The LoHud Yankees Blog

Still in the interview room where Joe Girardi just announced that Freddy Guzman has been added to the roster in place of Eric Hinske.

Also, A.J. Burnett is starting Game 2. Andy Pettitte in Game 3. Game 4 is TBA.

UPDATE, 1:10 p.m.: Josh here. I have added audio from Joe Girardi’s chat with the media. The highlights: Guzman for Hinske; Burnett in Game 2, Pettitte in Game 3, TBD for Game 4; lots of talk about the weather, Sabathia, and how it had been to manage in his first postseason.

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I will have Derek Jeter audio and hope to have CC Sabathia audio posted in a bit.

UPDATE, 1:12 p.m.: Josh again. If there is a rainout, the ticket policy is exactly what Sam had speculated yesterday. Friday’s game is home game 1. Saturday’s game is home game 2. Ticket holders for Friday will attend the first home game played (no matter the date), and ticket holders for Saturday will attend the second home game played. Therefore, if Game 1 is rained out tomorrow and not played, for example, until Sunday, those ticket holders will attend the game Sunday. If Game 2 isn’t played until Tuesday, Saturday ticket holders will attend the game on Tuesday.

Obviously, that’s an extreme example, but hopefully you understand how it would work.

UPDATE, 1:37 p.m.: If you don’t feel like listening to the Girardi audio, here’s his take on adding Guzman to the roster: “We thought we could use another speed guy in this round. We’ve had some success doing those types of things late in the game, and in a seven-game series stuff could come up late in the game. We saw the games against Minnesota were very close and sometimes you can use a couple of pinch runners. If Gardy gets a start, then you don’t have a pinch runner (without Guzman). It just frees us up to do some more things.”

I must say, when Guzman was added to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre roster in September, I never imagined he would be on the major league roster for the ALCS. I really thought the Yankees were simply giving the Triple-A team an outfielder after taking Shelley Duncan to New York. That said, there were people in the clubhouse who thought from the moment Guzman arrived that he was ticketed for the big league postseason roster. Sometimes you see it coming, sometimes you don’t. I didn’t see it this time.

UPDATE, 2:58 p.m.: Dave Eiland talked about Phil Hughes’ performance in the first round. “He was getting a little quick, jumping toward the plate, and that was affecting his command,” Eiland said. “He was throwing to a left-hander against Minnesota, I don’t remember who it was, but he was trying to come inside. He got too quick and the ball ran back over the plate. It’s just a minor adjustment, and he knows. We did some work the last couple of days and we feel like it’s corrected. It’s a simple adjustment, but it’s something small that will make a big difference.”

UPDATE, 3:10 p.m.: Josh here. After a trip to the Angels clubhouse, I finally have the audio of CC Sabathia, who talked about how the rain will impact him (it won’t), how he prepares in the final hours of a start (hint: RBI Baseball) and what he must do to stop the instigators in red (pitch well).

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I will post audio from Mike Scioscia, John Lackey and one or two others at some point in the 4 o’clock hour.

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Don’t forget that Sam and I will be doing a live chat tonight to talk about the roster decisions, the rotation and everything else as the Yankees get set for Game 1 of the ALCS tomorrow. The wait is almost over! Come join us here and feel free to stop by early and submit questions ahead of time.

It’s cold and misty here at Yankee Stadium, but the Yankees are on the field taking batting practice. They stretched inside, but put on their grey hoodies for BP. In the open air press box, the back row has become much more popular than the front.

While players were trickled into the clubhouse this morning, pitching coach Dave Eiland confirmed that the Yankees have some contingency plans to deal with bad weather over the weekend, but he wouldn’t go into detail.

‘We’ll deal with that when it happens,” Eiland said. “Are there contingency plans? Sure there are. But we’re not thinking about that until we have to.”

Chad Gaudin threw 50 pitches on Tuesday and said he’s been told to be ready to pitch on Friday. Not as a starter, but as a guy who could give the Yankees innings in the case of a rain delay or some other circumstance that limits the starter. I suppose he could start so that C.C. Sabathia isn’t burned out in the event of an early inning rain delay, but that would be one of those contingency plans that Eiland wouldn’t reveal. As for innings limits on a spot starter or fourth starter, should the Yankees decide to use one, Eiland said that’s not a significant concern.

