The LoHud Yankees Blog

YANKEES (25-14)
Derek Jeter SS
Brett Gardner CF
Mark Teixeira DH
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Francisco Cervelli C
Marcus Thames RF
Juan Miranda 1B
Randy Winn LF

RHP A.J. Burnett (4-1, 3.31)
Career vs. Rays

RAYS (28-11)
Jason Bartlett SS
Carl Crawford LF
Ben Zobrist RF
Evan Longoria 3B
Carlos Pena 1B
B.J. Upton CF
Hank Blalock DH
John Jaso C
Reid Brignac 2B

RHP Wade Davis (3-3, 3.38)
Career vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 7:05 p.m./YES Network and ESPN

UMPIRES: HP Jeff Nelson, 1B Larry Vanover, 2B Mark Carlson, 3B Angel Campos

WEATHER: Temperatures in the low 60s. There are plenty of clouds but only a very slight chance of rain.

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: After last night’s game, the Yankees are now 0-4 in one-run games. They are the only team in the major’s without a one-run victory. They have played the fewest one-run games in the majors, with Arizona and Cleveland as the only other teams to have played fewer than eight.

UNUSUAL NIGHT: The Yankees made two costly errors last night, but they have committed only 15 this season, the second fewest in baseball. They are 21-7 in games without an error but just 4-7 when they do make a mistake. Since Joe Girardi became manager, the Yankees have a .986 fielding percentage that’s second best in the American League.

WELCOME LORI: Lori Baur will serve as the Yankees honorary bat girl tonight. She was on the field for batting practice, she’ll help deliver the lineup card to home plate and she’ll throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Lori was diagnosed with breast cancer eight years ago at the age of 32. She has since been active in promoting breast cancer research and awareness.

UPDATE, 7:12 p.m.: Second pitch of the game, Jason Bartlett’s first home run of the season. It’s a quick 1-0 lead for Tampa Bay.

UPDATE, 7:30 p.m.: As Brett Gardner is picked off first base I wanted to mention that Sam and I will be chatting on Friday at 1 p.m. Stop by.

UPDATE, 7:58 p.m.: Two walks and a hit batter have Burnett on the ropes here in the third. One out and bases loaded for the hearth of the order.

UPDATE, 7:59 p.m.: And a sac fly makes it 2-0.

UPDATE, 8:26 p.m.: Things haven’t gotten much better since that lead-off homer. Burnett has allowed two singles, two doubles and a double steal this inning. He hasn’t been able to right the ship and the Rays have a 5-0 lead.

UPDATE, 8:32 p.m.: One more hit for the Rays. One more run for the Rays. Mark Melancon is now getting loose and it’s a 6-0 Tampa Bay lead.

UPDATE, 9:03 p.m.: There’s just not a lot to say about this game that doesn’t speak for itself. Burnett got through the fifth inning scoreless, and the Yankees scored a run on Cervelli’s sac fly in the fourth, but this is a 6-1 game that feels every bit like a 6-1 game. Not a lot of offense from the Yankees, not many good innings from Burnett.

UPDATE, 9:12 p.m.: Burnett’s now pitched consecutive scoreless innings, but it’s those first four innings that are making a difference.

UPDATE, 9:17 p.m.: Alex Rodriguez goes deep, pulls the Yankees within 6-2.

UPDATE, 9:23 p.m.: Seriously, this has gotten ridiculous. Thames pulled up lame on his single — he seemed to step on his own bat on the way to first — and now he’s out of the game. Ramiro Pena, the Yankees only healthy bench player, has come off the bench to pinch run.

UPDATE, 9:33 p.m.: Thames has a sprained left ankle. Pena is staying in the game to play right field. Before today’s game, the Yankees had him take extra fly balls in left and right just in case this situation presented itself. I saw Pena play center field a few times in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last year and was impressed by how good he looked out there.

UPDATE, 9:46 p.m.: Ramiro Pena makes the catch for the last out of the seventh, then smiles all the way back to the dugout. Looked like Cano was joking with him on the way in. Still 6-2 Rays.

UPDATE, 10:00 p.m.: That was ruled an RBI double for Brignac, with no error on Winn who slightly bobbled the ball in left field. It was also the last pitch of the night for Boone Logan, and Mark Melancon will now give it a shot. Rays are leading 7-2.

