The LoHud Yankees Blog

Tonight
RHP A.J. Burnett (6-2, 3.28)
vs.
LHP Brett Cecil (5-2, 3.81)
7:07 p.m., YES Network

Saturday
LHP Andy Pettitte (7-1, 2.48)
vs.
LHP Ricky Romero (5-2, 3.14)
1:07 p.m., YES Network

Sunday
RHP Javier Vazquez (4-5, 6.06)
vs.
RHP Brandon Morrow (4-4, 6.00)
1:07 p.m., YES Network and TBS

Associated Press photo of Vazquez

Find my way up north, find out what I’m worth.
Try and understand, just how big I am.
- North, by Jerry Joseph

After sweeping the lowly Orioles and taking three of four against the last-place Indians, the Yankees are back on the road to begin a three-game series against the surprisingly good Blue Jays. It will be season’s first meeting between these two teams, and the standings suggest it will be the Yankees toughest series of a relatively easy two-and-a-half week stint.

Last night the Yankees used a strong start from CC Sabathia to finish off Baltimore. Alex Rodriguez and Brett Gardner went deep, and Robinson Cano stayed hot with an RBI double.

Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera closed out the win, good for Rivera’s 12th save and Chamberlain’s second straight scoreless outing. The notebook also has items on Gardner and Francisco Cervelli.

Of course, the imperfect perfect game in Detroit remains a hot topic of discussion and the Yankees seem a little split on whether the first-base call should be reversed. My own opinion: Let it stand. What’s done is done, and baseball has a good memory for this sort of thing. It may very well go down as the most famous perfect game since Don Larsen’s, despite what the box score says.

I’m about to catch my flight to Canada. Sweeny Murti is here with me, which seems to always be the case. If you’re curious, Sweeny went with oatmeal. I chose a bagel. That’s the kind of hard-hitting news we love here at the LoHud Yankees Blog!

I’ll check in again from Toronto. Take care of America while I’m gone.

In this business of sports writing, Joe Posnanski is as good as they come, and so his column on the Jim Joyce fiasco is of course highly recommended.

…when my young daughters ask, “Why didn’t he get mad and scream about how he was robbed,” I think I will tell them this: I don’t know for sure, but I think it’s because Armando Galarraga understands something that is very hard to understand, something we all struggle with, something I hope you learn as you grow older: In the end, nobody’s perfect. We just do the best we can.

Also highly recommended: The audio of Joyce speaking to the media after last night’s game. It’s six minutes and 14 seconds of unhinged frustration, disappointment and disbelief.

Ken Griffey Jr. was never my favorite baseball player, but I was 9 years old when he played in his first major league game, and I’m pretty sure I had my first Seattle Mariners t-shirt by the time I was 10.

We’ve known for quite some time that Griffey’s career was coming to the end, and now that he’s retired, I can only hope that some kid who’s 9 years old today has a father or a brother or an uncle who can tell him all about the version of Griffey that he never got to see.

If not, maybe the Yankees third baseman can tell the story.

“He could literally be playing Nintendo at 6:45 or 6:50, and at 7:06 he’d make a Spiderman catch,” Alex Rodriguez said. “And then in the (bottom) of the first he’d hit one in the upper deck at the Kingdome, 475 feet. And do it all with a smile. You look at yourself and you’re like, ‘Damn. I’ve been getting ready since 5:45 for the game.’ I wish you guys had the opportunity to see what I saw for seven years.

“I came in at 17 straight out of Westminster High School and I got to see our Michael Jordan for a long time. Our Tiger Woods. The best of the best. For me, always a first-class guy. Melissa and his kids always treated me like family and welcomed me to the big leagues. I was fortunate that we had a tremendous core over there of not only great players, but great people. Griffey was right at the forefront.”

Associated Press photo from April of last season

For the first time as a Yankee, CC Sabathia had gone five straight starts without a win before pitching seven strong innings against the Orioles this afternoon. He allowed only three hits — two of them were home runs — while striking out six. Most importantly, he located his fastball and changeup much better than in recent starts.

“A little bit better command of his breaking ball and he’ll be there,” pitching coach Dave Eiland said. “He was still missing down. They were good misses. They weren’t hanging.”

