The LoHud Yankees Blog

Curtis Granderson, who strained his groin running the bases way on May 1, is headed out on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. According to Joe Girardi, Granderson will play 5-6 games with the SWB Yankees and the hope is that he might be back next week.

In other injury news, Marcus Thames still has a sore ankle and will test it during batting practice. His availability will be re-evaluated after BP.

Back with more later and, hopefully, some Girardi audio.

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

UPDATE, 4:53 p.m.: After being DFA’d earlier this week, Brian Bruney has cleared waivers, Chad Gaudin has been released and Edwar Ramirez has been assigned to Triple-A Sacramento.

Our LoHud Yankees video chat starts at 1 p.m.

Click on http://www.lohud.com/protalklive to watch the video or be a part of the conversation. See you there.

Don’t forget to join Sam and I at 1 p.m. for a video chat here on the LoHud Yankees Blog. Go to http://www.lohud.com/protalklive to join the conversation.

Looking back…

The Yankees struggled at home this week, and they ended the home stand with their second straight loss against the first-place Rays. Andy Pettitte allowed three of Tampa Bay’s four home runs and took his first loss.

Before the game, the Yankees officially put Jorge Posada on the disabled list and called up the veteran Chad Moeller. They also called up Kevin Russo, got Nick Swisher back in the lineup, sent Mark Melancon back to Triple-A and began openly discussing a possible rehab assignment for Curtis Granderson. Take the good with the bad, I guess.

Looking ahead…

The Subway Series is next, a three-game series against the Mets at Citi Field.

Tonight
RHP Javier Vazquez (2-4, 8.01)
vs.
LHP Hisanori Takahashi (3-1, 3.12)
7:10 p.m., YES Network and MLB Network

Saturday
RHP Phil Hughes (5-0, 2.25)
vs.
RHP Mike Pelfrey (5-1, 3.02)
7:10 p.m., FOX

Sunday
LHP CC Sabathia (4-2, 3.43)
vs.
LHP Johan Santana (3-2, 3.72)
8:05 p.m., ESPN

Just another reminder that Sam and I will be video chatting this afternoon at 1. We’ll talk about Jorge Posada’s injured foot, Nick Swisher’s finally healthy biceps, the Yankees suddenly shaky bullpen and whatever else becomes a topic of discussion.

Stop by http://www.lohud.com/protalklive to get in on the conversation.

The Yankees have scored six runs in each of their past three games. They’ve won none of them. They’ve put together some sort of late inning rally every time, and they’ve always fallen short.

“We battled back in every game here,” Joe Girardi said. “We scored runs. We just gave up too many.”

Pitching let the Yankees down this home stand. Aside from those first two games against the Twins, the pitching staff struggled in one form or another in five straight games. Tonight it was Andy Pettitte who had by far his worst start of the year, but said he actually didn’t feel too bad. The cutter that Carlos Pena hit for a home run was “just a horrible pitch,” but B.J. Upton went deep on a changeup that Pettitte was pretty happy with and Ben Zobrist homered on a sinker that Pettitte located where he wanted.

“I think they had a pretty good approach against me,” Pettitte said. “For Ben to hit the ball that he hit, he had to be thinking out there and staying out there. Most guys don’t run into the ball and hit it that far the other way like that… I feel like if I didn’t have anything I should be able to go out there and hold them to seven runs. Tonight I felt pretty decent. Definitely a frustrating night, that’s for sure.”

Here’s Joe Girardi’s postgame media session.

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• One pitching bright spot was David Robertson, who looked positively dominant again. Two perfect innings with four strikeouts. “He’s thrown the ball better definitely the past few outings,” Girardi said. He seems to be getting back to that form that he had last year.”

• Two offensive bright spots: Three hits from Derek Jeter and another home run from Juan Miranda.

• One big picture bright spot: Curtis Granderson feels good. “So far, no setbacks,” he said. He believes it’s possible — though he admits this is optimistic — that he could get into a rehab game next week.

• I don’t have numbers to back this up, but the Yankees seem to be swinging early in the count quite a bit. “At times guys will do that,” Girardi said. “If you go up and take the first pitch all the time, just throw strike one and now you’re ahead of our hitters. I think hitters can’t fall into just one pattern of hitting. At times they have to be aggressive.”

• Nick Swisher said he felt no pain tonight, but he was disappointed by his two strikeouts. “My first few at-bats weren’t what I was expecting,” Swisher said. “My left side’s still a click off.”

• Chad Moeller got to the stadium around 6:30 after battling traffic from the airport.

• Mike Ashmore is reporting that the Yankees have signed catcher Rene Rivera to a minor league deal and assigned him to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Associated Press photos of Francisco Cervelli and Juan Miranda.

After opening the home stand with two straight wins, the Yankees have now lost four of five, including two in a row against the first place Tampa Bay Rays. Last night the Rays stole six bases, but tonight they played a power game with four home runs for an 8-6 win that was Andy Pettitte’s first loss of the season. He allowed three of the Rays homers after allowing a total of one home run through his first seven starts of the season. Juan Miranda had a home run, a triple and a walk, and Derek Jeter had three hits including a two-out double in the ninth, but the rest of the lineup didn’t do much.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (25-15)
Derek Jeter SS
Brett Gardner CF
Mark Teixeira DH
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Juan Miranda DH
Francisco Cervelli C
Randy Winn LF

LHP Andy Pettitte (5-0, 1.79)
Career vs. Rays

RAYS (29-11)
Jason Bartlett SS
Carl Crawford LF
Ben Zobrist 2B
Evan Longoria 3B
Carlos Pena 1B
B.J. Upton CF
Willy Aybar DH
Dioner Navarro C
Gabe Kapler RF

RHP James Shields (4-1, 3.00)
Career vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 7:05 p.m./MY9 and MLB Network

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

WEATHER: Temperatures in the 70s. Not a cloud in the sky. Beautiful way to wrap up the home stand.

