The LoHud Yankees Blog

Good morning everyone. After two weeks at home, I’m sitting once again in the Delta terminal at LaGuardia waiting to make my way to Cleveland.

If anyone else is flying today, get ready for long, long lines. Pretty brutal this morning.

The Indians are not a very good team, but old friend Shelley Duncan is playing pretty well for them and it will be good to see the big guy again. It’s easily the thing I’m looking forward to most about Ohio.

The Yankees were exhaling after this one because A-Rod was OK. They didn’t plan to send him for X-rays because he could squeeze with the left hand that got drilled with a fastball in the eighth by Blake Wood.

“It didn’t hit him flush,” Joe Girardi said. “We got lucky. It was a scary moment. He’s such a big part of the ballclub.”

“It just got away,” Wood said. “It could’ve happened to anybody. It just happened to him in that spot. I was trying to throw a fastball in on his hands and it got up. I wasn’t happy with what happened, obviously.”

Rodriguez was disappointed he didn’t hit No. 600 at home, but now he wants to get it over with on the road. He said he will play Monday night in Cleveland. …

Phil Hughes gave up two more homers and has now allowed 15 – all at home.

“I’m making a lot of bad pitches here,” Hughes said. “I know I’m pitching a lot better on the road than I am here.” …

After reaching the 1,000-hit mark with a two-run double in the eighth, Robinson Cano said it was “one of my dreams come true.” He said he’ll think about 3,000 if he gets to 2,500. But he’s only 27 and he hit the 1,000 mark in fewer at-bats than any homegrown Yankee in the expansion era other than Derek Jeter and Don Mattingly. …

Joba Chamberlain was booed heavily after giving up a walk and a two-run homer in the eighth.

“It won’t be the last (time),” he said. “I understand I have to be better and I have to get better.”

His ERA is now 5.95. Girardi wouldn’t rule out giving the eighth-inning work to David Robertson at some point, saying, “If that’s something we have to do, it’s something we have to address.” …

Derek Jeter’s bat finally seems to be coming around again. He had three more hits, giving him five multihit games in the last seven. …

The Yankees won’t be getting Dan Haren. The Angels got him from Arizona. …

OK, that’s it for tonight.

The Yankees just wrapped up their home stand with a 12-6 win against the Royals, and the Angels just wrapped up a trade for Diamondbacks starter Dan Haren.

Linked to the Yankees throughout the weekend, Haren was sent to Los Angeles for LHP Joe Saunders, LHP Patrick Corbin, RHP Rafael Rodriguez and player to be named later. The package is in keeping with what the Diamondbacks were rumored to be looking for: A young major league pitcher plus pitching prospects.

Saunders and Haren are each 29 years old, though Saunders is still in his arbitration years.

Corbin was a second-round pick in 2009, and he’s pitched well at two different levels this season. Just reading the Baseball America scouting report on him, he reminds me a little bit of a younger, left-handed Ivan Nova, but I don’t know enough about him to say for sure whether he has a good comp in the Yankees system. Corbin is a bigger-name prospect than Rodriguez, a 25-year-old Triple-A reliever with a little bit of big league time and good minor league numbers in the upper levels.

Update, 1:16: A good start for Phil Hughes, three in a row put down after the leadoff single.  He hadn’t been sharp the last two times on extended rest, including his last outing, which followed his brief appearance in the All-Star Game. Last time out, five days ago, he gave up six earned runs and nine hits in five innings in losing to the Angels.

Update, 1:31: OK, it’s A-Rod time. He leads off the second.

Update, 1:34: There went a big groan from the crowd, first-pitch grounder to short.

Update, 1:46: That could have been bad news with Chris Getz’s liner hitting Hughes in the back here in the third, but he seems OK.

Update, 1:49: There was a little confusion there for a moment, but Scott Podsednik’s ball hit the foul pole in left for a two-run homer.

Update, 1:56: Finally, a Yankees hit. The solo shot was just homer No. 8 for the disappointing Curtis Granderson.

Update, 2:01: Maybe the Yankees are finally solving the mystery of Sean O’Sullivan. Two more hits, and it’s 2-2 in the third.

Update, 2:06: Mark Teixeira infield RBI single, 3-2. Time for Rodriguez again.

Update, 2:08: The fans will have to settle for now for an RBI double.

Update, 2:22: Is this going to be another mediocre start for Hughes? The Ankiel solo homer and Alex Gordon single leave his line at three runs and six hits through four.

