The LoHud Yankees Blog

When Andy Pettitte went down with his groin strain, Joe Girardi summoned David Robertson from the bullpen. He gave his reasons — Robertson’s propensity for strikeouts and his ability to get loose quickly — but the situation practically required more than a typical long man. The Rays led 3-2 behind their ace, David Price, and they had a runner on with another batter up 3-and-0 in the count.

Alex Rodriguez later called it a bold move. It turned out to be the wise one. Robertson threw ball four to Kelly Shoppach but escaped the jam on a pair of fly outs by Sean Rodriguez and B.J. Upton.

“I think Joe did a great job,” A-Rod said. “Sending in Robertson was kind of a bold move, but it paid off. I think those were the two biggest outs of the game.”

The bullpen finished with 6 2/3 of two-run, five-hit ball. Robertson tossed 1 2/3 scoreless and Chan Ho Park followed with 1 1/3 perfect innings. Boone Logan and Joba Chamberlain held the lead before Mariano Rivera recorded the final out with a man on by throwing just one pitch.

It all started with Robertson.

“I just felt that that was our best option at that time. I liked his stuff in that spot and he did a tremendous job,” Girardi said. “Our whole bullpen did a tremendous job tonight.”

Robertson conceded that it was a “weird” situation to warmup on the field rather than the bullpen. He was unswayed when they asked for him. He figured immediately that it was possible once Pettitte went down.

“I kind of saw the situation and thought it might be a situation I’m going to come in to,” Robertson said.

After Park’s perfect work, Logan, who was called up when Damaso Marte went on the DL Saturday, pitched well despite allowing a solo homer to Gabe Kapler. Chamberlain struck out two in a solid eighth before a pair of Tampa doubles in the ninth pushed another run across.

Girardi quickly turned to Rivera despite a four-run lead. However, he said it had more to do with Chamberlain’s pitch-count than his lack of faith in the struggling setup man.

“I had a pitch-limit on Joba. I wasn’t going to let him go more than that,” Girardi said. And I also felt it was good to get Mo in the game. He hadn’t pitched in four days until Friday.”

• Alex Rodriguez hit the 598th homer of his career. He said the pursuit of No. 600 is much different than that of No. 500 although this club is far more exclusive. Rodriguez will become just the seventh member of Club 600.

“We have so much going on,” Rodriguez said. “We have a lot of team goals going on right now, so my focus is on think small, think about driving in big runs and not worry about too much.”

• I’ll have more on him tomorrow, but Derek Jeter may have snapped out of his slump today. He went 2 for 5 with the go-ahead RBI single. It was just his second multi-hit game in his last 16.

• Quietly, Mark Teixeira has now reached base in 35 straight games. It matches the second-longest streak of his career and is just one shy of matching the longest. He has now hit safely in 22 of his last 25 games and 29 of his last 34. Tex has raised his average from .211 to .253.

• Now 58-33, the Yanks have moved three games in front in the division. It matches their biggest lead all season. They also now have their best record after 91 games since a pretty good year, 1998, when they were an absurd 68-23.

According to Brian Cashman via Chad Jennings, Andy Pettitte will be placed on the DL and could be out for 4-5 weeks. He will be replaced in the starting rotation by Sergio Mitre on Saturday at home against Kansas City.

The Yankees said in today’s postgame that they would wait and see how Pettitte felt in a couple days. Obviously, they weren’t willing to wait that long.

Pettitte left today’s 9-5 victory over the Rays with a Grade 1 strain in his left groin. He felt discomfort on a 2-and-0 pitch to Kelly Shoppach with one out in the third inning and was removed after the pain sharpened on his first warmup pitch.

Pettitte said he suffered a similar injury in 2001 but could not remember much about it or compare this injury to that one.

Stay tuned. I’ll have postgame notes shortly.

Andy Pettitte is already back from his MRI. He was diagnosed with a Grade 1 strain of his groin. Grade 1 is the least severe diagnosis.

