The LoHud Yankees Blog

Just spoke to Brian Cashman, who said the Yankees doctors will be evaluating Melky Cabrera in the coming hours to determine the extent of Cabrera’s injury. It’s believed Cabrera could have suffered a full hamstring tear during Game 4, and according to MLB rules, the Yankees are allowed to petition for a roster change if they believe Cabrera won’t be able to play for the rest of the series. The player added would be “someone with the team here,” Cashman said, though he wouldn’t speculate on names.

That would seem to limit it to Francisco Cervelli, Freddy Guzman, Ramiro Pena and Sergio Mitre. If Brett Gardner starts, which is most likely, than Guzman could be added as the pinch-runner off the bench, though you could certainly make a case for Pena or, particularly tonight with Molina likely to start, Cervelli. We’ll update as we know more.

UPDATE, 12:30 p.m.: Chad here. I just checked with Gardner, but he hasn’t heard anything about Cabrera or about playing center field tonight. “Don’t know anything,” he said.

Alex Rodriguez has been hit by pitches three times in the past two games, and after being hit in his first at-bat last night – with first base open – Rodriguez was visibly upset, standing and staring into the Yankees dugout for a long moment before talking with the plate umpire and heading to first.

Asked afterward for his thoughts on being a target, A-Rod declined to discuss whether he sensed any intent. He did say, however, something that may shed some light on why he broke out of his two-game mini-slump starting in Game 3:

“I will say this,” he said. “That the one time I got hit in (Saturday’s) game, my first at-bat, kind of woke me up a little bit and just reminded me, ‘Hey, this is the World Series, let’s get it going a little bit.’ So it worked out.”

I’d say so. Rodriguez homered in his next at-bat and delivered the critical hit in Game 4. Intent or not, the Phillies beanballs succeeded in waking up the Yankees best hitter.

The Yankees are one win away from their 27th World Series title after beating the Phillies in a wild one last night. Chad Jennings has all the details, including plenty on Johnny Damon’s mad dash for third base in the ninth inning.

Alex Rodriguez has had a season full of changes and the biggest transformation of all is nearly complete, I wrote in my column. A-Rod has always wanted to be known as a “winner” and he’s doing everything he can to make that a reality.

A.J. Burnett will take the ball on short rest in tonight’s Game 5, and that decision by Joe Girardi isn’t as much of a sure thing as the one he made in tapping CC Sabathia for Game 4.

Nick Swisher has been rejuvenated after his breakout performance in Game 3, and the Yankees are hoping it carries over for as long as this series lasts.

Damaso Marte did the job again out of the pen last night, and his resurgence during the postseason has made him a valuable weapon. The notebook also has items on Melky Cabrera’s injury, another start for Jose Molina and another award for Derek Jeter.

Finally, check out a nice piece from Josh Thomson, who chronicled a full day for New York fans in the City of Brotherly Love.

In the clubhouse after tonight’s game, someone asked Derek Jeter how smart Johnny Damon is. “Well, he called himself an idiot,” Jeter said. 

It must be a lot easier to make jokes when the team’s one win away from a title than if this series had been tied at two games apiece.

Tonight obviously hinged on Damon’s mad dash to third base. It was one of the smarter, more heads up plays you’ll see in baseball. The Yankees were on their toes, the Phillies were not, and that was the difference. With the infield shifted for Mark Teixeira, either the pitcher or catcher is supposed to cover third base on a stolen base. That didn’t happen.

“I think what I had to see before I could start running to third base was how Pedro (Feliz) caught the ball,” Damon said. “So I knew it drug him off some. I’m just glad that when I started running, I still had some of my young legs behind me… You know, it worked out, because I felt like being on third base, it possibly takes away a slider, a tough slider in the dirt that I may be able to score on. Alex got two fastballs. Hopefully it, well, it did work out for us.”

