The LoHud Yankees Blog

Very odd scene here during batting practice. It seems Alex Rodriguez was hit in the leg by a batted ball.

I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary until Rodriguez went behind the screen behind second base and was checked by the Yankees training staff. The guys in the outfield gathered around him while BP continued. He was on the ground while the staff checked on him, then they walked him off the field.

No clue what his status might be. It all just happened.

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

At the end of 2008, the top free agent starter on the market was CC Sabathia. He’d nearly won the National League Cy Young after just 17 starts with the Brewers, and Brian Cashman made an aggressive push to sign him to a seven-year, $161-million contract.

At the end of 2009, the top free agent starter was John Lackey. He’d reached double digit wins in each of his full major league seasons, he’d finished five straight seasons with a sub-4.00 ERA and Cashman let him walk to the rival Red Sox on a five-year, $82.5-million deal.

This afternoon, Sabathia and Lackey will face one another in the second game of this four-game series. The pitcher Cashman went after, and the one he let go.

Cashman has been choosing his free agent battles. He went big in 2008, light in 2009 and should have the money to make a splash again this winter.

The Sabathia decision has been a good one, and so has the Lackey decision. Lackey’s been good but not great for the Red Sox. The Yankees, meanwhile, did not commit themselves to another long-term contract, and instead resigned Andy Pettitte, traded for Javier Vazquez and left an open rotation spot for Phil Hughes.

Whatever happens today, I don’t think Cashman would change his mind about which big fish to go after.

Tonight’s game pretty much speaks for itself. I’m not sure there was any sort of great wisdom or understanding that came from any of the postgame conversations.

Javier Vazquez’s velocity has fluctuated this season, and it was down tonight, but he was still able to retire 11 of 12 at some point. He had enough to get outs, he simply gave up two home runs and couldn’t pitch around that second inning error.

The Yankees had just as many hits as the Red Sox, but after allowing that first-inning home run to Mark Teixeira, Clay Buchholz settled in pitched out of nearly every jam. He even got Curtis Granderson to ground into only his second double play of the past two years, and his first of the season.

The play of the night — for all the wrong reasons — was the dropped fly ball in the second inning. It should have been the second out, instead it left runners at the corners and opened the door for a three-unearned-run inning.

Francisco Cervelli: “You never let the pitchers catch fly balls. It was my fault. That’s it. I dropped it.”

Javier Vazquez: “After it dropped I said man, I should have called that ball because it was an easy play for me.”

Joe Girardi: “Someone’s got to catch it, that’s the bottom line. Maybe it’s an easier play for Javy, but pitchers are the last priority. Cervi called it, and it dropped.”

• Vazquez’s velocity has been up and down this season, and generally down from last year. Tonight his fastball was in the upper-80s. “I noticed it was down,” Vazquez said. “But I really can’t look at that. Once you’re out there pitching you try to do the best with what you have.”

• Girardi on the velocity: “It was down a little bit tonight. I can’t tell you exactly why. It was down a little bit tonight and it’s something we’ll look at.”

• Girardi went into a little more detail about why he didn’t use Jorge Posada as a DH tonight: “I still have some concerns about what we went through last week in Cleveland where he couldn’t play, where his knee was bothering him. That’s a concern for us. It’s not bothering him right now, but we were catching him, DHing him, catching him, DHing him. I’m not sure if that was the cause of it, but those are things that, red flags go up.”

• Vazquez on the first career home run by Ryan Kalish: “Just a bad pitch. I wanted it away and it came kind of middle.”

• Alex Rodriguez has 44 RBI in his past 39 games. He has at last one RBI in 22 of those games.

• That Cervelli error was the first error with Vazquez on the mound this season.

• Derek Jeter tied Babe Ruth ont he all-time hits list. He has 2,873 career hits. On a much smaller scale, he’s scored eight runs in the past four innings.

• Mark Teixeira — remember when he stunk? — leads the Yankees with 24 home runs and has reached base in 50 of his past 52 games. He’s the first big leaguer to reach 80 runs and 80 RBI this season.

• Lance Berkman on his first Yankees-Red Sox game: “It wasn’t overwhelming, it was just a good crisp atmosphere. I think there’s a lot of interest in this series, and I enjoyed it.”

Associated Press photos of the botched catch and the Teixeira home run.

The American League East might be a two-team race between the Yankees and Rays, but the Red Sox pulled within five games with a 6-3 win tonight at Yankee Stadium. Javier Vazquez walked in a run, couldn’t pitch around a second-inning error and gave up a rookie’s first career home run. Clay Buchholz gave up a first-inning home run, but allowed just one run the rest of the way. The Yankees stayed in first place thanks to the Rays 2-1 loss against Toronto.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (67-40)
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Lance Berkman DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Francisco Cervelli C
Brett Gardner LF

RHP Javier Vazquez (9-7, 4.61)
Vazquez vs. Red Sox

RED SOX (62-47)
Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Marco Scutaro SS
David Ortiz DH
Victor Martinez C
Adrian Beltre 3B
J.D. Drew RF
Mike Lowell 1B
Ryan Kalish LF
Jed Lowrie 2B

RHP Clay Buchholz (11-5, 2.59)
Buchholz vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 7:05 p.m. / MY9 and MLB Network

UMPIRES: HP Bruce Dreckman, 1B Jerry Layne, 2B Mike Winters, 3B Hunter Wendelstedt

WEATHER: Temperatures in the 80s, dropping into the 70s during the game. Right now the wind is blowing in. Not a cloud in the sky and practically no chance of rain.