The Yankees will continue to evaluate Pettitte over the next couple days. They have not determined whether or not he will be placed on the DL, although Joe Girardi said: “If he can’t take his turn, someone’s going to have to take his turn and step up. We’re going to have to talk about it internally here, with the options that we have, but it looks like he’s probably headed to the DL.”

Pettitte said he first fell discomfort on the final pitch he threw, a 2-and-1 offering to Kelly Shoppach. Jorge Posada motioned to the dugout to have someone check on Pettitte. Girardi and Gene Monahan came to the mound and had Pettitte try a warmup toss. The groin really barked on the warmup when he swung his left leg around on his follow through, Pettitte said.

“Usually I sit here and say I can pitch through anything. But I was hurt. I was hurt pretty bad,” Pettitte said. “I hope that I feel great tomorrow. I hope I don’t feel anything. But I’m being pretty realistic when I say they’re pretty cautious here. We just have to see what happens. Hopefully the next couple days it feels better.”

Girardi said he would have discussions this afternoon about who is the best candidate to replace Pettitte. He said the options were Sergio Mitre, Chad Gaudin and Dustin Moseley.

Mitre just said he has been stretched out to 60 pitches. He would hope in his next outing he could be stretched even further, although he had anticipated returning in a long-man role, not in the rotation.

Girardi:

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Pettitte:

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Photo credit: Associated Press

YANKEES (57-33)
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Marcus Thames DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Brett Gardner LF
Andy Pettitte LHP
vs. Rays

RAYS (55-35)
B.J. Upton CF
Carl Crawford DH
Evan Longoria 3B
Carlos Pena 1B
Ben Zobrist RF
Jason Bartlett SS
Gabe Kapler LF
Kelly Shoppach C
Sean Rodriguez 2B
David Price LHP
vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 1:05 p.m. EDT/YES and TBS

UMPIRES: HP Marvin Hudson, 1B Jim Wolf, 2B Derryl Cousins (crew chief), 3B D.J. Reyburn.

WEATHER: It is 93 degrees and sunny with scattered clouds. The heat index will be in the mid 90s today. Winds are blowing out of the west 10-15 mph.

THIS PRICE HAS BEEN RIGHT VS. YANKS: All-Star Game starter David Price has been dominant against the Yankees in his short career. Yankee hitters are just 13 for 86 (.151 BAA) against Price. He has walked 10 against them, but has also struck out 19.

DIRTY 30: Andy Pettitte will start against the Rays for the 30th time in his career. The current Tampa lineup has hit the veteran lefty hard at times. Pena has five homers and eight RBI in 38 career at-bats vs. Pettitte, while Bartlett and Zobrist have both batted over .400. Pettitte has been able to neutralize Longoria, who is just 2 for 18 against him.

Update, 1:23 p.m.: Rays lead 3-0 in the middle of the first. Not a good first inning for Pettitte, who allowed three runs on four hits, the big blow being Pena’s three-run homer. It could’ve been worse had Pettitte not snared Crawford’s bunt attempt for the first out of the inning.

As I wrote before the game, Pena had owned Pettitte. He now has six homers vs. Pettitte in 39 career at-bats. It is the most homers any active player has against Pettitte. Pena had been tied with A-Rod and Carlos Delgado at five. For comparison’s sake, Manny Ramirez has just four homers in 79 career ABs vs. Pettitte.

Update, 1:34 p.m.: 3-2 Rays after one. The Yankees are back in the game after a two-run triple by Cano, who was all over Price in that at-bat. He he a couple hard foul balls before lining that triple off the left field wall.

Update, 1:47 p.m.: Are the Steinbrenner’s interested in buying EPL side Tottenham Hotspur? That’s what the Daily Star in England reported today. The paper says the Steinbrenner’s have considered a bid of 450 million Euros for Spurs, saying Hank, a former college soccer player, had stated his desire to buy a Premier League team before.

Update, 2:08 p.m.: Girardi just visited Pettitte at the behest of Posada. We’ll have to see what’s going on.

