The LoHud Yankees Blog

Double-A Trenton is facing New Britain at 1:35 p.m. today. The Thunder need wins today and tomorrow — the final two days of the season — to clinch an Eastern League playoff berth. RHP Jason Stephens (1-1, 2.45) starts today.

Mike Ashmore hit the road with the Thunder and he has relentless updates over on his blog, Thunder Thoughts. Mike has the lineups, photos and even video. So check that out if you’re interested in the kids.

The Yankees have Scranton, Tampa and Staten Island in their respective postseasons. Maybe Trenton can join in. It’s certainly an exciting time for the organization.

Phil Hughes has found success in a different role. But what matters is how well he is pitching. Hughes got the save as the Yankees beat the Blue Jays yesterday.

Mariano Rivera is feeling just fine. This notebook also has updates on Derek Jeter, a changed home run and a roster move.

The Sunday Baseball Beat looks at the impression the Yankee veterans have made this season.

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UNINTENTIONALLY FUNNY JOE GIRARDI QUOTE OF THE DAY

On Mariano Rivera: “I’m going to ask him every day how his groin is. That’s what I’m going to do.”

Brett Gardner was 1 for 3 with two runs scored, three walks and a stolen base for Scranton tonight in a 10-0 victory against Rochester.

Gardner is 1 for 8 with three runs scored, five walks and three steals in three games. He’s expected to play a final rehab game today and then join the Yankees at home on Monday.

In other news:

The Royals are so bad that even when Zack Greinke allows run in eight innings at home, they still can’t win. The Angels remain six games behind the Yankees. … Russ Ortiz got released by the Rockies, the team he signed with after bolting Scranton. Meanwhile, the Yankees just called up Josh Towers. Good move, Russ. … Double-A Trenton won and stayed alive in the Eastern League with a 4-3 victory at New Britain in 12 innings. They need to win Sunday and Monday to earn a wild-card berth.

With the Red Sox losing at Chicago, the Yankees now have a lead of 8.5 games in the East.

Meanwhile, the Angels will be facing Zack Greinke this evening. At the moment, they trail the Yankees by 6.5 games.

As for today’s game, it was a tedious affair as the Yankees walked seven and left 14 on base but lived to tell the tale. The force remained strong in young master Phil Hughes as he fanned three of the four batters he faced. His ERA of 1.11 is the lowest of any American League reliever with at least 40 innings.

“This might be as good as I’ve ever seen him,” Joba Chamberlain said of Hughes. “This is the pitcher everybody was talking about a few years ago. It’s great to see.”

I think that might be it for this evening. Time to finish the newspaper work and enjoy a night in Toronto. Check back for more tomorrow.

YANKEES (86-49)
Jeter SS
Swisher 1B
Teixeira DH
Rodriguez 3B
Posada C
Cano 2B
Hairston LF
Cabrera CF
Hinske RF

Pitching: LHP Andy Pettitte (12-6, 4.03).

BLUE JAYS (60-74)
Scutaro SS
Hill 2B
Wells CF
Millar 1B
Ruiz DH
Encarnacion 3B
Bautista RF
McDonald LF
Chavez C

Pitching: LHP Brett Cecil (6-3, 5.42).

TIME/TV: 1:07, YES.

STATE OF THE STRIPES: The Yankees have won seven of their last eight and are 4-1 on a road trip that has two games left. They are still 7.5 games ahead of Boston in the AL East but their lead on Los Angeles for home-field advantage was clipped to six games last night.

DEREK’S BACK: Derek Jeter got a day off yesterday and is expected back today. He is in a little 3-for-17 slump. Jeter needs nine hits to break Lou Gehrig’s record for the most hits in franchise history, so that will likely come at home next week.

PETTITTE’S POWER: Andy Pettitte is 4-1 with a 2.56 ERA since the All-Star break. In 59.2 innings, he has allowed 45 hits and struck out 62.

That’s it for now. Back with more later on.

UPDATE, 11:15 a.m.: Just watched Mo throw 16 pitches in the pen. Looked good to me.

UPDATE, 11:19 a.m.: RHP Josh Towers called up.

UPDATE, 11:27 p.m.: Kevin Cash was released to make room on the 40-man roster.

UPDATE, 12:05 p.m.: CC will start Game 1 on Monday and Burnett Game 2.

UPDATE, 1:13 p.m.: We’re underway in Toronto. Another great day, too. This road trip has featured perfect weather. If you hear any planes roaring overhead during the broadcast, they’re part of the air show in Toronto this weekend.

UPDATE, 1:25 p.m.: Robbie Cano flashes some leather there. He has had a terrific year in the field for the most part.