UPDATE, 10:13 p.m.: Melancon has allowed three hits and two more runs, plus there was just an all out fist fight in the stands in left field. We’ve reached that point.

UPDATE, 10:14 p.m.: That’s new. Carlos Pena just flied out to center field, where Gardner made a terrific catch. As Gardner tumbled, though, Ben Zobrist was able to tag up and score from second base. It’s now 10-2 Rays. Melancon is getting hit. Hard.

UPDATE, 10:50 p.m.: Another pitching change for the Rays, who apparently have Joe Girardi managing for the night. The Yankees still have a long way to go, but six straight batters have reached base to pull within 10-6 with two outs and the tying run on deck.

Nick Swisher said he feels better today than he did yesterday, and he felt better yesterday than he did the day before. He acknowledged this afternoon that the initial problem was a little worse than he indicated back in Detroit.

“Just a one-more-day kind of thing,” he said. “It feels good but there’s still something there.”

When Swisher tried to take some dry swings in the late innings last night — he was anticipating a possible pinch hit appearance — he didn’t feel pain in his biceps, but he could tell it wasn’t quite right.

“This biggest scare for everybody is the swing and miss,” he said. “I have a tendency of swinging a little harder than I should, so they just want to make sure everything is cool.”

Swisher remains day-to-day, and he seems to believe he can be available tomorrow, but we’ve seen Joe Girardi move with precaution when it comes to these sort of injuries.

• Joe Girardi clarified a previous statement to say he wasn’t sure whether Jorge Posada went for an MRI or a bone scan. Whatever it is, it’s a precautionary thing because the foot is taking longer than expected to heal. “We expected him to be sore, and we expected him to be a lot better at this point,” Girardi said. “Because he wasn’t last night, we thought an MRI would be a good thing.”

• Posada “has to be” available as the team’s emergency catcher. If something happens to Francisco Cervelli, Girardi said he would go to Posada before Ramiro Pena behind the plate.

• Nick Johnson is here with his arm in a sling.

• Four names listed for batting practice Group 3: Pena, Posada, Swisher and Granderson. That’s either good news for Granderson or bad news for Pena. I think the Yankees utility man probably wants to stay far, far away from those three. There’s been nothing but bad luck there.

• Sergio Mitre won’t be available until tomorrow, so the Yankees will stick with 13 relievers. As for why he sent down Greg Golson to add Mark Melancon, Girardi said, “We felt we needed the pitching more in case we got into some crazy games, which, it was kind of a crazy game last night.”

• Someone asked if Girardi was worried about Mariano Rivera after two shaky outings in three days. “I haven’t been concerned with Mo since 1996,” he said.

• Shelley Duncan is back in the big leagues, called up by Cleveland to take the place of injured Grady Sizemore.

UPDATE, 5:24 p.m.: The Rays lineup.

Jason Bartlett SS
Carl Crawford LF
Ben Zobrist RF
Evan Longoria 3B
Carlos Pena 1B
B.J. Upton CF
Hank Blalock DH
John Jaso C
Reid Brignac 2B

Derek Jeter SS
Brett Gardner CF
Mark Teixeira DH
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Francisco Cervelli C
Marcus Thames RF
Juan Miranda 1B
Randy Winn LF

Nick Swisher tried to swing left-handed last night in the late innings and felt more discomfort in his biceps. Jorge Posada is going for an MRI because the problem in his foot still hasn’t gone away.

As for why he sent down Greg Golson to add Mark Melancon, Joe Girardi said, “We felt we needed the pitching more.”

Sergio Mitre will be available tomorrow, not tonight.

NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman took this self portrait during the first of three space walks from the shuttle Atlantis. The picture comes from the NASA website and you can see the Yankees logo attached to the sleeve of his suit. Thanks to everyone who emailed.

Tonight
RHP A.J. Burnett (4-1, 3.31)
vs.
RHP Wade Davis (3-3, 3.38)
7:05 p.m., YES Network and ESPN

Thursday
LHP Andy Pettitte (5-0, 1.79)
vs.
RHP James Shields (4-1, 3.00)
7:05 p.m., MY9 and MLB Network

One day after he played the role of hero, Marcus Thames dropped a fly ball, leading to a pair of unearned runs and a 7-6 Yankees loss against the rival Red Sox. For the second time in three days, Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera combined to blow a late-inning lead.

