The LoHud Yankees Blog

Two interesting statistics:

Via Mark Feinsand: The Yankees have not trailed on the road since Joe Girardi got ejected back on June 24.

Via Raphy, one of our readers: A.J. Burnett is the first pitcher since at least 1954 to have thrown three or more wild pitches in three games in the same season.

A.J.’s last 8 starts: 6-2, 2.00. His first half of the season (8-4, 3.77) was pretty solid. Given what he did in the second half of last season, 17 or 18 wins is certainly a reasonable expectation.

Back in a bit with some audio.

YANKEES (49-34)
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Gardner CF

Pitching: RHP A.J. Burnett (7-4, 3.83).

TWINS (43-41)
Span LF
Harris SS
Mauer C
Morneau 1B
Cuddyer RF
Kubel DH
Crede 3B
Gomez CF
Punto 2B

Pitching: RHP Anthony Swarzak (2-2, 3.90).

TIME/TV: 8:10, YES.

STATE OF THE ‘STRIPES: The Yankees have won 11 of 13 and trail Boston by a game in the division. They have won six in a row on the road and haven’t won seven straight away from the Bronx since 2005.

MINNESOTA MAULERS: The Yankees are 5-0 against the Twins this season, outscoring the Men of Gardenhire 31-18. The Yankees have won 16 of 22 against Minnesota overall.

BURN, BABY, BURN: Burnett is 5-2, 1.88 in his last seven starts and 3-1, 0.99 in his last four.

MATSUI’S THE MAN: Godzilla is 10 of 21 with six extra-base hits and 11 RBI.

TEX VS. THE TWINS: Mark Teixeira is 12 of 22 with three homers, a double and 10 RBI against Minnesota this season.

TEX VS. THE WALL: Teixeira has gone 90 ABs without a home run. The last one came on June 12.

LEFTY LOVERS: The Yankees are 16-9 against left-handed starters this season. They are hitting .295 (second in the majors) against LHPs with a .380 OBP and a .503 SLG.

NO CLOWING AROUND: A-Rod has 16 RBI in his last 12 games.

Back with much more later on.

UPDATE, 4:41 p.m.: Molina is here.

UPDATE, 6:39 p.m.: To the dismay of cougars across the metropolitan area, Francisco Cervelli will be officially optioned to Triple-A Scranton after BP.

Meanwhile, Jeter is sticking with his side of the story regarding the blown call at third base on Monday. Umpire Marty Foster, he maintains, told him he was out because the throw beat him. Third base coach Rob Thomson backed Jeter up. Foster, via crew chief John Hirschbeck, said Tuesday that he told Jeter that he had him getting tagged out.

At this point, the he said/he said stuff is pretty pointless. The call isn’t getting changed.

UPDATE, 6:45 p.m.: This from AAA Scranton:

The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees continuing efforts to correct drainage issues at PNC Field have forced the relocation of the next four scheduled home games.

The Yankees will play their next two scheduled games on Thursday, July 9 & Friday, July 10 against Lehigh Valley at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, PA, the IronPigs home venue.

Both games will start at 7:05 p.m.

The two games scheduled for Saturday and Sunday vs. the Buffalo Bisons have been moved to Alliance Bank Stadium in Syracuse, New York. First pitch times for the two games in Syracuse will be at 4 p.m. on Saturday and noon on Sunday.

UPDATE, 6:48 p.m.: The rotation after the break: Burnett, Sabathia, Chamberlain, Pettitte, and TBA.

UPDATE, 7:29 p.m.: Good news for Jesus Montero. He has been added to the Eastern League All-Star game in place of Josh Thole, who is injured. Pretty impressive for a 19-year-old.

The game will be in Trenton on July 15 at 7:05 p.m. The gates at Waterfront Park will open for all fans at 2:05. Fans will be able to watch both teams take batting practice then there will be an autograph session and a Home Run Derby.

Limited seats remain for the All-Star Game. Tickets are available now by calling 609-394-3300 or online at www.trentonthunder.com.

If you can, go to that game. There will be prospects galore and you can tell people you saw Montero before be started knocking down fences in the majors.