Third-base coach Rob Thomson said taking third base when the infield is shifted is something the coaching staff has talked to the players about, but he said he never told Damon to go for it tonight. The heads up sprint was the highlight of a rally that started with Damon’s nine-pitch at-bat, which forced Lidge to throw extra pitches. Getting to third put even more pressure on the Phillies closer.

“Against this outfield, they all throw pretty good and they play very shallow, even with two outs a lot of times it’s tough to score (from second) on a base hit,” Thomson said. “Just getting him to third base, now I know we’re going to score on a base hit or a wild pitch or a passed ball. A huge play.”

The view from the dugout was quite different. Jeter said he knew exactly what Damon was doing, but Joba Chamberlain said he had a “mini heart attack.”

“He stole two bases in nine seconds, I don’t know if that’s ever been done before,” Brett Gardner said. “That’s Johnny for you. He knew that Feliz was over there playing Tex to pull and he covered second. He got an opening and took it. I’ve never even thought about it. When he went to third I said, ‘Oh no.’ All of us did, because as soon as you see him get up and go, you assume that Johnny thought the ball got by him and went into center field. It didn’t obviously. When he took off and we realized nobody was at third base, it’s just heads up play. He fooled everybody.”

And put the Yankees one win away from their 27th championship.

UPDATE: Just got back to the hotel. The status of Melky Cabrera is that he strained his left hamstring. Won’t know much more until tomorrow. Saw someone else asked about audio. I might have a file or two that’s good enough to upload, but tonight was pretty insane on deadline and I’m not sure either Sam or I has anything that’s especially clear. We’ll check on it tomorrow. For now, I’m heading to bed.

On the strength of another clutch hit from Alex Rodriguez (and a great at-bat by Johnny Damon), the Yankees stormed back in the ninth and beat the Phillies, 7-4, in Game 4 of the World Series. They’re one win away from their 27th championship. Stay here for all the clubhouse reaction.

UPDATE, 12:12 a.m.: Johnny Damon said the key to his taking third base was seeing “how Pedro (Feliz) caught the throw.” He also said that Alex Rodriguez “is the reason why we’re here.”

“We’re at 10 (wins),” Damon said. “Hopefully we get 11 tomorrow.”

UPDATE, 12:15 a.m.: CC said he thought the warning was “premature” but Joe Girardi said the umpires told him that CC should feel free to pitch inside and that there would not be any automatic ejections if someone got hit. “It didn’t affect me at all,” Sabathia said.

UPDATE, 12:46 a.m.: A-Rod said, “There’s no question, I have never had a bigger hit.”

UPDATE, 11:20 p.m.: One mistake and Joba knew it. He bent over as soon as contact was made, and Feliz is a hero (at least for now). It’s tied at 4 with Brad Lidge coming in to try to keep it level. Here’s a thought: If Rivera hadn’t been needed for the last two outs last night, would Girardi have gone to him for two innings tonight?

UPDATE, 9:39 p.m.: CC looks a lot like he did in Game 1 – location is inconsistent and the Phillies are making him work for his outs. I think it’s also fair to say that Johnny Damon’s arm is a real liability. That’s a slow runner coming from second scoring on a bullet line drive.

Interestingly, it sure looked like Howard never touched home plate. Either way, it’s 2-2 going to the fifth.

UPDATE, 9:47 p.m.: That hurts from CC. For all the talk about his ability to swing the bat, he needed to get that bunt down. Now it’s up to Jeter – another guy who has bunted on two strikes in this series.

UPDATE, 9:48 p.m.: And there you go, a bouncer through the hole for Jeter that brings Swisher around from second. It’s 3-2 Yankees.

UPDATE, 9:51 p.m.: The Yankees aren’t exactly crushing the ball this inning – they’ve got a walk, an infield single on a ball Utley had time to stop and flip, a flare to left and a flare to right – but two runs are in and it’s 4-2. One big blast here could be huge.

UPDATE, 9:53 p.m.: Huge spot for A-Rod here. A big hit could blow it open.

UPDATE, 9:55 p.m.: Nothing doing. Fly to center for A-Rod and it’s 4-2 with Sabathia heading back out there at 66 pitches.

