The LoHud Yankees Blog

A few items on a nice Saturday before heading over to the ballpark:

• Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe reports via Twitter that Mike Lowell might get an injection in his hip. Like A-Rod, he’s still having problems. That Lowell’s surgery was in October should be a warning to the Yankees that resting Alex — whether they like it or not — is mandatory.

• RHP/LHP Pat Venditte got promoted to Single-A Tampa. He dominated the South Atlantic League and this will be a tougher test. Nobody in the organization seems to think he’s actually a prospect. But he keeps getting people out.

• The Yankees have scored 20 runs in the last two games — and left 28 runners on base. There have been a ridiculous 36 at-bats with runners in scoring position the last two nights. Their run differential is now +48, which is the fifth-best in baseball.

But check out the leaders:

Dodgers +90
Rays +83
Red Sox +70
Jays +52
Yankees + 48

As usual, the AL East is a bear. And as usual Joe Torre seems to know what he is doing. No Manny, no problem.

Back around 3:30 with the lineups and other notes. Go outside, it’s a nice day.

This is interesting. Hal Steinbrenner has sent out an e-mail to selected season-ticket holders inviting them to critique the new Stadium and their experience to team officials in person.

They want the feedback so much that they’re willing to bribe the fans to participate

The note reads:

We are extending a personal invitation to a limited number of people, to either meet at our Preview Center in Rockefeller Center or at Yankee Stadium, before or after a game, so as to spend a few minutes telling us how we are doing and how we can make the “Yankee Stadium Experience” even better.

Our Stadium interviews will take place on July 5, 6 and 18.

If the Yankees actually pay attention to what people say, this will be worthwhile.

UPDATE, 12:38 p.m.: As usual, the eloquent posters to this blog are making some good suggestions about the Stadium in the comments section. Hey Yankees, here is some feedback that doesn’t require $200 in free steaks.

CC Sabathia and Alex Rodriguez were ready for the Mets last night.

Sam Borden ponders what the Yankees will do once Derek Jeter’s contract is up.

Xavier Nady’s season is over. This Subway Series notebook also has updates on John Maine, Derek Jeter and Gary Sheffield.

The Mets are battered writes Ernie Palladino.

A few late-night tidbits for you:

Derek Jeter: He spent the game in the clubhouse coughing. He was sick yesterday and worse today. Joe Girardi indicated he was questionable for tomorrow.

CC Sabathia: He had no idea he had a perfect game over four innings. The reason was because he was focusing so much on his mechanics and footwork in the wake of the biceps tendinitis that knocked him out of the game last Sunday. “I was just trying to work on my delivery and make sure I was getting the ball down because I had so many days off. I was feeling real good,” Sabathia said.

He was much more happier about his RBI single and sore that he didn’t get another one.

Brett Gardner: The numbers don’t lie. He is hitting .387 in his last 27 games, raising his season average to .303. His OBP, a much more important stat for him, is .374. That makes him a very dangerous and effective player.

“He can beat you with his legs and he does have some power,” Girardi said. “He can create runs is what he can do — as well as anyone on our club.”

GGBG, Girardi said, has earned regular playing time. Especially with Melky coming back to earth.

Alex Rodriguez: He had a long talk with the vaunted Dr. Philippon today, who counseled Alex to do less pre-game work, particularly with his swing. The hope is that will make his bat quicker. Like some pitchers, he only has so many bullets in the gun as he deals with the hip injury and recovery. He is mashing the ball to center and right-center and drawing walks. A-Rod is Rodriguez is 6 of 17 with two homers and seven RBI in the last five games.

Reggie Jackson: Mr. October flew in from California to see A-Rod pass him. “Didn’t have to wait long,” he quipped.

Reggie is friendly with Alex. But at the same time, it has to be tough to see a player who used steroids pass you on the all-time home run list. But Jackson gave his buddy a pass. “I’m a fan of Alex’s. Alex is a friend,” Jackson said. “These guys are all my friends. The negativity that surrounds steroids is certainly not something that I carry over to him. I do appreciate the fact that he admitted his mistakes. From here we move forward.”

Kate Hudson: All over SNY, I was told. Come write a guest post, Kate.

Citi Field: Even if you’re a Yankees fan, come check the place out. It’s a much more intimate facility than Yankee Stadium and a good place to catch a game. This is a ballpark, not a stadium. But the outfield is huge — too huge — and the fences are too high. They got a little too cute with all the quirks in the dimensions. But the flow of the place for fans is better and they do the scoreboard right. There is also a dedicated out-of-town scoreboard in left field. I like it a lot. It’s a lot like the park in Pittsburgh, which is one of the best in the game.

Thanks to everybody for reading today. We had nearly 1,700 comments on the blog, which is just great. No better fans than baseball fans.

Catch you tomorrow.