UPDATE, 1;27 p.m.: Millar comes out to Sing For The Moment by Eninem. Pretty good choice. Meanwhile, Andy Pettitte whiffs two in the first inning. He has fanned 64 in his last 60.2 innings. What a career rebirth for him.

UPDATE, 1:14 p.m: Yankees strike first as Melky raps an RBI single into center. Yanks 55-16 when they score first.

UPDATE, 1:54 p.m.: Yankees 1-6 with RISP in two innings. Cecil is lucky it’s only 1-0. Meanwhile, the jets overhead for the air show are pretty cool to watch.

UPDATE, 1:55 p.m.: That is not a home run, I don’t think.

UPDATE, 1:58 p.m.: Yep, foul ball. Now the crowd will really boo when Andy strikes Ruiz out.

UPDATE, 2:00 p.m.: Poor Randy Ruiz. From home run to 5-3. Doesn’t Randy Ruiz sound like the name of a wrestling opponent? And taking on George “The Animal” Steele … from the Bronx, New York … Randy Ruiz!

UPDATE, 2:36 p.m.: That one counts for Randy Ruiz. Yankees 2-1.

Yanks are 1 for 7 with RISP. How much longer can Cecil walk the tightrope?

UPDATE, 2:44 p.m.: Quick throw by Cano and a nimble play by Posada save the run. Now it’s 2-2.

UPDATE, 3:08 p.m.: Bad play all around there. Pettitte had an easy out at first but Posada yelled “second” and Jeter wasn’t there. Now the Jays have something cooking with the heart of their order up. Yankees try and hold a 3-2 lead.

UPDATE, 3:29 p.m.: Yankees had been 1 for 10 with RISP before Clutch-Rod delivered an RBI single.

UPDATE, 3:31 p.m.: And Posada makes it 5-2 with an RBI single. 24 RBI in the his last 22 games.

UPDATE, 3:40 p.m.: Sloppy play there as Toronto scores two runs. … Gardner would have caught that ball in the first place, by the way.

UPDATE, 4:01 p.m.: More good relief work from Robertson as he shakes off the leadoff walk.

UPDATE, 4:16 p.m.: Slick double-play by the Jays to stay within a run. Yankees are 3-14 with RISP today and have left 12 men on base. Between that and the poor defense, they’ve made this game closer than it should be.

UPDATE, 4:19 p.m.: How is it that Dave Robertson is the 7th inning guy and Brian Bruney is the 8th inning guy? That should be reversed based on their performance this season, no?

UPDATE, 4:27 p.m.: Bruney walks Bautista and Joe Girardi is not going to screw around. Here comes Hughes with two outs.

UPDATE, 4:27 p.m.: The last 10 outings for Hughes: 10 innings, 5 hits, 0 runs, 3 walks, 14 strikeouts.

UPDATE, 4:31 p.m.: Hughes with high heat (94) to end the inning.

UPDATE, 4:55 p.m.: Yankees have left 14 runners on base and are 5 of 19 with RISP. But they are three outs away from a win.

UPDATE, 4:59 p.m.: A four-out save for Phil Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuughes as the Yankees win an ugly game 6-4.

That’s a 1.11 relief ERA for the young man. Back later with reaction.

Joba Chamberlain had another rocky start as the Yankees were bounced by the Blue Jays and Roy Halladay.

Alfredo Aceves is winning a lot of games in relief. This notebook also has updates on Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Brett Gardner.

Joe Girardi said after the game that Joba Chamberlain was aggressive with his fastball. That the Blue Jays aggressively slapped that fastball all over the Rogers Centre seemed sort of beside the point to him.

And so it goes. Joba would be the No. 4 starter in the postseason by default at this point, not merit. He is 1-3 with a 7.96 ERA in his last six starts. Opponents have hit .330 against him.

“I still really believe in him and I think at the end of September you’re going to see a guy throwing the ball well,” Girardi said. “We have to get him back to where he was and we believe what we’re doing is going to get him back there. What we’re doing right now isn’t going to last forever.”

Joba resorted to a bunch of cliches when we talked to him, talking about his teammates and executing pitches and how good the guys on the other team are. I spoke to him alone briefly and asked him whether he could get sharp again come October.

“There’s time,” he said. “I’ll go four innings the next game and we’ll go from there. I know I have things to work on.”

It’s easy to forget that Chamberlain is 23 because he has been with the Yankees for parts of three seasons now. So he deserves the benefit of the doubt. But because he has been around for those three seasons, inexperience becomes less of a crutch. He has been around enough to know that what he is doing now isn’t getting it done.

