The LoHud Yankees Blog

As if there needed to be another indication that first-round pick Cito Culver plans to sign with the Yankees, the young shortstop sent a pretty clear signal this week.

According to my old friend Jim Mandelaro, Culver has backed out of his commitment to the University of Maryland and will travel to the Yankees minor league complex tonight. It’s a three-day visit, and Culver told Mandelaro that he’s not sure what’s on the schedule other than a physical.

By my count, that leaves only two steps: Agreeing on money and finding a working ink pen. I like the Pilot G-2, but whatever’s handy should work.

Culver can’t officially sign until the graduates from high school. That’s happening on Sunday.

After saying before this 8-3 Yankees win over the Phillies that he planned to have A-Rod back Wednesday night, Joe Girardi hedged slightly afterward. He said said that while Rodriguez came through his pregame workout OK, he wanted to see how he felt Wednesday before putting him back in the lineup. Girardi said it would be “a game-time decision.”

CC Sabathia had been 4-0 against Baltimore and 2-3 with a 4.69 ERA against anybody else. This was his first non-Oriole victory since April 16. ”It feels good to beat a good team,” he said. Sabathia allowed three runs and five hits over seven to improve to 7-3. “I got off to a pretty good start,” Sabathia said. “I had a bad May. But I feel ahead of where I’ve been the past couple of years.”

Of the nine times Roy Halladay has given up three homers in a game, the Yankees have been the ones to do it four times, including the last three. ”When he made a mistake, they didn’t miss it,” Girardi said. Hitting coach Kevin Long said, ”We really were disciplined. … The only thing I told them was he had a new pitch, which was a split and he was using it quite bit with two strikes and it was more of a chase pitch for him. … We knew what we were getting. He wasn’t as crisp as I’ve seen him in the past.”

Francisco Cervelli continues to be clutch. He had a two-run single with the bases loaded in the seventh, so he’s 6 for 8 now in those situations. Plus, he’s batting .447 with runners in scoring position (17 for 38) and .579 with runners in scoring position and two outs (11 for 19).

Brett Gardner delivered his fourth triple and the Yankees’ 17th of the season. That’s four short of their total for all of last year.

Robinson Cano has hit in eight straight games and 25 of his last 27 after delivering a double in five trips.

Sergio Mitre’s injury is a strained left oblique. The long man suffered it while taking batting practice Sunday. “When he got up, it felt a lot worse to warm up that day, so we wanted to evaluate him,” Girardi said. “Yesterday he came in and our doctors felt it would be more than just a couple of days, maybe not a whole two weeks. But we’ll have to wait to see. Oblique’s are funny.”

There were some Phillies fans mixed in among the Yankees fans in a crowd that was announced at 47,135. It may have been a combustible mix.  “I saw a lot of people leaving in handcuffs,” Curtis Granderson said.

OK, that’s it for tonight.

Update, 7:37: Rare to see Roy Halladay missing his spots. But here we are in the last of the second, and after a Nick Swisher single, a four-pitch walk to Jorge Posada and a stand-up triple by Brett Gardner, it’s 2-0.

Update, 7:52: These aren’t the Orioles, yet Sabathia looks great. He has six Ks through three, and there have been no hits.

Update, 7:56: Is this Yankees killer Roy Halladay, the guy with the 18-6 lifetime record against them? Granderson just went to the second deck to make it 3-0, Robby Cano doubled with a shot that went one hop to the wall in right-center and Nick Swisher homered to the right-center seats, and it’s 5-0 in the third.

Update, 8:14: Spoke too soon on Sabathia. Where are the Orioles when you need them? Two runs are in, the bases are still loaded and there’s still no one out in the fourth.

Update, 8:16: Bad mistake by Sabathia. He brain-locked and didn’t cover first on what could have been a 3-6-1 double play. Now 5-3, second and third, one out.

Update, 8:39: Good job by Sabathia to get out of trouble in fourth and now again in the fifth and his bases-loaded two-out jam.

Update, 8:43: Mark Teixeira was helped by the short porch in this latest at-bat, dunking one by the right-field foul pole for his 10th homer and a 6-3 lead, and now we’re through five.

Update, 9:12: Despite the two shaky innings, this turned out to be a positive night for Sabathia, He’s probably done now that he’s above 100 pitches through seven. But he only gave up three runs and five hits, and he has a 6-3 lead. Antonio Bastardo will take over the pitching for the Phillies. Halladay had his second-worst start of the year, charged with six runs and eight hits over six. The three homers allowed were a season worst.

Update, 9:27: The struggles continue for the Phillies. It’s 8-3 after Francisco Cervelli’s two-run single in the seventh off David Herndon. If the score holds up, this will be 15 wins in the last 20 games for the Yankees and 15 losses in the last 21 games for Philadelphia.

Update, 9:55: Chan Ho Park had a 1-2-3 ninth against his old team. Yankees win Game 1 of the World Series rematch – 8-3. A combined five-hitter for Sabathia, David Robertson and Park. Almost a repeat of Game 6 of the World Series when the Yankees won 7-3.