UPDATE, 10:04 p.m.: CC has to run the gauntlet now after a single and walk to Rollins and Victorino. Nobody out and the meat of the order up.

UPDATE, 10:05 p.m.: That’s one. Utley pops to short. Now it’s Howard. I’ve got to say, there have been a lot of chats between CC and Posada, CC and Eiland, CC and Girardi. Lots of talking in this game.

UPDATE, 10:07 p.m.: That’s two. Another pop to Jeter.

UPDATE, 10:12 p.m.: Well, it took 22 pitches and about 76 trips to the mound from Posada, but CC works out of about the toughest spot a pitcher could be in with this Phillies lineup. Give him credit: that’s legit pitching.

UPDATE, 10:14 p.m.: The Phillies did succeed in getting Sabathia’s pitch count up to 88 pitches, so you figure we’ll be seeing some Yankees bullpen tonight. In an unrelated note, Joe Frazier just made a cameo on the field as the Phanatic “won” a boxing fight.

UPDATE, 10:16 p.m.: FYI, the “fight” wasn’t with Frazier; it was with some guy who sort of resembled “Glass Joe” from Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out. Smokin’ Joe was the referee.

UPDATE, 10:29 p.m.: Looks like Melky pulled a hamstring running out his last AB. He tried to convince Girardi and Steve Donahue that he could stay in but they didn’t want to take a chance – Gardner now in center.

UPDATE, 10:30 p.m.: Blanton’s night is over. Ben Francisco is hitting for Blanton.

UPDATE, 10:32 p.m.: Chan Ho Park coming on to start the seventh for Philly. It would appear CC is going to hit for himself.

UPDATE, 10:35 p.m.: This is an interesting call for Girardi. CC has thrown 95 pitches. Considering his middle-relief options, I have to say I can’t fault Girardi at all for sticking with Sabathia.

UPDATE, 10:44 p.m.: Crowd of 46,145 at Citizens Bank Park tonight.

UPDATE, 10:53 p.m.: Sabathia leaves after giving up Utley’s third home run of the series on a 0-1 pitch. On a night where he clearly didn’t have it, the Big Man did pretty well: 6 2/3, 7 hits, 3 runs, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts. Now The Magician, Marte, is on to face Howard. Let’s see if the Yankees bullpen can hold a lead.

UPDATE, 11:10 p.m.: Sorry for the lack of updates. Writing on deadline for the paper. Joba is coming on now for the eighth, with Rivera and Coke warming up behind him in the pen.

YANKEES
Derek Jeter SS
Johnny Damon LF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jorge Posada C
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Melky Cabrera CF
CC Sabathia P

Pitching: LHP CC Sabathia (3-1, 1.57 ERA in postseason)

PHILLIES
Jimmy Rollins SS
Shane Victorino CF
Chase Utley 2B
Ryan Howard 1B
Jayson Werth RF
Raul Ibanez LF
Pedro Feliz 3B
Carlos Ruiz C
Joe Blanton P

Pitching: RHP Joe Blanton (0-0, 4.66 ERA in postseason)

TIME/TV: 8:20 p.m., FOX

WEATHER: There may be some rain this afternoon but it looks like it should be cool and dry tonight, with light winds. Check out the full forecast here.

STATE OF THE STRIPES: The Yankees are two wins away from their 27th World Series title after a 8-5 victory in Game 3. The last time they were this close to a championship was in 2003, when they led the Marlins in the World Series but lost three games in a row to lose the series in six. This is the 54th time that the World Series had been tied at 1, and the team that won Game 3 has gone on to win the series 35 of the previous 53 times.

BATTER VS. PITCHER: Here are the Phillies vs. CC Sabathia. And here are the Yankees vs. Blanton.

UNBREAKABLE: Sabathia will be pitching on short rest for the second time this postseason though he had extra rest (seven days) before his Game 1 start. Going short isn’t a problem for Sabathia, who is 5-3 with a 3.16 ERA when pitching on short rest in his career (including postseason). The last time he did it, he went eight innings allowing just one run in Game 4 of the ALCS against the Angels.