YANKEES (40-32)
Gardner
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Cabrera RF
Cervelli C
Pena SS
Sabathia LHP

Pitching: LHP CC Sabathia (6-4, 3.71).

METS (37-34)
Castillo 2B
Cora SS
Wright 3B
Sheffield RF
Tatis LF
Church CF
Evans 1B
Santos C
Pelfrey RHP

Pitching: RHP Mike Pelfrey (5-2, 4.74).

TIME/TV: 7:10 p.m., MY9, SNY.

THEY MEET AGAIN: It’s Subway Series, Round Two as the Yankees and Mets meet again. The Yankees won two of three games played in the Bronx from June 12-14. They won 9-8 on Luis Castillo’s dropped pop-up with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Then the Mets won 6-2 before the Yankees hammered Johan Santana en route to a 15-0 victory.

STATE OF THE ‘STRIPES: The Yankees were 3-3 on their journey to Miami and Atlanta, winning their last two games. They have lost five of eight overall.

INTERLEAGUE ISSUES: The Yankees are 7-8 against the National League this season.

MILESTONE MO: Mariano Rivera has 499 saves. Only Trevor Hoffman (571) has more. Mariano has been nearly perfect lately. His last six outings: 6 innings, 1 hit, 1 run, 1 walk, nine strikeouts.

HOT LATELY: Johnny Damon is 6 of his last 9 with three runs scored and five RBI. … Alex Rodriguez is 5 of his last 15 with three runs scored and five RBI. … Brett Gardner is 19 of 56 (.339) over his last 26 games with a .422 OBP. The idea that Gardner would get overmatched by big-league pitching is being proven incorrect. He has struck out seven times in his last 56 at-bats and only three rimes in his last 39.

OFFENSE ARISES: The Yankees in the last two games are 26 of 79 (.329) with 19 runs scored, 13 walks and seven extra-base hits.

STREAKING ON: His streak started in April before he went on the disabled list for 60 days. But nevertheless, Cody Ransom has hit in seven straight at 8 of 25 with five extra-base hits and six RBI.

CANO CRUMBLING A BIT: Robinson Cano is 2 for his last 15. Perhaps it’s his sore left wrist.

NICE TO CC YOU AGAIN: Sabathia faced the Mets once in his career, beating the on June 16, 2004 at Shea Stadium. He allowed one run on six hits over eight innings for Cleveland. Gary Sheffield is 5 of 18 with a homer against CC and Castllo 4 of 16.

PELFREY POUNDED: Pelfrey is 1-1 with a 7.08 in four June starts, having allowed 16 earned runs on 28 hits and eight walks over 20.1 innings. He has faced the Yankees once in his career, getting the win in a 15-6 game on June 27, 2008. Pelfrey, however, allowed four run on eight hits and four walks over five innings.

HE’S THE ACE: Alfredo Aceves, the anti-Kei Igawa, is 6-1, 2.27 in 24 games for the games since arriving from Mexico. He has allowed only 52 hits over 63.1 innings. Aceves has walked 17 and whiffed 44.

Back with much more later.

UPDATE, 4;54 p.m.: No test on Nady today, but he is heading back to see Dr. Yocum in California. It sounds bad.

UPDATE, 6:06 p.m.: Storm rolling in here and they’re about to put the tarp down.

UPDATE, 6:21 p.m.: The Mets have asked fans to take refuge on the concourses because “severe weather” is anticipated.

UPDATE, 6:23 p.m.: Jeter was just scratched because of illness. It’s going through the team. Matsui and Cabrera are just getting over it.

UPDATE, 6:28 p.m.: It’s not just raining. Waves of rain are hitting the stadium like a high pressure hosed was turned on and there are high winds. There are six carts parked on the tarp to keep it from blowing away.

Obviously we will not be starting on time tonight.

UPDATE, 6:30 p.m.: Here is Joe Girardi’s pre-game press conference:

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UPDATE, 6:39 p.m.: Just to clarify the Xavier Nady situation, he’s done for the season. He has told teammates that he tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow and will need surgery. Given that Tommy John surgery requires a year to recover from, X’s 2010 season is in danger as well.

As was reported first here back in April, Nady was told that the ligament was torn and would need surgery. But he gambled that the platelet injection procedure would work and lost. It was probably a long shot from the start given that he had first had Tommy John surgery in 2001 when he was in the minors.

Nady, unfortunately for him, is a free agent after this season.

UPDATE, 6:52 p.m.: It’s still raining but it’s not the “round up two of everything” rain we had before. The wind also has died down.

UPDATE, 7:24 p.m.: No start time announced, but we’re going to see some baseball. Rain has stopped and they’re preparing to take the tarp off.

UPDATE, 7:29 p.m.: First pitch at 8.