Update, 2:29: This is the Granderson the Yankees thought they were acquiring. That last solo shot landed in the second deck in right. So this is his fifth career multihomer game and first since last July 29 with Detroit. Maybe he will close the season strong.

Update, 2:45: Another bouncer to short  for A-Rod in the fifth. So I believe that’s 12 at-bats and 13 plate appearances since 599.  The sky, by the way, is getting very dark behind the stands on the left side of the park.

Update, 2:59: There’s lightning now and it’s raining. And we’re officially in a delay.

Update, 3:00: Good thing it’s Umbrella Day.

Update, 3:36: The rain had slacked off some, but it’s raining hard again now.

Update, 4:15: It’s still raining pretty hard. Weather.com has a 55 percent chance of rain at 5, 35 percent at 6 and 10 percent at 7.

Update, 5:05: The grounds crew is starting the process of getting the tarp off the field. The first pitch for the restart will be around 5:30, according to the Yankees. Hughes’ innings count will end up at 5 1/3 for today and 111 1/3 for the season. In 2006, he established his career high, 146, in the minors.

Update, 5:23: Boone Logan is warming up to take over the pitching. Dusty Hughes is warming up for the Royals.

Update, 5:31: The delay was two hours, 32 minutes.

Update, 5:32: David Robertson is warming up.

Update, 5:46: Brett Gardner’s RBI double in the sixth made it 6-3, and Logan is coming out to start the seventh.

Update, 5:52: Good job by Logan. That’s five straight batters retired. So we head to the last of the seventh.

Update, 6:00: A lot of fans didn’t wait out the rain delay. But A-Rod is about to get another chance.

Update, 6:03: That went as an RBI single for A-Rod, although second baseman Mike Aviles, the former Concordia star, botched the backhand attempt on the hot shot. Rodriguez may have to take his next swing at 600 tomorrow night in Cleveland.

Update, 6:12: Joba’s becoming a real problem. Podsednik just got him for that two-run homer after a leadoff walk in the eighth. The fans are booing Chamberlain, but he should be better than this. Robertson is warming again. It’s 7-5.

Update, 6:27: One more chance for A-Rod with the bases loaded here in the eighth.

Update, 6:31: That looked painful. A-Rod got drilled by Blake Wood in the left wrist to force in the run, but he’s leaving the game. And so is Wood.

Update, 6:51: Yankees win, 12-6. Now they have to hope Rodriguez is OK.

Update, 7:39: A-Rod says he’s OK and that he will play tomorrow. Joe Girardi said there was no plan to send him for X-rays, that the ball was a glancing blow to the back of the left hand, and that they got lucky. He just has a bruise.

Greetings, Brian Heyman here again for Chad today. Joe Girardi needs a starter for Thursday night when the Yankees finish their four-game series in Cleveland. Sergio Mitre came off the DL and gave up seven runs and seven hits over 4 1/3 in Saturday’s 7-4 loss. Mitre could get another chance filling in for Andy Pettitte, but Girardi also said the topic hasn’t been discussed with the staff yet. He hopes to have this locked down by tomorrow.

“Right now it’s Sergio, but we’ll continue to talk about it and decide what’s best,” Girardi said.

“There was rust there. You’ve got to believe next time he goes out, he’ll throw more strikes and have better command of his off-speed stuff.”

Girardi also said he wants to avoid putting Phil Hughes in the bullpen at some point during the regular season as a way to deal with his innings. Girardi said the innings limit won’t apply to the postseason.

“Postseason, the gloves are off and we try to go win a championship,” he said.

Alfredo Aceves’ back is getting better, according to Girardi. Aceves will make the seven-game road trip, to Cleveland and Tampa Bay, and will throw bullpen sessions. There’s still no timetable for his return.

Nick Swisher and Brett Gardner are OK and return to the lineup. Alex Rodriguez can concentrate solely on hitting his 600th homer at home as the DH before leaving after the game for the trip. 

Sean O’Sullivan today becomes the first pitcher in four years to start for two different teams against an opponent within a six-day span. If he wins, he will be the first in 10 years to beat an opponent for two different teams within a six-day span. He beat the Yankees for the Angels on Tuesday, then got traded to the Royals on Thursday.

