in his career with two one-pitch wins. … Xavier Nady threw again today in Tampa and took BP. … Cody Ransom will play for Scranton tonight. … Today was the 19th time the Yankees have come from behind to win.

Here’s Joe Girardi’s postgame:

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Stay tuned for an announcement about our next reader Q&A.

YANKEES (31-22)
Damon LF
Swisher RF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Matsui DH
Cabrera CF
Cervelli C
Pena SS

Pitching: RHP Chien-Ming Wang (0-3, 16.07).

RANGERS (31-21)
Kinsler 2B
Young 3B
Blalock DH
Cruz RF
Murphy LF
Byrd CF
Davis 1B
Teagarden C
Andrus SS

Pitching: RHP Brandon McCarthy (5-2, 4.35).

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

STATE OF THE ‘STRIPES: The Yankees will try and win the series today as they return Chien-Ming Wang to the rotation. Wang was 0-3 with a 34.50 ERA in his first three starts of the season. He then went on the disabled list and pitched well in three relief appearances.

TEXAS TANGLE: The Yankees are 3-2 against Texas this season and have won 26 of their last 38 games against the Rangers.

SO LONG, VICENTE?: The Rangers have reportedly asked for release waivers on RHP Vicente Padilla, who hit Mark Teixeira twice on Tuesday. Manager Ron Washington would not comment after the game last night.

HOME COOKING: The Yankees have won nine of their last 12 at home.

WEATHER REPORT: The field is not covered and we should be OK. It’s not ideal June weather but it beats going to work, right?

That’s all I have for now. Much more to come later once we speak to the manager. Plus live blogging all game.

UPDATE, 11:38 a.m.: MLB has suspended A.J. Burnett six games. It is expected he will appeal.

UPDATE, 12:02 p.m.: Burnett has in fact appealed. Here is the MLB release:

Discipline has been issued to the two starting pitchers from the Tuesday, June 2nd game between the Texas Rangers and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Bob Watson, Vice President of On-Field Operations for Major League Baseball, made the announcement.

Major League Baseball also has issued an undisclosed fine to Rangers pitcher Vicente Padilla, who intentionally threw a pitch at Mark Teixeira of the Yankees during the bottom of the fourth inning.

While I’m sure some people will want to storm the gates at Park Ave. over this, Watson’s decision is completely consistent with his past decisions. Josh Beckett, for instance, for suspended without actually hitting anybody earlier this season.

Burnett went with the traditional, “When you pitch inside, the ball gets away sometimes” defense. But you, I and everybody else knows what he did. Part of being a stand-up guy is taking the hit from MLB. I would guess the suspension gets knocked down a day and they finagle their way through the rotation.

UPDATE, 12:22 p.m.: Burnett also has a scraggly little Sean Penn as Spicoli sort of mustache going. … Mark Teixeira said his bruised right ankle was better and he would not be limited. … Phil Hughes will not be available until tomorrow. … Girardi said he would be satisfied if Wang could give them six innings. His pitch count will be around 80.

UPDATE, 12:56 p.m.: Here is Joe Girardi’s pre-game press conference. He talked about Wang, Hughes, the bullpen and other issues. This was before we knew about Burnetts suspension:

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The Yankees don’t have a day off until June 15, hence the day off for Jeter. Posada is getting the day game after a night game.

Pretty decent day in the Boogie Down as it turns out. No rain, partly cloudy, around 60.

UPDATE, 1:09 p.m.: OK, were underway in the Bronx. Big game for CMW as the Yankee try and take the series from Texas. Enjoy the game, keep checking for updates.

UPDATE, 1:14 p.m.: Guess who’s back? Back again. Wang is back. Tell a friend.

UPDATE, 1:20 p.m.: Leadoff home run No. 26 for Johnny Dangerously as the Yankees leap out to a 1-0 lead. Meanwhile, Nick Swisher seems to like June a whole lot more than May.

Given his pitch-count limitation, giving Wang a little cushion would allow him to pitch to contact and get some quick innings possibly.

UPDATE, 1:22 p.m.: That’s a catch. Murphy dropped the ball on the transfer. But first and second, nobody out for A-Rod.

UPDATE, 1:23 p.m.: What in the world was Teixeira doing there? Bad base-running. Meanwhile, A-Rod has left seven runners on base in his last four at-bats, four of them in scoring position.

