The LoHud Yankees Blog

After two good innings last night in Trenton, Alfredo Aceves told Mike Ashmore that he expects to make at least one more rehab outing before he’s ready to rejoin the big league bullpen.

“I’m probably going to stay for six days; five (or) six days here in Trenton,” Aceves said. “Probably having another start here, maybe two, I don’t know. I don’t have that decision in my hands.”

Two hitless innings on 26 pitches is pretty good, and he seems to have impressed Austin Romine and Tony Franklin, but with the Yankees bullpen pitching so well lately, there’s absolutely no need to rush Aceves.

Don’t forget, Aceves was moved to the 60-day when the Yankees added three players at the trade deadline. The team will have to make a 40-man move when he comes back. Probably not a huge issue, but something to keep in mind.

Late last night and into the early hours of this morning, the Yankees needed  a run more than anything else. They never got one, and that was the difference in the game.

But the bullpen gave them every possible chance.

I’ve written it before, but it seems more and more true every day: The Yankees bullpen has really become a strength.

Mariano Rivera can put the go-ahead run at third base and retire three all-stars in a row. Dave Robertson can struggle out of the gate, battle through a tough at-bat and get a strikeout to close out a win. Chad Guadin, Kerry Wood, Boone Logan and Joba Chamberlain can combine for 3.2 hitless innings after more than two hours of rain.

“We just take pride,” Chamberlain said. “We understood we had to get better, and that was from top to bottom. Having Mo out there as our leader, it’s great. I think bringing Woody in, the fact he’s been there and he’s done that, it kind of gives us a different perspective of success and understanding how to do things and handle it the right way.”

It’s hard to say it was absolutely Wood who made the difference — Robertson had been awfully good before Wood showed up, Logan had been terrific since the all-star break — but it must be hard for him to believe that this team really needed relief help at the trade deadline. He’s seen these guys pitch very, very well.

“You start feeding off each other,” Wood said. “That’s when things kind of click and come together. I think we all know we’re throwing the ball pretty well right now. We just try to feed off each other and pick the next guy up when you go in. Just go out and put up zeroes. Just try to keep it as simple as we can.”

Associated Press photo of Wood

As last night unfolded, there came a point when it stopped feeling like a baseball game. It was too disjointed. The teams tied out of the gate. Then Billy Butler got a home to bang off the foul pole. Then neither team did much of anything. It was nothing but a series of snapshots, with rain in between.

“It was just kind of a weird night,” Joe Girardi said.

Should Curtis Granderson have bunted in the ninth inning? I don’t know. Maybe. But I don’t mind playing for the win in that spot rather than playing to move the tying run station-to-station, and Granderson did hit the ball pretty hard. I guess you can say swinging away was the wrong choice because the Yankees lost the game, but I can’t say bunting would have changed the final result.

It really was just weird night. This is what it looked like.

Associated Press photos

When he saw Billy Butler drive the ball toward the right-field corner, Austin Kearns’ reaction was to run sideways.

“I broke thinking I was just going to have to go over toward the line, and then I had to turn and go back,” he said. “It seemed like the wind had shifted after those first couple of innings. It was coming in real hard early in the game, and then we came back in and it was blowing out.”

The home run hit off the foul pole — I really thought it hit off that small railing at the top of the wall — and that was just enough for a 4-3 Royals win. Dustin Moseley was erratic early, but he had settled down after the first rain delay and was pitching pretty well when Butler took him deep.

A two-hour, 10-minute delay followed and neither team could score another run.

“When it came off the bat I thought it was definitely going to be foul,” Moseley said. “I didn’t think it was going to go that far, but it just kept going.”

• When he started the game, Moseley’s command was off. Joe Girardi said he thought the problem was Moseley’s curveball, but Moseley said it was pretty much everything. During that 31-minute rain delay in the middle of the third, Moseley looked at video and made some mechanical corrections. “When you’re elevating and you’re not overpowering, I put myself in some bad counts all throughout the first couple of innings,” Moseley said. “That accounts for three runs.”

• The Butler home run was a 2-1 fastball. “Guys are looking for a fastball,” Moseley said. “It wasn’t terrible, but in that count you’ve got to make a really good pitch.”