UPDATE, 8:09 p.m.: We’re about to get underway here at the Metrodome. I have some newspaper work to do, but I’ll check in from time to time. Enjoy the game.

UPDATE, 8:48 p.m.: Boy, the Yankees are wearing the Twins out. Big hit there for Gardner with RISP and two outs. Now A.J., much like CC last night, can challenge the Minnesota hitters.

Meanwhile, the great hitter and Bruce Springsteen fan Paul Molitor is watching the game from the press box.

UPDATE, 9:08 p.m.: What was Damon trying to do there, hurdle the fence? He has played left field like Stevie Wonder at times. Meanwhile, A.J. is at three wild pitches and counting. Inexcusable with a 3-0 lead to be that wild.

UPDATE, 9:59 p.m.: What a weird game for Burnett. He has allowed six hits, walked three, throw three wild pitches and doesn’t have a strikeout but leads 4-2 as Cuddyer comes to the plate with the bases loaded.

UPDATE, 10:19 p.m.: It might be time to pat Burnett on the back, count your blessings he gave up only two runs and get the bullpen in the game.

His line so far: 6 7 2 2 4 2 with three wild pitches.

UPDATE, 10:33 p.m.: It must really annoy a manager when he brings in a lefty to face a lefty and the guy can’t throw strikes than gives up a home run. How to do your job.

Meanwhile, Phil Coke actually pointed up when the ball left Mauer’s bat. He should have pointed into the stands in left field. 4-3 Twins and now we’ll see Hughes.

UPDATE, 10:45 p.m.: Somebody needs to inform Swisher that he’s not that fast.

Let’s see if Hughes can give the lead to Rivera. This is why they kept him in the bullpen and gave Aceves the start tomorrow.

UPDATE, 10:55 p.m.: Girardi not messing around, going to Mo in the eighth inning. He hasn’t pitched since Saturday, might as well.

Glenn Perkins is sick and is out. RHP Anthony Swarzak (2-2, 3.90) goes tonight and the ghost of Francisco Liriano (4-8, 5.49) goes tomorrow.

A few more thoughts on the Roy Halladay situation …

J.P. Ricciardi is not a popular fellow in Toronto. Whatever success the team has is credited to Cito Gaston and whatever goes wrong is blamed on the GM. His big-money deals for free agents B.J. Ryan and Troy Glaus went sour and the Vernon Wells contract is a disaster. Even A.J. Burnett backfired on him.

Ricciardi tangles with the writers and fans up there and at one point last season it wouldn’t have been stunning had he been let go.

Trading Halladay will be what defines him as a GM. Either he wins or he loses and that will determine whether he stays on the job.

Imagine for a second how it would play in Toronto if Halladay goes to the Yankees and wins Game 7 of the World Series. That would want to throw Ricciardi off the CN Tower.

He has to get a huge haul for Halladay. A position player ready to go, a top-notch pitching prospect and a high level prospect.

I don’t think the Yankees have the young, MLB-ready position player Toronto would require. Robinson Cano fills the bill but Toronto has an All-Star second baseman. Austin Jackson, while a fine prospect, is not a sure-fire superstar. This is a deal that requires quality, not quantity.

Whenever you think of a trade, put yourself in the other GM’s shoes and imagine being at a press conference to announce the deal. He needs to be able to stand up there and smile, not stand up there and try to convince people that Ramiro Pena has a lot of upside and Andrew Brackman really throws hard.

The bigger issue is trading in the division. That is a risk Ricciardi cannot take — unless he has a parachute handy.

Item No. 1: Umpires change their story. Now John Hirschbeck is coming to the defense of Marty Foster in Derek Jetergate. The story they’re peddling is that Foster told Jeter, “The ball beat you, and I had him tagging you.” Jeter said Sunday after the blown call that Foster told him the tag didn’t matter.

Reaction: Zzzz. It’s over and done with. Let MLB deal with their shoddy umpires.

