The LoHud Yankees Blog

Until further notice, Chad Moeller’s spot on the Yankees bench is secure.

“Until (Jorge Posada) can get through a game without the issue that he feels,” Joe Girardi said. “I don’t know how much of it is fatigue and soreness and the combination of both. I think we have to be careful with that.”

Girardi would not announce his plan for Posada this weekend, but Girardi did say he won’t catch Posada back-to-back games just yet. That seems to set Posada up for a Saturday start behind the plate, Sunday off or at DH, and then two out of three games against Arizona. After an off day Thursday, the could again play two out of three against the Dodgers. In theory, starting at DH tonight has allowed Posada to catch as many games as possible during the National League road trip.

“I don’t necessarily think it’s the not being able to go back-to-back days (that causes concern),” Girardi said. “I think it’s more feeling it in the eighth and ninth inning is more of a concern. Not being able to go back-to-back days, we can deal with that because if he doesn’t start the second game you still have Cervi that can start. The fact you might have to pull him in the middle of a game, that’s a concern.”

Here’s Girardi’s pregame session.

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• Obviously Alex Rodriguez came through his pregame drills just fine. This will be his first start at third base since he was pulled from last weekend’s game in Baltimore.

• Getting Rodriguez back to a fulltime infielder and Posada back to regular starts behind the plate could go a long way toward building some consistency for this lineup. “Our lineup has not been consistent because of the injuries,” Girardi said. “Hopefully this is the end of them and we’ll be able to get through this.”

• Speaking of injuries, Curtis Granderson is fine, just getting a day off against a lefty. “Everything is 100 percent,” Granderson said. “(Girardi) came and told me, be ready.”

• One more injury update, I saw Marcus Thames walking into the cages to hit this afternoon. “He feels better every day,” Girardi said. “Obviously, he’s on the 15-day DL and we’ll evaluate him when we get (to the 15th day). But it is good to see him moving around.”

• Girardi wouldn’t tip his hand as to who the Yankees might call up when they’re ready to cut the third catcher. “I believe that our organization has people who could help us,” is all he would say about it.

• There remains no timetable for Dave Eiland’s return. “I think these guys are pretty aware of what they need to do and what gets them on track,” Girardi said. “I think they probably have heard enough of Dave in their ear that they can probably hear his voice sometimes when he’s not even here. But we do miss him. There’s no doubt about it. We do miss him.”

• This will the Yankees second crack at Hisanori Takahashi. He pitched six scoreless against them last month. “Obviously our guys have a better idea of what he’s going to do,” Girardi said. “But it’s not like they have 15 or 20 at-bats off him. I’m sure he’s even a little bit different now that he’s stretched out more. I always think it’s somewhat of an advantage for a pitcher when you haven’t seen him before. Our guys have a better idea what his pitches do.”

METS
Jose Reyes SS
Angel Pagan CF
David Wright 3B
Ike Davis 1B
Jason Bay LF
Chris Carter DH
Rod Barajas C
Jeff Francoeur RF
Ruben Tejada 2B

Associated Press photos of Moeller and Derek Jeter. There’s no real reason for the Jeter picture, I just didn’t have another one to use and thought I’d go with the Captain.

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada DH
Francisco Cervelli C
Chad Huffman LF
Brett Gardner CF

The Yankees don’t have a lineup yet. They’re waiting for their third baseman to go through drills.

“Al is actually out there doing fielding drills right now,” Joe Girardi said. “It’s possible he could play third or just DH to tonight.”

What happens with Rodriguez will determine what happens with Jorge Posada.

See what happens when you go for a haircut on this beat? You’re 20 minutes late on the draft pick signing news. Buster Olney says Cito Culver signed at slot. Here’s the press release from the team.

The 17-year-old Culver, out of Irondequoit High School in Rochester, N.Y., batted .561 (37-for-66) with 10 doubles, five triples, nine home runs, 38 RBI and 20 walks in 22 regular season games this past season as a high school senior, according to his school’s Web site. He also had a .933 fielding percentage, committing just eight errors in 120 total chances, helping lead his school to the Monroe County Division title. Named his team’s most valuable player in each of the last three seasons, Culver was also a three-time all-county selection and an Under Armour All-American.

Last summer, Culver played on the Yankees’ Area Code team, working out at Yankee Stadium and participating in a tournament in California. Baseball America rated the shortstop as the third-best prospect out of the state of New York. Under his high school bio page, Culver lists his favorite baseball team as the New York Yankees and one of his favorite baseball players as Derek Jeter.

“We are very excited to get Cito signed so quickly and get him out on the field to begin his development as a Major League prospect,” said Damon Oppenheimer, Yankees Vice President of Amateur Scouting.