“They’re not that far removed,” Eiland said. “Their pitch counts haven’t gone down enough to make it that big of a concern. Are they going to be able to go 120 pitches? No. But they have enough to get through the middle of the game.”

As those of you in the area already know, it’s not particularly nice out. The forecast for this weekend isn’t much better. So what does rain do to the Yankees chances in the series?

The biggest issue is how it affects the starting pitchers. If the Yankees are able to use only three starters, their rotation has the edge over the Angels. If rain forces them to go to a fourth, suddenly that advantage changes – the Angels’ depth (i.e. Scott Kazmir vs. Chad Gaudin) would then seem to give them an edge.

Obviously the Yankees want to play in the best conditions possible. But playing in poor weather might be prefereable if it allows them to run CC Sabathia out there three times.

The Yankees had 15 walkoff wins in the regular season and one more already in the playoffs. That experience gives them an incredible confidence late in games, which can become a real weapon the in the postseason (especially during games at the Stadium). Chad Jennings has a look at the never-say-die Yankees.

While the Red Sox will always be the Yankees biggest rival, the Angels have become their nemesis in recent years, and Mike Scioscia’s team always seems to be standing in the Yankees way. For more on how the Yankees will try and finally get past LA, check out my column.

Johnny Damon was the only regular who took part in a simulated game at the Stadium on Tuesday’s off day, and the left fielder is looking to turn around his performance after a woeful ALDS. Josh Thomson has the story.

The Yankees are preparing themselves to handle the Angels aggressiveness. The notebook also has updates on roster questions, rotations for both teams and the men in blue.

Waiting stinks. I know it, you know it, everyone knows it. Mark Teixeira said earlier today that he doesn’t like it because it’s so different than the regular-season routine. Joe Girardi said it might actually help guys like Johnny Damon, who struggled in the last round, because it’s basically starting over. Jorge Posada said it’s weird.

Having several big gaps (and numerous off days) is something baseball does in the postseason primarily because of TV. I’ve had several e-mails from people who think it’s strange that a team needs four or five starters all year and then can get away with three during the postseason becasue of all the off-days. To some degree, I can’t argue with that.

I know you guys have been doing countdowns in the comments, literally counting the minutes until there’s baseball again. I can understand why. Just know that the players are doing the same things right along with you. “With a layoff like this, it’s like you’re back to zero,” Teixeira said.

That’s it for today. Back at the Stadium for (yet another) workout tomorrow and don’t forget about the primetime-ish LoHud Live Chat at 7 p.m. tomorrow night. Chad and I will be on the scene to take all your questions as we get set for Game 1 on Friday.

Plenty of talk before and after today’s workout focused on the running game of those pesky Angels, who, in addition to their 148 steals this year (third in MLB) also happened to score 883 runs, second behind only the Yankees.

I mention this because the Angels have a reputation as these base-swiping, first-to-third devils who have outrun the Yankees all these years, most notably in their two ALDS series. But has anyone noticed their offense performed almost on par with the boys in pinstripes?

Now, can these Angels run? In 2009, yes. They stole 17 in 24 attempts against the Yankees this year. They were also thrown out more than any other club in baseball.

But back in 2002 and 2005, the Angels didn’t run with any special regularity to unseat the Yankees. In fact, over the years Mike Scioscia’s club has simply outslugged the Yanks, posting a better average, on-base percentage and home run rate in both of the much ballyhooed series. This season was no different despite the 5-5 record over 10 games. The Yankees hit more home runs (15 to 9) but reached base less often than their nemesis.

Anyway, I’ll have more in tomorrow’s paper on how Joe Girardi and his team plan on stalling the Angels running game. Expect a few more throws to first, the occasional pitch out and an outfield that has been prodded to charge base hits and limit runners from taking the extra base. That said, is it possible that Girardi and his catchers paid a little lip service to the running game today while internally focusing on what’s most important: Keeping the Angels off base? Hmm.

Here’s what Jorge Posada said today:

You have to get the hitter, that’s the main objective. The priority there is to get the hitter. You have to pay attention to the running game, but obviously the main priority is the hitter.

MLB has announced the umpiring crews for the two Championship Series. The Yankees-Angels series will have veteran Tim McClelland as the crew chief, with Dale Scott, Jerry Layne, Fieldin Culbreth, Laz Diaz and Bill Miller joining him. McClelland is generally recognized as one of the best umpires in the majors, though he has been on the field for his share of controversial calls (including being the plate ump who called George Brett out in the “pine-tar game”) and memorable days (he worked David Wells’s perfect game).