• Around midnight, when the almost restarted but was quickly delayed again, it looked like Joe Girardi pulled his players off the field himself. That wasn’t the case. “(Crew chief) Gary Cederstrom said, ‘There’s lightning and we’re not going to start in this,’” Girardi said. “‘Go ahead and sit him (Chad Gaudin) down, and when we feel it’s safe, we’ll get back to starting.’ They weren’t anticipating that.”

• Down by one run in the fifth inning, Girardi said he was confident the umpires would not call the game and give the Royals the win. “I didn’t think they would call the game in that situation,” Girardi said. “I thought Gary did a good job (with) us sticking around and trying to play it out.”

• The Yankees had some late chances, but couldn’t score off a weak Royals bullpen (despite some defensive mistakes). “We lined out a few times,” Girardi said. “Our at-bats weren’t bad. We just didn’t get the hit when we needed it tonight.”

• Boone Logan’s birthday was Friday, but he technically didn’t pitch until Saturday.

• Gregor Blanco had a career-high three steals for the Royals. The most recent Royals player to steal four in a bag … wait for it … Angel Berroa.

• Wondering what the Yankees did during that two-hours, 10-minute delay: “We pretty much watched the Boston-Texas game in here,” Lance Berkman said. “A few guys were playing cards. Just tried to keep from eating everything in the kitchen.”

Associated Press photos of Moseley,  Jorge Posada and Gary Cederstrom

YANKEES (71-43)
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Lance Berkman DH
Austin Kearns RF
Brett Gardner LF

RHP Dustin Moseley (2-1, 3.86)
Moseley vs. Royals

ROYALS (47-68)
Gregor Blanco CF
Jason Kendall C
Billy Butler 1B
Wilson Betemit 3B
Kila Ka’aihue DH
Alex Gordon LF
Mike Aviles 2B
Mitch Maier RF
Yuniesky Betancourt SS

RHP Kyle Davies (5-7, 5.21)
Davies vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 8:10 p.m. / YES Network

UMPIRES: HP Ed Hickox, 1B Fieldin Culbreth, 2B Mike Muchlinski, 3B Gary Cederstrom

WEATHER: Temperatures in the 90s with a slight chance — about 35 percent — of rain in the late innings. That’s what the Weather Channel says. It doesn’t look like there’s any chance of rain.

SO FAR, SO GOOD: The current Royals have a total of 28 at-bats against Dustin Moseley. In those at-bats, they have three hits for a .107 average and a .107 slugging percentage. Small sample sizes are fun!

CONSISTENT CC: Since the first of June, CC Sabathia is 11-2 with a 2.44 ERA in 14 starts. In each one of those outings, he’s pitched more than six innings while allowing three earned runs or less. According to Elias, it’s the longest such streak for a Yankees pitcher since Ron Guidry got at least 19 and gave up no more three earned in each of his first 15 starts in 1978.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOONE: Today is Boone Logan’s 26th birthday. I’m guessing he’ll celebrate by striking out Alex Gordon in the seventh inning.

TWO SCORELESS FOR ACEVES: Alfredo Aceves pitched two scoreless, hitless innings in Trenton. Mike Ashmore has all the details.

UPDATE, 8:25 p.m.: Remember when I wrote that it doesn’t look like rain. That is no longer true. It now looks like it’s going to rain quite a bit.

UPDATE, 8:52 p.m.: After a series of singles, the Royals finally got an extra-base hit off Moseley and it’s given Kansas City a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Meanwhile, insane clouds are rolling in from the West.

UPDATE, 9:13 p.m.: Infield single by Alex Rodriguez pulls the Yankees within 3-1 and leaves runners at the corners with one out in the third. Meanwhile, the grounds crew is gathering around the tarp.

UPDATE, 9:14 p.m.: Make that 3-2 on an RBI single by Robinson Cano.

UPDATE, 9:20 p.m.: Lance Berkman has tied it on a two-out double to right. Rain still falling, but no tarp on the field just yet.

UPDATE, 9:22 p.m.: Here comes the tarp.

UPDATE, 9:40 p.m.: The tarp is coming off.

UPDATE, 9:46 p.m.: Scheduled to resume playing at 9:55.

UPDATE, 9:50 p.m.: Dustin Moseley back on the mound for the Yankees. When he says he’s ready, the game will begin.