Update, 2:09 p.m.: After the visit, Pettitte threw one warmup pitch and bent over in pain. He was removed from the game here with one out and two on in the third. Oh boy.

Update, 2:11 p.m.: David Robertson is on to pitch. He’ll get all the time to warm up he needs. It’s early, but this is a pretty big spot for Robertson.

Update, 2:13 p.m.: Pettitte alllowed six hits, two walks and a hit batter in 2.1 innings. He threw 64 pitches and seemed to be fighting an internal battle today. We’ll find out later if that battle with was his stuff or if it was with some kind of discomfort as well. He didn’t appear to be struggling before he was removed, but he could’ve been hiding it. We’ll see.

Update, 2:19 p.m.: Credit Robertson, but what was Rodriguez doing swinging 2-and-0 after Robertson had thrown balls on his first three pitches. Very dumb baseball. Very fortunate for the Yankees.

Update, 2:37 p.m.: With Teixeira’s RBI single tying the score after three, the Yanks are in this. It will be a matter of how the bullpen holds up. It should be noted that no one is warming in the pen now, so this appears to be Robertson’s inning.

Update, 2:48 p.m.: Robertson strands Crawford at third, negating Crawford’s leadoff single and stolen base. It’s still 3-3, although it appears Chan Ho Park is warming in the bullpen.

Update, 2:55 p.m.: * INJURY UPDATE * The club says Pettitte left today’s game with a strained left groin.

Update, 3:08 p.m.: A good first inning there by Park. It’s not only 3-3 Yanks, but the bullpen has now thrown 2.2 innings of one-hit ball. Give these guys some credit.

Update, 3:25 p.m.: The Yankees take a 5-3 lead on an RBI single by Jeter and a two-out RBI single by A-Rod. The entire lineup has gotten it done for the Yankees today, but particularly the top. Jeter, Tex and A-Rod all have RBI singles, Swisher has a double, a run scored and just moved Jeter to third on a fly out, and Cano hit the two-run triple in the first. All in all, the 1-5 hitters are 6 for 13 with two walks, five RBI and four runs scored against Price, who has not pitched well.

Update, 3:31 p.m.: 7-3 Yanks. Andy Sonnanstine warming for the Rays.

Update, 3:40 p.m.: Boone Logan on for the Yanks. Park pitched 1 1/3 scoreless. He actually got five outs but a runner reached after that strikeout and a poor throw to first by Posada. Three scoreless innings and counting for the bullpen…

Update, 3:45 p.m.: * INJURY UPDATE * Pettitte has been taken to New York Presbyterian Hospital for an MRI.

Update, 3:55 p.m.: Six of the Yankees eight runs today have been driven in with two outs. The latest came off the bat of Nick Swisher, and it gave them a 8-3 lead.

Update, 4:06 p.m.: The Yankee relief corps of Robertson, Park and Logan had turned in 4.1 innings of scoreless work until that solo homer by Kapler. Still 8-4 Yanks with two out in the top of the seventh.

Update, 4:12 p.m.: That was A-Rod’s 598th home run of his career.

Update, 4:25 p.m.: Joba is on to pitch for the Yanks. His last outing came a week ago when he allowed a grand slam to Jose Lopez in a 4-1 loss to Seattle.

Update, 4:43 p.m.: Yankees feel comfortable with their five-run lead. Javy Vazquez is throwing his bullpen right now. Rivera did not warm up at all, so it appears Joba has the ninth.

For what it’s worth, I’d have Rivera loosening. With the off day tomorrow, Girardi shouldn’t take any risk. This is a fairly important game, no?

Update, 4:53 p.m.: Chamberlain allowed a run with two outs and Girardi wastes no more time and calls on Mo. Now is the time where I try to pretend like I’m objective about the move. (He’s on my fantasy team.)

Update, 4:55 p.m.: Well, that was quick. One pitch from Rivera and it’s over. Yanks win 9-5, overcoming a 3-0 hole against David Price. Not bad.