YANKEES
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Jorge Posada DH
Brett Gardner LF
Francisco Cervelli C
Ramiro Pena 3B

LHP CC Sabathia

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

RHP Roy Halladay

David Winfree was the in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre lineup when Donnie Collins got to the ballpark this afternoon, then Winfree was suddenly out of the lineup and released from the organization. Winfree had an out in his contract that let him look for another team that would willing to add him to the 40-man roster. It could be that he found one.

Also, Eric Wordekemper has been called up to Scranton to fill Boone Logan’s place in the Triple-A bullpen.

UPDATE, 7:28 p.m.: Let’s just keep this as the game post for the night.

Brian Heyman here at Yankee Stadium, just up from the clubhouse.

 A-Rod went through his pregame work and said, “I felt OK. No setbacks.” He went to get more treatment and said he would talk to Joe Girardi about whether he will be available off the bench tonight. The injury has been described as hip flexor tendinitis, but Rodriguez said it really is more in the groin area. While Girardi said A-Rod would be back at third tomorrow night if everything went OK with the pregame routine, Rodriguez left open the possibility of serving as a DH tomorrow. He also wouldn’t blame any injury-related reason for having just eight homers this season. “As far as my home runs, they’re just down. But the year’s not over yet. ”

With the Phillies in town, Chan Ho Park received his NL championship ring. … The Phillies have flipped their rotation for the rest of the series. Jamie Moyer moves up to tomorrow and Kyle Kendrick will go Thursday night.

Here’s is Philadelphia’s lineup:

1. Shane Victorino CF

2. Chase Utley 2B

3. Placido Polanco 3B

4. Ryan Howard 1B

5. Jayson Werth RF

6. Raul Ibanez LF

7. Ben Francisco DH

8. Juan Castro SS 

9. Carlos Ruiz C

So far the Yankees have signed 13 of their 2010 draftees. All are college players. Teams have to wait until their high school picks graduate before signing them.

The listed positions — including whether a pitcher is a starter or a reliever — are according to the Yankees.

These are the 13 newest members of the organization.

8th round
Kyle Roller, 1B
East Carolina University

11th round
Zachary Varce, RHS
University of Portland

15th round
Chase Whitley, RHR
Troy University

17th round
Preston Claiborne, RHS
Tulane University

20th round
Michael Ferraro, LF
University of San Diego

22nd round
Trevor Johnson, LHS
College of the Desert

23rd round
Shane Brown, OF
University of Central Florida

24th round
Conor Mullee, RHS
St Peters College

31st round
James Gipson, RHS
Florida Atlantic University

35th round
Williams Oliver, RHS
Palomar College

36th round
Nick McCoy, C
University of San Diego

46th round
Nathan Forer, RHS
S. Illinois University – Carbondale

47th round
Frederick Lewis, LHR
Tennessee Wesleyan College

I’m off today. Brian’s covering the game, but it’s amazing the things you can learn from Twitter.

Alex Rodriguez is out of the lineup but available to pinch hit. He plans to take ground balls and basically go through every other baseball drill known to man. Assuming he comes out of it just fine, Rodriguez will not only play tomorrow, he’ll start at third base.

Also, Sergio Mitre is on the disabled list with an oblique injury. Boone Logan has been recalled.

And of course, here’s the lineup.

Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Jorge Posada DH
Brett Gardner LF
Francisco Cervelli C
Ramiro Pena 3B

LHP CC Sabathia

Didn’t the American League East finally get rid of this guy?

Roy Halladay will be back at Yankee Stadium tonight, this time as the ace of the Philadelphia Phillies. There’s only one truly dominant starter in the Phillies rotation, and the schedule happened to setup a premier matchup between Halladay and CC Sabathia. Quite the way the kick start this World Series rematch.

“Obviously he’s been a great pitcher for a long time,” Joe Girardi said. “He’s pitched great in the National League. He came off a perfect game and then lost his next game 1-0. I don’t think much has changed about him. We just don’t see him quite as much.”

As the Yankees saw last weekend, the Blue Jays rotation has been pretty good without him, but it’s hard to find a pitcher better than Halladay. He’s 18-6 with a 2.84 ERA in his career against the Yankees. The only team he’s beaten more often is Baltimore. Of the current Yankees, only Curtis Granderson (5-for-12) and Ramiro Pena (2-for-6) have a better-than-.300 batting average against him.

“He throws so many strikes in so many good locations,” Girardi said. “Whether it’s his sinker, his cutter, his curveball, his changeup. He doesn’t miss spots. He’s very economical. He knows how to pitch. He doesn’t beat himself.”

Andy Pettitte turned 38 years old today. Maybe he’ll find an all-star selection gift wrapped at his locker.

Associated Press photo

Tonight
LHP CC Sabathia (6-3, 4.01)
vs.
RHP Roy Halladay (8-4, 1.96)
7:05 p.m., MY9

Wednesday
RHP A.J. Burnett (6-4, 3.86)
vs.
RHP Kyle Kendrick (3-2, 4.80)
7:05 p.m., YES Network and ESPN

Thursday
LHP Andy Pettitte (8-1, 2.46)
vs.
LHP Jamie Moyer (6-6, 5.03)
7:05 p.m., YES Network and MLB Network

Associated Press photo of Sabathia