————

Item No. 2: Kevin Millar doesn’t like the new Stadium. Here’s what Millar said about the new Stadium to Jim Duquette and Seth Everett on MLB Home Plate on XM and Sirius:

“I’m not a big fan of it. Nothing pops there, nothing pops. … It’s a beautiful scoreboard but they have the radar gun readings at the very top of the scoreboard with the pitch count. Fans want to know how hard the pitcher’s throwing, for instance. You come to the game, you want to see, ‘Yeah, Brandon League’s on the mound, he’s throwing 90-what?’ You don’t want to have to look around the stadium to find it, and this is at the very top, a very little scene up there with your miles per hour where most stadiums have them above the dugouts on the second tier of the second deck so you can kind of see it easier. You know, it was hard to read what the guy’s hitting for the batting average. It was tough to find certain things. … I wish they would’ve pulled the monuments up so you could see the monuments. I mean, they’re behind center field and it’s kind of blocked off with the hitter’s eye so you don’t even see them. At least in the old stadium, left center, you kind of saw them a little bit, glimpsed through over there from the bullpen area, and when you’d hit a home run to left center they’d bounce in the monuments.”

Reaction: Like him or not, Millar is exactly right. The scoreboard needs work and Monument Park belongs where it can be seen.

————

Item No. 3: Manny being a cheapskate. During his minor-league assignment, Manny Ramirez did not purchase dinner for his teammates, going against tradition that well-paid big leaguers should spring for food as a goodwill gesture.

Reaction: Are you surprised? Manny is the same guy who hasn’t contributed money to his high school team in Washington Heights. The more you find out about Manny, you realize that the happy-go-lucky persona was an act. He’s a bum.

J.P. Ricciardi played it exactly right yesterday.

He put the word out that he would be willing to discuss a deal for Roy Halladay and then picked up his cell phone a few times over the course of the day to reiterate that to ESPN, Sports Illustrated and Fox Sports.com.

No fool is Ricciardi. Within a few hours, it was the biggest story in baseball. Halladay became the hot topic on sports-talk radio stations in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Chicago along with a few hundred blogs, including this one. Everybody was trying to figure out who their teams can send to Toronto for the respected right-hander.

It’s called building a market. There are only a handful of teams that have the prospects to get Halladay and the financial wherewithal to pay him to waive his no-trade rights. But all Ricciardi needs is one GM to take the bait.

Let’s try and set the field:

THE FAVORITES

Phillies: They need pitching badly and rookie GM Ruben Amaro would love to show he can wheel and deal in July. Keep in mind that team consultant Pat Gillick has close ties to Toronto.

White Sox: No GM is more aggressive than Kenny Williams and the White Sox see a division there for the taking. Williams made a deal for Jake Peavy that fell through. He’ll try again.

Angels: They never spent the money they had set aside for Mark Teixeira. If they have prospects Toronto likes, they can afford Halladay.

THE INSTIGATORS

Yankees: Brian Cashman wouldn’t trade for the younger Johan Santana. Now he’ll reverse course and trade for Halladay? That makes no sense. The Yankees will play the game and stay in it, just to make sure the price is painful for whoever does get the ace.

Red Sox: They have been unwilling to part with their young pitching. Theo Epstein’s mission will be to make sure Cashman doesn’t get him. They need a bat more than an arm.

THE OUTSIDERS

Mets: Forget it. Their putrid farm system is bereft of prospects and Halladay wants to go to a winner.

Dodgers: They don’t need Halladay to win their division and owner Frank McCourt won’t want to take on the added expense.

Cubs: Another team lacking in prospects. Their unsettled ownership situation also could throw in a wrench in trade talks.

THE DARK HORSE

Giants: They’re always looking to make a splash and could see Halladay giving them the NL’s best rotation.

Prediction: Ricciardi has started a fire he can’t put out. Halladay will go to the Phillies by the end of the month. It’s addition by subtraction from the American League for the Yankees.

I’m sure we have some Rangers fans out there. On Thursday at 1 p.m., head over to ProTalkLive page for a live video chat with LoHud.com’s hockey guru, Rick Carpiniello.

Carp will answer all your puck-related queries.

Our chat series is sponsored by Friedrich Air Conditioning.

The Yankees once again beat the Twins as CC Sabathia went seven strong.

Alfredo Aceves will start in place of Chien-Ming Wang tomorrow. This notebook also has updates on Roy Halladay, trouble in Triple-A and Jose Molina.

Francisco Cervelli is headed back to the minors soon but he made a big impression on the Yankees.