Here are the lineups:

Yankees

1. Derek Jeter  SS

2. Nick Swisher RF

3. Mark Teixeira 1B

4. Alex Rodriguez DH

5. Robinson Cano 2B

6. Jorge Posada C

7. Curtis Granderson CF

8. Brett Gardner LF

9. Ramiro Pena 3B

Phil Hughes P

Royals

1. Scott Podsednik LF

2. Jason Kendall C

3. Wilson Betemit 1B

4. Jose Guillen DH

5. Rick Ankiel CF

6. Mike Aviles 2B

7. Alex Gordon RF

8. Yuniesky Betancourt SS

9. Chris Getz 3B

Sean O’Sullivan P

On the day Andre Dawson, Whitey Herzog, Doug Harvey, Jon Miller and New York’s own Bill Madden take their places in Cooperstown, this seems a good time to share Joe Girardi’s lasting impressions of The Hawk, his old teammate in Chicago.

“My first memories stand pretty tall,” Girardi said. “I was fresh out of A-ball in big league camp. My locker was between him and Vance Law, and that was somewhat intimidating. Hawk was somewhat of an intimidating figure, but a real nice, gentle man. Tried to teach me the game. One of the toughest players I’ve ever been around in my life. His knee surgeries he considered to be a 20-minute oil change a Jiffy Lube. He would walk out of the hospital. The power that he generated. His arm strength. I was fortunate enough that he was around almost every day that I was with the Marlins, helping our young hitters.”

From myself, congratulations to Bill. I was with him for a while on the night he got the news. It was a pretty neat experience for me. I can’t imagine how he was feeling.

Sergio Mitre gave up seven runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 in this 7-4 loss to the Royals. Dustin Moseley gave up no runs and one hit over 4 2/3. So is Moseley going to take the next turn in place of Andy Pettitte? That would be Thursday night in Cleveland.

“It’s too early to talk about that,” Joe Girardi said.

Girardi said there would be an evaluation, but that he wasn’t going to only judge Mitre on this one start. Of course, there could be a trade for another starter as well. The nonwaiver trade deadline is next Saturday. Mitre wants another chance.

“The first time back, obviously I was a little rusty trying to get outs and get ahead in the count,” Mitre said. “It’s going to be fine. Not a problem.”

Jorge Posada was impressed with Moseley, saying he liked his arm dating back to spring training.

“I think we have a guy who will help us,” Posada said. …

Alex Rodriguez could have come up with the bases loaded and two outs in the last of the ninth. But there was no chance for a walk-off grand slam because Mark Teixeira was called out at first by Chad Fairchild after a grounder up the middle.

“I was safe, but there’s nothing you can do about it,” Teixeira said.

“That last at-bat would’ve not only been fun for me but I think fun for everybody to watch that at-bat,” A-Rod said.

Rodriguez appreciates the fan support in this quest to hit the milestone homer here. He only has Sunday’s series finale to get it done before the Yankees leave on a seven-game trip, to Cleveland and Tampa Bay.

“You obviously want to reward the fans at home,” Rodriguez said. “They’ve been so great all along. It seems like they want it so badly here at home. But for me, I have to stay within myself and try to hit the ball the other way.”

A-Rod had an infield hit in three trips against Kyle Davies, who gave up his 500th homer at the old Stadium three years ago.

“I’ll tell you, Davies did his part to try to relive the moment,” Rodriguez said. “He just kept pumping fastballs right in there. I love that guy.”

Girardi said Brett Gardner had to have anaesthesia this morning at a hospital to clear out a piece of pork that had lodged during Friday’s pregame meal. Gardner was back to watch the game.

“They put like an endoscopy (instrument) and just clear it out,” Gardner said. “I’m fine. I’ve had that before.” …

Teixeira is having a big July, now at .389 (28 for 72) with nine doubles, seven homers and 21 RBI in 19 games. He extended his career-high streak of reaching base safely to 40 games. …

Posada extended his career-high streak of driving in at least one run to eight games, second this season to Jorge Cantu’s 10 straight for the Marlins. …

Nick Swisher pinch hit in the eighth and stayed in to play right in the ninth. Girardi is hopeful Swisher’s left Achilles’ will be good to go again tomorrow, but he will check in the morning before deciding on whether to put him back in the lineup. …

OK, that’s it for today.

Update, 1:16: Sergio Mitre’s command was shaky to start this first game back from the DL, beginning with the single and the hit batter. It’s 2-0 already, but Jorge Posada should have hung on to A-Rod’s throw home that would have prevented the first run. Both runs were unearned because of the error.

Update, 1:25: It’s fair to wonder if the stars are aligned for Rodriguez today to hit No. 600 since Kyle Davies is starting and he gave up No. 500 to him on a Saturday across the street three years ago.

