The LoHud Yankees Blog

YANKEES (22-11)
Derek Jeter SS
Brett Gardner CF
Mark Teixeira DH
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Juan Miranda 1B
Randy Winn LF
Greg Golson RF

CC Sabathia LHP (4-1, 3.04)
Career vs. Tigers

TIGERS (19-15)
Austin Jackson CF
Johnny Damon DH
Magglio Ordonez RF
Miguel Cabrera 1B
Brennan Boesch LF
Brandon Inge 3B
Gerald Laird C
Scott Sizemore 2B
Adam Everett SS

RHP Justin Verlander (3-2, 4.50)
Career vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 1:05 p.m./YES Network and MLB Network

UMPIRES: HP Mike Estabrook, 1B Mike Winters, 2B Hunter Wendelstedt, 3B Brian Runge

WEATHER: Right now it doesn’t look too bad. The tarp is off the field and the sky looks promising, but the radar looks kind of ugly.

GOOD DAY TO MISS: None of the current Yankees has more at-bats against Verlander than Nick Swisher, who’s hit just .184 with 13 strikeouts in 38 at-bats against the hard-throwing Tigers starter. Swisher does have three home runs off him. Derek Jeter, on the other hand, has no home runs but he does have a .400 average against Verlander.

DOUBLE DIP: Yesterday was the first time since September 24, 1976 that the Yankees played a doubleheader in which both games were shutouts. The previous double shutout was also in Detroit.

A GOOD SIGN: Phil Hughes is 5-0 with a 1.38 ERA. According to Elias, the last time a Yankees pitcher had at least five wins and a sub-1.50 ERA through six starts was 1958, when Bob Turley went 6-0 with a 0.83 ERA and went on to win the Cy Young.

UPDATE, 1:41 p.m.: Pretty much the entire Yankees beat is sick right now, so we’ve all been coughing and sneezing through the first inning and a half here in Detroit. The Yankees have put some runners on but haven’t been able to break through against Verlander. Sabathia is out for his second inning or work, still a scoreless game.

UPDATE, 1:46 p.m.: Bad luck there for Sabathia. Gerald Laird checked his swing, but still made just enough contact to send the ball just over the infield and into right for an RBI single.

UPDATE, 2:15 p.m.: The Yankees have not looked good against Verlander. They look like they want to get out of here as quickly as possible.

UPDATE, 2:17 p.m.: Miguel Cabrera’s eighth homer of the season has given the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Sabathia hasn’t looked bad, but Verlander’s been good enough that a two-run lead seems pretty significant.

UPDATE, 2:18 p.m.: Sabathia looks like he can’t believe it. Boesch just made it back-to-back homers and a 3-0 lead. Boesch has been pretty impressive.

UPDATE, 2:26 p.m.: It takes a lot to knock Jeter out of a game, but I thought that might have done it. Taking a pitch from Justin Verlander to either the hand or wrist can’t be a good thing, but Jeter stayed in there.

UPDATE, 2:44 p.m.: Posada doubled to center, but that two-out hit went nowhere when Miranda popped up to strand the runner. Verlander is cruising.

UPDATE, 2:49 p.m.: Two-run double by Cabrera, a 5-0 lead for the Tigers and still no outs in the sixth. Yankees might have to hope the seventh inning is the last for Verlander, then try to score some runs off this hard-throwing bullpen.

UPDATE, 3:00 p.m.: Long and rough inning for Sabathia has extended the Tigers lead to 6-0. Verlander is still on the mound, and Tigers have already decided to take Boesch’s bat out of the lineup in favor of Don Kelly’s defense in left.

UPDATE, 3:10 p.m.: Verlander is out with two on and two out in the seventh, and in comes another hard-throwing right-hander, Joel Zumaya. These Tigers are able to just keep rolling out upper-90s pitchers.

UPDATE, 3:13 p.m.: Zumaya’s five pitches to close out the seventh: 101 mph, 100 mph, 101, mph, 101 mph, 102 mph

UPDATE, 3:17 p.m.: Might be a case of saving bullets. Sabathia is out after 79 pitches — 55 strikes — and Ivan Nova is in to make his major league debut in the bottom of the seventh.