HOME SWEET HOME: Yankee Stadium is nominated for Sports Facility of the Year at the third annual Sports Business Awards presented by Sports Business Journal tonight at Manhattan’s Marriot Marquis. The stadium is up against Cowbodys Stadium, Staples Center and Citi Field.

GOOD HITTIN’: Robinson Cano has a 1.000 slugging percentage in 26 career at-bats against Tampa Bay starter James Shields. He has a .462 batting average with two home runs, two triples and four doubles. Nick Swisher has only two hits in 11 at-bats against Shields, but both hits were home runs.

GOOD TIMING: Alex Rodriguez is batting .410 with four doubles, three home runs and 28 RBI with runners in scoring position this season. He is 4-for-7 with 12 RBI with the bases loaded. In his career, Rodriguez has hit 20 home runs that tied the game or put his team in the lead in the ninth inning or later.

UPDATE, 7:21 p.m.: Three batters into the game, the Rays have a 3-0 lead. Double. Single. Home run. Dave Eiland has already made a trip to the mound to talk to Pettitte.

UPDATE, 7:47 p.m.: Two years covering Juan Miranda in Triple-A, I never once saw him bunt. He must have read a sign wrong, and he followed the foul bunt with his second homer of the season. I’ve seen him do that a lot. It’s now 3-2 Rays.

UPDATE, 7:51 p.m.: The Yankees have extended their Player Development Contract with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre through the 2014 season. See what happens when you make the field drain properly! Those are a lot of great people working in Scranton. I’m happy to see the Yankees are sticking around.

UPDATE, 7:57 p.m.: That’s a heckuva pickoff move by Pettitte. Zobrist was frozen and the Yankees are out of the inning.

UPDATE, 8:03 p.m.: These Yankees can run a little bit too. Beating the Rays at their own game, the Yankees got back-to-back bunt singles and have tied the game at 3.

UPDATE, 8:24 p.m.: B.J. Upton lost the ball in the air, and Juan Miranda is now a double and a triple short of the cycle. He’s also — I imagine — exhausted at third base.

UPDATE, 8:30 p.m.: Sac fly by Randy Winn has tied the game at 4. He hit the ball deep but Carl Crawford made the catch on the warning track.

UPDATE, 8:43 p.m.: Rocky fifth for Pettitte. Single, walk, single have given the Rays a 5-4 lead and Dave Robertson is getting loose in the bullpen.

UPDATE, 9:06 p.m.: Pettitte allowed his third home run of the night, and with that, his night was done. Dave Robertson breezed through three straight to end the inning — and maybe get himself going again — but Pettitte left with a 7-4 deficit.

UPDATE, 9:36 p.m.: Frustration seems to be pretty thick here at Yankee Stadium. Chan Ho Park has given up a home run and the boos immediately started. It’s now 8-4 Rays.

UPDATE, 9:47 p.m.: Joe Girardi is not at all happy about the strike zone, but the fact remains that the Yankees are getting beat up tonight. Unless they have another big rally in them, this is not a good way to end this home stand.

Here’s general manager Brian Cashman talking about the decision to leave Jesus Montero and Austin Romine in the minor leagues.

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A few other minor notes from Cashman.

• Despite all the injuries, he said the team is not looking to make external moves. “We’re going to deal with it internally,” he said.

• The Yankees began talking yesterday about setting up Curtis Granderson’s rehab assignment, but they’re not ready to announce anything. “Probably ease him in with some DHing and some innings that we build upon.”

• Interesting quote: “Colin Curtis would probably be here but he’s sitting on the (Triple-A) DL with a high ankle sprain.”

• Chad Moeller’s flight was scheduled to land at 5:30. He hasn’t gotten to the park yet. Kevin Russo is here.

• Cashman said Joe Girardi has done a “tremendous” job with all of the injuries. Cashman agrees with Girardi’s decision to always move with caution. “He’s looking big picture,” Cashman said. “We have to be smart about this stuff on a daily basis.”

• The Yankees lost their protest of Tuesday’s game against the Red Sox. “Surprise, surprise,” Cashman said.

The Rays like to run, and all of baseball knows it.

“We play them so many times, we know what they’re capable of,” Derek Jeter said. “Great team. They like to run. They like to put pressure on the defense and be aggressive. And they’ve been pitching well. Combine those things and you’re going to have a lot of success.”

Last night the Rays stole six bases, and they kept running in the eighth inning when Ben Zobrist scored from second on a sacrifice fly. Tonight it’s on Francisco Cervelli and Andy Pettitte to slow the running game as much as possible.

“Andy has the ability to slide step and change his time, and he’s got a good pickoff,” Joe Girardi said. “It does change it a little bit.”

• Chad Moeller is on the Yankees bench, and he might stay there. Cervelli could catch every game this weekend, and not take a break until Monday’s off day. “I will evaluate it every day,” Girardi said. “But there’s a chance that he’ll catch every day.”

• The Yankees are encouraged by Marcus Thames’ sprained ankle. “He does not have a lot of swelling,” Girardi said. Thames was able to take batting practice.

• The Yankees pitchers have been running the bases before games to get ready for this weekend’s series against the Mets.

• Girardi said the Yankees considered Jesus Montero and Austin Romine, but it sounds like Moeller was an easy choice for the call-up. “Obviously we talked about everyone,” Girardi said. “Chad has the most experience and that’s why we went there.”

UPDATE, 5:34 p.m.: The Yankees lineup

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