The Yanks move three games up in the AL East by taking the rubber game. The bullpen was $$$. It pitched 6.2 innings of two-run ball. Robertson turned in the best work, escaping the jam left by Pettitte. He’ll be part of today’s story for sure.

With George Steinbrenner’s unique methods a major topic of discussion this week, it was easy to contrast how he probably would have dealt with A.J. Burnett yesterday to how Joe Girardi handled it. The Yankee manager said he was disappointed with Burnett but stressed the importance to move forward, knowing he needed the most out of Burnett from now until October — and maybe beyond.

Girardi said this morning that although it appeared his response was tepid, it doesn’t always mean it was so in private. He believes that keeping team-bases issues in-house allows him to maximize his players’ performance.

“My job is to get the most out of our players,” Girardi said. “How we do things behind closed doors is how I choose to do them knowing my players. How I do them in public might be different than what I do behind closed doors.

“I’ve never felt that it’s advantageous to talk about what we do behind closed doors and what takes place or to air out a player in public. Players know when they screw up most of the time. They do. Some managers may choose to do it a different way, but that’s the way I think I get the most out of my players. We deal with situations in-house.”

As I mentioned in the previous post, Derek Jeter did not offer an opinion on Burnett’s outburst, saying only that Burnett apologized and the club had moved on.

Earlier, Jorge Posada said he didn’t originally know why Burnett had left the game. He has exploded in frustration before but normally takes it out on something other than a door.

“It happens,” Posada said. “I usually use my equipment.”

Girardi said his outbursts were typically verbal rather than physical. He threw a pool stick once when he was 8 through wall paneling in a pool room his dad had built. That taught him he probably shouldn’t throw things, he said.

• The Yankees don’t really have a long man for today’s game, Girardi said. Chan Ho Park and Boone Logan are probably both available for two innings. He also could push David Robertson and Joba Chamberlain for more than three outs if need be. Javy Vazquez will also throw his bullpen later than normal in case he is needed in a unique situation, like a long extra-inning game.

• Sergio Mitre threw successfully yesterday. The club will monitor how he feels today and assess where it stands after the game. It seems like he could be a go for Tuesday.

• Alfredo Aceves threw on flat ground yesterday successfully. He will continue his throwing program.

• Jeter said he hadn’t spoken to Yogi Berra but had heard Yogi will be OK. Posada said he hoped to get in touch with Berra today by phone.

A.J. Burnett said he apologized to his teammates as a group this morning on the heels of Saturday’s outburst. Burnett said after yesterday’s 10-5 loss to the Rays that he would explain to teammates how he suffered lacerations on his hands and apologize that he had not been able to show restraint.

Burnett would not say what he told the team, only that the incident was now in the past.

“That’s between us,” he said. “But it’s all in the past. It’s over. I learned from it and hopefully everybody else learned from it when it comes to emotions. It was good.”

Even before Burnett spoke this morning, Derek Jeter had said the situation was over with because Burnett had already addressed it. He said the topic did not need to be discussed with reporters again because Burnett had already given his public apology. The rest was between the pitcher and his teammates.

“It’s over with. Anything else with the media in terms of that is over with,” Jeter said. “You don’t have to do everything through the media. He’s already addressed it and he doesn’t have to address it again.”

Burnett also played long toss, throwing at about a distance of 100 feet. He felt fine and expects to throw his bullpen as scheduled on Tuesday.

“Everything was good,” he said. “I figured it would be, so I’ll go as scheduled.”

Burnett wore the bandage on his right palm. It had no ill-effects on his ability to throw.

“I threw the same. I threw just as hard, threw just as long,” he said. “I didn’t baby it or do anything different.”

With the off-day tomorrow, Burnett would be scheduled to start at home Friday night against Kansas City.