Culver was just the second high school shortstop drafted by the Yankees (also C.J. Henry in 2005) in the first round since the organization selected Derek Jeter with the sixth overall pick in the 1992 First-Year Player Draft. 

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Also, in case you missed it, the Yankees have signed utility man Eric Bruntlett to a minor league deal. He started at third base for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last night. He’s never hit much in the big leagues, but Bruntlett can play everywhere and there are certainly much worse backup backups out there.

Tonight
RHP Javier Vazquez (6-5, 5.43)
vs.
LHP Hisanori Takahashi (5-2, 3.48)
7:05 p.m., MY9

Saturday
RHP Phil Hughes (9-1, 3.11)
vs.
RHP Mike Pelfrey (9-1, 2.39)
1:05 p.m., YES Network

Sunday
LHP CC Sabathia (7-3, 4.00)
vs.
LHP Johan Santana (5-3, 3.13)
1:05 p.m., YES Network and TBS

These matchups should look familiar. It’s the same set of starting pitchers that faced one another at Citi Field last month.

Associated Press photo of Hughes.

Mark Teixeira will be meeting today with this year’s graduates of the Harlem RBI program, which is graduating 100 percent of its senior class, with each and every one accepted to college. Here’s the press release from the Yankees.

Harlem RBI, a 19-year-old youth-development organization in East Harlem, is giving its graduating seniors a unique opportunity to tour the brand new Yankee Stadium and engage in an exclusive meet and greet with Mark Teixeira, first baseman of the New York Yankees, on Friday, June 18.

Last month, Teixeira, a two-time MLB All-Star and 2009 World Series champion, became a member of Harlem RBI’s Board of Directors and served as a chairperson at the organization’s annual 2010 Bids for Kids Gala on May 19th. He and his wife, Leigh Teixeira, also graciously donated $100,000 toward Harlem RBI Future’s Fund, to help aid programs supporting Harlem RBI’s college bound seniors that focus and guide youth to and through higher education.

After the tour and meeting with Teixeira, Harlem RBI will host its annual graduation ceremony at the Field of Dreams in East Harlem on Friday evening at 6pm. The event will honor and recognize the youth’s achievements, most notably, that 100% of the 2010 senior class are graduating high school and have been accepted into college. By contrast, only 42% of East Harlem youth graduate high school and 13% of adult residents hold a college degree.

“Harlem RBI is thrilled to have Mark Teixeira join our team. His dedication to our organization brings new energy and excitement to both participants and staff. I have great hopes for what this partnership can bring to our organization as a whole.” Richard Berlin, Executive Director of Harlem RBI, remarked. “Mark is a tremendous player both on and off the field, and his generous contributions to Harlem RBI and the Future’s Fund will make higher education possible for many well-deserved high school students.”

In addition, as the Honorary Chair of Harlem RBI’s $20 million Capital Campaign Committee, Teixeira will assist Harlem RBI by participating in various events to support the organization, including activities with Harlem RBI youth. He will also serve as one of the 2011 Bids for Kids Gala honorees as Harlem RBI celebrates its 20th Anniversary.

Associated Press photo of Teixeira.

Two days ago, the Yankees offense was finally hitting its stride. Alex Rodriguez was a on his way back to the lineup, Jorge Posada was healthy enough to play and after back-to-back nine-run games against the lowly Astros, the Yankees had scored six runs against the unhittable Roy Halladay. Next up, the soft-tossing Jamie Moyer and the 25-year-old sinkerballer Kyle Kendrick.

No problem, right?

“That’s why you play the games,” Derek Jeter said. “We swung the bats well the first day, and then they shut us down the next two. Sometimes pitchers are going to get the best of you, and we really couldn’t get much going.”

Did anyone expect Jeter to say anything different?

“Moyer, he was kind of like Kendrick today,” Robinson Cano said. “He was locating pitches. Throwing the ball where he wants to. They don’t miss pitches over the plate.”

From Halladay to Moyer to Kendrick, the Yankees faced three very different pitchers, but for a major league lineup like this one, that’s hardly an excuse. Teams have to make adjustments.

“And we weren’t able to make adjustments,” Jeter said.

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Andy Pettitte was verbally kicking himself after the game.

That fifth inning home run to Shane Victorino was a cutter and Pettitte tried to get a little fancy with it.

“I wasn’t whole-heartedly behind the pitch that I threw to Victorino,” he said. “I tried to run a cutter. Usually I want to go down and in with that ball, but tried to slide step and just kind of throw one inner half and run it up on his hands, and he somehow kept it fair. Really, pretty much that was the ball game right there.”