Update, 1:34: So much for that first A-Rod at-bat, a fly to medium center on a 3-2 pitch. So the count is up to seven plate appearances and six at-bats since No. 599. Rodriguez went 28 at-bats without a homer after No. 499.

Update, 1:52: Mitre ignored Jason Kendall after his two-out single in the third and Kendall swiped second without a throw. It cost Mitre because Billy Butler ripped that RBI single into left. So it’s 3-0.

Update, 2:08: OK, it’s 6-0 already here in the fourth. Mitre gave up a walk and two doubles to start the inning. Wonder if this will light a fire under the Yankees to go out and get another starter. What do you think? Should they make a stronger bid for Dan Haren? One other thing to consider: It sounds now like it will surprising if Andy Pettitte misses the full five weeks since he says he feels fine after playing catch the last two days, and he just got hurt last Sunday. He hasn’t tested himself off a mound yet, though.

Update, 2:17: Mark Teixeira just hit a homer. Now we’ll see if A-Rod can match that feat.

Update, 2:19: An infield hit. Maybe next time.

Update, 2:22: Jorge Posada solo homer. With the Royals’ pitching, this game may not be over yet. It’s 6-2 in the fourth.

Update, 2:29: Nice shot by Jose Guillen to the second deck in left here in the fifth. Mitre is done. Joe Girardi had hoped for five good innings from Mitre. Girardi got 4 1/3 bad innings – seven runs, seven hits. It’s 7-2. Dustin Moseley is on to pitch. Wonder who will start five days from now.

Update, 2:45: There’s another one for Teixeira. It’s 7-4. It’s his third multihomer game of the season.

Update, 2:47: A groundout for A-Rod. So it’s a three-run margin after five.

Update, 3:00: No. 600 will not come off Kyle Davies like No. 500 did. Davies is done with one out and one on here in the sixth. Kyle Farnsworth will try to protect the 7-4 lead.

Update, 3:30: Maybe No. 600 isn’t coming today. Robinson Tejada gave up No. 599, but he did well to get A-Rod to rap into a 6-4 force to end the seventh.

Update, 3:34: If the Yankees don’t trade for Dan Haren, maybe Moseley would be a good candidate to pitch Thursday in Cleveland instead of Mitre. Moseley has looked sharp in relief of Mitre, allowing just a single and a walk over 3 2/3.

Update, 4:03: The Yankees’ three-game winning streak is over – Royals win, 7-4.

Brian Heyman here for Chad now. A Yankees spokesman told us that Brett Gardner is now unlikely to be available for the game, although he left the window open. Gardner went to the hospital this morning. Joe Girardi said Gardner has had an acid reflux problem since he was a teenager, and that he believed a piece of meat from last night’s pregame meal got lodged. Gardner was OK to play the game last night, though. But he went to take care of the problem today.

So the lineup has Colin Curtis for Gardner in left and Marcus Thames for Nick Swisher in right. Swisher said his left Achilles’ was feeling better, but the plan appears to be to start him tomorrow. Girardi said A-Rod could be the DH or get the day off tomorrow, but it would figure that the only way he’d be off is if he hits No. 600 today.

Andy Pettitte played catch for the second straight day and reported no problems with his strained left groin. He said that it doesn’t seem realistic that he’ll be out the full four or five weeks that was previously announced. But he hasn’t tested himself off a mound yet. Girardi told him to be patient. Pettitte is headed for Tampa Monday to continue his comeback work.

To make room for today’s starter, Sergio Mitre, the Yankees sent down Jonathan Albaladejo. “You could see the disappointment in his face,” Girardi said.

 Here’s the Royals’ lineup:

1. Scott Podsednik LF

2. Jason Kendall C

3. Billy Butler 1B

4. Jose Guillen RF

5. Alex Gordon DH

6. Wilson Betemit 3B

7. Rick Ankiel CF

8. Yuniesky Betancourt SS

9. Chris Getz 2B

Kyle Davies P

Brett Gardner has a sort of acid reflux problem and is currently in the hospital getting it sorted out. It’s pretty odd but apparently it’s not a significant problem — it’s something he’s dealt with since he was a kid — and he should be back and available off the bench this afternoon.

Jonathan Albaladejo was optioned to make room for Sergio Mitre.

Brian will have more when the clubhouse closes.

Derek Jeter DH
Curtis Ganderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Marcus Thames RF
Colin Curtis LF
Ramiro Pena SS