YANKEES
Jeter SS
Swisher RF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Posada C
Thames DH
Granderson CF
Gardner LF
Pettitte LHP

RAYS
Upton CF
Crawford DH
Longoria 3B
Pena 1B
Zobrist RF
Bartlett SS
Kapler LF
Shoppach C
Rodriguez 2B
Price LHP

Saturday was the 64th annual Old-Timers’ Day at Yankee Stadium, but the story was A.J. Burnett. The streaky right-hander cut both hands in an act of frustration but covered it up by telling trainer Steve Donohue he slipped on the stairs. Burnett fessed up after the Yankees 10-5 loss to the Rays and said he will apologize to teammates today.

The Old-Timers’ Day celebration brought more stories about the complex life of George Steinbrenner. No player seemed more conflicted than Reggie Jackson, who said he’d have rather skipped the celebration. Also, Yogi Berra could not attend because of a fall at home on Friday.

Steinbrenner’s body was laid to rest on Saturday outside of Tampa, according to this AP story. It was one of two major losses the Yankees were forced to deal with this week, writes Sam Borden in this week’s Baseball Beat. Both Steinbrenner and Bob Sheppard left a lasting legacy within the organization.

George Steinbrenner was laid to rest Saturday in Trinity, Fla. in a private ceremony near Tampa. The former Yankee owner passed away Tuesday at 80.

About 40 people were in attendance, according to this story by the Associated Press. That group included Yankee officials, although they were unidentified (aside family members; Hank Steinbrenner is pictured).

The family has still yet to announce details for a public memorial.

Photo credit: Associated Press

A.J. Burnett cut his hands in an act of frustration after the second inning today. He came into the clubhouse and slammed his hands against a set of double doors, cutting his palms on the plexi glass that holds the lineup card. Burnett said he was embarrassed and wanted to stay in the game so he told a trainer he had fallen.

“I was embarrassed of the situation,” he said. “I didn’t want that to be a reason why I came out of the game. I’m an honest person and I’m not going to lie to cover up something. That’s the reason, that’s the truth and I’m definitely not going to lie to this organization and these 25 guys in here who I play with everyday.”

Burnett was yanked before recording an out in the third. He admitted the truth and apologized to Brian Cashman, Joe Girardi and trainer Steve Donohue after the game and said he will speak to his teammates tomorrow.

“The moral is that I let these guys down,” Burnett said.

Both Girardi and Burnett said the cuts were minor. He estimated they were no more than an inch or an inch and a half. He later took his hand out of his pocket and showed a small square bandage on the lower palm of his right hand. Both the pitcher and his manager said they expect Burnett will make his next start.

Girardi was not happy about the situation but said it was more important to move on than to continue to chide Burnett for his mistake.

“I’m not happy that he did it, but the fact is that me carrying anger over it’s not going to change what happened,” Girardi said. “My job is to make sure it doesn’t happen again. That’s what I have to concentrate on. We have to make sure he’s OK for his next start. I had my talk with A.J. I did that. But I have to move on, too, and he has to move on.”

Burnett said he acted out in frustration following Reid Brignac’s home run. He was “all out of whack,” and it bothered him because he had appeared to figure it out over his last two starts, which coincided with the return of Dave Eiland.

“I think Joe thought it was affecting the way I was holding the ball. I think it affected me differently adrenaline-wise,” Burnett said. “Obviously when you snap like that you get your adrenaline going in the wrong direction. In my mind I came out because I was terrible today.”

UPDATE, 8:45 p.m.: I have uploaded the audio of Girardi and Burnett. Both start in the middle of an answer. They were both conducting postgame interviews at the same time, in part because the clubhouse opened late and Girardi was late to his press conference. It seems that Girardi was busy learning about what caused Burnett’s cuts.

The only player in the clubhouse who spoke to reporters was Curtis Granderson, who was unaware about why Burnett was pulled until reporters told him. So there will be plenty more on this tomorrow.

“They have all the right to wonder and to have their opinions and I would agree with them if they were angry because right now I’m pretty angry,” Burnett said of his teammates.

Girardi:

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Burnett:

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For those who can’t listen to the entire clips, I have added a few key quotes above.

UPDATE, 9:04 p.m.: I have added quotes above, including Girardi’s opinion on why the club needs to move on rather than dwell on Burnett’s mistake.