The LoHud Yankees Blog

Nick Swisher doesn’t expect to play today, but his sore left Achilles felt considerably better this morning than it did yesterday.

“I feel way better today than I did yesterday, but what’s one more day?” he said. “Felt good today. I did so much treatment yesterday and this and that. Whatever it was, it feels a lot better waking up the next morning.”

Swisher said he plans to go through his usual pregame routine. He has the injury heavily taped, but he’ll take batting practice and run before today’s game. As far as he knows, he won’t be in the lineup, but he hopes to play tomorrow.

“I’m doing all my stuff today,” he said. “Make sure everything’s cool today and get ready for tomorrow.”

There is no lineup posted. There is no indication of a player move to activate Sergio Mitre. There is no sign of Dan Haren.

All quiet in the Yankees clubhouse this morning. Literally five reporters standing around in a room where Nick Johnson is putting on his shoes. It has to get more lively than this, but so far, this is it.

Yankees trainer Gene Monahan usually writes the inscriptions on milestone baseballs. First major league hit, first major league win or — just maybe — 600th major league home run.

He wrote on a baseball tonight, but not for Alex Rodriguez. On the night most of Yankee Stadium was waiting for Rodriguez to go deep, Jorge Posada doubled in a run in the first inning for his 1,000th career RBI.

“It’s a veteran team, and a lot of things can happen every day,” Posada said. “Balls are going into the dugout and Geno’s going, what is this for? He’s getting abused every day.”

Joe Girardi knows the rigors of being an every day catcher in the major leagues, and he was impressed. “That’s a big accomplishment,” he said. But it was Francisco Cervelli who seemed genuinely thrilled for the guy who usually starts ahead of him.

“I feel happy,” he said. “It’s like this thing happened to me.”

• Here’s Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall on the possible Dan Haren trade: “Definitely no clear frontrunner,” he told The Arizona Republic. “They (the Yankees) are involved like others. Nothing imminent.”

• Here’s a link to the kind of package the Diamondbacks are said to be looking for. Apparently it comes down to a major league ready pitcher plus a prospect or two.

• Alex Rodriguez did not talk after the game, but Girardi said he was happy with A-Rod’s approach. He went 2-for-4 with a walk and two singles. He broke his bat in his final at-bat. The crowd here went nuts when Mark Teixeira drew a walk to bring Rodriguez to the plate with two outs in the eighth. “I don’t think he necessarily hears it when he gets focused in on the pitch and the ball coming,” Girardi said. “But standing on deck there, you have to be able to hear it.”

• A.J. Burnett was really good tonight. He didn’t have his curveball early, “but I’ve got to keep calling it,” Cervelli said. He threw just 58 pitches before the rain delay. “I was able to find my hook toward the end and had decent control of my fastball,” Burnett said. “If I could have carried that on, maybe it would have been a fun night all around. But we’ll take it.”

• Did Burnett come out of the game willingly after an hour-and-25-minute delay? “No, I begged,” he said. “I knew what the answer was going in there.”

• Granted, it was a shortened outing, but this was the fifth time Burnett held an opponent scoreless this season. That’s the most of all the Yankees starters.

• Mark Teixeira was hitless, but he was hit by a pitch and drew a walk. He’s now reached base in 39 straight games. It’s the longest streak by a Yankees since Rodriguez reached in 53 straight back in 2004.

• Posada is the 12th Yankee to reach 1,000 RBI.

• Girardi thought about taking Rodriguez out of the game in the top of the eighth, but left him in just in case he got to the plate in the bottom half. “If this milestone were out of the way, I probably would have pulled him in the eighth,” Girardi said.

Associated Press photos of Rodriguez’s last at-bat, and Derek Jeter in the field.

Fans waited through an hour-and-25-minute rain delay in hopes of seeing home run No. 600. Instead they got a bunch of singles and doubles, and a 7-1 Yankees win against the Royals. Alex Rodriguez went 2-for-4 with a walk. He broke his bat in his final at-bat. A.J. Burnett pitched five strong innings and seemed poised to pitch deep into the game before the rain came. Robinson Cano had three RBI. Jorge Posada and Brett Gardner had two each.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (60-34)
Brett Gardner LF
Derek Jeter SS
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Francisco Cervelli C
Colin Curtis RF

RHP A.J. Burnett (7-8, 4.99)
Burnett vs. Royals

ROYALS (41-54)
Scott Podsednik LF
Jason Kendall C
Billy Butler 1B
Jose Guillen DH
Wilson Betemit 3B
Alex Gordon RF
Mike Aviles 2B
Rick Ankiel CF
Yuniesky Betancourt SS

RHP Brian Bannister (7-8, 5.65)
Bannister vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 7:05 p.m. / YES Network

UMPIRES: HP Bill Miller, 1B Mike Reilly, 2B Chad Fairchild, 3B Eric Cooper

WEATHER: The sky is fairly clear right now, but there’s a good chance of rain around 9 p.m.