UPDATE, 3:40 p.m.: Pretty nice play by Don Kelly to end the eighth, but the bigger issue is that the Yankees haven’t done much of anything offensively this series. Take away that ninth inning yesterday and they’ve been pretty awful.

Against all odds, the tarp is currently off the field here at Comerica Park. It looks like there might actually be a chance to play this game.

Nick Swisher is out of the lineup today, but he said his left biceps feels much better today than it did yesterday.

“I feels great right now,” he said.

Right now the plan is for Swisher to take the day off, get some treatment — ice and massage — and possibly return to the lineup in the next day or two.

“I’ll see if he’s available,” Joe Girardi said. “He’ll probably visit with the doctor when we come to the park tomorrow. Right now, I’m not too concerned about it.”

Without Swisher in the lineup today, the Yankees are going with Greg Golson in right field.

“If skip needed me today, I’d do what I can out get out there,” Swisher said.

The Yankees other injured outfielder, Curtis Granderson, is still a few days from beginning any sort of activities. Girardi said he’s heard that Granderson is feeling better, but he’s not especially close to a return.

“I don’t think he’s really started to do much yet,” Girardi said.

• Kevin Russo has been optioned back to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to make room for Juan Miranda. Russo is flying out of Detroit this afternoon.

• Speaking of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Chan Ho Park is set to make a second rehab appearance on Friday, pitching in Triple-A. Girardi said it’s possible Park could return to the major league bullpen as early as Sunday.

• Assuming the Yankees play this game, it’s likely Sergio Mitre will spot start on Sunday. “That’s probably what we’ve got to lean toward,” Girardi said. “We’re going to bring someone back on short rest.”

• Of the two starters who pitched yesterday — Phil Hughes and Javier Vazquez — Girardi said he hasn’t decided which one will pitch first next time through the rotation. “I’m not even going to begin to touch that until we get through today,” he said.

• With Miranda in the mix, Girardi said it’s possible that the Yankees could use a sort of platoon DH, with Miranda starting against righties and Marcus Thames starting against lefties. That said, there will still be times when that plan changes so that regular position players can get occasional DH starts.

• The Yankees were planning to call up Miranda on Tuesday, but they changed that plan because of the doubleheader. They wanted to keep Russo for his versatility.

Derek Jeter SS
Brett Gardner CF
Mark Teixeira DH
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Juan Miranda 1B
Randy Winn LF
Greg Golson RF

CC Sabathia LHP

Kevin Russo is no longer listed as a bat on the bench. Looks like that’s the move for Miranda.

Still waiting for a lineup and an official roster move, but Juan Miranda has finally arrived. Has a locker and everything.

By the way, it’s raining. A lot. I guess it could stop at some point, but right now I’d consider it more likely that the game won’t play than it will.

This game was all about the Yankees starter, but I couldn’t pass up that picture of Francisco Cervelli and Mariano Rivera. How great is that?

Phil Hughes just keeps getting better. He’s had that one slight hiccup in Baltimore — and even there he managed to limit the damage — but the guy has otherwise been as good as any pitcher in the American League. And I’m not just saying that, the numbers back it up. His 1.38 ERA is the lowest in the league. He was the first Yankees starter to reach five wins and he leads the team with 39 strikeouts.

“I think we saw him grow up a lot last year and it’s carried over into this year,” Joe Girardi said. “None of our pitchers are going to be perfect, but this kid has made some huge strides for us. We envisioned him being a very good starter coming out of spring training and he’s probably gone beyond that.”

Tonight, Hughes was over 40 pitches through two innings, but he still lasted seven because he went to his curveball and found it to be as good as ever. With the hook, he got some outs earlier in the count and was able to pitch out some of some big-time trouble in the second and fourth innings.

What stood out to me — and has stood out all year — is his ability to overwhelm hitters with his fastball. He’s got some good velocity on the pitch, sitting at 93-94 mph, but it seems more overpowering than that. He’s able to spot it when he needs to, and he’s able to blow it by hitters when the situation calls for it.

“(The fastball’s) been great,” Hughes said. “Obviously last year helped a lot with that, just having that confidence out of the bullpen and being aggressive with it, not being afraid to miss over the plate. A couple of times tonight, there was a 2-0 fastball to Johnny, I just tried to throw it right down the middle and I think I broke his bat or something. Those help, every time you do that, it helps.”