UPDATE, 7:55 p.m.: I just wrote the Yankees lineup in my scorebook. Sabathia might be the sixth-best power hitter in the order. He has three jacks and a .667 OPS.

UPDATE, 8:02 p.m.: We’re underway in Queens after a 52-minute rain delay. GGBG gets it started with a single. See you on second in a second.

UPDATE, 8:25 p.m.: Who needs Jeter? Ramiro Pena with an RBI double.

UPDATE, 8:26 p.m.: The Big Man delivers an RBI single. CC is loving life right now. He was dying to hit and today was his only chance.

UPDATE, 8:27 p.m.: The Bombers are getting to Mike Pelfrey. Five hits already. None particularly rocked, but they all count.

UPDATE, 8:31 p.m.: It’s the New York Mets in Breaking Training.

Holy cow, three errors in this inning. 4-0 Yankees and the rout is on.

UPDATE, 8:48 p.m.: If I didn’t think the Yankees would be careful with CC and take him out at a judicious time, I’d predict a no-hitter. This lineup is Wright, Sheff and and assorted bums.

UPDATE, 8:52 p.m.: Bet Derek feels better tomorrow.

UPDATE, 9:16 p.m.: So it seems like CC’s arm is OK.

UPDATE, 9:27 p.m.: So much for the no-hitter, the perfect game and the shutout. Now just win the game. That’ll do.

Man, old Sheff can still swing it.

UPDATE, 9:49 p.m.: Gritty, gutty and 3 for 4. Brett Gardner now hitting .293. And he just stole another base, 17 on the season. Most among rookies.

UPDATE, 9:54 p.m.: Delay here to fix up the mound for CC.

UPDATE, 10:16 p.m.: Think people will applaud sarcastically ever time Castillo catches a pop-up for the rest of his career? … Wasted opportunity there for the Yankees. Cervelli is 0 for 4? I thought he had to play every day because he was so much better than Posada?

UPDATE, 10:23 p.m.: Sabathia has been perfect in every inning but the fifth. He has retired the side in order in the other six innings. Terrific performance. Be interesting to see if Girardi pushes him one more inning.

UPDATE, 10:25 p.m.: CC hit, so he’s staying in. Joe Girardi is no doctor, but he did stay at a Holiday Inn Express in Queens. Hey, if your job was on the line, you’d keep him in, too.

UPDATE, 10:27 p.m.: Gritty! Gutty! 4 for 5 with a homer and two runs scored. Brett Gardner proving the doubters wrong.

Yankees 5-1.

UPDATE, 10:29 p.m.: Sam Borden called it as he sat next to me. Of course, that one was easy to call. Elmer Dessens? Yankees up by four runs? Ka-boom!

UPDATE, 10:34 p.m.: Here’s a question, do you leave CC in for another inning up 7-1?

UPDATE, 10:39 p.m.: That’s it for CC. Makes sense. Even Brett Tomko can be trusted with a 7-1 lead.

UPDATE, 10:52 p.m.: Brett Gardner again. RBI triple makes it 8-1. He is 24 of his last 62 (.387). … Yankees have 28 runs in their last three games. Joe Girardi is a genius. The ejection works again.

Kate Hudson in the house, I’m told. She might leave with Brett Gardner if Alex isn’t careful.

1. Barry Bonds 762
2. Hank Aaron 755
3. Babe Ruth 714
4. Willie Mays 660
5. Ken Griffey Jr. 619
6. Sammy Sosa 609
7. Frank Robinson 586
8. Mark McGwire 583
9. Harmon Killebrew 573
10. Rafael Palmeiro 569
11. Alex Rodriguez, Reggie Jackson 563

Sad, isn’t it, that five of the top 12 are either admitted or likely PED users?

I spoke to Ted Berg from SNY today about the Subway Series for NY Baseball Today. Here is the link if you want to take a look:

NY Baseball Today

And so it came to pass in Pequannock, N.J. on this day in 1974 that Derek Sanderson Jeter was born.

One of the reporters asked him last year what was the best birthday he ever had. The Captain smiled. “Aw, you know I cant tell you that,” he said.

It boggles the mind.

————-

Speaking of good guys, Andy Phillips signed a deal in Japan. Good for him. It has to beat Triple-A.

Tonight: LHP CC Sabathia (6-4, 3.71) vs. RHP Mike Pelfrey (5-2, 4.74), 7:10 p.m., MY9, SNY

Saturday: RHP A.J. Burnett (5-4, 4.24) vs. RHP Tim Redding (1-2, 6.08), 7:10 p.m., YES, WPIX, MLB

Sunday: RHP Chien-Ming Wang (0-6, 11.20) vs. RHP Livan Hernandez (5-2, 4.05), 8:05 p.m., ESPN

To see a replay of Friday’s live video chat from Atlanta, go to our Pro Talk Live page and hit the On Demand button.