SILVER SLUGGER: Alex Rodriguez finally got his first World Series hit in Game 3, hitting a two-run home run in the fourth inning also making history as the first postseason use of instant replay. Rodriguez was also hit by pitches twice, tying a World Series record set on five other occasions.

STRUGGLING SLUGGER: While A-Rod broke out of his mini-slump from the first two games, Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard continues to be a non-factor. Howard fanned seven times in his eight at bats in Games 2 and 3, and his nine total strikeouts are three shy of the overall Series record (set by Kansas City’s Willie Wilson in 6 games in 1980).

MARTE’S THE MAN: After struggling in his first postseason appearance during Game 3 of the Division Series, Damaso Marte has been the most reliable reliever in the Yankees bullpen ever since. He has faced nine batters and retired them all, striking out three. Marte has thrown 77 % of his pitches for strikes.

PASSING THE HIT KING: Jorge Posada’s single in the seventh inning of Game 3 was his 87th postseason hit, moving him past Pete Rose and into seventh place on the all-time list.

HIT-DEKI: Those who were worried about Hideki Matsui coming off the bench needn’t have fretted: Matsui now has a .370 (10-for-27) career pinch hit average, including the regular and post-season. He also connected for the 24th pinch-hit home run in World Series history in the eighth inning of Game 3, and that was the first since his teammate, Eric Hinske, did it for the Rays in Game 4 of last year’s Series. Of the 24, it was the eighth by a Yankee (last was Jason Giambi on Oct. 23, 2003, Game 5 at Florida).

RANDOM QUESTION OF THE DAY: With Philly and New York battling on a variety of fronts this weekend, what is the official ranking of “best sports cities?”

(My list looks like this: 1) NY 2) Boston 3) Philly 4) Chicago 5) London (Go Arsenal!!!)

IF THERE WERE WALK-TO-THE-PLATE-MUSIC IN REAL LIFE, TODAY’S WOULD BE: Thriller by Michael Jackson.

Back with more later. Joe Girardi is scheduled to be in the interview room after 5 p.m.

UPDATE, 4:42 p.m.: Chad here. I got to the park about a half hour ago, just ahead of the mass of Eagles fans pouring into the streets after Philly’s lopsided win against the Giants. When I got here, traffic wasn’t much worse than it was yesterday, but there was a significantly greater chance of hitting a pedestrian. And, for the most part, I try to avoid such things. The Eagles crowd should clear out before the start of Game 4.

UPDATE, 4:47 p.m.: One more thing before I go down for Joe Girardi’s pregame interview. Cliff Lee talked today about the decision to have him pitch Game 5 instead of Game 4. He apparently had a brief conversation yesterday with Phillies manager Charlie Manuel.

“It was a pretty quick conversation,” Lee said. “Him asking me if I had ever done it (pitching on short rest) and me telling him no and saying that I think I could. Basically, that was about the extent of it. Pretty quick, brief deal. I just let him know I’d pitch whenever he wants me to pitch. I think I could do it, but he makes the call.”

UPDATE, 4:55 p.m.: Apparently I’m not quite finished with pre-Girardi notes. From my friend Scott Lauber comes word that Chan Ho Park has some sort of flu bug and was not available out of the Phillies bullpen last night. He might not be available tonight.

***BREAKING NEWS***
UPDATE, 5:15 p.m.: Girardi just announced that A.J. Burnett will pitch Game 5. Back with more shortly.
***BREAKING NEWS***

UPDATE, 5:32 p.m.: Chad is in with the rest of the beat writers for their usual pregame with Girardi and I’m told A.J. Burnett will not be in the interview room until after the game. Hideki Matsui – and excellent translator Roger Kahlon – are in there now. Matsui was just asked if he thinks what he does during this World Series will affect how the Yankees look at him in terms of the future and he said, via Kahlon, “That is not a question I can answer.”

