The LoHud Yankees Blog

Hal Steinbrenner said the other day that he wanted to wait until after the season to decide whether Yankee Stadium needed any adjustments because of all the home runs.

That makes sense, of course. But, just for kicks, here is some basic data:

Home runs in 2008: 160 (1.98 per game).

Home runs in 2009: 156 (3.25 per game).

The new Stadium is on a pace that would produce 263 home runs. Yikes. The record is 303 at Coors Field in 1999. The Yankees were ahead of that pace earlier this season, but that has fallen of.

In terms of doubles, the old Stadium produced an average of 3.55 last season and is at 3.37 this season. So not a big change. But when it comes to home runs, something has changed.

Nick Swisher wears a “Swisher Salute” t-shirt under his uniform most days. The shirt was designed by Bald Vinny of the Bleacher Creatures to commemorate the salute Swisher gives the crowd during the roll call.

Swisher recently got some extra t-shirts to give to teammates. Now you can have one, too. Go to BaldVinny.com to pick one up. Nobody is as nutty as Swish, but you can wear the same t-shirt.

Follow Bald Vinny on Twitter, too. He’s at Twitter.com/baldvinny.

I saw Bald Vinny at the Stadium the other day, good dude. I forgot to suggest the press box roll call. I think we’d pay big money for that.

The Second Annual LoHud Yankees Blog Outing is back on.

The game we were going to attend in Scranton on July 5 was postponed. But Ron has us booked for Aug. 30 against Pawtucket. It’s a 5:05 start time.

The outing will be held in the 3rd base party box at PNC Field. The cost is $32 per person except for children 2 and under, who are free. This includes the game ticket, program, hat, all you can eat food (hot dogs, hamburgers, BBQ chicken, pasta salad, cole slaw, baked beans, watermelon, cookies) and unlimited soda and water. The party box will also have a dedicated bartender servicing a cash bar.

There will be other gifts as well courtesy of the Yankees and The Journal News. T-shirts, team caps, water bottles, baseball books, etc. You will come away with plenty of stuff, believe me.

As a result of the date change, there are approximately 10 tickets available originally purchased by people who cannot make the rescheduled outing. If interested in tickets, please e-mail Ron at yankslifer@yahoo.com as soon as possible with the number of tickets you’d like.

He will then put you in contact with someone who bought tickets to arrange payment. Once the other party confirms that you have paid them, the tickets will be left for you at the will-call window.

PNC Field is an easy drive from the metropolitan area. So come out to the game, hang out and talk Yankees baseball and see the prospects. It’ll be a fun time.

Thursday: RHP Vin Mazzaro (2-6, 4.09) vs. LHP CC Sabathia (9-6, 3.66), 7:05, YES

Friday: LHP Brett Anderson (5-7, 4.25) vs. RHP Joba Chamberlain (5-2, 4.05), 7:05, YES

Saturday: LHP Gio Gonzalez (1-2, 9.33) vs. LHP Andy Pettitte (8-5, 4.62), 1:05, YES

Sunday: LHP Dallas Braden (7-8, 3.40) vs. RHP Sergio Mitre (1-0, 4.76), 1:05, YES

The Yankees are 20 games up and riding high after sweeping Baltimore. Ernie Palladino has the story.

Brian Bruney gave up two homers but was encouraged. This notebook also has updates on Nick Swisher and Phil Hughes.

The Rangers sweep the Red Sox. That’s five losses in a row for the Boston and a two-game lead for the Yankees.

Yankees 57-37
Red Sox 55-39
Rays 52-43

It’s going to be a very interesting summer ’round here

HOPE Week continued today with a special event for George and Kim Murray of South New Berlin, N.Y.

George, a 38-year-old veteran of the Army’s 82nd Airborne who no longer has use of his arms and legs due to ALS, wanted to watch a game a Yankee Stadium with the couple’s 4-year old son, Trason. The Yankees also arranged for a surprise anniversary party for the Murrays with Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Phil Hughes, Phil Coke, Hideki Matsui, Brian Bruney and Cody Ransom joining 40 members of their family and friends in a suite at the Stadium prior to the game.

Following the game, the Murray family was taken on a private tour of Yankee Stadium with Jeter, Teixeira, Coke and Ransom.

Here are some photos provided by the Yankees of the event. Once again, more good work by the organization.

The Yankees, at the moment, lead the Red Sox by 1.5 games. Boston faces the Rangers tonight. The 8:05 game will be on ESPN.

It’ll be Clay Buchholz against Dustin Nippert. Meanwhile, the Red Sox also acquired Chris (brother of Shelley) Duncan from St. Louis for Julio Lugo today.

The Yankees welcome the Jason Giambi-less Oakland Athletics to the Bronx tomorrow night. The Athletics are at home putting a beating on the Twins and then will fly across the country.

I think that’ll be it for me this evening. Catch you tomorrow morning.

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More shameless self-promotion: I’ll be on ESPNews just after 8 p.m. talking about the Yankees.

Next time the Yankees lose, comfort yourself by knowing it could be worse. You could be a Mets fan.

According to this story in The Daily News, vice president of player development Tony Bernazard ripped off his shirt during a meeting with the Double-A players and challenged them to a fight.

(Just an aside, but with 6-foot-4, 225 pound Jesus Montero at Trenton, I bet nobody challenges them to a fight)

Bernazard is the same guy who back-stabbed Rick Peterson and Willie Randolph out of town. The Mets said today they are “investigating” the incident. Bernazard has done a good job of currying favor with the Wilpons, so don’t expect him to get fired.

Then again, he’ll go if they clean house after the season.

UPDATE, 5:03 p.m.: Omar MInaya took questions today in D.C. WFAN played a portion of the press conference. Direct quote: “I’ve pretty much said all I pretty much want to say.”

UPDATE, 6:11 p.m.: Now Francisco Rodriguez confirms reports that he had a verbal altercation with Bernazard on the team bus. Good thing the team is doing so well and they can push these issues aside.

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More bad news for the Mattingly family as Donnie’s son was arrested for an incident with his ex-wife.

Kim Jones: “How would you characterize your day in right field?”

Nick Swisher: “Rough. If it was an ice cream, it would be rocky road.”

UPDATE, 4:25 p.m.: Joe Girardi said that Brian Bruney had good stuff that he could build on that performance. But you can tell what a manager thinks by the decisions he makes and Bruney was yanked out of the game.

UPDATE, 4:34 p.m.: Bruney was mad that reporters were asking him questions and gave several sarcastic answers including, “I just wanted to get Mo a save, that’s what a set-up man does.”

He also claimed he pitched perfectly fine and that those home runs could have been pop-ups.

Brian is a good guy and I think eventually he will pitch well again. But those kind of responses don’t help anybody. It’s New York, people care about the Yankees. You can’t smirk your way through bad times. That’s not going to work. Two home runs in one inning is not pitching well.