The LoHud Yankees Blog

CC Sabathia, Jerry Hairston Jr. and Melky Cabera will be meeting fans in the Great Hall at 4 p.m. today.

Just noticed this, but A-Rod is up to .267. That may not seem like much, but it’s the highest his batting average has been this season. He’s 8 of his last 15.

He also seems to be running better. The power hasn’t come back fully yet — and maybe it never will — but Alex seems to be moving past the hip issues based on how he has looked lately.

The Yankees nearly came back on the Rangers after Joba Chamberlain left them in a hole. Ernie Palladino has the story.

Nick Swisher could not get a bunt down when it counted. This notebook also has an update on Hideki Matsui.

It’s the seventh inning and the Yankees are down. Another comeback seems unlikely but we’ve seen it before.

UPDATE, 10:09 p.m.: Neftali Feliz is pretty ridiculous. 15.2 innings, 4 hits, 21 strikeouts.

UPDATE, 10:12 p.m.: Jeter is 38 of 97 (.392) this month.

UPDATE, 10:17 p.m.: Red Sox finished off the White Sox 6-3. A Yankee loss would leave them with a six-game lead. That would be the closest Boston has been since Aug. 12.

UPDATE, 10:50 p.m: All of a sudden this is getting interesting. Bases loaded and nobody out for Matsui. Yankees down 10-5.

UPDATE, 10:55 p.m.: Matsui single, Posada single. Now it’s 10-7 and a dinger wins it. Can Cano actually get a hit with men on base?

UPDATE, 10:56 p.m.: Why yes he can. Two-run single to left. 10-9 with two on and nobody out. Unreal.

Listening to John Sterling,who wondered if Swisher would bunt. Swisher can’t bunt. You gotta be kidding me. Swing the bat.

UPDATE, 10:58 p.m.: Swisher bunted and popped out. Unreal. Swing the bat. That is a momentum-killer.

I bet that costs them. Swisher is not a bunter. And you’re bunting to get to a slumping Melky? Why?

UPDATE, 11:01 p.m.: Yep, that bunt killed the momentum deader than Francisco Franco. Outs are too valuable to give away. Melky lines into a double play and the game is over.

I’ve heard Swisher is a decent power hitter and is pretty adept at getting on base. Too bad he didn’t have a chance to show that.

Girardi’s love of the bunt could hurt this team in the postseason. The Yankees are really, really good at getting on base. Let your guys do what they do best.

UPDATE, 11:06 p.m.: Some are suggesting that Swisher bunted on his own, perhaps. No matter as far as I’m concerned. The manager should tell the player not to bunt before he goes to the plate.

Knowing Swisher, I doubt he walks to the plate looking to bunt on his own. Guy has seven bunts in his life.

YANKEES (78-46)
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Cabrera CF

Pitching: RHP Joba Chamberlain (8-3, 3.98).

RANGERS (69-54)
Borbon DH
Young 3B
Hamilton RF
Byrd CF
Kinsler 2B
Cruz LF
Rodriguez C
Davis 1B
Andrus SS

Pitching: RHP Kevin Millwood (9-8, 3.48).

TIME/TV: 7:05 p.m., My9.

STATE OF THE ‘STRIPES: The Yankees are seven games up on Boston in the division. They are coming off a 7-3 road trip that included two out of three in Boston over the weekend. The Yankees have won 16 of their last 20 and are 27-9 since the All-Star break.

TEXAS TIME: The Rangers have lost four of their last six. They are a 1.5 games behind Boston in the AL wild card race.

THEY MEET AGAIN: The Yankees took two of three from Texas in Arlington in May and in the Bronx in early June.

TEXAS TOAST: The Yankees are 27-12 against Texas over the last five years but only 7-6 over the last two.

GUESS WHO’S BACK: Joba Chamberlain is still a member of the Yankees. He has not pitched since Aug. 16 against Seattle. Chamberlain is 4-1 with a 3.35 ERA in six starts since the All-Star break. However he is a pedestrian 1-1 with a 6.75 in his last three starts. In his last 16 innings, Chamberlain has allowed 12 earned runs on 18 hits and 12 walks.

TEXAS TROUBLE: Chamberlain has three career starts against Texas. He is 0-0 with a 7.11 ERA.

CHASING LOU: Derek Jeter 2,701 hits. Lou Gehrig has the franchise record of 2,721.

SEE YA: Thanks to Ernie Palladino for calling in the lineup. I’m not scheduled to be back at the Stadium until Thursday. But we could sneak in a few updates before the night is over.

Enjoy the game.

UPDATE, 7:02 p.m.: Had to pass this along. In the wake of the Billy Wagner deal, Red Sox GM Theo Epstein was asked about the critical comments Jonathan Papelbon made a few days ago.

“He’s not a Rhodes Scholar to begin with,” Epstein said, before explaining that Papelbon now accepted the deal.

Pretty funny.