UPDATE, 9:55 p.m.: Ground out and strikeout for Moseley.. Folks from Arkansas are always just a little more comfortable after a good rain.

UPDATE, 10:20 p.m.:Home run y Butler puts the Royals in the lead, 4-3. By the way, there seems to be more rain on the way. The crew is back behind the tarp.

UPDATE, 10:22 p.m.: After a one-out walk, while Dave Eiland was on the mound for a visit, the tarp was brought back onto the field. We’re now in rain delay No. 2.

UPDATE, 11:10 p.m.: Rain delays are good for booking travel, but they aren’t good for much of anything else.

UPDATE, 11:18 p.m.: The Royals just announced the attendance, but they have yet to announce an estimated start time.

UPDATE, 11:44 p.m.: The grounds crew appears to be preparing to take the tarp off the field. Fans are returning to their seats. There might be more baseball tonight.

UPDATE, 11:50 p.m.: Scheduled to resume at midnight. Awesome.

UPDATE, 11:57 p.m.: Tarp coming back on the field. I don’t want to talk about it.

UPDATE, 12:25 a.m.: I think they’re actually going to play this time.

UPDATE, 12:31 a.m.: Here we go. Chad Gaudin on the mound. The temperature has dropped 25 degrees since first pitch. That was a 2:10 rain delay.

UPDATE, 12:42 a.m.: The Yankees and Royals have played one another six times this year. Three of those games have been delayed by rain. Total of six hours, 38 minutes worth of rain delays between these teams.

UPDATE, 1:01 a.m.: Automatic timers at Kauffman turn the lights out at midnight (just the ones inside, not the big lights on the field). So, the lights just went out in the press box and there are phone calls being made to get them turned on. It’s been a weird night.

UPDATE, 1:20 a.m.: A whole lot of stupid on that play. Credit Pena with a stolen base for being surprisingly the least stupid of the bunch.

UPDATE, 1:35 a.m.: I was off by an inning. Logan just struck out Gordon in the eighth.

Not much big news in the Yankees clubhouse this morning. They had a late bus to the park, and the guys filed in complaining that the air conditioner wasn’t working. The heat index is apparently 113 here in Kansas City, and that was roughly a 30-minute ride.

“You can’t even roll down the windows here,” Nick Swisher said. “You roll down the windows and it’s like, ‘OK, now I’m in a sauna.’”

Welcome to Missouri, boys!

The biggest news was obviously the simulated game in Tampa, where Andy Pettitte got through a 50-pitch session but was able to throw at only 75-percent effort.

“I definitely think he thinks it’s a setback,” Joe Girardi said. “… He just doesn’t feel like it is completely healed. He just doesn’t feel that it’s at full strength.”

Pettitte will join the Yankees tomorrow, at which point he’ll be reevaluated. He will throw another simulated game — probably in about five days — and it’s entirely possible that will be enough for him to begin a rehab assignment, about a week later than hoped.

“Right now we don’t have any tests scheduled,” Girardi said. “Just give him treatment and make sure that he just kind of relaxes.”

• Girardi said Swisher has the night off largely because he seemed fatigued yesterday, and Girardi wants to rest guys this weekend. “We’re going to do this the next couple of days,” Girardi said. “Maybe one guy gets a day off these three days, and I just thought today was the best day to give Swish.”

• Alfredo Aceves is making a rehab start tonight in Trenton.

• Girardi on tonight’s starter, Dustin Moseley: “We’ve got to watch the heat and how it affects him, too. He just needs to keep using all his pitches and locating like he’s been doing. It’s been a good plan.”

• Girardi on why Granderson moved into the No. 2 spot: “We like the way he swung the bat. He’s had a lot of success against Davies. And it pretty much keeps our lineup about the same. Guys are where they used to be.”

• As we were talking to Girardi about the heat, someone brought up all the water and Gatorade that CC Sabathia drinks between innings. Girardi said Sabathia actually lines up nine bottles of water before every start. He literally sets them in a row, one after another, and basically goes through the line one-by-one during the game.

• When Pettitte is ready to pitch his next simulated game, it will probably come with one of the minor league teams. “It’s kind of hard to do a simulated game with our guys,” Girardi said.

