The LoHud Yankees Blog

Ralph Houk, the Yankees first manager under George Steinbrenner and the winner of two World Series titles, died yesterday at the age of 90. He was a little-used catcher for the Yankees in the late 40s and early 50s, but he won the World Series in 1961 and 1962, his first two seasons as manager. He was the team’s manager in 1973 when Steinbrenner bought the team, but he left for Detroit the next season.

Meanwhile, of course, Steinbrenner tributes continue to roll in.

This week, the text answer service KGB asked its readers whether Steinbrenner deserved to be in the Hall of Fame: 83 percent said yes.

Also, THIS TV, the free broadcast movie network, will honor The Boss on Saturday. The programming begins at 7 p.m. ET with “The Pride of the Yankees,” followed by four back-to-back episodes of the 1960 television series “Home Run Derby,” with Mickey Mantle.

I have no idea if I get that channel, but it is apparently carried in New York.

Tonight
LHP CC Sabathia (12-3, 3.13)
vs.
LHP Bruce Chen (5-3, 4.06)
7:05 p.m., YES and MLB Network

Friday
RHP A.J. Burnett (7-8, 4.99)
vs.
RHP Brian Bannister (7-8, 5.65)
7:05 p.m., YES Network

Saturday
RHP Sergio Mitre (0-1, 2.88)
vs.
RHP Kyle Davies (4-6, 5.45)
1:05 p.m., YES Network

Sunday
RHP Phil Hughes (11-3, 3.99)
vs.
RHP Anthony Lerew (1-4, 8.54)
1:05 p.m., YES Network

Associated Press photo of Burnett slamming Nick Swisher with a pie.

By his standards, Derek Jeter is not having a very good season. That’s no secret. It’s also no secret that Jeter is a wildly popular player in and out of the Yankees clubhouse, and the people around him seem to pull for him. When Jeter had three hits on Wednesday — after two hits on Sunday – there was hope from Joe Girardi that it was a sign of things to come.

“Sometimes you have to make minor adjustments,” Girardi said. “Sometimes you can watch video for hours until you find exactly what you’re looking for. He’s made some minor adjustments, and he’s swinging the bat better, and that’s a great sign.”

Of course, when Jeter was asked to elaborate on the adjustments, he turned it into a joke.

“Trying to bloop it over the pitcher’s head and into center field,” he said.

Jeter is always one to downplay this sort of thing. It’s part of what’s made him a good player, and if he’s concerned about his .272 average, he isn’t showing it in the clubhouse. In fact, when he finally went into detail about the adjustments he’s made at the plate, he said they were no bigger than repositioning his foot. They’ve been minor tweaks, the kind of changes he makes all the time in the course of a season.

“Not only when you think you’re going bad,” he said. “I don’t necessarily change things based on results.”

Associated Press photo

CC Sabathia turned 30 today. He got there with 148 wins and 1,700 strikeouts. According to the Yankees, the last pitcher to have so many wins before his 30th birthday was Greg Maddux who won 151 games in his first 30 years. The last pitcher with that many strikeouts was Pedro Martinez, who had 1,981 at age 30.

Associated Press photo

This was not Javier Vazquez’s finest hour, but it was a win, and for the second time this season, Vazquez is better than a .500 pitcher. He’s 8-7, and it only seems fair that his offense had to pick him up for once.

“We’re happy to score for him because he’s had some games when he’s pitched outstanding and we haven’t scored for him,” Derek Jeter said. “And then people wonder why he hasn’t gotten so many wins.”

Vazquez has left games trailing 3-1, 2-0, 1-0 and 3-0. He lost all four of those games. He’s also left games leading 2-0 and 1-0 and got the win in only one of those. This time he pitched very well for four innings, but once he had a huge lead, the game seemed to get away from him.

“When you have that type of lead and you get into some longer counts, the one thing you’re trying to stay away from is walking people,” Joe Girardi said. “And that’s when you can get away from what you do in a sense and become a one- or two-pitch pitcher instead of a four-pitch pitcher.”

In the end, the Yankees bullpen — and home runs from Juan Miranda and Colin Curtis — let Vazquez escape with his first career win against the Angels. It made him the third active pitcher with a win against all 30 current major league teams. Barry Zito and Jamie Moyer are the others.

Here’s Girardi’s postgame audio.

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• Until today, Brett Gardner had never been ejected from a game in his life. “I’d rather not talk about it,” he said. “It’s over and done with.” Girardi didn’t say much more, but he said the decision to toss Gardner left him “scratching my head.”

• Much has been made of the Yankees need for supporting players at the trade deadline, but Miranda, Curtis and Francisco Cervelli came up pretty big today. “These kids can hit,” Girardi said. “Their playing time is not as consistent as it is necessarily in Triple-A, but we believe that these kids can impact the baseball.”

• Girardi had to go to his bullpen for four innings, but he said he’s not worried about tomorrow. “We’ll have plenty of arms,” he said.