Sabathia said the biggest difference was being able to put hitters away. Despite what Joe Girardi has said, Sabathia said his mechanics have been fine, he just hasn’t been executing.

“Just making pitches,” he said. “I got ahead a few times and didn’t put guys away the past couple of starts. I’d get 1-2, 0-2, and guys would foul off a couple of pitches and it would turn into a long at-bat. Today I was able to put guys away. Buried a couple of sliders. Threw a changeup where it needed to be. Got the fastball in on the hands.”

That’s all good news for the Yankees who have now won five straight, with their starting pitchers getting all five of those wins. During this streak, the rotation is 5-0 with a 1.75 ERA and 34 strikeouts. They’ve walked three batters.

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• Robinson Cano has now tied Jorge Cantu for the longest hitting streak in the major leagues this season. He’s hit in 17 straight and would match a career-high with a hit tomorrow in Toronto. Sabathia said he knows exactly what he would do if he need to pitch to Cano. “I probably wouldn’t,” he said. “Even being a lefty, he’s on fire. He’s our best hitter right now.”

• Brett Gardner hit his third home run of the season off Kevin Millwood. Three homers matches Gardner’s total for last season. “He’s a guy that throws a lot of cutters in, or a little front-door two-seamer,” Gardner said. “He’s not a guy that I would try to pull, but you have to be aware that he’s going to come in there sometimes.” As he’s said time and time again, Gardner insisted that his approach does not change because he’s hitting ninth instead of second. “The whole second lead-off deal, I’ve never really understood that,” he said. “If a guy’s hitting ninth, he’s hitting ninth.”

• The past two years, the Yankees are 6-0 when Gardner hits a home run.

• Sabathia did allow a home run to Luke Scott, the first left-handed home run he’s allowed at the current Yankee Stadium. He’s now allowed 12 home runs this season, six fewer than he allowed all of last year. He’s never allowed more than 20. “Who cares?” Eiland said. “That doesn’t concern me.”

• The ball that hit off Sabathia’s pitching had hit the pad of his palm, just beneath his thumb. Sabathia said it was numb at first but ultimately felt fine. Girardi and Eiland weren’t exactly happy to see him field that ball with his bare hand.

• Why did Girardi take Sabathia out after 94 pitches? “I just felt with the heat today it was time to make a change,” Girardi said. “CC wanted to stay in.”

• Since coming off the disabled list Curtis Granderson is 10-for-24 (.417) with four doubles, a home run and six runs scored. He’s had a hit in every start since coming back.

• Alex Rodriguez has now hit six home runs in his past 24 games after hitting just two home runs in his first 28 games of the season. In 30 games since May 1 he’s hitting .336 with 29 RBI and 21 runs.

• Rodriguez was told that David Huff was able to start today, just five days after Rodriguez hit a line drive off his head. “It just tells you how weak I am,” Rodriguez said. When he wants to, the guy can be pretty funny.

• Lost Rule 5 pick Kanekoa Texeira was claimed off waivers by the Royals. He now has to stay on Kansas City’s 25-man roster or else be once again sent through waivers and offered back to the Yankees if he clears.

• Former Yankees minor leaguer Jason Jones — who was also once lost in the Rule 5 draft — has signed a minor league deal with the Nationals. Jones had some great years in Double-A with the Yankees, but never did much beyond that.

UPDATE, 6:45 p.m.: Rough news out of Scranton. Jon Weber has been released to open a roster spot for Juan Miranda. I’m sure you remember Weber from his awesome spring training. Weber had been hitting lately. He might have asked to be let go, seeing no real opportunity to move up with the Yankees.

Associated Press photos of Rodriguez and Gardner.

After a walk and hit batter, Mariano Rivera pitched a scoreless ninth inning tonight, getting his 12th save and touching 95 mph in the process.

“Speed doesn’t define whether you’re going to do good or bad,” Rivera said. “Speed is just speed. The most important thing is hitting your location. If you hit your location, if you do what you’re supposed to do, everything will be fine. I don’t look for velocity. I look for spots. If I hit my spot, it doesn’t matter if it’s 90 or 89.”