Pettitte couldn’t quite explain why he decided to throw that pitch. He said he didn’t want to go into detail about how he was trying to pitch to different hitters, but clearly he went away from his comfort zone and the home run changed the game. Don’t get me wrong, Pettitte was still very good tonight, but that one pitch cost him.

“For me it was a stupid pitch,” he said. “Just a poor decision on me to throw that pitch right there and where I threw it. A little bit of a mental lapse and it cost me the game.”

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• Jeter was asked how he would have reacted had the umpires called the Yankees back on the field after that ground ball hit Ibanez in the leg. “I wasn’t going back on the field,” he said.

• Joba Chamberlain’s seven outings before this one: 6.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K. That’s a 1.35 ERA with a .250 opponents batting average.

• Joe Girardi on what happens when Chamberlain has nights like this one: “I think he gets too much of the middle of the plate. He gives up a lead-off double, and they execute a play well, and then he walks Victorino… I think any time a pitcher doesn’t throw the ball where he wants to you could say it’s a mechanical issue. I think every time he does it (you could say that). They want to say down and away, and in on the hands, but it’s always a fine line.”

• Girardi said he went to check on Damaso Marte only because that fourth ball to Chase Utley was so far off line. He wanted to make sure Marte was OK, and Girardi was convinced there was no physical problem. “The ball came out of his hand OK after that,” he said.

• The latest on Alex Rodriguez is pretty much the same as before the game. “I thought he moved around better today than he did yesterday,” Girardi said. Still no sure thing about what Rodriguez’s role will be tomorrow.

• Dave Robertson has not allowed a run in his past five outings

• Marte threw 29 pitches, his highest total since August 10, 2008. He had an outing of 1.2 innings earlier this year, but he did that on only 26 pitches.

• Cano has a 10-game hitting streak. He’s also hit safely in 27 of his past 29. This is his third hitting streak of at least 10 games.

• In case you were wondering, Girardi said he never considered using Mariano Rivera to keep it a two-run game in the ninth: “I’m not going to bring him in in that situation when we’re down by two runs. I’m just not going to do it, but of course he was available. Tie ball game, he was coming in.”

Andy Pettitte did what he seems to have done all year: He pitched well enough to win. The Yankees offense, though, was shutdown for a second straight night and the bullpen imploded for a 7-1 loss against the Phillies. Pettitte got out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh, keeping the Yankees within striking distance, but the bullpen allowed four runs in the ninth. Not that it mattered. The Yankees managed just four hits, all singles.

Associated Press photo of Pettitte

YANKEES (41-24)
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Brett Gardner LF
Francisco Cervelli C
Ramiro Pena 3B

LHP Andy Pettitte (8-1, 2.46)
Career vs. Phillies

PHILLIES (33-30)
Shane Victorino CF
Chase Utley 2B
Placido Polanco 3B
Ryan Howard 1B
Jayson Werth RF
Raul Ibanez LF
Ben Francisco DH
Carlos Ruiz C
Wilson Valdez SS

RHP Kyle Kendrick (3-2, 4.80)
Career vs. Yankees

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

UMPIRES: HP Tom Hallion, 1B Wally Bell, 2B Lance Barksdale, 3B Ed Rapuano

WEATHER: Temperatures in the 70s. Cloudy but not much chance of rain.

GOOD MATCHUP: Andy Pettitte hasn’t faced this group of Phillies very often, but Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Jayson Werth are a combined 3-for-29 against the Yankees starter. In last year’s World Series, Pettitte allowed a total of two hits to that Phillies trio. Both were home runs.

ONE AND DONE: Mark Teixeira is the only Yankees batter to have faced Kyle Kendrick. Teixeira is 1-for-12 with a home run, two walks and a strikeout.

LOCKED WHEN LOADED: With the bases loaded, the Yankees lead the majors in batting average (.429), at-bats (84), hits (36), grand slams (6), RBI (99), walks (11) and on-base percentage (.490).

MORE LOCKED WHEN LOADED: Francisco Cervelli is 6-for-8 with the bases loaded this season. His 15 RBI with the bases loaded are second in the majors behind Alex Rodriguez, who has 16 bases-loaded RBI.

UPDATE, 7:20 p.m.: Scoreless through one. Both Pettitte and Kendrick sent the side down in order. Three batters put the ball in play. Three struck out.

UPDATE, 7:24 p.m.: By striking out Jayson Werth, Pettitte passed Ron Guidry for second place on the Yankees all-time strikeouts list. Pettitte has 1,779 Ks as a Yankee.

UPDATE, 7:56 p.m.: Looked like Ramiro Pena expected the ball to take a little bit of a hop there and it never happened. The ball stayed low, got under his glove and Ryan Howard took advantage of the error with an RBI single. It’s now 1-0 Phillies with two on and one out in the fourth.