IN-HOUSE: Derek Jeter went 14 years between inside-the-park home runs. According to SABR’s David Vincent, three players had a longer stretch. Luke Appling (1933-1949), Nick Altrock (1904-1918) and Tony Fernandez (1984-1998).

SINGLES HITTERS: The Royals have hit for average this season, but they’ve shown little power. The same holds true for their previous encounters with A.J. Burnett. This group of Royals has a .293 career batting average against Burnett, but not one of them has hit a home run and they have just four doubles in 99 at-bats.

POWER HITTERS: Quite the opposite for the Yankees against Brian Bannister. Boosted by Alex Rodriguez’s three career home runs, the Yankees have a combined .803 slugging percentage in their careers against Bannister. Curtis Granderson and Brett Gardner have each tripled against him.

CONSIDERING DAN HAREN? Both Ken Rosenthal and Bob Klapisch are reporting that the Yankees now considered the front runners for Diamondbacks starter Dan Haren.

UPDATE, 7:17 p.m.: Gardner given a double on that play. Took third when Gordon bobbled the ball in right.

UPDATE, 7:21 p.m.: After nearly swinging out of his shoes on a 3-1 pitch, Rodriguez takes a walk in his first plate appearance. It loaded the bases and the crowd booed.

UPDATE, 7:25 p.m.: A-Rod passes the baton and Cano comes up with a three-run double. Quick 3-0 lead for the Yankees. They’ve still made just one out.

UPDATE, 7:26 p.m.: Career RBI No. 1,000 for Posada. It’s 4-0 Yankees. Still just one out in the first.

UDPATE, 8:01 p.m.: Fake to third, throw to first. That really works? Apparently on Robinson Cano it does.

UPDATE, 8:30 p.m.: Rain delay with two outs in the bottom of the fifth. Just checked with the official scorer to make sure. If this game is rained out, it’s a 4-0 Yankees win.

UPDATE, 8:35 p.m.: Ok, it’s officially pouring here. Have to hand it to the umps. They seem to have gotten the tarp out just in time. Thunder. Lightning. It’s pretty much the end of days here at Yankee Stadium.

UPDATE, 8:58 p.m.: The rain has died down, but there is significant water in the outfield. The biggest lake puddle is in left field, but there’s a pretty big one in right too. The warn track is a disaster.

UPDATE, 9:10 p.m.: The tarp is coming off the field. Most of the water is gone. Looks like we’re going to be playing baseball fairly soon.

UPDATE, 9:35 p.m.: Still getting some excess water out of right field where they dumped the tarp. Players are slowly starting to trickle into the Yankees dugout, but I haven’t seen anyone getting loose in the bullpen. Looks like we’re close to baseball, but not quite there yet.

UPDATE, 9:40 p.m.: Game expected to restart at 9:50 p.m.

UPDATE, 9:41 p.m.: Chad Gaudin warming up for the Yankees. Total speculation here, but would the Yankees burn up Gaudin tonight then DFA him for Mitre tomorrow?

UPDATE, 9:51 p.m.: And we’re back. Here’s Cano vs. Victor Marte.

UPDATE, 10:14 p.m.: Big hand clap at second base for Brett Gardner, who just drove in two runs with a base hit to left field. Good slide by Granderson to second from second on the play. It’s 6-0 Yankees.

UPDATE, 10:26 p.m.: The entire Royals infield just met on the mound to discuss how to pitch to A-Rod with a runner on first in the seventh inning of a 6-0 game. Just pitch to the guy! Worst case scenario, you end up on SportsCenter.

UPDATE, 10:35 p.m.: RBI single by Posada, 7-0 Yankees. So far two scoreless from Guadin.

UPDATE, 10:55 p.m.: Gaudin gave up a run in the top of the eighth, now former Yankees minor leaguer Kanekoa Texeira is coming in to face Jeter and — of course — Teixeira with two on and no outs in the bottom of the inning. As long as there’s no double play or pickoff, Rodriguez will get anther at-bat.

UPDATE, 10:57 p.m.: And there’s a double play by Jeter. The crowd was horrified.

Nick Swisher has no idea what happened between the end of last night’s game and the moment he woke up this morning. He felt perfectly fine when he went to bed, and he can’t remember a play that might have caused any sort of damage.