Rivera said he wasn’t aggressive enough against the first two batters, but when he had two on with no outs, “It got to a different level,” he said.

Joe Girardi remembered the last time he saw Rivera hitting that kind of velocity, and he’s actually hoping this time will be different.

“The last time he hit those numbers was the time that he got hurt,” Girardi said. “I hope he feels good tomorrow. It just means he’s feeling good.”

Associated Press photo of Rivera walking off the field with Girardi, with Alex Rodriguez congratulating him with a slap pat on the back.

CC Sabathia got himself back on track this afternoon. After a string of not-ace-like starts, the Yankees No. 1 allowed three hits through seven innings for a 6-3 win against the Orioles. It was the Yankees fifth straight victory, and it capped a three-game sweep of Baltimore. Sabathia allowed only five base runners, but three of them scored on a solo homer and a two run shot. Otherwise, he was dominant again, striking out seven and walking one. Alex Rodriguez and Brett Gardner had home runs for the Yankees, Robinson Cano had a double and Mariano Rivera got his 12th save.

Associated Press photo of Sabathia

YANKEES (33-20)
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

LHP CC Sabathia (4-3, 4.16)
Career vs. Orioles

ORIOLES (15-37)
Julio Lugo 2B
Miguel Tejada 3B
Nick Markakis RF
Ty Wigginton DH
Luke Scott LF
Garrett Atkins 1B
Adam Jones CF
Craig Tatum C
Cesar Izturis SS

RHP Kevin Millwood (0-5, 3.89)
Career vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 1:05 p.m. / YES Network

UMPIRES: HP Mike DiMuro, 1B Tim Welke, 2B Jim Reynolds, 3B Bill Welke

WEATHER: There are a few clouds, but the temperature is into the mid-80s with a very slight chance of rain. At times the flags are still, other times they’re blowing out to left field. Right now it doesn’t seem like enough wind to affect the game.

GOOD MATCHUP: Collectively, the current Yankees have a .290 career batting average against Orioles starter Kevin Millwood. Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez have hit him well, but it’s Nick Swisher who has a career .710 slugging percentage with three home runs against Millwood.

TOUGH YEAR: Speaking of Millwood, he’s allowed more than four earned runs only once this year, and he’s never allowed more than five. He hasn’t allowed more than two earned in either of his past two starts, yet he remains winless. Hard to win in Baltimore these days.

REMEMBER THIS NAME: If you don’t know his name already, Slade Heathcott is one worth remembering. The Yankees first-round draft pick last season made his Single-A debut last night and hit a walk-off single in the 10th inning.

ROLLING SEVENS: Phil Hughes and Andy Pettitte are each 7-1. According to Elias, they are the first pair of Yankees teammates to win seven of their first 10 starts since 1984 when Joe Cowley and Phil Niekro went 8-0 and 7-2. Cowley, however, did not make his first start until July of that season.

UPDATE, 1:22 p.m.: Derek Jeter must have seen something in Millwood’s delivery. Stealing third base with no outs and the 3, 4, 5 hitters due up, that’s not exactly a usual play, and it clearly didn’t come from the bench or else Swisher would have taken second. Just a good, veteran move from the Captain.

UPDATE, 1:24 p.m.: Well that was weird. Millwood stumbles on the mound, a balk is called and the Yankees get a 1-0 lead.

UPDATE, 1:28 p.m.: There’s Robinson Cano’s daily double. Swisher scored and the Yankees are up 2-0.

UPDATE, 1:50 p.m.: Adam Jones is not having a good season, but he’s still a heckuva hitter. His solo homer off Sabathia has pulled the Orioles within 2-1.

UPDATE, 2:01 p.m.: It’s true, this Orioles team is pretty bad, but Millwood is a pretty solid pitcher who’s not having a bad season. Still, the Yankees have already scored four runs off him, getting their fourth on Alex Rodriguez’s two-run homer here in the third inning. It’s a 4-1 Yankees lead.

UPDATE, 2:10 p.m.: RBI single by Granderson makes it 5-1. For a guy who said he didn’t have his legs quite under him when he came off the disabled list, Granderson’s been hitting pretty well for the past week.

