The LoHud Yankees Blog

Update, 7:12: Nice reception for Johnny Damon, as expected. And deserved.

Update, 7:16: Tough at-bat Damon, but he ends up lining softly back to Javier Vazquez.

Update, 7:32: Can’t blame Vazquez’s diminished fastball for that two-run shot to the left-field seats by Ryan Raburn here in the second. He hit a breaking ball.

Update, 7:47: Good job by Vazquez to leave the bases loaded. But I believe he’s thrown 60 pitches in two innings.

Update, 7:39: The Yankees are alarmed over Vazquez struggling here. Sergio Mitre is warming.

Update, 7:42: It has started to rain again. Fans are fleeing for cover.

Update, 8:21: Max Scherzer has held the Yankees to no runs and one hit through three. They have this habit of struggling whenever they see a pitcher for the first time.

Update, 8:29: Vazquez is at 100 pitches with two outs in the fourth.

Update, 8:33: So what do we make of this start? Two runs, five hits, four walks, four innings, 106 pitches. We’ll see if Vazquez comes out for the fifth.

Update, 8:48: No runs and one hit through four for the Yankees. And Vazquez is done. Mitre is on for the fifth.

Update, 8:49: Something’s up with A-Rod. Ramiro Pena is playing third.

Update, 8:52: The streak is over. That throw from Derek Jeter that pulled Mark Teixeira off the bag snapped his career-best streak of 52 games without an error.

Update, 9:23: Finally, a second hit, by Jeter with one out here in the sixth. Maybe there’s something up with Swisher now. Austin Kearns is pinch hitting.

Update, 9:28: Scherzer just threw that 97 mph by Mark Teixeira to end the sixth, but he has thrown 114 pitches, so he should be done with a line of no runs and two hits, with 6 Ks and two walks.

Update, 9:40: Scherzer is indeed done, although it was 115 pitches. Phil Coke will face his former team in the seventh.

Update, 9:47: A-Rod left with a tight left calf and is day to day. Swisher left with tightness in his right forearm and is day to day. No tests are scheduled for either player. In a positive note for the Yankees, Curtis Granderson just got a double off a lefty, Coke. So it’s second and third, two outs. Ryan Perry is coming in to face Francisco Cervelli.

Update, 9:52: Cervelli was so productive the first two months of the season. But he has tailed off badly since. Grounder to short, inning over.

Update, 10:13: Rays win, 6-4, over the Rangers. So the Yankees will drop into a tie for first if they lose.

Update, 10:16: Jose Valverde is coming in to try for a four-out save.

Update, 10:22: Marcus Thames will bat for Pena with two on and two out. Wonder if Thames will have to play third in the ninth. That didn’t go so well last time.

Update, 10:26: Thames grounded out. Now Cervelli will play third. Jorge Posada will move from DH to catcher. Joba will pitch the ninth.

Update, 10:33: A relapse for Joba. Solo shot for Miguel Cabrera, No. 28.

Update, 10:49: Bases loaded, one out for Brett Gardner. Valverde is struggling with his control.

Update, 11:01: Yankees lose 3-1.

Greetings, Brian Heyman here at Yankee Stadium for Chad today. It started raining at 6:10, so the tarp was on the field. Now it’s off and the game is scheduled to begin on time.

The Tigers are in, so Johnny Damon is back here for the first time since Game 6 last November. Ironically, this comes on the same day that Joe Girardi announced that Nick Johnson has had a setback. He’s been taking batting practice, trying to come back from the wrist surgery. But the wrist is sore again. Girardi doesn’t know what it means for a comeback this season, but the Yankees obviously can’t count on that. They could have counted on Damon as the DH, but decided to let him walk and bring in the seemingly always injured Johnson, who has missed most of the season. Damon is batting .278 with 30 doubles, although he has just just seven homers and 39 RBI.

Damon wouldn’t say he feels vindicated: “I’m not that type of person.”