UPDATE, 5:36 p.m.: Here’s an interesting quote from Girardi on Marte, whose success this postseason (see above in the pregame notes) has been critical. “Once we signed him and added the extension, we thought he could be a very big player in our bullpen,” Girardi said.

“He’s very tough on left-handers. He’s got angle, he’s got deception, and we missed him at times this year. Phil Coke did a tremendous job for us, but there are times during the course of a game where you’d love to have two left-handers. It took some time to get him back. He went through a lot of rehab to get to this point. But he’s had match-ups against these guys before, being in the National League, being in Pittsburgh, he’s familiar with this ballpark in a sense, the hitters here, and we thought he could play a very important role.”

UPDATE, 5:45 p.m.: Derek Jeter has had a busy World Series when it comes to awards named after baseball legends. After winning the Roberto Clemente Award for commitment to community earlier in the Series, Jeter – along with Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols – will be honored with the Hank Aaron Award for outstanding offense. Internet fans cast more than 1.6 million votes with Jeter winning the American League award for the second time after taking it in 1996 and Pujols capturing the National League honor for the second time after a 2003 victory.

Jeter hit .334 with 107 runs scored, 66 runs batted in and 30 stolen bases with 18 home runs over 153 games. It was his 11th season batting at least .300.

UPDATE, 5:53 p.m.: Chad again. Back with some notes from Girardi’s session with the beat writers.

• Girardi said he’s going to discuss the idea of having Jorge Posada catch A.J. Burnett tomorrow, but I wouldn’t count on Posada being in the lineup. “We went with Molina so far and those two have hooked up very well,” Girardi said.

• Assuming everyone feels strong enough and barring any “unforeseen things,” the plan is to stick with the three-man rotation.

• Chad Gaudin has been told to be ready for anything. Just guessing here, but he should probably also be ready for nothing.

• I’m sure you noticed the change in Nick Swisher’s batting stance last night. If you didn’t notice it, check out the fine folks at River Ave. Blues. Girardi said the change came from Kevin Long. “They went to work on it when we said we were going to sit him down for the day,” Girardi said. “And it paid off last night.”

• Pretty funny line from Girardi when he was asked if he had an issue with Jayson Werth’s reaction after hitting his second home run last night. “I had an issue with how far he hit it,” Girardi said.

UPDATE, 7 p.m.: The Yankees are finishing up batting practice now as the fans are filing into the stadium. CC Sabathia hit with the first group and, from what I could tell, looks to have a good swing tonight. In the two rounds I watched, he hit six or seven line drives that were near-certain base hits. By the way, the last pitcher to homer in a World Series game was … Joe Blanton (Game 4 last year).

UPDATE, 7:47 p.m.: Here’s a picture of the last group to hit during batting practice. That’s A.J. Burnett on the left, getting hitting tips from Reggie Jackson. The other two are Chad Gaudin and Alfredo Aceves. Those three pitchers took BP with Freddy Guzman and Ramiro Pena. The last pitch of batting practice was an Aceves home run to left.

UPDATE, 8:20 p.m.: Phillies have taken the field. Among the more random patterns that has developed this series is A-Rod taking his last few warm-up throws in front of the Yankee dugout with … Francisco Cervelli. Yup, Cervelli isn’t on the active roster but gets in uniform and is out there playing catch with A-Rod moments before the game starts. He also is usually out there taking early grounders with Alex hours before the game.

UPDATE, 8:24 p.m.: And we’re off. It’s 49 degrees and clear at first pitch. Enjoy the game.

UPDATE, 8:26 p.m.: That didn’t take long. Infield single by Jeter, double by Damon, groundout by Tex and it’s 1-0 Yankees.

UPDATE, 8:27 p.m.: Well, that’s a new one. The umpires got together to discuss whether to warn the teams after A-Rod gets hit again. With a base open and the the HBP coming on the first pitch, it sure looked pretty suspicious. Truthfully, I think plate ump Mike Everitt was right to initially not give a warning because then the Yankees could respond (and, after three HBPs in two games on their best player, you could understand it.)

