The LoHud Yankees Blog

Brett Gardner is out of the lineup one night after feeling some pain in his left thumb.

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Francisco Cervelli C
Kevin Russo LF

LHP CC Sabathia

Fair warning. It’s raining here at Camden Yards. It’s not raining hard, but it’s raining enough to make a rain out possible. The forecast says the rain will stop around 5 p.m., but there’s a 50 percent chance of rain at game time, and that chance increases to 70 percent by 9 p.m.

When a group of a dozen or so writers gathered around Phil Hughes’ locker last night, he quickly noticed someone was missing. The YES Network is usually there, and Kim Jones usually asks the first question. There was no Kim last night.

“You guys better come up with some questions,” Hughes said.

That’s the Yankees fifth starter. He’s 23 years old, living up to his lofty potential and feeling comfortable in the moment. Last night he joked with ease, then broke down his outing with unflinching honesty and perspective.

“The stuff just wasn’t great,” he said. “Command-wise I was a little off. You have these days and you battle and hope that we do score enough runs. You just have to tip your cap to them. They took a different approach than they did last game I faced them. They were more aggressive and didn’t let the counts get too deep.”

Joe Girardi’s evaluation was simple: “I’ve seen him sharper but he was pretty good.”

Hughes has been so good this year that six innings and three runs — with no walks and no extra-base hits — seems like a bad game. It wasn’t. Last night wasn’t his best game, but it was enough, and learning to win without great stuff is part of the process.

“It’s great when you do get those cheap ones sometimes,” Hughes said. “You don’t feel good and you’re stuff isn’t good but you’re able to go out there and not get rocked. It’s a good feeling, not having your best stuff and still pitching decent.”

Associated Press photo.

Yankees first-round pick Cito Culver was supposed to be on a conference call with the media at 4 p.m. on Tuesday. It was pushed back to 4:30 because Culver was getting a tuxedo for the senior ball at his high school. He and a friend picked out a pinstriped version, and there was disappointment in his voice when he told the New York writers that the pinstripes are black, not blue.

“I’ve been working for this all my life,” Culver said. “And to go 32 overall to my favorite team, and the team I’ve been growing up watching, and the team my family has followed for years now, it was an awesome feeling. It was unreal.”

Two years ago, the Yankees drafted a high school kid who didn’t sign. That doesn’t seem likely in this case. Culver has advisors working for him, and so he naturally didn’t rule out the idea of sticking to his commitment to the University of Maryland, but there was a sense that he simply couldn’t help himself.

“I think that I just can’t wait to be a Yankee,” he said.

WHY HE PLAYS BASEBALL: “My whole family grew up playing baseball. If you didn’t play baseball in my family you were pretty much exiled from the family. It’s something that ran in the family, and when you have a lot of cousins like I do – I have a ton of cousins – they’re all playing baseball and you’re going to play with them. It’s just something that grew on me.”

WHAT KIND OF PLAYER HE IS: “Switch hitter. Love to hit. Love to hit from both sides. I’m a pretty good runner. My best asset I think is my arm strength. I think I have good feet in the infield, know how to get myself in good position to take a ground ball and make an accurate throw.”

WHAT POSITION HE EXPECTS TO PLAY: “I see myself as a shortstop. That’s the position I played growing up, throughout my whole life. Once a shortstop always a shortstop, but I’m open to do whatever the team needs to do to get the win.”

WHAT HE EXPECTED ON MONDAY: “I wasn’t really sure to be honest. I knew a couple of teams were interested in me. Did I know I’d go 32 overall? No I didn’t. When I was called, I was very grateful and just honored to be able to begin and finish off my career being a Yankee.”

WHY DEREK JETER IS HIS FAVORITE PLAYER: “I just love the way he plays the game. He goes hard every time. The best part about his game to me is when he hits a ground ball, he runs it out hard every time. You can expect that from him, just giving his best effort every time. That’s something I want to resemble when I get older, playing as hard as he did. He’s one of the best that’s ever played the game.”

Mark Teixeira singled twice, and neither was hit especially well. Then he walked twice, once to lead-off an inning and once to load the bases. Finally, in the seventh, he went deep.

“He got a couple of bleeders and that’s usually what gets you on a roll,” Nick Swisher said. “He got that and obviously with the big home run late in the game, it’s coming boys. It’s coming.”

It’s easy to love or hate Teixeira’s attitude this season. He either seems woefully out of tough, or he seems like a guy who stays even keel. Joe Girardi said Teixeira wasn’t much different during tonight’s 3-for-3 game than during Sunday’s 0-for-4.