UPDATE, 7:58 p.m.: What is it with Yankee pitchers and two outs lately?

UPDATE, 8:00 p.m.: Jeter will catch Gehrig by Labor Day at this point.

UPDATE, 8:41 p.m.: Another poor performance for Joba Chamberlain. The Yankees thought they took steps to prevent this, too. He threw three bullpens during his layoff including a simulated game.

His last four starts:

20 innings
27 hits
19 runs
19 earned runs
15 walks
17 strikeouts

Apologists will blame his schedule. But this is plain old poor pitching. Putting 42 runners on base in 20 innings is not because his routine was thrown off.

The Yankees have a month to get him straight for the playoffs. He’ll bounce back. The pattern on Joba is pretty easy to read. He needs to get knocked around before he listens to people.

UPDATE, 9:00 p.m.: Just a reminder: Joba was terrific after the All-Star break. So please don’t use the change in his routine as an excuse. He went home to Nebraska and did zippo for four days before pitching one of his best games of the season.

And memo to those who want him back in the bullpen: Why in the world would you want a pitcher in the bullpen who’s afraid to throw his fastball for strikes?

It’s a moot point anyway. He’s a starter and he needs to get himself straightened out. That starts with trusting what the pitching coach, manager and catcher tell you.

UPDATE, 9:06 p.m.: Chad Gaudin? Isn’t down two at home in the fifth inning still a winnable game?

UPDATE, 10:00 p.m.: This game seems destined to take a while longer to finish. So let’s start another thread.

Derek Jeter on the Yankee career lists:

Games
1. Mantle 2,401
2. Gehrig 2,164
3. Berra 1,116
4. Jeter 2,103

At-Bats
1. Jeter 8,525
2. Mantle 8,102

Runs
1. Ruth 1,959
2. Gehrig 1,888
3. Mantle 1,677
4. Jeter 1,553

Hits
1. Gehrig 2,721
2. Jeter 2,701

Doubles
1. Gehrig 534
2. Williams 449
3. Mattingly 442
4. Jeter 433

Triples
17. Cree, Rizzuto 62
19. Conroy 59
20. Jeter, Randolph 58

Home Runs
7. Nettles 250
8. Posada 236
9. Rodriguez 230
10. Jeter, Mattingly 222

Walks
5. Randolph 1,005
6. White 934
7. Jeter 861

Strikeouts
1. Mantle 1,710
2. Jeter 1,441

Stolen bases
1. Henderson 326
2. Jeter 296

Batting average
1. Ruth .349
2. Gehrig .340
3. Combs .325
4. DiMaggio .325
5. Jeter .317

Tonight: RHP Kevin Millwood (9-8, 3.48) vs. RHP Joba Chamberlain (8-3, 3.98), 7:05 p.m., My9

Wednesday: LHP Derek Holland (7-7, 4.72) vs. LHP Andy Pettitte (10-6, 4.25), 7:05 p.m. YES/ESPN2

Thursday: RHP Dustin Nippert (4-2, 3.95) vs. RHP A.J. Burnett (10-7, 4.08), 1:05 p.m. YES

Joba Chamberlain returns from an extended break and faces the Rangers tonight. The Yankees are sticking to their plan.

Mark Teixeira is on The Late Show with David Letterman now. He just infuriated people in Boston and Los Angeles by saying he knew at this time last year they he wanted to play in New York.

He’s doing a good job, casual and funny.

UPDATE, 12:36 a.m.: Now Tex is hitting balls on 53rd St. His segment was short, too bad. But he did well.

The race is on for home field advantage in the playoffs. The Yankees are 78-46 and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Orange County and Planet Earth are 74-48.

The teams will play four more times head to head. Once at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 14 in a makeup game and three times in Anaheim starting Sept. 21.

Joe Girardi said yesterday that his team will push for home field but not at the expense of making sure his players, especially the pitchers, get the right amount of time off. That makes good sense.

But four games at Yankee Stadium would be a lot more conducive to a World Series berth than four at the House of the Rally Monkey.

Here’s how it looks down the stretch:

Yankees (38 games left): 22 home, 16 away, 23 against teams over .500.

Angels (40 games left): 23 home, 17 away, 26 against teams over. 500

Yankees
Texas (3)
Chicago (3)
At Baltimore (3)
At Toronto (4)
Tampa Bay (4)
Baltimore (3)
Los Angeles (1)
Toronto (2)
At Seattle (3)
At Los Angeles (3)
Boston (3)
Kansas City (3)
At Tampa Bay (3)

Angels
Detroit (3)
Oakland (4)
At Seattle (3)
At Kansas City (4)
Seattle (3)
Chicago (3)
At New York
At Boston (3)
At Texas (3)
New York (3)
Oakland (3)
Texas (4)
At Oakland (3)

The Yankees have an edge, I think. The Angels have a murderous 10 game stretch in September when they play the Yankees four times and the Red Sox three times.

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That’s it for today unless news breaks. Catch you tomorrow.