The LoHud Yankees Blog

Some post-game quotes:

Phil Hughes:

Said he was throwing strikes, but that several of them had too much of the plate and “weren’t good strikes. They were all over the place.”

Told that Joe Girardi thought he hadn’t pitched poorly, and asked if that was any consolation: “No. We need to win games. That’s what it comes down to. I could have pitched great, but if we lose we lose. I’ve got to pitch better, that’s the bottom line.”

“Those two bad innings seemed like mirror images of each other.”

Randy Winn:

On the botched fly ball: “I kind of checked how close I was getting to the line and when I looked up the ball wasn’t where I thought it was going to be and I missed it, plain and simple. It’s a play I should have made and I didn’t make it.”

Joe Girardi:

On Teixeira: “I think sometimes the focus is (on him) because of where he is in the order. But we’ve had other guys this week who’ve struggled in those situations too. It’s not only him.”

On Hughes: “When you don’t make a pitch, you don’t make a pitch. That’s the same in any start. The ball gets a little bit too much of the plate. There’s a fine line between getting an out and giving up a base hit. … He threw the ball pretty well, but it just seemed with two outs in those two innings he wasn’t able to get the third out. That’s what hurt him. It wasn’t like he gave up a seven or eight-spot. He kept us in this game.” 

Mark Teixeira, on a 1-for-23, repeated that he’s always live on his hot streaks, and had to live with his cold ones. But he is surprised that the last hot streak turned cold so quickly. Usually the hot ones last longer.

He said he might try taking fewer swings — in batting practice. He noted that switch-hitters naturally take twice as many swings as non-switch-hitters, and that he tends to work a lot, so he might be taking 100 or more swings a day. He thinks he needs to back off now.

But he sounded extremely confident that he’s been through this before, and he will get hot again, and soon.

YANKEES (26-16)
Jeter SS
Gardner CF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Cervelli C 
Winn LF
Hughes P 

METS (20-23)
Reyes SS 
Castillo 2B
Bay LF
Davis 1B
Wright 3B
Pagan CF
Barajas C
Francoeur RF
Pelfrey P

Umpires: HP: Tim Tichenor; 1B: Marvin Hudson; 2B: Derryl Cousins; 3b: Jim Wolf.

Weather: I’m not Jim Cantone, and I don’t have a thermometer. But it’s a beautful night, slightly overcast and breezy (flags blowing toward left field) and decidedly cooler than last night.

Some quick pregame stuff: Joe Girardi said Javy Vazquez’s index finger wasn’t too bad today, still swollen, but that there won’t be any indication on the severity of the injury until he throws his bullpen session … or until they see if he can grip the baseball. Trainers are working on getting the swelling down now …

Alfredo Aceves, on the DL with a back injury, will go to Tampa Monday to begin throwing. …

Marcus Thames was available last night, and should be available again tonight, as a pinch-hitter. But Girardi said he’d be careful with him. “Even if he hit I might pinch-run for him,” the manager said.

CC Sabathia, tomorrow’s starter, said he’s started bunches of games against Johan Santana. But this will be his first opportunity to bat against Santana. The big guy said he’s “excited” about it … then added that he doesn’t know how excited he’ll be when it’s over.

Mets lineup:
Reyes SS 
Castillo 2B
Bay LF
Davis 1B
Wright 3B
Pagan CF
Barajas C
Francoeur RF
Pelfrey P

Jeter SS
Gardner CF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Cervelli C 
Winn LF
Hughes P

Apparently, the winner of this weekend’s series gets their colors in lights over the big city. Pretty cool.

Here’s the release:

The Empire State Building will light its world-famous tower lights in honor of the Yankees and Mets Subway Series on Friday, May 21, Saturday, May 22 and Monday, May 24, 2010. On Friday, May 21 and Saturday, May 22 the north/south sides of the building will be lit in Yankees blue and white, while its east/west sides will be lit in Mets blue and orange.