Jorge Posada sat out the loss because of an odd foot injury, but he hopes to return to the lineup tonight against the Rays. The notebook also has items on Nick Swisher’s sort biceps, Nick Johnson’s wrist surgery, Alfredo Aceves’ bad back and a player move to add a reliever.

Here’s the situation with the Yankees protest:

In the fifth inning, Boston pitching coach John Farrell went to the mound, talked to Josh Beckett, signaled for a reliever, then announced that Beckett was leaving because of an injury. That meant reliever Manny Delcarmen got to throw as many warmup pitches as he needed before facing Francisco Cervelli, who flied out to end the inning.

Joe Girardi is arguing that because Farrell called for a new pitcher before announcing the injury, the move should have been treated like a regular pitching change. Delcarmen should have gotten eight warmup pitches, just like a reliever who had been getting loose in the bullpen. Girardi does not dispute that Beckett was hurt — Beckett missed his last start because of back spasms — he’s only arguing that the Red Sox didn’t make the change the right way.

“I think they’re not going to hurt Manny Delcarmen, that’s the thing,” Girardi said. “But in my eyes, it was not done the right way. My thought is, Manny either gets eight warmup pitches and has to lob it, or they have to bring in a position player who’s loose, one or the other. But to me he shouldn’t get all of his pitches there.”

Here’s Girardi talking about all sorts of postgame issues.

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• While Joba Chamberlain was laboring through the eighth, Girardi got Damaso Marte up, then thought better of it. “We just didn’t think he was fit,” Girardi said. “We thought about getting him up but then I said no, he threw too many pitches the other night.”

• When the Yankees put the tying run at third base with one out in the ninth, Girardi did not have either Jorge Posada or Nick Swisher available to pinch hit. Girardi did say its possible both could play tomorrow.

• Late in the game, Girardi did not have anyone he could send to right field in place of Marcus Thames. Greg Golson had been optioned before the game to make room for Mark Melancon, Ramiro Pena has played one inning of right field in his life and Swisher can’t bat left-handed. “We made a move before the game,” Girardi said. “So you put Swish in there, but do you pinch hit for Swish if they bring a right-hander in? It’s what we have right now.”

• Randy Winn was playing extremely shallow on the double by Jeremy Hermida off Mariano Rivera, but Girardi said that’s how he wanted his outfield. “That’s how we play with Mo,” Girardi said. “We play the opposite side shallow because there’s a lot of jam shots.”

• Chamberlain said he physically feels “great.” He just struggled his past two outings. He did not consider walking David Ortiz after falling behind. He decided it was better to go after him, and Ortiz singled in the tying run.

• CC Sabathia — does anyone even remember that he pitched in this game? — called this night a battle, but said it was better than his previous start. “Fastball command was a lot better today,” he said. “I was able to locate even after I got behind a couple of times.”

• Juan Miranda had his first home run of the season, part of a 2-for-5 day with two RBI.

I’m sure it doesn’t mean much after a night like this, but there were some stand-up guys in the Yankees clubhouse after the game. As soon as the media finished talking to Joe Girardi, there were three Yankees standing by their lockers ready to talk: Marcus Thames, Mariano Rivera and Joba Chamberlain.

Marcus Thames
In 24 hours, he went from hero to goat, from walk-off home run to game-changing error. “What happened yesterday is over with and today’s a new thing,” Thames said. “And I made a bad error today.”

Girardi argued that the weather might have played a role in the late-inning mistakes, but Thames said otherwise. He had no problem with any other ball hit his direction. “I’ve got to make that play,” Thames said. “He made his pitch. That’s what I’m out there for. I’ve got to make play… I took my eye off the ball. I looked at Robby, then I looked back up and the ball was on me. I called for the ball.”

Mariano Rivera
Clearly the error hurt, but Rivera was still one out away from ending the inning when Jeremy Hermida hit his two-run double. “I got a chance to still do the job,” Rivera said. “Get this guy out and nothing would have happened. That’s part of the game. I just didn’t do the job.”

Rivera said the pitch to Hermida was a good one. He felt like the strike zone had been tight, but he wasn’t upset about the pitch to Hermida. “You don’t want to be in that situation,” Rivera said. “We had the opportunity. We had two shots and we didn’t do it. That’s the way it is. You cannot pinpoint just one thing that happened.”

Joba Chamberlain
The decision went to Rivera, but Chamberlain saw things differently. “This is my loss, it isn’t anybody else’s,” he said. “If I do my job and make better pitches, we’re not in that situation.”