The Curtis Granderson trade with the Tigers hasn’t worked out well, either. Granderson is hitting .249 with 10 homers and 20 RBI. Austin Jackson is batting .303 with a homer and 25 RBI. But it’s still early to judge it, and it’s hard to say the moves were a total disaster since the Yankees still have the best record in baseball and the Tigers have backed out of the Central race in the second half, sitting now at three under .500 and 10 1/2 out.

There were questions to Damon about how he will be received by the fans. “I hope they cheer,” Damon said. The surprise will be if they don’t give him a warm ovation.

“Johnny was always very good to the fans here, and the fans were very good to Johnny,” Girardi said. “There’s a lot of fondness there between the two sides.” …

Granderson said that his new stance, with his hands starting back more, at least feels comfortable, but it’s a work in progress after just three games. …

Lance Berkman isn’t in the lineup after rolling his ankle in Kansas City yesterday. Girardi said he’s day to day. …

A-Rod was seen not hustling to first on a grounder yesterday. Girardi was asked about it and said, “It’s not a big deal.”

Here’s the Detroit lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF

2. Johnny Damon DH

3. Brennan Boesch RF

4. Miguel Cabrera 1B

5. Carlos Guillen 2B

6. Ryan Raburn LF

7. Brandon Inge 3B

8. Jhonny Peralta SS

9. Alex Avila C

Max Scherzer P

Not many beat writers covering tonight, but Marc Carig comes through with the lineup.

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

HOPE Week began about 15 minutes ago, and what a way to start.

Mariano Rivera, Nick Swisher, Brett Gardner, Dustin Moseley, Kevin Long and Mike Harkey surprised 13-year-old quadruple amputee Jorge Grajales with a pool party in New Jersey.

Jorge and his foster parents, John and Faye Dyksen, live in North Haledon. Family friends hosted the pool party, where the Yankees players and coaches surprised Jorge. The group of friends and family will be invited to tonight’s game at Yankee Stadium where Jorge will throw out the first pitch.

As provided by the Yankees, here’s Jorge’s remarkable story:

When Jorge Grajales was an infant in Panama, a gangrenous infection left doctors with just one cruel option: amputation of all four limbs. His birth family immediately realized it could not provide him the expensive, technical care he would need as he grew older, most notably the resources required for prosthetic fittings and maintenance. With limited social assistance available in his home country, his future was bleak. In all likelihood, he would eventually have to become dependent on begging for survival.

It was at this point that John and Faye Dyksen of North Haledon, N.J., entered his life. At the time, they already had five children, ranging in age from 12 to 21. They volunteered to host Jorge through their involvement with Healing the Children, a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to providing free medical care to needy children around the world. They had previously opened their hearts and home to two young girls with physical disabilities before Jorge’s plight came to their attention.

The original plan in June 1998 was for Jorge to spend six months with them while a charitable medical group made and fitted prosthetics for Jorge. Twelve years later, most people in North Haledon have come to know Jorge. Since age 3, he has spent three-fourths of each year with the Dyksens because he cannot receive the medical care he needs in his homeland. Summers are spent in Panama with his biological parents, brother and sister.

This fall, Jorge, now 13, begins eighth grade at High Mountain Middle School in North Haledon. He attends classes just like any other student and has learned to do almost anything without having hands, including writing, typing and playing video games. He loves swimming and soccer and spends his Friday evenings from November through March serving supper to the homeless at his local church.

“I think it has made a big difference to treat him as another one of my kids,” Faye said. “For the most part, I encouraged him to do everything that anyone else can do. He has a lot of things to overcome, but God has given him the personality to make him soar.”