The team who wins the series will have its colors displayed on all four sides on Monday, May 24.

When Phil Hughes was looking at colleges, he was being recruited primarily as a pitcher, but he was also expected to swing the bat a little bit. He could play the infield corners, and he was pretty big for a teenager so he had some pop.

Tonight he’ll get his chance to hit in the big leagues. This will be his first start in an interleague game on the road.

“I was just big my senior year,” Hughes said. “So if I got the bat on the ball it was OK. I didn’t have a great approach or anything. I was just looking for a fastball every single pitch, and if I got one, sometime I could hit it. That was the extent of my hitting ability.”

As long as he doesn’t hit his finger on a bunt attempt, I’m sure he’ll be fine.

Javier Vazquez pitched well (again) but the Yankees still couldn’t make it through the night without an injury (again). Rick Carpiniello has the story from last night’s game.

Across town, the Mets are going through their typical circus but Jerry Manuel is keeping his head up even as the sharks are swarming. My column looked at how the frenzy around Manuel’s job has increased, even as he’s done a few things right. As you know, you can’t predict baseball.

In better health-related developments, Curtis Granderson will begin a rehab assignment and – if all goes well – could return late next week. Carp’s notebook also has items on Marcus Thames, Kevin Russo and Phil Hughes.

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Be sure to check in later this afternoon for updates from Citi Field as Carp will be on the scene and blogging.

Obviously most of the talk after the game centered on Javier Vazquez, who was hit on the right index finger while trying to bunt in the seventh inning. X-rays were negative and Vazquez had a thick wrap on the finger, but said it wasn’t hurting too badly. “I’m pretty sure I’m going to make my next start,” he said.

At first, Vazquez didn’t realize his finger was bleeding. After getting hit on a foul-tip, he picked up his bat and laid down a successful sacrifice; it wasn’t until he got back to the dugout and took off his batting glove that he saw the blood and knew he was coming out of the game. Joe Girardi said the Yankees will probably know more tomorrow after seeing if the swelling goes down.

“I feel so embarrassed because I’ve been doing this so many years in the National League and this has never happened to me,” Vazquez said.

As far as his pitching, Girardi said he believes the biggest difference in early-season Vazquez and the version the Yankees have seen recently is his fastball command. Vazquez has now allowed only two earned runs over his last two starts, a stretch spanning 13 innings.

“I think I’m taking good steps,” he said.

• Kevin Russo certainly made a good impression, picking up his first big-league hit and first RBI. The kid from West Babylon, N.Y., stroked a double in the seventh inning which was also his first extra-base hit. “Big night,” Girardi said. “He had two big hits for us tonight.”

Girardi also noted (with a smile) that Russo handled left field quite well, especially considering his primary position is as an infielder.

• Mariano Rivera retired the first two hitters he faced in the ninth but then watched Jason Bay crush a fly to left-center that probably would have been out of most other stadiums. Rivera then gave up a RBI single to Ike Davis, marking the third straight outing that he’s been hit (relatively) hard. Is Girardi concerned? “It’s location,” Girardi said. “Velocity is there, he missed his location. Concerned? No.”

• For the night-owls among you, here’s some audio:

First, Vazquez.

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And second, Girardi.

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Thanks to everyone for chatting with us today and reading tonight. Keep checking back all weekend for Subway Series coverage.

Behind six shutout innings from Javier Vazquez (thanks, AP, for the photo), the Yankees took the first of six Subway Series games this season with a 2-1 win at Citi Field. Vazquez left after throwing just 70 pitches when he hurt his finger while laying down a bunt, but X-rays have already come back negative. Also encouraging was a strong outing from Joba Chamberlain and a tense-but-effective ninth from Mariano Rivera, ending a week in which the bullpen had been shaky.

The victory snaps a three-game losing streak for the Yankees after they dropped the last game against the Red Sox and both games against the Rays. Check back for more updates from the post-game clubhouse.