• Speaking of the bullpen, Girardi was pretty happy with Joba Chamberlain. “He did what he had to do,” he said. Both Chamberlain and Dave Robertson allowed base runners but ultimately pitched out of a bases-loaded jam to preserve a one-run lead. Chamberlain later allowed a run in the eighth.

• Girardi seems to like Curtis, who is 4-for-8 with six RBI as a pinch hitter. “Not having a lot of at-bats and seeing a lot of pitches over the last two weeks, it’s an amazing at-bat,” Girardi said. “The one thing he has shown, not only can he get hits in pinch-hit situations, but he can put long at-bats on people. And that’s what he’s done. When you make a mistake, he puts a good swing on it.”

• Gardner on Curtis: “I was up there trying to get a guy in from third. He went up there and hit a three-run homer.”

• Curtis got his first home run ball from the fan who caught it. The price was two autographed baseballs, one from Jeter and one from Rodriguez. “I remember when I hit my first home run I didn’t get the ball, so I’m happy he got it,” Jeter said.

• This was Robinson Cano’s third career game with two intentional walks. It hadn’t happened since 2007.

• Mark Teixeira has now reached base in 37 straight games, Nick Swisher has scored in seven straight and the Yankees have hit a home run in eight straight.

Associated Press photos

When Colin Curtis got to his locker after today’s game, the Yankees championship belt was sitting in his chair. Pretty big honor for a guy with 27 major league at-bats, but Curtis had no idea what it was for.

“I don’t know what it is,” he said. “But it was in my locker after the game.”

There were a lot of big moments that kept the Yankees in front this afternoon. Dave Robertson got out of a bases-loaded jam. Joba Chamberlain got out of a bases-loaded jam. Juan Miranda hit a solo home run. But Derek Jeter said he never felt comfortable until Curtis went deep, a bizarre pinch-hit home run that came only after Brett Gardner was ejected in the middle of an at-bat.

Curtis said he was sitting on the bench, drinking Gatorade when Gardner was tossed. He grabbed a bat, took a few practice swings and went to the plate already in the hole 0-2. He worked the count full then drove one to right field. When he got to the dugout, the crowd demanded a curtain call.

“I had no idea what to do,” Curtis said. “I was just giving people high fives and they said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to go out.’ So I was like, all right. I was walking up by the benches, and they were pushing me out toward the opening of the dugout. That was the thrill of a lifetime. You see all of the Yankee history of those guys taking curtain calls. To get an opportunity to do it was amazing.”

Here’s Curtis talking after the game. You’ll notice a sudden pause in the interview. That’s when Reggie Jackson came over to give Curtis a baseball with a personalized inscription. A few minutes earlier, Jackson had told Curtis that he was proud of him, and Curtis had responded: “I’m a little bit behind you.”

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Associated Press photo

The Yankees scored in double digits for the second time since June 8, beating the Angels 10-6 this afternoon to split the season series. The top of the lineup did most of the early damage with Derek Jeter, Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira scoring five of the first six runs. When the Angels pulled within a run, it was the bottom of the lineup that pulled away on a solo home run by Juan Miranda and a three-run shot by Colin Curtis, his first major league homer. Javier Vazquez got the win and has now won against every current major league team at some point in his career.

Associated Press photo of Robinson Cano, who hit his 18th home run.

YANKEES (58-34)
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Juan Miranda DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Francisco Cervelli C
Brett Gardner LF

RHP Javier Vazquez (7-7, 4.45)
Vazquez vs. Angels

ANGELS (51-45)
Erick Aybar SS
Howie Kendrick 2B
Bobby Abreu DH
Torii Hunter CF
Hideki Matsui LF
Mike Napoli 1B
Juan Rivera RF
Kevin Frandsen 3B
Bobby Wilson C

RHP Joel Pineiro (10-6, 3.95)
Pineiro vs. Yankees

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

UMPIRES: HP Paul Emmel, 1B Bill Hohn, 2B Gary Darling, 3B Bruce Dreckman

WEATHER: Upper 80s with a slight chance of rain. A few clouds in the sky. Slight breeze blowing out to right.

WHAT’S LEFT? This will be Hideki Matsui’s first game in the outfield since … July 18. Not exactly a long stretch. It will, however, be his first game in a New York outfield since June 8, 2008.

SENT FROM ABOVE: Javier Vazquez has never recorded a win against the Angels. He’s pitched against them six times goin g0-3 with a 4.38 ERA. If he wins, though, Vazquez will become one of three active pitchers to have beaten all 30 current major league teams. According to Elias, Barry Zito and Jamie Moyer are the only other pitchers to have pulled it off.

YOU AGAIN: Jorge Posada threw out Bobby Abreu trying to steal second base twice last night. It was the first time Posada threw out the same runner twice in a game since Jerry Hairston Jr. — yet another former Yankee — back in 2004. And of course, this postgame stat from last night is worth repeating: Posada has thrown out six base runners this season. Four of them have been Abreu.

UPDATE, 1:25 p.m.: Couple of hits and an RBI ground out in the first inning. It’s enough for a 1-0 Yankees lead.