It’s easy to say that any starter would have lost to Roy Halladay tonight. But that isn’t the point. The idea was to see improvement and it wasn’t there. Don’t focus on the runs or the misplays in the field, focus on the quality of Toronto’s swings and that Joba had only four pitches that produced a swinging strike. Two were by past-his-prime Kevin Millar.

The Yankees are protecting Joba because they believe in how good he can be. He needs to return the favor by being that guy.

Meanwhile …

Ramiro Pena is 2 for 6 against Halladay in his career with two doubles. He must wonder what the big deal is. … Mike Dunn walked both of the lefties he faced in his debut. Not good. But he gets a pass for being nervous in his debut. … A-Rod had a 12-game hit streak snapped. … The dope fans here in Toronto booed Eric Hinske. “They traded me away,” he said. “What did I do wrong?”

Finally, I will leave you with this. The visiting team clubhouse here has a computer with several thousand songs on it and the players often load up their iPods. Alfredo Aceves plucked a bunch of songs by the Bee Gees before the game.

“What is this stuff?” Dunn asked.

Aceves explained that his father, Mexican League slugger Alfredo Aceves Sr., listened to a lot of music from the 60s and 70s when he was playing and introduced his children to it. Ace, as it turns out, is a big fan of the Brothers Gibb and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

So the 26-year-old reliever from Mexico like disco and John Fogerty. You never know what you’re going to learn on a given day.

Thanks for reading, catch you tomorrow from Toronto.

YANKEES (86-48)
Damon LF
Hinske RF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Cabrera CF
Pena SS

Pitching: RHP Joba Chamberlain (8-4, 4.38).

BLUE JAYS (59-74)
Scutaro SS
Hill 2B
Lind DH
Millar 1B
Wells CF
Barajas C
Snider RF
Inglett LF
McDonald 3B

Pitching: RHP Roy Halladay (13-8, 3.13).

TIME/TV: 7:07, YES.

STATE OF THE ‘STRIPES: The Yankees have won seven straight, eight of nine, 24 of 30, 35 of 46 and 48 of 64. But people will still complain about the lineup today, you watch.

TORONTO TALE: The Yankees are 10-3 against the Blue Jays this season, winning six of the last seven meetings. Toronto has lost four straight and 15 of 19.

POWER PACKED: The Yankees have seven players with 20+ home runs, the most since the 2005 Rangers. The Yankees also have seven players with 70+ RBI. The lone holdout is Derek Jeter, who has 17 homers and 61 RBI.

NO BULL: Yankee relievers have allowed three earned runs and struck out 24 in their last 23.2 innings.

JOBAMANIA: Joba Chamberlain will pitch three or four innings today, part of the Joba Innings Restriction Plan. The JIRP calls for Chamberlain to be built back up before the postseason.

The Yankees could use a Joba Pitches Like He Used To Plan. The right-hander has allowed 21 earned runs on 31 hits and 15 walks in his last 23 innings.

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL THIS TIME? Damaso Marte has thrown 4.1 scoreless innings and not allowed a hit since returning from the disabled list. I checked yesterday, it actually is Damaso Marte.

THE JETER METER: The Captain is nine hits away from breaking Lou Gehrig’s franchise record of 2,721 hits. Jeter is 3 of his last 17, however.

A-ROD ADVANCES: Alex Rodriguez has a 12-game hit streak and is 20 of 47 in that stretch, drawing eight walks and driving in 12 runs. His batting average has climbed to a season-best .276.

CONGRATS TO SCRANTON: The Triple-A Yankees clinched a tie for their fourth-straight International League North Division title yesterday. They open the playoffs on Sept. 9. The Yankees won the league title last season.

ON THE iPOD RIGHT NOW: Southtown Girls by The Hold Steady.

Back with more later.

UPDATE 4:25 p.m.: No lineup yet. … No bullpen for Mo today, either. He said he feels good however.

UPDATE, 4:32 p.m.: We have a lineup. Joe Girardi wins again!

UPDATE, 5:28 p.m.: Mariano will throw a bullpen tomorrow. If that goes well, he’ll be available on Sunday.

UPDATE, 5:47 p.m.: Girardi said it was a regular day off for Jeter, although he did jam his right pinky yesterday. The fact that the lineup was posted so late and not until after all the players arrived leads me to wonder how “regular” that day off was, but Girardi said Jeter would play tomorrow.