Sam Borden was over at Citi Field last night and writes that the once-unique Manny Ramirez is just another cheater.

There is usually some aspect of the game you can focus on to tell the story. The Yankees made that tough tonight.

Everybody in the lineup had at least one hit. Seven players had at least one RBI. Everybody but Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui scored at least one run. CC Sabathia pitched well. But let’s face it, he was in a rocking chair most of the night.

It was just one of those games where everybody did a little something.

Here’s CC talking about his start:

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The Yankees are 9-9 in CC’s 18 starts. Look for that to change. He usually heats it up in the summer and he’s had a little bad luck that’ll balance out, starting five games that the Yankees lost by one or two runs.

As for Robinson Cano, he was all smiles afterward after breaking that 0 for 21 streak with RISP. He didn’t know the exact numbers but he knew he had been stinking it up. Here’s Robbie:

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A.J. Burnett faces Glenn Perkins tomorrow. Come back for more.

YANKEES (48-34)
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH,
Swisher RF
Cano 2B
Gardner CF
Cervelli C

Pitching: LHP CC Sabathia (7-5, 3.85).

TWINS (43-40)
Span LF
Harris SS
Mayer C
Morneau 1B
Cuddyer RF
Crede 3B
Young DH
Gomez CF
Punto 2B

Pitching: RHP Scott Baker (6-6, 4.99).

TIME/TV: 8:10, MY9.

STATE OF THE ‘STRIPES: The Yankees are coming off a 5-2 homestand. They have won 10 of their last 12 and are a game out of first place in the AL East.

SO LONG, METRODOME: Unless the teams meet in the playoffs, this is the last time the Yankees will play inside the stuffy confines of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. They are 74-64 in the stadium but only 8-11 since 2004.

TWIN KILLING: The Yankees swept four games from the Twins from May 15-18. They outscored Minnesota only 21-16 as three of the games were decided by one run.

M AND M BOYS: Joe Mauer (5 of 16, 2 home runs, 3 RBI) and Justin Morneau (9 of 16, 3 homers, 5 RBI) destroyed the Yankees back in May. The duo scored seven runs and drew eight walks.

GODZILLA RETURNS: Joe Girardi was right, that unwelcome interleague rest did wonders for Hideki Matsui. He is 9 of 18 with six extra-base hits (three of them homers) and 10 RBI in his last six games.

THAT’S CANO AS IN NO RBI: Robbie Cano has two RBI in his last 16 games. He is 20 of 102 (.196) with runners in scoring position and 37 of 152 (.243) with men on base. He is hitting .352 (62 of 176) with nobody on base.

HEATING UP: Jorge Posada is 7 of 16 with five RBI in his last three games.

OH, WHAT A RELIEF: Mariano Rivera (11 games, 11.1 innings, 1 ER); Phil Hughes (9 games, 14.2 innings, 2 ER); Phil Coke (17 games, 15.2 innings, 1 ER) and Alfredo Aceves (11 games, 18.2 innings, 2 ER) have been among the hottest relievers in the game.

BAD BRUNEY: Brian Bruney’s last six appearances: 5 innings, 8 hits, 7 walks, 4 ER. Wonder what K-Rod has to say about that?

BULLPEN BRINGS IT: The relievers have allowed 8 ER in the last 34.2 innings in the last 13 games. They have given up 24 hits, walked 11 and struck out 39.

ONE-RUN UPDATE: The Yankees were once 9-4 in one-run games. They are 2-6 since.

A-ROD UPDATE: Alex Rodriguez is 14 of his last 26 with five homers and 1R RBI.

POWER OUTAGE: Mark Teixeira has gone 84 at-bats (back to June 12) without a home run.

Back with more later. Keep in mind the game is an hour later than usual.

UPDATE, 4:09 p.m.: The Yankees released Angel Berroa today.

UPDATE, 4:52 p.m.: Alfredo Aceves just threw a bullpen and said he was told he’s starting on Thursday.

UPDATE, 6:56 p.m.: While I’m happy for the chatter on the blog, I think people are getting way ahead of themselves on the idea of Roy Halladay coming to the Yankees. A few points:

• He’s three years older than Johan Santana was when the Yankees decided against trading for him.