UPDATE, 1:50 p.m.: Two-run single by Teixeira has pushed the Yankees lead to 3-0 in the third. Jeter led off with a single, Swisher doubled, and both scored on Teixeira’s base hit to center field.

UPDATE, 1:52 p.m.: Make that 5-0 Yankees on Robinson Cano’s two-run shot.

UPDATE, 2:15 p.m.: RBI double from Teixeira makes it 6-0. So far the top three hitters in the Yankees order are 8-for-9 with three doubles and five runs.

UPDATE, 2:35 p.m.: Bobby Wilson is back with a vengeance! His second hit of the day is a two-run homer to cut the Yankees lead to 6-3. Javy Vazquez has looked awfully good today until this inning. Aybar followed the homer with a single, and that’s four straight hits for the Angels, still with no outs. Boone Logan getting loose.

UPDATE, 2:45 p.m.: Cervelli throws out Aybar trying to steal third, then Vazquez strikes out Abreu to get out of the inning.

UPDATE, 3:03 p.m.: Good stat from my friend Tim Britton over at MLB.com: Hideki Matsui has as many Yankee Stadium home runs this season as Curtis Granderson. Matsui just went deep in the sixth to chase Vazquez and cut the lead to 6-5. Robertson now pitching. It was Matsui’s third home run in the Bronx this season.

UPDATE, 3:14 p.m.: Dave Robertson wiggles out of a bases-loaded jam to keep the Yankees lead intact.

UPDATE, 3:42 p.m.: Joba Chamberlain didn’t make it look easy, but he got out of trouble in the top of the seventh, then Juan Miranda went deep in the bottom half. It’s now 7-5 Yankees.

UPDATE, 3:49 p.m.: Paul Emmel, the same ump who ejected Joe Girardi yesterday, has now tossed Brett Gardner for arguing balls and strikes. Gardner seemed to argue briefly, then the argument seemed to be over. As Gardner was getting back in the box, he was tossed.

UPDATE, 3:52 p.m.: All’s well that ends well. Colin Curtis hit for Gardner, hit his first career home run, and got a curtain call. It’s now 10-5 Yankees.

Last season, when he was on his way to a career-high in homers, Curtis Granderson was asked to be a part of the Home Run Derby. Granderson told the league he couldn’t do it.

“I can’t go up there and say I’m going to hit a home run and do it,” he said. “I’m like the worst guy to do that. When I let it happen, things just tend to happen and take care of themselves.”

That’s Granderson’s approach right now with the Yankees. He knows he’s struggling, but he trusts that his .233 average will rebound. Granderson said he’s never been one to watch a ton of video — “Everything both good and bad always seems to look the same to me,” he said — and he usually goes with whatever the coaching staff suggests as far as more or less pregame work in the cage.

“It looked like he was getting hot right before the break, and he was starting to swing the bat, but he’s struggled a little bit lately,” Joe Girardi said. “This is a guy that has hit .260, .270, .280 but right now he seems to be in a little funk. I don’t know if it was the four-day layoff. Maybe it was bad timing for him.”

Maybe, but even Granderson said he didn’t feel especially hot during that weekend series in Seattle. He feels physically fine, no linger impact from the groin injury, but he said this is longest slow stretch of his career.

“It still hasn’t locked itself in,” Granderson said. “But it’s there, I know it’s there, it just has to pull itself out.”

• Starting in left field for the Angels: Hideki Matsui.

• Girardi said he wants to be careful with some guys during this 17-game stretch. It’s hot out and he wants to give guys — Jorge Posada for example — a little bit of a breather when he can. He said he might DH both Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez before the end of the home stand.

• The Yankees have faced Angels starter Joel Pineiro twice this season, but they haven’t seen him since April. He shut them down in New York on April 14, but the Yankees scored six runs off him on April 14.

• Asked yet again about the bullpen, Girardi said he’s been happy with the improvements Boone Logan has made — much better command than earlier in the season — but he acknowledged that the team needs more out of Chan Ho Park. “He’s still a guy that we need to pitch at a higher level,” Girardi said.

• With the trade deadline approaching, Girardi said he doesn’t look at his team any differently. “I don’t think I evaluate our team differently,” he said. “You say this is what we’ve got. This is where we maybe need to improve, but that doesn’t mean you’re able to do it. Sometimes the best trades are the ones that aren’t made. We have some guys that are going to be given an opportunity.”

• Check it out, Bobby Wilson is alive and well. He’s the guy who was crushed by Mark Teixeira in a home plate collision in Anaheim back in April. It was Wilson’s first major league start, but he missed the next 21 games because of a sprained ankle and a concussion.

ANGELS
Erick Aybar SS
Howie Kendrick 2B
Bobby Abreu DH
Torii Hunter CF
Hideki Matsui LF
Mike Napoli 1B
Juan Rivera RF
Kevin Frandsen 3B
Bobby Wilson C

Associated Press photos of Granderson, and of Matsui with Jeter

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Juan Miranda DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Francisco Cervelli C
Brett Gardner LF