Here is Girardi’s pre-game:

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UPDATE, 5:54 p.m.: Two enjoyable things at the Rogers Centre right now: They’re playing Hungry Heart on the PA system and Nick Swisher is trying to play shortstop during batting practice. He is taking grounders from Tony Pena and gets roughly half of them to first base.

UPDATE, 5:52 p.m.: Now they’re playing Billy Joel. Shouldn’t they be playing Rush, Nickleback and Arcade Fire in Canada? Maybe Bruce and Billy are in honor of the Yankees. I’m not complaining.

UPDATE, 7:08 p.m.: We are underway here at the Rogers Centre. Beautiful night (71 degrees, no wind) and the Blue Jays are wearing their powder blue throwbacks. Enjoy the game, everybody.

UPDATE, 7:18 p.m.: That ball carried, but Hinske needs to make that play. Shades of Bobby Abreu there.

UPDATE, 7:23 p.m.: It might be easy to limit Joba’s innings tonight if he continues to throw pitches that are screaming “hit me” as they approach the plate.

UPDATE, 7:24 p.m.: 2-0 Toronto, threatening for more and Halladay looked good in the first. Hope you didn’t bet your house on the win streak continuing.

UPDATE, 7:29 p.m.: Joba needed 29 pitches to get through that inning. He was supposed to get four tonight. It could well be three, assuming he even gets that far.

UPDATE, 7:37 p.m.: Halladay perfect through two and has three strikeouts. It doesn’t hurt that umpire Jeff Nelson has the Lt. Frank Drebbin strike zone.

UPDATE, 7:51 p.m.: Nine up and nine down for Halladay. Not a ball out of the infield, either. It appears he has reverted to form.

UPDATE, 7:58 p.m.: Joba has put eight runners on base and doesn’t have an out in the third inning.

UPDATE, 8:05 p.m.: Is that it for Joba? His line:

3 innings
6 hits
3 runs
2 earned runs
2 walks
2 strikeouts
1 hit batter

Mark Melancon was up in the last inning.

UPDATE, 8:11 p.m.: Melancon for Joba after another cruddy performance.

Last six starts: 26 innings, 27 hits, 23 earned runs, 17 walks, 20 strikeouts. Betcha anything both he and Joe Girardi will say it’s just fine.

That’s an ERA of 7.96, however. He has been bad for a month now and only apologists will say otherwise.

UPDATE, 8:22 p.m.: Halladay takes his perfect game into the fifth inning. My money is on Posada to break it up with a single.

UPDATE, 8:25 p.m.: Well, perfect game over as Posada walks. There was no reaction from the crowd whatsoever.

UPDATE, 8:30 p.m.: Perfecto gone, no-hitter intact for Halladay through five. This is the best he has pitched in weeks.

UPDATE, 8:36 p.m.: If Melancon comes up and in on somebody else, we could get some action. The Yankees have hit 62 batters this season, the most in the majors. It’s not a coincidence, either. Dave Eiland wants his pitchers to make hitters shuffle their feet. That is fine, but eventually some team is going to react.

UPDATE, 8:44 p.m.: Yanks are only down 4-0. But it seems like a lot with how Doc Halladay is pitching.

UPDATE, 8:47 p.m.: Ramiro Pena breaks up the no-hitter with a double to right.

UPDATE, 8:53 p.m.: Yankees are one swing away from getting right back in this game. Halladay did give up six jacks in his last two starts against the Yankees, after all.

UPDATE, 8:55 p.m.: Alex with the bases loaded and two outs. This could be their best shot of the night.

UPDATE, 8:57 p.m.: Nope. Jays 4-0.

UPDATE, 9:16 p.m.: Mike Dunn making his debut here in the seventh. Now we can see that fastball the organization is so excited about.

So it would seem that Roy Halladay very badly wanted to be traded. He is 2-5 with a 4.59 ERA in his seven starts since July 29. He was 11-3, 2.62 in the 19 starts before that.

Meanwhile, he faced the Yankees July 4, Aug. 4 and again tonight, Sept. 4. That is weird.

The Yankees beat him the last two times. Halladay allowed nine earned runs on 19 hits (six of them home runs) over 16 innings. Will the old ace show up tonight or the guy who wants out of town?

The much-heralded Daniel Bard of the Red Sox:

38 appearances, 42.1 innings, 33 hits, 16 earned runs, 18 walks, 56 strikeouts, 4 home runs. Very impressive for the 24-year-old.

Then we have this 24-year-old player:

41 appearances, 40 innings, 34 hits, 15 earned runs, 21 walks, 60 strikeouts, 4 home runs.

Who might that be? Do not sleep on Dave Robertson, folks.

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Thanks to loyal reader Ross for pointing that out to me.