Tonight
RHP Javier Vazquez (9-8, 4.90)
vs.
RHP Max Scherzer (7-9, 4.03)
7:05 p.m., YES Network

Tuesday
LHP CC Sabathia 15-5, 3.14)
vs.
RHP Justin Verlander (13-7, 3.72)
7:05 p.m., MY9

Wednesday
RHP Dustin Moseley (2-2, 4.41)
vs.
RHP Jeremy Bonderman (6-8, 5.16)
7:05 p.m., YES Network

Thursday
RHP Phil Hughes (14-5, 3.94)
vs.
RHP Rick Porcello (5-10, 5.53)
1:05 p.m., YES Network

Associated Press photo of Vazquez and pitching coach Dave Eiland

The sun is rising in Kansas City, and the Yankees are happy to put Sunday behind them. It’s hard to stomach any loss in K.C., much less a loss when A.J. Burnett pitches a complete game and the mighty Yankees are flummoxed by a guy named Bryan Bullington.

What stood out from the postgame clubhouse comments was the fact Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Lance Berkman — three proven, veteran hitters — each said Bullington was effective because he threw early strikes and worked ahead in the count. That simply was not true. It must have felt that way to the Yankees, but in reality they had no better answers after the game than during it.

They were beaten, and they didn’t know why.

What stood out in the postgame blog comments was a notion that the Yankees were all talk with no action. That after a game like Sunday they needed to work harder and get better. This was a road trip that saw Rodriguez and Curtis Granderson make mechanical changes that showed immediate results. It saw Marcus Thames and Austin Kearns play their part-time roles to perfection in Texas. Previously slumping Jeter had eight hits in four days before yesterday.

If not for the inexplicable goose egg against an unknown pitcher, we’d be talking about what a success this road trip was.

Games like yesterday take a toll, and Sunday turned a successful trip into a failure. It was a bad way to go out, so it’s nice when the sun rises and a new day begins. Especially when that new day is the start of HOPE Week.

The Delta beat writer express takes off in 40 minutes. There is apparently a Continental beat writer express leaving later this morning, but my flight is packed with the Wall Street Journal, ESPN New York, Newsday and WFAN. I love it here in Missouri, but I’m looking forward to getting home.

See you in New York.

Joe Girardi seemed to know the question was coming. He had, after all, heard it quite often this season. Why in the world do the Yankees struggle against pitchers they’ve never seen?

“I get tired of talking about it, I know that,” Girardi said. “You look for the ball, and you hit it. That’s the bottom line. I know when you haven’t seen a guy you aren’t exactly sure what he’s going to do to you, but we have a lot of good hitters in the lineup.”

Two of those good hitters are Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter. Combined, those two went 0-for-7 against Royals starter Bryan Bullington.

The only Yankee who had ever faced Bullington in the big leagues was Austin Kearns, who had one at-bat against him five years ago.

Jeter: “He threw the ball well, that’s the bottom line. Whether we’ve seen him once or a hundred times, the way he threw the ball today, he’s going to beat us.”

Rodriguez: “Today I don’t think that was the (problem). This guy was just very transparent. He was very aggressive, throwing four-seamers all over the strike zone. I think usually when you have a crafty lefty who can throw changeups and sink it and cuts it, (being unfamiliar) potentially could be an excuse. Today there was no excuse. He absolutely got the best of us.”

Here’s the postgame audio from those two.

Jeter

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Rodriguez

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Associated Press photo of Rodriguez

There were no answers, only frustration in the Yankees clubhouse this afternoon. It was one of the few times you could hear the aggravation in Joe Girardi’s voice.

“That’s a game that we need to win,” he said. ““It’s not what we wanted, and we need to play better. We need to go home and play well. Start winning series. Tying series is not good enough. We need to start winning series.”

The Yankees managed to waste a terrific start from A.J. Burnett, who has inexplicably lost each of his past four complete games. He lost this one because the Yankees couldn’t score against Bryan Bullington, a first-round bust who had never won a major league game until today.

“It’s frustrating because usually guys that come in and dominate us are left-handed pitchers,” Alex Rodriguez said. “Usually we’re able to fare a lot better against a guy like today who throws hard and challenges. He really challenged us all game, and we had nothing for him.”

Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Lance Berkman talked about how often Bullington got ahead in the count, but Bullington threw a first-pitch strike to only nine hitters. Rodriguez guessed Bullington threw 80 to 90 percent fastballs, but good friend Mark Feinsand did the math through Gameday and said the number was closer to 65 percent.

“It’s just one of those days,” Berkman said. “He threw a lot of strikes. He didn’t get into bad counts. He was aggressive in the strike zone. Everything we hit good we hit up in the air, and you weren’t going to hit a ball out of here today with a cannon.”

Bottom line, the Yankees lost and took a split on this road trip. Winning one out of two seemed acceptable in Texas. But two out of four in Kansas City, when Zack Greinke never touched the mound?

“Today would have been nice to put that one in the win column,” Rodriguez said. “Going home 3-3 (on the road trip) is not quite good enough.”

Here’s Girardi.

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• Burnett was terrific. After allowing those two runs in the first inning, he allowed two hits the rest of the way. The few times he got into trouble — whether because of walks or errors — he seemed to get better, not lose his composure. “I really felt in control,” he siad. “I felt like I could pretty much throw it where I wanted to. It got away from me a couple of times, but I knew I could get back. I had in the back of my mind that I could throw my hook at any time. When you have that confidence, it’s a lot easier.”

• Jeter said players kept coming to the bench saying one thing: “Get him next inning,” Jeter said. “We ran out of innings.”

• Blame it on the Yankees tendency to struggle against pitchers they’ve never seen, but Rodriguez said that wasn’t the problem today. “Transparent” is the word he used to describe Bullington. “There was no guessing game,” Rodriguez said. “It was 80 to 90 percent fastballs. Just right through the strike zone. There were no secrets. Today he was better than us.”

• Rodriguez and Girardi both said they were sure A-Rod’s second-inning drive to center field was leaving the park. It died at the warning track. “I thought it was gone no matter what when he hit it,” Girardi said.

• Girardi was clearly frustrated by the double error play in the sixth inning, when both Robinson Cano and Francisco Cervelli threw the ball away. “The second error probably shouldn’t happen,” Girardi said. “He’s got to pounce on it, then (the base runner) probably doesn’t go.”

• Damaso Marte came through his half-mound bullpen just fine and will try to throw another on Tuesday.

• Brett Gardner — who had faced Bullington twice in the minors — had one of the two Yankees hits. Cano had the other. Gardner was 6-for-18 on this road trip.

• Two hits tied a season low for the Yankees. They were held scoreless for the sixth time.

• CC Sabathia also lost a complete game this season. He did it in Oakland in April.

Associated Press photos of Burnett and Jeter

Lance Berkman tried to convince Joe Girardi to keep him in the game this afternoon, but the Yankees played it safe and got their designated hitter out of there after he rolled his right ankle on a close play at first base in the fifth inning.

“I think it was precaution,” Berkman said. “We’ll see how it feels. It started to swell a little bit, so we’ll see how it feels in the morning.”

Girardi called Berkman’s injury a “jammed” ankle and called him day-to-day. Berkman said he rolled it on the play, beginning when he stepped on pitcher Bryan Bullington’s foot and continuing as Berkman’s foot slid off the edge of the base.

“I think it’s just more painful than anything else,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything major wrong. I think I just twisted it when I hit the bag there.”

Stifled yet again by a pitcher they’d never seen, the Yankees were shutout this afternoon in Kansas City, beaten 1-0 by a journeyman pitcher named Bryan Bullington who entered the game with a career ERA of 5.02. A first-round bust, he’d blown through the Pirates, Indians and Blue Jays before settling onto the Royals pitching staff. The Yankees had two hits off him. Adding injury to insult, designated hitter Lance Berkman seemed to hurt himself on a close play at first base.

Associated Press photo of Berkman