Chamberlain said “it doesn’t” when asked if a first-batter error changes the inning for a pitcher. “I just wasn’t locating my pitches,” he said. “If you throw strike one, it allows you to do a lot more things at the plate. These guys are too good to be able to fall behind. When you fall behind, you’re playing behind and you’re margin of error is a little bit smaller.”

YANKEES (25-13)
Derek Jeter SS
Brett Gardner CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Francisco Cervelli C
Marcus Thames RF
Juan Miranda DH
Randy Winn LF

LHP CC Sabathia (4-2, 3.71)
Career vs. Red Sox

RED SOX (19-20)
Marco Scutaro SS
Dustin Pedroia 2B
J.D. Drew RF
Kevin Youkilis 1B
Victor Martinez C
David Ortiz DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
Bill Hall LF
Darnell McDonald CF

RHP Josh Beckett (1-1, 7.46)
Career vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: Later than expected/YES Network and ESPN

UMPIRES: HP Angel Campos, 1B Jeff Nelson, 2B Larry Vanover, 3B Mark Carlson

WEATHER: Oh the weather outside is weather. Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Anyone? Actually, the weather outside is ugly, but they apparently believe they can play.

A GOOD STARTER: Last night’s hero, Marcus Thames, has reached base safely in 16 of his 17 starts this season. He has 10 RBI this season, seven of them against right-handed pitchers.

A GOOD SIGN: Francisco Cervelli leads the Majors this season with a .786 batting average and a .824 on-base percentage with runners in scoring position. That’s among players with at least 15 plate appearances with runners in scoring position. He’s also batting .593 with runners on base.

MORE GOOD STUFF: The Yankees came into today with the American League’s best batting average (.279) and the most runs scored per game (5.76). They also have the most triples in the American League with 12. That’s a category they haven’t won since 1971.

UPDATE, 8:24 p.m.: The Red Sox wore down Phil Hughes last night. Tonight Brett Gardner has battled Josh Beckett for a 10-pitch at-bat in the first inning.

UPDATE, 8:53 p.m.: An RBI single by Juan Miranda and an RBI ground out by Randy Winn have made it 2-0 in the second inning. Production from the bottom of the order was huge for the Yankees earlier this season, and it’s put them in front tonight.

UPDATE, 9:30 p.m.: Maybe an open press box at Yankee Stadium  wasn’t a great idea. Meanwhile, CC Sabathia seems to be following Andy Pettitte’s bend-but-don’t break philosophy through four scoreless innings.

UPDATE, 9:38 p.m.: Miranda can hit. It’s a matter of proving himself consistently at this level. His solo homer has the Yankees lead up to 3-0 after four.

UPDATE, 9:50 p.m.: Pedroia might not have known it, but Sabathia sure did. That was strike three and the Yankees big man is through five scoreless.

UPDATE, 10:07 p.m.: Not sure what exactly was going on with that pitching change, but Beckett’s out and Delcarmen is in. That’s after Robinson Cano’s two-out, two-run double made it 5-0.

UPDATE, 10:17 p.m.: Here’s a new twist. The game is now being played under protest from the Yankees because there was no indication Beckett was injured before he was replaced.

UPDATE, 10:19 p.m.: Marc Carig has just announced he’s covering this game under protest until they turn on the hot chocolate machine. Call the league office!

UPDATE, 10:41 p.m.: Gardner grounds into a fielder’s choice out at the plate and Teixeira pops out in foul territory. Wasted bases-loaded opportunity there.

UPDATE, 11:04 p.m.: Beckett left the game with tightness in his lower back. CC Sabathia left the game with a four-run lead after seven strong innings. Joba Chamberlain is now pitching for the Yankees.

UPDATE, 11:20 p.m.: Joba Chamberlain has made things interesting here in the eighth. That might have been a bad call at first base to open the inning, but even so, three straight hits have been a problem. And now David Ortiz has tied the game with an RBI single.

UPDATE, 11:40 p.m.: Mariano Rivera is coming in with the game tied at 5. There won’t be a save situation, so the Yankees might as well use him now.

UPDATE, 11:54 p.m.: Within 24 hours, Marcus Thames could go from hero to goat. His dropped fly ball has led to two unearned runs and a 7-5 Red Sox lead in the ninth.

Greg Golson has been optioned back to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Mark Melancon has been called up to give the Yankees an extra arm in the bullpen.