• Toronto is not going to want to trade him within the division unless they get knocked out by a deal. Think Cano, Chamberlain, Jackson, Hughes, Montero, etc. Players like that. Don’t waste time trying to come up with 17 players the Yankees don’t need. You’ll need to experience pain to make this deal. Real pain.

• Holliday has roughly $7 million left this season. I no longer believe what the Yankees say about budgets. But that’s a lot to add. The Yankees wanted money back from Pittsburgh to take on Eric Hinske.

• The Phillies need him a lot more. And it takes him out of the league.

• The Jays could theoretically get more in December than they could now.

• Halladay has a no-trade clause. So he will want to be compensated in some form for waiving that. That means a contract extension. Think $36 million over two more years or a total commitment of $60 million or so over 3.5 years.

Yes, it’s fun playing GM. But such a trade has a lot of hurdles to overcome.

UPDATE, 7:10 p.m.: Here is Joe Girardi’s pre-game:

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Sad news for you Frankie Cervelli fans. The Yankees will not be keeping three catchers once Jose Molina comes back and that could well be tomorrow.

UPDATE, 8:10 p.m.: We’re underway here at the Metrodome. Should be a good series as the Twins seek some revenge against the Yankees, who have been terrific for the last two weeks. CC knows this team and they know him. Fun game to watch. Hard not to admire how the Twins play the game.

UPDATE, 8:22 p.m.: Nobody hotter than Godzilla at the moment. He’s 10 of 19 with 11 RBI. Clutch as always, he has the Yankees up 1-0.

UPDATE, 8:35 p.m.: It is great to watch Cervelli sprint — and I mean sprint — up the line to back-up throws to first base. It’s like he’s racing the runner. A.J. Burnett and I were talking about ‘Frisco before the game. He gets a kick out of him, too. “It’s great to be 23 and have that kind of energy,” he said.

UPDATE, 8:53 p.m.: Yankees already have seven hits off Baker and lead 3-0. They’ve already had eight plate appearances with runners in scoring position. Just relentless.

UPDATE, 8:55 p.m.: A-Rod lets Baker off the hook. It’s 3-0 and the Twins probably feel a little lucky. CC can pound the strike zone now.

UPDATE, 9:32 p.m.: Bases loaded, no outs, up 3-0 and a reliever in. Time to step on Minnesota’s neck.

UPDATE, 9:35 p.m.: Wow, fantastic catch by Carlos Gomez as he robs A-Rod of a grand slam in dead center. Perfect leap, exactly times. Four runs becomes one. Yankees 4-1.

UPDATE, 9:41 p.m.: Yanks work a couple of walks and now lead 5-1. They have nine hits and four walks in this game and only five runs in four innings. They need a soul-crunching double or home run. Alex nearly had it.

UPDATE, 9:45 p.m.: Hey, Robbie Cano couldn’t get a hit with RISP. Give me a few minutes to look up whether that has happened very often.

UPDATE, 9:47 p.m.: By golly, it has. Cano is 0 for his last 21 with RISP according to the estimable Mr. King of the Post.

UPDATE, 10:02 p.m.: Jose Molina was 0 for 1 for Trenton with a walk and a HBP. He caught seven innings and apparently was fine. I would think he’ll be here tomorrow or the next day.

UPDATE, 10:21 p.m.: The odds were with Cano and he delivered a broken-bat single into right field. Yankees 7-1 and CC Sabathia is in the driver’s seat. Yankees could get him go a while, too. Save that bullpen for the next two days.

UPDATE, 10:24 p.m.: Gritty! Gutty! Two-run triple and it’s 9-1. That was like watching the U.S. 200 trials. Gardner was racing around the bases.

UPDATE, 10:26 p.m.: Cisco may be going down, but he’s going down fighting. 2 for 3 with two RBI. Good for him.

It’s 10-1 and the good people of Minnesota are leaving in droves.

UPDATE, 10:51 p.m.: Every starter now has at least one hit. The bottom third of the order — Cano, GGBG and Cervelli — are 6 of 11 with five runs scored and six RBI.

UPDATE, 10:59 p.m.: CC at 99 after seven. Let him go one more? Minnesota has scored one run in its last 24 innings against him.