Here’s Hughes talking about his latest masterpiece.

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• Hilarious line from Mariano Rivera. Someone jokingly asked if he remembered how to get to the mound after not pitching since April 30. Rivera didn’t hesitate. “I’ve got a little map,” he said.

• Hilarious line from George King after we finished talking to the closer. “See ya in June,” he said. Mo liked that one.

• A lot of moves lately, and Girardi didn’t rule out making another one tomorrow, but it didn’t seem as set in stone as today’s move. “We’ll see, talk to Cash,” Girardi said. “Pitching, we’re in pretty good shape.”

• What more can be said about Francisco Cervelli? “He’s played as well as he can play,” Girardi said. “In big situations he’s gotten big hits for us. Cervi has always been a guy that we knew could perform at a very high level defensively but hadn’t had a lot of at-bats in the minor leagues because of some strange injuries. He’s been so good for us offensively that he’s been a complete player.”

• That’s a pretty cool shot of Joba Chamberlain’s great play in the eighth inning. Too bad he didn’t get the out.

• Heavy rain in the forecast for tomorrow. Not sure they’ll get this one in, but I’d really, really like to catch my flight tomorrow night!

Associated Press photos.

Nick Swisher left tonight’s game with mild tightness in his left biceps. Joe Girardi called him day-to-day.

“I don’t think it’s that big of a deal,” Swisher said. “Just get a little ice on it.”

Swisher said he felt it a couple of weeks ago but it went away. He felt it again during batting practice before tonight’s second game, but got some treatment and didn’t think much of it.

“Just felt a little tug,” he said.

When Swisher felt again on a swing against Jeremy Bonderman, the Yankees decided to play it safe. Girardi didn’t say whether Swisher will play tomorrow, but my pure guess is that Girardi will give him the day off.

“He’ a little sore,” Girardi said. “And he’ll be day to day.”

After fighting for a rotation job this spring, Phil Hughes has been one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball. He leads American League starters with a 1.38 ERA and tonight he became the first Yankees starter to reach five wins, getting  an 8-0 victory that snapped the team’s three-game losing streak. The game was a tight one until a six-run ninth, and Hughes pitched out of jams to keep the early lead intact. Greg Golson had his first major league hit and Mariano Rivera pitched for the first time this month.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (21-11)
Derek Jeter DH
Brett Gardner CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Marcus Thames LF
Francisco Cervelli C
Ramiro Pena 3B

RHP Phil Hughes (4-0, 1.69)
Career vs. Tigers

TIGERS (19-14)
Austin Jackson CF
Johnny Damon DH
Magglio Ordonez RF
Miguel Cabrera 1B
Brennan Boesch LF
Alex Avila C
Don Kelly 3B
Ramon Santiago SS
Scott Sizemore 2B

RHP Jeremy Bonderman (1-1, 5.74)
Career vs. Yankees

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

UMPIRES: HP Brian Runge, 1B Mike Estabrook, 2B Mike Winters, 3B Dan Bellino

WEATHER: Still a little cloudy but the chances of rain are down to 10 percent.

OUT OF THE LINEUP: You’ll notice Gerald Laid, Brandon Inge and Adam Everett are each out of the Tigers lineup for the second game of this doubleheader. Those three are a combined 0-for-11 with six strikeouts against Hughes.

SOMETHING SHADY: Before the game, the Tigers came pouring out of the dugout to meet Eminem and Jay-Z who seem to be here to watch the game together. It was hard to tell for certain from the press box, but I’m pretty sure Jay-Z had his usual Yankees cap on. Hard to imagine him wearing anything else.

END THE SKID: The Yankees have lost three straight for the first time this season. Undefeated Hughes will be trying to stop that slide.

UPDATE, 7:34 p.m.: The Denver Post is reporting that the Yankees have agreed to a minor league deal with veteran pitcher Tim Redding.

UPDATE, 7:48 p.m.: Big curveball from Phil Hughes to strikeout Boesch with a runner at second. I don’t know much about him, but Boesch has looked like a pretty solid hitter these first two games in Detroit.