Just as an aside, I know there will be some who point to the fact that several umpires – including Phil Cuzzi – who worked Division Series aren’t working the second round, but that isn’t indicative of them being “left out” because of poor calls. In fact, it’s very, very rare for any umpire – good or bad – to work consecutive rounds in the playoffs.

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For those who have tickets to the games (or just want to track weather-related Yankees news) this week, check out the Yankees weather page on Twitter. You can also text YANKEES WEATHER to MLBGO on your cell phone, though standard text rates apply.

Of course, you can also just check the LoHud Yankees blog religiously, since we’ll have all the Yankees news – including weather – as soon as it happens right here.

Mike Scioscia was a little more forthcoming at his post-workout media session in California, revealing his four-man series rotation. John Lackey, as expected, will pitch Game 1, with Joe Saunders pitching Game 2, Jered Weaver in Game 3 and Scott Kazmir in Game 4.

Scioscia had a good quote about the poor weather forecast and the Yankees potential three-man rotation, joking, “I’m hearing a lot of rain. We may face Sabathia seven times. We might play just one game a week. I don’t know.”

Here are the updated probables:

Game 1:
Sabathia vs. Lackey

Game 2:
Burnett vs. Saunders

Game 3:
Pettitte vs. Weaver

Game 4:
Sabathia vs. Kazmir

Joe Girardi didn’t give many definitive answers during his post-workout media session, so if you’re looking for clarity I wouldn’t recommend the audio posted below. As he said, there are about 48 hours until game time and so there’s still time for decisions to be made. At this point, I’d be surprised if the Yankees didn’t use the three-man rotation, assuming weather doesn’t affect the series schedule.

On that note, I’ve been asked a number of times about weather contingencies. A rainout on Friday or Saturday would ostensibly be made up on Sunday, and my understanding of the ticket situation is that all playoff tickets are for what GAME NUMBER is on them. So, if Game 1 on Friday is rained out, fans with tickets to that game would then go on SATURDAY because that is when the first game of the series would be played.

In other words, if you have tickets to Game 1, you go to the first game of the series whenever it is played. If you have tickets to Game 2, you go to the second game of the series whenever it happens to be played. If that changes, I’ll let you know.

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Is Joba Chamberlain still a reliever for the ALCS?
“As of 12:42 on Wednesday, that’s where I’m at,” Chamberlain said. “We’ll just approach it from there.”

Is Chad Gaudin going to be used as a fourth starter?
“The only thing I know right now is be ready Friday,” Gaudin said. “That’s what I’m going to do. I’ll get ready to pitch on Friday. When they tell me otherwise, that’s what I’ll have to do.”

Is Jose Molina going to catch A.J. Burnett?
“I don’t know,” Molina said. “Ask Joe.”

We’ll talk to Joe Girardi in an hour or two. Audio from the clubhouse is on its way.

UPDATE, 1:15 p.m.: Sam here with some audio from the clubhouse. First, we’ve got Mark Teixeira.

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And then we’ve got Jorge Posada, who talked quite a bit about how the Yankees can limit the Angels running game. Pretty interesting stuff.

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UPDATE, 1:27 p.m.: Josh (back) here with some audio from a struggling Johnny Damon, who, as Sam said, came to the park with the bench players yesterday to work after a miserable Game 3.

Johnny said his postseason history has showed him the value of brushing off a bad series. Plus, “it’s very easy to put it behind you when you win three-games-to-nothing,” he said.

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UPDATE, 1:43 p.m.: Josh here again. A couple people asked about Joba Chamberlain and what he would need to do, so I just wanted to check in with his thoughts.

As Chad mentioned atop this post, Joba considers himself a member of the bullpen until told otherwise. He said the only adjustment necessary to prep for a Game 4 start would be a bullpen session, which he obviously wouldn’t throw until a couple days before Game 4 on Tuesday.

He also felt two parts of his warmups would keep him sharp for a possible start: 1. He throws all four of his pitches during warmups, even if has used almost entirely fastballs during the three relief appearances; 2. He has maintained most of his stamina thanks to the amount he throws before taking the mound. In fact, of warming as a reliever after starting all year, he said, “That part went better than I thought it would. The other day I probably threw a little too much. But that’s just trial and error.”