UPDATE, 1:31 p.m.: Wang sets down the Rangers in order again. He has thrown eight straight scoreless innings dating back to his first relief appearance.

Meanwhile, CMW has fanned seven in his last seven innings. He has thrown 23 pitches, 15 for strikes and has hit 94 with his sinker. Vintage CMW.

UPDATE, 1:36 p.m.: Forgot to mention this before. But bench coach and catching instructor Tony Pena turned 52 today.

UPDATE, 1:46 p.m.: Trouble here in the third as a wild pitch scores a run. Cervelli has let three calls get past him and that one cost the Yankees.

UPDATE, 1:51 p.m.: Weird bad inning for Wang here. A double, a sacrifice, a wild pitch, a walk, an infield single on a ball A-Rod should have let Pena handle and now an RBI single. 2-1 Rangers.

UPDATE, 1:57 p.m.: Yankee Stadium is pretty ridiculous. Damon just hit a ball that he bailed out on. It flew to the wall in right field. Cruz made a leaping catch, avoiding the glove of the fan who leaned his upper body over the fence. It’s bad enough that there are Pony League dimensions in right field, but the fans can freely interfere with play.

UPDATE, 2:05 p.m.: Wang has reverted to April form here in the fourth inning. A single, a double-down the third-base line and a broken-bat double down the right-field line have given the Rangers two runs and a 4-1 lead. None of the balls were particularly well struck but Wang pitches to contact and that’s the danger.

Aceves warming up.

UPDATE, 2:15 p.m.: Alex got booed there by the crowd as he leaves yet another runner in scoring position. That’s eight runners left on base in his last five at-bats, five in scoring position.

UPDATE, 2:24 p.m.: That home run by Cruz knocks Wang out of the game. After two perfect innings, his final 2.2 innings were ugly: 7 hits, 5 runs. He needed a good effort and didn’t produce it. The question is whether the poor pitching was a product of inactivity or whether he has just lost it.

UPDATE, 2:24 p.m.: What a meltdown there for McCarthy. Single, single, walk, walk, three-run by Mark Teixeira. The ball went down the line, got through Young and rolled around enough to score three runs. Brand new game at 5-5. Another RISP spot for Alex.

Oh, and Wang got two more outs than McCarthy. Guess his day wasn’t a total loss.

UPDATE, 2:47 p.m.: Alex was due for that hit as he singles in Tex. Yankees lead 6-5. It’s probably going to be 12-10 the way it’s going.

UPDATE, 3:02 p.m.: You would think the Yankees are in last place given the tenor of the crowd here. They booed Wang off the mound. They booed A-Rod’s first two at-bats. They booed Aceves. Not a happy bunch for the day game.

UPDATE, 3:17 p.m.: Decent enough job by Aceves, who allows one run over 1.2 innings. Now a 6-6 game is turned over to Phil Coke. The lefty has been shaky of late. He last pitched on Sunday.

UPDATE, 3:23 p.m.: You know what is interesting? Girardi has Jeter and Posada on his bench. When do you use them? In a 6-6 game, one of them could be the difference.

UPDATE, 3:32 p.m.: Swisher is 9 of 19 with five RBI in his last seven games. A little early there to pinch run for him? That spot figures to come up again in the ninth.

UPDATE, 3:41 p.m.: Nice work by Coke, who retired all four of the batters he faced. He struck out two of them. Now Robertson will face Andrus.

UPDATE, 3:43 p.m.: And D-Rob gets Andrus. Now Cano, Matsui and Cabrera will to put Mo in a save situation. He’ll be coming in anyway, I would think. C.J. Wilson in for Texas.

UPDATE, 3:50 p.m.: Clutchy Cabrera does it again, a two-run jack to left as the Yankees take an 8-6 lead. Warming up for the the Yankees … Mariano Rivera.

Melky has been one of the better stories of the season. He was dead and buried last season, sent to the minors in August and unused when he came back in September. Now he has six homers and 22 RBI.

UPDATE, 3:53 p.m.: It still seems weird to see Mo coming in from right field instead of left. And Enter Sandman isn’t as loud at the new Stadium.

The Sandman will have to earn this one as he faces Kinsler, Young and Cruz.

UPDATE, 3:56 p.m.: Dave Robertson in line to get the win. He throws one pitch to the No. 9 hitter, gets him to fly to left and he’s the winning pitcher. Baseball statistics are funny sometimes.