UPDATE, 2:40 p.m.: Spend pregame talking about a disputed call at first base, you are inevitably going to have a borderline call at first base during the game. That’s just the way baseball works. It’s one of Dallas Braden’s unwritten rules.

UPDATE, 2:50 p.m.: Bud Selig’s statement regarding last night’s Tigers game.

First, on behalf of Major League Baseball, I congratulate Armando Galarraga on a remarkable pitching performance. All of us who love the game appreciate the historic nature of his effort last night.

The dignity and class of the entire Detroit Tigers organization under such circumstances were truly admirable and embodied good sportsmanship of the highest order. Armando and Detroit manager Jim Leyland are to be commended for their handling of a very difficult situation. I also applaud the courage of umpire Jim Joyce to address this unfortunate situation honestly and directly. Jim’s candor illustrates why he has earned the respect of on-field personnel throughout his accomplished career in the Major Leagues since 1989.

As Jim Joyce said in his postgame comments, there is no dispute that last night’s game should have ended differently. While the human element has always been an integral part of baseball, it is vital that mistakes on the field be addressed. Given last night’s call and other recent events, I will examine our umpiring system, the expanded use of instant replay and all other related features. Before I announce any decisions, I will consult with all appropriate parties, including our two unions and the Special Committee for On-Field Matters, which consists of field managers, general managers, club owners and presidents.

UPDATE, 3:05 p.m.: There’s Brett Gardner’s third home run of the season. He’s hit exactly three in each of the past two years — one big league season, one Triple-A season — and had a total of one home run the two years before that.

UPDATE, 3:25 p.m.: Sabathia was cruising until that two-run home run by Luke Scott. Dave Robertson is getting loose in the bullpen.

Even here in New York, the biggest topic of discussion this morning was last night’s near perfect game in Detroit.

Jim Joyce blew the call and cost Armando Galarraga his moment in history.

“Nobody’s perfect,” Galarraga said.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi remains against instant replay on the bases, but in this case, he thinks an exception might be appropriate.

“I don’t know if I’m in favor of it for base calls because I think it might slow the game down an awful lot,” Girardi said. “But as I said yesterday, I think unique circumstances like yesterday, it might something Major League Baseball looks at.”

Both Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson disagreed. Replay or reversal in this situation would only be the beginning, they said. If this is where it starts, where does it stop?

“You’re going to have everybody call in and say, our runner was safe this inning, our pitcher threw a strike this time, the guy did swing or he didn’t swing,” Granderson said. “We could go back as far as we have video of baseball games and start changing calls.”

What’s been interesting has been the reaction from within baseball. Fans are fighting mad, but the players and managers don’t seem angry. They’re upset, naturally, but they feel bad for Joyce. Even Galarraga told Joyce not to worry about it.

“I feel bad for Jim Joyce,” Jeter said. “I mean, he’s one of the most respected and best umpires in the league, so you feel bad for him. But, he’s human.”

The Detroit Free Press has a ton of great stuff on the game. Check it out.

UPDATE, 12:20 p.m.: Here’s Girardi’s pregame media session. It’s primarily about replay and the events in Detroit.

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• Girardi said the decision to play Francisco Cervelli again is primarily because Cervelli is so young. “When I was young, day games after night games didn’t bother me,” he said. It helps that Cervelli had Friday and Sunday off.

• That said, “(Cervelli) will get a day off this weekend,” Girardi said.

• The Yankees are looking for CC Sabathia to rebound from some bad outings. Girardi said the issue has been unusual cutting action on Sabathia’s fastball and changeup. “That’s somewhat of a mechanical issue, getting over your front leg,” Girardi said.

• On days Jorge Posada is able to catch, Girardi said he will use the DH spot to rest his regulars. He will not move someone else into that spot as a regular DH. Makes it sound even more like Posada is the team’s primary DH now, not just a catcher who happens to be DHing for the time being.

Associated Press photo

The strangest thing just happened. An actual tumbleweed just rolled through the Yankees clubhouse.

Players are slowly showing up and the lineup was just posted. It looks a lot like yesterday’s, complete with Francisco Cervelli starting a day game after a night game.

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