Now, with the warning already out there, that opportunity has been taken away and any hit batter could be an ejection. That’s why Joe Girardi was upset and went out to argue it.

UPDATE, 8:32 p.m.: CC had a quick word with the plate ump and the second base ump (veteran Joe West) before beginning his warm-up pitches. Giving him a 2-0 lead before he takes the mound is about as good a situation as the Yankees could have hoped for.

UPDATE, 8:48 p.m.: That’s 24 pitches for CC in the first inning as he gives one run right back. His location didn’t look that sharp at the start but a couple of good sliders to Howard and Ibanez got him out of it.

UPDATE, 9:01 p.m.: Chad here. If you’re wondering why it sounds like the Philly crowds boos when Carlos Ruiz comes to the plate, his nickname is Chooch. That’s what the crowd is screaming. That’s one of many facts a person can learn in the course of seven years spent covering baseball in Scranton.

UPDATE, 9:26 p.m.: Robinson Cano officially looks lost at the plate. He’s 1-for-13 (.077) in the World Series and 9-for-50 (.180) during the postseason. Ugh.

Former Yankee and current YES Network analyst John Flaherty has agreed to break down the pitching match-up for every Yankees postseason game exclusively on the LoHud Yankees blog. Be sure to check him out on the pre- and post-game show on YES today. Here’s his take on the Game 4 starters:

YANKEES: LHP CC Sabathia

WHAT’S HE THROW? “Fastball, slider, change-up”

BREAKDOWN: “I think CC is going to be better than he was in Game 1, particularly when it comes to location. I think he was a little amped up with the extra rest before that one, and working on short rest like he did in Game 4 of the ALCS will help him to slow it down a little early in the game and really focus on getting slider working. He did a very good job going inside on the Phillies left-handed hitters and that will be important again, especially if he’s able to locate his fastball. He knows it’s a big game and he’s shown that he’s capable of stepping it up and giving the Yankees the kind of performance they need from their ace.”

——-

PHILLIES: RHP Joe Blanton

WHAT’S HE THROW? “Fastball, curveball, slider, change-up”

BREAKDOWN: “He’s got several pitches but none of them are really plus pitches, none of them are really overwhelming. He’s a guy that has to work hard for his success, and I’m just not sure he has the stuff to get the Yankees lineup out a few times through. Truthfully, I’m pretty surprised that Charlie Manuel is pitching him and not going to Cliff Lee on short rest. I know he’s never done it, but in a critical game, why not go to your ace? Then again, everyone was surprised when the Indians pitched Paul Byrd a few years ago and he was able to do a great job, so maybe they see something in Blanton that we don’t.”

——-

EDGE: “Again I see a big edge for the Yankees here on the pitching side, even with Sabathia going short. He’s done this before and I’m just not sure Blanton has the stuff to keep the Yankees down.”

Crew chief Gerry Davis: “As many of you know, we tour the field during the series whenever we go to a new ballpark, and discuss specific ground rules and potential trouble areas just like that. Because we cannot control what the cameraman does with the camera, one of the specific ground rules is when the ball hits the camera, home run.”

Right field umpire Jeff Nelson: “You just focus on the area that you think the ball is going to hit based on how the ball is hit, how it’s traveling. In this particular play, the ball hit something hard, solid, and it was — in my judgment it was the top of the fence. And then when Joe came out, Joe just said, ‘We think it hit a fan.’ I said, ‘It didn’t hit a fan, it hit something solid. But we’ll talk about it.’ We talked about it, and we decided to use the replay.”

Alex Rodriguez (asked if controversy finds him): “Well, it’s only fitting, right? I don’t know if that’s controversy with the replay. There is no controversy, so they had a good chance to see it… I’m just glad we got a good ruling.”

Nick Swisher: “Even on the replay, it was tough to see from where we were, as well, but then some guys were running up in the tunnel saying, ‘Hey, it hit the camera. It hit the camera.’ “