UPDATE, 7:53 p.m.: And there’s the fastball to end the inning. Hughes strikes out three in a row, strands a runner at second and keeps the Yankees in front 1-0.

UPDATE, 8:04 p.m.: Two-out RBI single by Teixeira has made it 2-0 Yankees. Teixeira singled to right two batters after Derek Jeter walked and stole second.

UPDATE, 8:14 p.m.: That’s how you throw to the glove. Hughes strikes out Jackson on a high fastball to end the inning. Still 2-0. Hughes looks dominant (as usual).

UPDATE, 8:20 p.m.: This explains Jay-Z and Eminem being at the game tonight. They’re performing two concerts together, one a Yankee Stadium and one at Comerica Park (Eminem is from Michigan). The Yankee Stadium show will be September 13, the first concert ever held at the venue. At this time there is no ticket information.

UPDATE, 8:34 p.m.: Big time pitches from Hughes to get out of a bases loaded jam.

UPDATE, 8:35 p.m.: The Yankees have confirmed the Tim Redding signing.

UPDATE, 8:56 p.m.: My gosh Hughes looks nasty. That’s his eighth strikeout. His career high is 10 during that near no-hitter in Oakland.

UPDATE, 9:08 p.m.: Gardner has moved to left, Golson is in to play center, Thames is out of the game.

UPDATE, 9:26 p.m.: This is clearly what Girardi considers his best defensive outfield — and I agree: He has moved Gardner back to center, moved Golson to right and put Randy Winn in left.

UPDATE, 9:33 p.m.: Didn’t get the call on a close play at first, but that’s a great play by Joba to nearly get Austin Jackson.

UPDATE, 9:45 p.m.: Gritty, gutty Greg Golson has his first big league hit, a single to put runners at first and second with one out in the ninth.

On an overcast day in Detroit, Javier Vazquez finally pitched beyond his stormy first month of the season. His fastball command was much better, his pace was much better and his results were much better.

It was a loss for the Yankees, but it was a step in the right direction for their starting pitcher.

“Everybody knows that I needed a good game. I’m going to keep working on everything and hopefully little by little I’ll make improvements.”

The Yankees have to play another nine-inning game tonight, so they needed depth from Vazquez. He gave them seven strong innings, striking out seven and allowing five singles. No one seemed able to pinpoint one specific mechanical difference from his previous starts. The biggest difference was Vazquez finally executing his pitches and spotting his fastball.

“That’s the only thing,” Jorge Posada said. “I didn’t see anything different before. I think he was just executing his pitches. He felt comfortable and did a lot of good out there.”

Here’s Vazquez.

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And here’s Posada.

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A few quick notes before I post some Javier Vazquez audio.

The short story on Vazquez is that his command was much better. He kept the ball down, and even in that two-run sixth inning, the damage was done on ground balls. “If those are a foot to the left or a foot to a right, we might have gotten some double plays,” Joe Girardi said.

Vazquez wasn’t overjoyed after the loss, but there did seem to be a sense of relief. He said heading into this game that he wouldn’t know whether he’d made progress until he saw in-game results. He saw them today.

“We lost the game and it’s a tough loss,” Vazquez said. “But in my case, it was a step forward.”

• The Yankees will stick with their current roster. No moves between games.

• Girardi was asked if Derek Jeter is hitting into some bad luck. “No,” Girardi said. “Terrible luck.” Jeter is 2-for-21 this road trip, but in his typical fashion, he said he’s not paying attention to those numbers. “If you have two or three good games, everyone says you’re hot,” he said.

• Around 3:45, while Vazquez was giving his postgame interview, Phil Hughes showed up in the Yankees clubhouse. It’s typical that the day’s starting pitcher is the last player to arrive, so Hughes is on his usual routine even though the rest of the team has been here since the morning.

• Brett Gardner’s hitting streak has come to an end, but he’s reached base safely in 13 straight games and he stole his 15th base of the season.

• Robinson Cano is hitting .403 on the road this year.

• This is the Yankees first three-game losing streak of the season.

• Sounds like Girardi would really like to get Mariano Rivera into the game tonight. He said he’d like to use him even if it’s not a save situation. “You might see that,” he said. Dave Eiland joked in the hallway that Rivera will have to go to extended spring to get some innings.