This would be a solid win for the Yankees. With a win, they will have taken seven of the last eight series. The exception was the Philly series in the Bronx.

UPDATE, 4:00 p.m.: Bit of a rockhead play there by Melky as he dives in vain to try and make a catch. Better off to hold him to a single.

UPDATE, 4:03 p.m.: Hmm, issues for Mo. First and third, one out. Need a grounder from the dangerous Nelson Cruz.

UPDATE, 4:06 p.m.: Yankees win as Mo cleans up his own mess. That’s six of eight, seven of 10 and 17 of 22. The bullpen picked up Wang nicely, allowing one run over 4.1 innings.

Back later with reaction from the clubhouse.

Chien-Ming Wang returns to the rotation today and Phil Hughes switches to the bullpen.

The Yankees lost to Texas as Andy Pettitte was rocked.

Sam Borden writes that the amount of home runs hit at the new Stadium is not a big deal.

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Meanwhile, Mike Ashmore has audio, video and plenty of copy about Jesus Montero’s first day in Double-A. Go check it out.

Chad Jennings has an informative interview with Mark Newman on his blog.

Back later with the lineups and news of the day as the Yankees face the Rangers at 1:05 p.m.

The Yankees sent CC Sabathia and Phil Coke to Jordan’s Barber Shop in the Bronx to give free haircuts to neighborhood kids.

I wouldn’t let Phil Coke get within 10 feet of me with clippers. Those are brave kids. The Yankees sent these photos, so I figured I would pass them along. Maybe Deadspin, Big League Stew or The Big Lead will have some fun with them.

Here’s a photo the Yankees sent of Joe Girardi meeting fans before the game in the Great Hall. I went over to watch. A lot of the fans seemed stunned to see the manager greeting them as they walked in.

It was very fan-friendly of the Yankees to do this. The plan is to have these events once a homestand. Good idea.

Here some photos I snapped of Brian Bruney and Brian Cashman meeting the fans:

The White Sox tonight designated Wilson Betemit for assignment. Chicago called up Gordon Beckham. He can, you know, actually play.

Betemit was hitting .200 with three RBI in 20 games. Sadly, that makes him roughly twice as good as Angel Berroa.

Meanwhile, will the Nate McLouth deal lead to a flurry of moves? I’ve always looked at it this way: If you need to make a trade, make it in June instead of July 31. It makes more sense to get better sooner than later.

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For those interested, here are the pre-game interviews of Joe Girardi:

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and Brian Cashman:

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They talked mainly about the decision to return Chien-Ming Wang to the rotation and put Phil Hughes in the bullpen. I talked to Hughes again after the game. He’s cool with the whole idea — just as long as they still consider him a starter long term.

Nobody grows up dreaming of being a set-up man, it seems.

Andy Pettitte insisted he felt fine physically tonight, although he did cop to some tentative pitches in the first inning because of his back.

The results (seven hits and six walks in five innings) were not indicative of a pitcher who was healthy, although Pettitte did strike out six.

Nelson Cruz hit what looked like an inning-ending double-play grounder in the first inning. Then Pettitte stuck his leg out and the Rangers went on to score three runs. Pettitte was pretty upset afterward.

“It was frustrating. It’s embarrassing, actually,” he said. “I’ve been scuffling my last few starts. It’s no good, not the way we’ve been playing. … I’ve got to give us more than that.”

Was Pettitte healthy enough to pitch? He pitched, so apparently so. But it’s worth noting that his contract calls for bonuses starting at 150 innings and every 10 innings after that. He’s at 68.2 innings now and the season is nearly a third over. Pitching 207 innings would get Andy a cool $3.75 million.

Meanwhile, A-Rod declared his final three at-bats “unacceptable.”

On the whole, it’s nothing to get too riled up about. The Yankees had won 16 of 20. They probably weren’t going to play .800 ball the rest of the season.

YANKEES (31-21)

New lineup
Jeter SS
Swisher 1B
Damon LF
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Posada C
Matsui DH
Cabrera RF
Gardner CF

Pitching: LHP Andy Pettitte (5-1, 4.10).

RANGERS (30-21)
Kinsler 2B
Young 3B
Jones DH
Cruz RF
Murphy LF
Byrd CF
Davis 1B
Saltalamacchia C
Andrus SS

Pitching: RHP Scott Feldman (4-0, 3.91).