UPDATE, 8:15 p.m.: Shane Victorino wasn’t the best player I ever covered in Scranton — that was Chase Utley — but he certainly had the best all-around season I ever covered in Scranton. He’s a really nice player, and he just took Pettitte deep for a 3-0 Phillies lead.

UPDATE, 8:24 p.m.: The Yankees really haven’t been able to get anything going against Kendrick. A two-out, fifth-inning single by Francisco Cervelli was the first hit since Robinson Cano’s single in the second inning.

UPDATE, 8:50 p.m.: Robinson Cano — who else? — just had a two-out RBI single to put the Yankees on the board, cutting the lead to 3-1. Here comes Swisher with two on and two outs in the sixth.

UPDATE, 8:52 p.m.: Well that’s just a nice play by Polanco. His catch along the tarp has ended the inning, still a 3-1 Phillies lead.

UPDATE, 9:10 p.m.: Big time pitching by Pettitte to get out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam here in the seventh. You’ll be shocked to learn that Cervelli was pumped!

UPDATE, 9:24 p.m.: Here comes Dave Robertson to relieve Pettitte. Kendrick has worked another scoreless inning to keep it 3-1 after seven.

UPDATE, 9:50 p.m.: The Phillies let the No. 9 hitter swing away, and it resulted in an RBI single through the drawn in infield. It’s now 4-1 Phillies. Marte getting loose in the bullpen.

UPDATE, 10:05 p.m.: Sac fly makes it 5-1. The Yankees have scored three four runs since Tuesday. They now need four runs in the ninth.

UPDATE, 10:07 p.m.: Another sac fly makes it 6-1. The Yankees now need five runs in the ninth.

UPDATE, 10:14 p.m.: Oh boy. There’s an RBI double off Chan Ho Park and it’s now 7-1. That escalated quickly!

UPDATE, 10:17 p.m.: I have no idea what that conversation was like among the umpires, but at some point, someone should have asked this question: Is there anyway Jeter would have misplayed the ball that badly without it hitting the runner?

Jorge Posada is not sure when he’ll be able to catch back-to-back games, but his foot felt better last night than it did on Sunday, and it feels strong enough today that he could catch if necessary.

“I can’t really get ahead of myself,” Posada said. “Just one day at a time for me now. I could play. I could catch. I’m just not catching.”

Before batting practice, Chad Moeller went through catching drills with Tony Pena. Other than that, he doesn’t seem likely to see much action in the near future, but he’ll stay here until the Yankees are convinced Posada is nearly 100 percent

“My thoughts are, you have to feel that he’s out of the woods,” Joe Girardi said. “That he can catch a game without experiencing what he’s experiencing now.”

The Yankees have four more days before they travel out west to play in National League parks. At that point, Girardi won’t have the option of DHing either Posada or Alex Rodriguez. There is an off day between the Diamondback and Dodgers series, though.

“You’re looking at three days in a row at the most on that road trip after we lose our DH,” Girardi said.

• When the Yankees do make a move to drop their third catcher, Girardi said he will add a position player, not a pitcher. “I imagine we would stay with the 12-man pitching staff,” he said.

• Girardi said Alex Rodriguez feels better today, but Girardi’s still not ready to put him in the field. “I know he’s going to take ground balls today,” Girardi said. “We’ll just check with him tomorrow and see how he feels… More of it is him having the confidence that he can make the necessary moves that he needs to make.”

• As for Rodriguez taking it easy running the bases yesterday: “To me I take that as being pretty smart actually,” Girardi said. “If he gets into second, we’re still down three runs. His run doesn’t really mean anything.”

• Nick Johnson is still a long way from swinging a bat. “I have not been given a date when he’s going to pick up a bat, and usually that’s when I know we’re getting close,” Girardi said.

• Alfredo Aceves, though, is getting closer to getting on a mound. Girardi said there’s still no date scheduled for him to throw in the bullpen, but he’s able to play catch without pain. “He’s been playing catch and so far he feels OK,” Girardi said. “They’ll just continue building the distance and the intensity of it.”

• Girardi’s not worried about his bullpen depth tonight and didn’t rule out the idea of using Boone Logan. He said there was no real thought given to bringing up a pitcher

PHILLIES
Shane Victorino CF
Chase Utley 2B
Placido Polanco 3B
Ryan Howard 1B
Jayson Werth RF
Raul Ibanez LF
Ben Francisco DH
Carlos Ruiz C
Wilson Valdez SS

Associated Press photos of Posada and Rodriguez, talking to Ramiro Pena.