UPDATE, 7:15 p.m.: Royals lineup
Gregor Blanco CF
Jason Kendall C
Billy Butler 1B
Wilson Betemit 3B
Kila Ka’aihue DH
Alex Gordon LF
Mike Aviles 2B
Mitch Maier RF
Yuniesky Betancourt SS

Associated Press photo of Pettitte

Andy Pettitte threw his sim game today in Tampa, but he felt like he was only able to push off 75 percent.

“He probably needs a little more rest, that’s all,” Joe Girardi said.

Pettitte was able to throw the full 50-pitch session, but he was not 100 percent. He will not begin a rehab assignment as early as expected. He will instead throw another simulated game before possibly pitching in a game. Girardi indicated it’s possible Pettitte will need only one more sim game before rehabbing.

Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Lance Berkman DH
Austin Kearns RF
Brett Gardner LF

Lance Berkman was the Yankees big-name traded deadline addition. Kerry Wood was the veteran reliever brought in to solidify the late innings.

Austin Kearns was the other guy.

Kearns made sense for Yankees for two reasons: He’s right-handed, and he can play defense. It’s Kearns who gives the Yankees the ability to sit either Brett Gardner or Curtis Granderson without putting Marcus Thames in the field. These are good things for the Yankees.

Since coming over from Cleveland, Kearns is 6-for-19 (.316), and he hit his first home run last night. The night before, he made a shoestring catch in right field to keep the tying run at third base. The night before that, he had two-hits as an emergency fill-in as the No. 5 hitter.

“He’s been swinging the bat really well for us,” Joe Girardi said. “… He’s gotten to play four days in a row, and I think that helps as well because he’s used to playing every day.”

Kearns won’t play every day for the Yankees. That’s not what he was brought here to do, but in his specific role, he’s given the Yankees a boost. And considering all the left-handed talent in the American League, that role could be vital in October.

Associated Press photo of Kearns with Derek Jeter

When I’m home, lunch usually consists of a sandwich and more or less the only 30 minutes of television I watch on a game day. This road trip, lunch has been the highlight of almost every day. My first day in Dallas, I ate with Lisa, an old friend from St. Louis who moved to Texas about two years ago. Second day in Dallas, I ate with Laura, my best friend from Scranton who moved about six months ago.

Today, I’m having lunch with Scott, my sports editor and mentor during my time at the University of Missouri. I haven’t seen Scott since I got this job, but he was my second or third phone call the day I accepted. Long story short, today is a good day.

If you’re sitting at home with a sandwich, enjoy it. If you’re eating with a friend, enjoy it even more. If you’re killing time when you should be working, here’s an announcement from the Yankees:

The New York Yankees and Modell’s Sporting Goods announced today that the sporting goods retailer’s newly renovated flagship store, located at 234 W. 42nd St. in Times Square, will be home to the world’s only New York Yankees ticket booth offering same-day game tickets for prices that are up to 50 percent off face value.

Beginning Monday, August 16, select tickets will go on sale on the day of Yankees home games, starting at on 8:00 a.m. for day games and 12:00 p.m. for night games, and will remain available for sale while supplies last.

“Our new Modell’s Times Square flagship store truly embodies our vision of embracing and celebrating passion for sport, and we’ve created a unique in-store environment that will connect with the New York and global sports fan alike,” stated Modell’s Sporting Goods President, Seth Horowitz. “The addition of this one-of-a-kind attraction will be a must-do for all baseball fans.”

“This is a great opportunity and service that we are thrilled to offer to New York Yankees fans. Whether you are visiting and looking to take in a game at the world-famous Yankee Stadium or a New Yorker making last-minute plans on a game day, the new ticket booth is conveniently located at Modell’s Times Square to offer amazing deals on game tickets,” said Mitchell Modell, CEO of Modell’s Sporting Goods. “We expect the new service to be an instant hit with local fans and tourists alike.”

The Yankees have led the American League in home attendance in each of the last seven seasons (2003-09). The franchise has already sold over 3.7 million tickets to games this season, and is drawing an average of over 46,000 fans to games in 2010 – more than any other Major League team.

The much sought-after tickets will be limited to four per person, per game and can be purchased exclusively at Modell’s Times Square on the day of Yankees home games with any major credit card beginning at 8:00 a.m. for day games and 12:00 p.m. for night games. Tickets are limited and subject to availability. Ticket policies and ticket booth hours of operation are subject to change.