“You see him smile a little bit more between at-bats, Girardi said. “But he really doesn’t change much. He’s happy when we’re winning, and he’s not happy when we’re losing. That’s about the most you get out of him.”

Those two singles and those two walks, they seemed to be small stepping stones the home run finale.

“It tells me that I’m not jumping at pitches,” Teixeira said. “It tells me that I’m waiting for my pitch. Hitting is an aggressive act. It’s not calling taking. It’s not called watching. It’s hitting, so you want to swing at pitches, you want to do damage, but at the same time, if you’re swinging at bad pitches you’re not helping out anybody.”

Here’s Teixeira after the game.

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• Teixeira was one of three Yankees to have a three-hit game. Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher also had three hits, Curtis Granderson and Brett Gardner each had two. Swisher’s average is up to .311, and he has 10 home runs to go with it.

• Phil Hughes said his command wasn’t great. He was able to throw strikes — no walks for the first time this season — but he wasn’t able to spot pitches in the zone. “If I was to evaluate myself without even knowing how many runs I gave up, the pitches I made, I feel like I shouldn’t have won this game,” he said. “But I was able to battle as much as I could.”

• Frankly, that’s just the way Hughes is. When he evaluates himself after a start, he seems to focus on the negatives and you could tell those two-out runs bothered him. Allowing three runs on a bad day is pretty good. “With guys on base, two outs, 2-2 counts, stuff like that,” Hughes said. “I was just missing a little bit and they were able to cash in on a couple of opportunities.”

• Alex Rodriguez is fine. Girardi took him out of the game because of the score. “He felt good today and he’ll be back tomorrow,” Girardi said.

• Teixeira gave a lot of credit to Curtis Granderson, whose third-inning grand slam gave the Yankees a big, early lead. “That big home run got us all going,” Teixeira said. “Any time you see your teammate hit a grand slam, it just kind of rejuvenates the whole team.”

• It was the second grand slam of Granderson’s career. His first game on April 4, 2007.

• Dave Robertson had two strikeouts, his first strikeouts since May 20.

Associated Press photos of Teixeira and Swisher.

Brett Gardner was taken out of tonight’s game after feeling some minor soreness in his left thumb. He felt it on a check swing before his seventh-inning single.

“He said it’s happened 20 times since last year,” Joe Girardi said.

The pain is a byproduct of last year’s broken thumb, and Gardner said he’s had occasionally pain that flares up and goes away in a few minutes. This time, it was a little worse than usual so he told Girardi about it, and given the score, Girardi decided to take Gardner out and give Marcus Thames an at-bat. Gardner expects to play tomorrow.

“When (last year’s injury) happened, the told me it might not feel right for almost a year,” Gardner said.

At the very least, tonight was a step in the right direction for Mark Teixeira. The Yankees struggling first baseman went 3-for-3 with a walk and his ninth home run of the season, helping the Yankees overpower the Orioles in a 12-7 win at Camden Yards. Nick Swisher also hit a two-run home run, and Curtis Granderson had a grand slam. Phil Hughes allowed a season-high nine hits and struck out fewer than six batters for only the third time this season, but he also walked none and didn’t allow an extra-base hit while picking up his eighth win.

Associated Press photo of Granderson after his grand slam.

YANKEES (35-22)
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Francisco Cervelli C
Brett Gardner LF

RHP Phil Hughes (7-1, 6.54)
Career vs. Orioles

ORIOLES (16-41)
Julio Lugo 2B
Miguel Tejada 3B
Nick Markakis RF
Ty Wigginton 1B
Luke Scott DH
Adam Jones CF
Matt Wieters C
Lou Montanez LF
Cesar Izturis SS

RHP Kevin Millwood (0-6, 4.29)
Career vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 1:05 p.m. / MY9

UMPIRES: HP D.J. Reyburn, 1B Gerry Davis, 2B Sam Holbrook, 3B Greg Gibson

WEATHER: Very nice out here in Baltimore. I believe it got pretty cold our first time through here, but tonight is just about perfect. Some chance of rain later in the week, though.

MINOR SUSPENSION: According to a release from Major League Baseball, Yankees minor league pitcher Angel Rincon has received a 50-game suspension after testing positive for metabolites of Stanozolol, a performance-enhancing substance. The suspension of Rincon, who is currently on the roster of the club’s Dominican Summer League team, is effective immediately.