“I got up to go to the bathroom this morning and I was like, wait, something ain’t right,” he said.

The pain is in his left Achilles. Swisher took batting practice in the cage and said he believes he could pinch hit if necessary, but running is a problem. He’s been getting treatment most of the day and said it feels more loose than it did this morning.

“It’s not like it feels like anything is horrible,” Swisher said. “But anything in your achilles, that’s a scary thing to mess with. It’s a good day to just chill and get as much treatment as I can. Come back here tomorrow and get back after it.”

Swisher said he’s literally been replaying last night’s game to come up with a play that might have hurt him. He jumped for a ball at the wall, and he ran home to score on Mark Teixeira’s eighth-inning single, but neither stands out as a problematic play.

“Doctors got some funky names for stuff,” Swisher said. “I can only tell you it hurts.”

• After cutting his hand and being forced out of his previous start, A.J. Burnett was healthy enough to go through his normal routine this week. He’s not expected to be limited in any way. “He was back on track and he had a bad day last weekend,” Joe Girardi said. “You put that behind and you move on.”

• This will be Brett Gardner’s sixth start as the Yankees lead-off hitter. It will be Derek Jeter’s third game in the No. 2 spot.

• There was some pregame talk about Dave Robertson, who’s been awfully effective in his past few outings, including getting out of a jam last night. Girardi attributed it largely to Robertson being such an effective strikeout pitcher. “He has enough velocity that you have to respect that velocity,” Girardi said. “If you don’t and you’re sitting on the curveball and he throws a fastball, you’re not going to be able to foul it off.”

• Girardi also said the explanation for Mark Teixeira’s turnaround is pretty simple. “To me he’s swung at better pitches,” Girardi said. “Sometimes swinging at bad pitches can be a mechanical thing or sometimes it can be a mental thing where you’re trying too hard. But the bottom line to me is he’s swung and better pitches, and when he’s gotten his pitch he hasn’t missed it.”

• Sergio Mitre will be limited to roughly 90 pitches tomorrow, but Girardi said he will start paying close attention when Mitre gets to 75, which is the most he’s thrown during his rehab assignment. “When you get to that 75, that’s when you start really watching carefully if they’re rolling along or is the sinker straightening out?” Girardi said. “Are his pitches starting to get up in the zone. That next 15 is the uncharted territory so you have to watch carefully, and depending on how hot it is the (limit) might decrease.”

ROYALS
Scott Podsednik LF
Jason Kendall C
Billy Butler 1B
Jose Guillen DH
Wilson Betemit 3B
Alex Gordon RF
Mike Aviles 2B
Rick Ankiel CF
Yuniesky Betancourt SS

Associated Press photo of Swisher

Nick Swisher has been scratched from the lineup with soreness in his achilles. Colin Curtis is taking his spot in right field. Brett Gardner has moved into the lead-off spot.

Brett Gardner LF
Derek Jeter SS
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Granderson CF
Francisco Cervelli C
Colin Curtis RF

Always a popular topic here at the LoHud Yankees Blog, Royals outfielder David DeJesus will have surgery on Monday to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb. He will miss the rest of the season. The injury occurred while DeJesus was trying to catch Derek Jeter’s inside-the-park home run last night.

DeJesus has long been the subject of trade speculation within the Yankees fan base. He was seen as the kind of player who could fit into the Yankees outfield and would be attainable from Kansas City. He was one of the Royals top trade chips this season. Or he would have been.

Associated Press photo

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

Here’s the announcement from the Yankees about the new George Steinbrenner banner in right field. It was unveiled last night, and it’s pretty massive.

The New York Yankees today unveiled an image of George M. Steinbrenner III inside Yankee Stadium in honor of the late Principal Owner who passed away on July 13. Mr. Steinbrenner celebrated his 37th anniversary as Principal Owner of the New York Yankees in January. Under his leadership, the Yankees posted a Major League-best .566 winning percentage (3,364-2,583-3 record) while winning 11 American League pennants and seven World Championships (the most in the Majors).

Measuring 40 feet wide by 13 and a half feet tall, the image has been placed in right field, just behind the Bleachers. It features a photo of the Yankees’ late Principal Owner on a Yankees blue background with the trademark Yankee Stadium frieze across the top, with his name, the years 1930-2010 and the phrase “The Boss.”

The listing of the Yankees’ 27 championship years – seven of which were won under Mr. Steinbrenner – will be relocated to the facing of the H&R Block Suite level around the Stadium bowl, in view of the field, prior to the next homestand.

Information on a Tribute for Mr. Steinbrenner will be announced at a later date.

Associated Press photo