DANGEROUS COMBINATION: Keep an eye on Adrian Beltre tonight. He’s having an outstanding season, and he’s done some damage against Javier Vazquez in the past. Beltre is a career .441 hitter (15-for-34) against Vazquez, with two home runs and three doubles.

GOOD NUMBERS: The Yankees have hit a two-run home run in each of their past three games and four of their past six. They’ve scored in the first inning in eight of their past 10 home games.

SOUNDS FAMILIAR: This is the second year in a row that the Yankees are hosting the Red Sox for a four-game series August 6 through 9. Last year the Yankees swept the series, outscoring the Red Sox 25-8.

UPDATE, 7:20 p.m.: One David Ortiz home run later, the Yankees are down 1-0 heading into the bottom of the first.

UPDATE, 7:21 p.m.: Lead-off single by Derek Jeter moves him into a tie with Babe Ruth on the all-time hits list.

UPDATE, 7:30 p.m.: This is the fourth consecutive game the Yankees have hit a two-run home run in the first inning. It was Teixeira this time, and the Yankees are up 2-1.

UPDATE, 7:35 p.m.: A lot of things wrong there. How does Cervelli drop that ball? Why is Vazquez in the way? It’s an E-2 to put runners at the corners with one out in the second.

UPDATE, 7:48 p.m.: Bases-loaded walk and a two-run double, both with two outs. Not a good inning for Vazquez. Red Sox are in front 4-2 with the bases loaded.

UPDATE, 8:20 p.m.: Not much Yankees offense since that Teixeira home run. Still 4-2 in the fourth.

UPDATE, 8:29 p.m.: That’s the first time Granderson has grounded into a double play this season, and only the second time he’s grounded into one the past two years.

UPDATE, 8:55 p.m.: Joba Chamberlain warming in the bullpen in the sixth inning. Meanwhile, Ryan Kalish just went deep to push the Red Sox lead to 6-3. That’s his first career home run.

UPDATE, 9:03 p.m.: Here’s Chamberlain. Not a good night for Vazquez.

UPDATE, 9:35 p.m.: Not many updates. Sorry about that. I’ve gotten busy with newspaper stuff. Anyway, it’s 6-3 here in the Bronx. Joba Chamberlain and Kerry Wood have kept it there, but the Yankees haven’t been able to score the past two innings.

Going to have to make this quick. We had to wait for a long time to talk to Andy Pettitte after his bullpen, but he wasn’t able to give us much information other than the fact the session went well. He said he threw 35 to 40 pitches. It was his first time all the way up the mound after two half-mound bullpens.

“I hope to maybe get back on there Sunday,” he said. “I don’t know if they might want me to wait two days and wait until Monday, but I’d love to try to throw another one on Sunday and then maybe early next week do something, whether it’s a simulated game or something maybe controlled or if they want me to make a rehab start. I’m not real sure. That’s just me talking.”

Pettitte said he never felt any pain in the bullpen, and this week he was able to start doing some work with his legs in the weight room, working against some resistance.

“Being up there, I’d say the first 20 pitches I was a little cautious because I’m scared a little bit,” he said. “I don’t want to it to hurt again. Once I throw and push off, each pitch I felt like I got a little more confident. It was a good day for me.”

• Joe Girardi on Jorge Posada being out of the lineup: “We’ve caught Jorge three out of the five days, basically and that’s what I’ll continue to do for the most part. With Lance’s arrival, he’s going to DH a lot.”

• Girardi said someone might takeover the eighth inning at some point, but for now he’s content to mix and match with Joba Chamberlain, Kerry Wood and Dave Robertson.

• This is the start of 20 games in a row, during which Andy Pettitte could come off the disabled list. Girardi said he has not finished mapping out how he might use his rotation through this stretch.

• Oddly enough, one of the big topics around the team was the status of Mark Feinsand’s calf. He strained the muscle during this morning’s game, and he was hobbling all around the clubhouse. Mark said Derek Jeter heard about the injury and said, “See, not so easy is it?”

Associated Press photo

Andy Pettitte is throwing a bullpen today. Joe Girardi said the Yankees will have to meet tomorrow to decide what’s next.

Alfredo Aceves will throw a bullpen tomorrow. If that goes well, he will begin a rehab assignment on Tuesday, likely with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Lance Berkman DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Francisco Cervelli C
Brett Gardner LF

Sorry everyone. Not a good start for New York this morning. We lost to Boston, and I’m pretty sure the final score was 16-3. We won big in Boston, but this time we were facing a pitcher who none of us had ever seen. Still not sure who he was, but he was good. Threw hard. Threw his curveball for strikes.

We went through three pitchers. Bryan Hoch is usually a one-inning reliever for us, and he allowed just one run in the first. Boston got going after that.

Sam started in right field and went 1-for-3 with a late single. I started in left, moved to center in the third inning and went 1-for-2 with an RBI single. My hit drove in our first run, then I scored on a bases-loaded walk, but that was the end of our offense. The top four in our lineup are consistently good hitters, but we struggled against this guy.

In the field, Sam was part of a 9-4-2 out at the plate. Good throw from Sam. Perfect relay from Pete Caldera. It was one of our best moments. I caught the first ball hit to me in center field, and I felt pretty good out there until the last inning when I completely misread a ball that went over my head. Not my best moment, but I’ll take the RBI.

Time for a quick shower and a sandwich before I get on the road back to the stadium. Sam and I are both covering tonight, so we’ll check in again from the clubhouse.