GOOD MATCHUP: The Yankees three starters this season — Hughes, Sabathia and Burnett — are a combined 26-5 in their careers against Baltimore. Sabathia and Burnett have combined to make 15 starts in this ballpark, and they’re 11-1.

NO JUNE SWOON: In the month of June, the Yankees pitchers have a 2.67 ERA, holding opponents to a .184 average.

UPDATE, 7:14 p.m.: Jeter walked. Swisher hit a two-run homer. Teixeira got a base hit. It’s nice to play the O’s.

UPDATE, 8:00 p.m.: Been writing a lot for the paper, but we’re still in a 2-0 game in the top of the third. Phil Hughes has allowed three singles, but he hasn’t been hit hard and he’s gotten through two scoreless. Right now the Yankees have the bases loaded with two outs in the third. Granderson’s at the plate.

UPDATE, 8:03 p.m.: Grand slam by Granderson. I’m not listening to the broadcast. Did John Sterling go absolutely nuts?

UPDATE, 8:30 p.m.: Back-to-back RBI singles have put the Orioles on the board and cut the Yankees lead to 6-2. Hughes is at 70 pitches in the fourth inning.

UPDATE, 8:59 p.m.: Two-out single by Wigginton gives the Orioles another run. All three O’s runs have scored with two outs.

UPDATE, 9:09 p.m.: Brett Gardner slipping around second, plus Nick Markakis’s huge arm in right field led to an out at third.

UPDATE, 9:40 p.m.: In their past three games, the Yankees scored a total of seven runs. They now have a 7-3 lead here in Baltimore after Gradner’s flare, RBI single in the seventh inning. Bases are still loaded with one out and the top of the order coming to the plate.

UPDATE, 9:46 p.m.: Nick Swisher has been very, very good this season, and he now has three hits and five RBI tonight after a two-out, three-run double in the seventh. Yankees are now leading 10-3.

UPDATE, 9:48 p.m.: No. 3 hitter Mark Teixeira goes deep, a two-run shot that is his third hit of the game. He’s 3-for-3 with two walks, two singles and the homer.

As Jorge Posada jogged into the outfield and toward the bullpen to catch Andy Pettitte’s side session, Francisco Cervelli called out from the dugout. “Hip, hip. Jorge!”

“He’s obviously closer,” Joe Girardi said. “And we’ll expand his drills as the week goes on. We want to see how he bounces back tomorrow, how the foot bounces back, and we’ll expand it every day obviously.”

Girardi said he wants Posada behind the plate “in the near future,” but he doesn’t expect it to happen this week. Posada caught Pettitte’s bullpen session, blocked balls in the dirt with Tony Pena, and went into the outfield to simulate throws to second base. Posada said he felt no pain but still needs to get his legs used to the routine.

“We want to see how the foot reacts,” he said. “It feels fine now. Just want to see if the foot can take it. We’re trying to simulate a little bit of catching. It’s not like catching a whole game. We just want to be smart about it. Take a day off tomorrow and do it again Thursday.”

Here’s Posada.

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• First-round draft pick Cito Culver said he prefers Cito, not Chris. He also said his high school senior ball is on Friday, and he spent part of the afternoon going with a friend to rent pinstriped suits. “When I was called I was very grateful and just honored,” he said. He sounded like a great kid, and handled the conference call really well. I’ll have more on exactly what he said soon.

• Staten Island manager Josh Paul is here to fill in as pitching coach bullpen coach while Dave Eiland is away. (I had that posted from my phone about two hours ago, but for whatever reason it didn’t work). Girardi said he’s still not sure when Eiland will return.

• Obviously Alex Rodriguez’s sore groin is feeling better. “Alex is good,” Girardi said. “He’s in the lineup. Feels great.”

• Girardi still has not talked to Culver, but said he expects to at some point soon.

• Baltimore lineup.

Julio Lugo 2B
Miguel Tejada 3B
Nick Markakis RF
Ty Wigginton 1B
Luke Scott DH
Adam Jones CF
Matt Wieters C
Lou Montanez LF
Cesar Izturis SS

UPDATE, 6:28 p.m.: My bad everyone, I misunderstood. Josh Paul is here to serve as bullpen coach. Mike Harkey will remain the interim pitching coach. Sorry about that.

Associated Press photo.

Jorge Posada blocked balls in the dirt, simulated throws to second base and caught Andy Pettitte in the bullpen.

He said everything feels good, but he’s not sure when he’ll be behind the plate in a game.