YANKEES (25-16)
Derek Jeter SS
Brett Gardner CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Francisco Cervelli C
Kevin Russo LF
Javier Vazquez P

RHP Javier Vazquez (2-4, 8.01 ERA)
Career vs. Mets

METS (20-22)
Jose Reyes SS
Alex Cora 2B
Jason Bay LF
Ike Davis 1B
David Wright 3B
Angel Pagan CF
Rod Barajas C
Jeff Francoeur RF
Hisanori Takahashi P

LHP Hisanori Takahashi (3-1, 3.12)
Career vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 7:10 p.m. / YES, SNY and MLB Network

UMPIRES: HP Jim Wolf, 1B Todd Tichenor, 2B Marvin Hudson, 3B Derryl Cousins

WEATHER: Warm, a few clouds in the sky but otherwise lovely (if you don’t mind a few thousand airplanes flying by throughout the game).

WALKING WOUNDED: The Yankees were the only team in the AL that didn’t have a player on the DL at the start of the season and now – 41 games in – they have already had five, including three everyday starters. They’ve already lost 72 player-days to injury this season.

INTERLEAGUE INTEREST: With a 133-95 all-time record, the Yankees have the best interleague record in baseball (most wins and best winning percentage). They’ve gone 10-8 against the NL in each of the last four seasons and have posted 12 consecutive non-losing years. They were 5-1 against the Mets in 2009 and are 42-30 against them all-time.

COACHING CAROUSEL: Congratulations to hitting coach Kevin Long, who will miss this weekend’s series to attend his son’s high school graduation, and to pitching coach Dave Eiland, who will miss Sunday’s game to attend his daughter’s confirmation. Roving hitting coordinator James Rowson will fill-in for Long and bullpen coach Mike Harkey will deputize for Eiland.

UPDATE, 7:27 p.m.: National League ballpark? Whatever the reason, Vazquez gets through the first with relative ease. By the way, not exactly packed in here at Citi. I heard tickets were readily available as late as this afternoon.

UPDATE, 7:54 p.m.: The Captain was unhappy with that one but it looked like a great pitch. Certainly a little too close to take in that spot. Now it’s up to Gardner to break through.

UPDATE, 8:06 p.m.: No hits for Vazquez through three. Best part is the strikeouts – Yankees like to see him finishing hitters off.

UPDATE, 8:17 p.m.: Another threat, another missed opportunity for the Yanks. They’re letting Takahashi off the hook here.

UPDATE, 8:28 p.m.: Say what you want about Cervelli’s game-calling ability but he’s got an arm on him, too — that throw to second was from his knees.

UPDATE, 9:20 p.m.: Had some newspaper work to do for a while but the game has moved along quite nicely, no? Vazquez has gone six strong and put down two bunts, but it looks like he might have nicked a finger on that last one. He just went back up into the clubhouse with the trainers. Keep you posted if I hear anything.

UPDATE, 9:27 p.m.: That’s it for Vazquez, apparently, as Robertson is in. Randy Winn is also in LF in a double-switch. We’ll see how serious Vazquez’s issue is after the game but it must be frustrating for him and the team. Hurt on a bunt?

UPDATE, 9:35 p.m.: Hello, goodbye Damaso Marte. Now it’s Joba coming on. Two on, one out, Yanks up two in the seventh.

UPDATE, 9:41 p.m.: Well, those of you who were upset about the punchout on Jeter earlier got it coming back the other way on that one. Joba gets Wright looking at a pitch that sure seemed to be low. Either way, two outs.

UPDATE, 9:46 p.m.: Apparently it’s Good Joba in the house tonight. Gets out of the jam and the Yankees are still up, 2-0, with Fernando Nieve on the mound for the Mets now. Judging by how much Jerry Manuel has used Nieve this season, don’t be surprised if his arm goes hurtling toward home plate on his follow-through.

UPDATE, 9:53 p.m.: Bruised right index finger for Javy. He’s going for X-rays.