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

STAY HOT: The Yankees have won two straight, five of six, six of eight and 16 of 20.

HOME COOKING: The Yankees have won nine of their last 11 games at home.

RALLY CAPS: The Yankees lead the majors with 18 come-from-behind victories.

TOO TOUGH FOR TEXAS: The Yankees are 3-1 against Texas this season and have won 26 of 37 against the Rangers.

REVERSAL OF FORTUNE: The Yankees were 15-17 on May 12 and had a run differential of -25. They are are 16-4 since and have outscored their opponents 99-39.

HOME RUN DERBY: The Rangers lead the majors in home runs with 84. The Yankees are second with 82.

JETERIFFIC: Derek Jeter has hit safely in 16 straight games. He is 16 of his last 30, raising his batting average to .319. Jeter has a base hit in the first inning of 10 of the last 12 games and reached safely in the first inning of 12 of the last 17 games.

A-ROD UPDATE: Since his 5 for 5 game on May 25, Alex Rodriguez is 6 of 26 with two runs scored and three RBI.

MATSUI MASHES: Hideki Matsui has three home runs in 12 at-bats against the Rangers this season.

Back with much more later on.

UPDATE, 4:30 p.m.: Wang starts tomorrow. More to come later. Hughes to bullpen.

UPDATE, 4:49 p.m.: Hughes is a temporary bullpen fix, Girardi said. He’ll be a starter long term.

UPDATE, 6:06 p.m.: Teixeira has been scratched for a bruised right ankle, the result of last night’s takeout slide of Elvis Andrus. X-rays were negative and he is day-to-day.

The tarp is on the field and there seems like little chance of the game starting on time.

UPDATE, 6:11 p.m.: Word is the Rangers released Vicente Padilla today, by the way.

UPDATE, ANALYSIS OF TODAY’S MOVE, 6:16 p.m.: The Yankees had little choice but to return Wang to the rotation. As I posted earlier today, as each day passed, his arm strength would decrease. Meanwhile he is not well-suited for the bullpen.

Before he was injured, Wang was one of the most effective and durable starters in the majors. He had shown lately that he was back to that level. The opportunity to add a pitcher of his caliber to the rotation is not one a team can pass on. Hughes has pitched well, but not as well as Wang in his prime. Not yet, anyway.

Hughes will take on the bullpen role vacated by Wang and will be available if (or when) they need another starter. It’ll happen eventually.

I would bank on Wang pitching very well tomorrow. He knows he needs to make the most of this chance.

UPDATE, 6:40 p.m.: Looks like they’re getting ready to pull the tarp. We could have baseball this evening.

UPDATE, 6:48 p.m.: First pitch at 7:15 p.m.

UPDATE, 7:10 p.m.: The Rangers just announced some roster moves. No move with Padilla as it turns out. The Rangers announced purchased the contract of right-handed pitcher Doug Mathis from Triple-A Oklahoma City. To make room for Mathis on the 25-man roster, the club optioned right-handed pitcher Warner Madrigal to Oklahoma City. To make room for Mathis on the 40-man roster, the team transferred right-handed pitcher Willie Eyre from the 15- to the 60-day disabled list.

UPDATE, 7:41 p.m.: Sorry for the lack of posts. Lots of newspaper work to get to given all the news today.

I’ll check in from time to time. You have to wonder whether Andy’s back is bothering him given that rough first inning. Maybe Hughes will return to the rotation sooner than we think.

UPDATE, 7:51 p.m.: There’s one out in the second inning and Andy has allowed five hits and two walks and committed an error. There is no chance he’s OK physically.

UPDATE, 8:30 p.m.: Big missed opportunity there. Alex has not had it with men on base lately.

UPDATE, 8:47 p.m.: Pettitte has allowed seven hits and walked six in four innings. He’s fortunate it’s only 4-1.

UPDATE, 9:36 p.m.: You know what Jorge Posada does really well for his pitcher? Hit big home runs. That’s a good skill to have as a catcher.

4-2. Could this be another comeback win? The Yankees have 18 of them.

UPDATE, 10:04 p.m.: Elvis Andrus is a good-looking rookie. He’s one of the players they received from Atlanta for Teixeira. He has a terrific arm.

4-2. Yankees will need some ninth-inning magic to stay in first place alone.