The LoHud Yankees Blog

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Marcus Thames DH
Jorge Posada C
Austin Kearns LF
Curtis Granderson CF
Eduardo Nunez 3B

It’s a beautiful day in Toronto. Of course, you wouldn’t know it from inside the dome.

While we’re still waiting for the clubhouse to open, the Red Sox are still waiting on a decision from Johnny Damon, who has to decide whether to accept a move out of Detroit and back to Boston. This afternoon, he told our old friend Pete Abraham that he’s leaning toward Detroit.

“I think we’re still in this,” Damon said. “But I’ve got to know whether they’re going to keep playing me or whether they’re going to go with the younger guys. If I’m not going to play as much, the decision is a no-brainer.”

For whatever it’s worth Buster Olney thinks Damon will be convinced to leave.

In other waiver news, the White Sox are apparently planning to claim Manny Ramirez whenever he ends up on waivers. That would have to happen really quickly to impact the Yankees upcoming series in Chicago. The bigger Yankees impact of a White Sox claim might be keeping Ramirez out of Tampa Bay.

As for some Yankees news this afternoon: D.J. Mitchell is about to make his Triple-A debut in a Scranton/Wilkes-Barre rotation that has a combined 19 Triple-A starts this season. Mitchell had been pitching very well in Trenton the past two months or so. He was easily one of my favorite guys to talk to this spring. Just a really nice guy who happens to induce a lot of ground balls.

The Steinbrenner family has released a public statement and announced plans for a monument dedication to George Steinbrenner.

“We remain profoundly grateful and touched by the many expressions of sympathy and support from so many. We wish to thank everyone for their kind thoughts and prayers, which we continue to hold close. We are especially appreciative that our family’s privacy was respected as we grieved the loss of George.

“We know we will always share George’s memory with Yankees fans everywhere, and a monument in his honor to be located in Monument Park will reflect the special connection, appreciation and responsibility that George felt for New York Yankees’ fans everywhere as they were always uppermost in his mind.”

The Monument Park dedication will be held in New York on Monday, September 20, 2010 at Yankee Stadium, prior to that evening’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays.

There will be a tribute to his life in Tampa at the opening game of spring training in March of 2011.

Last night, Ivan Nova proved he can pitch at the major league level. The guy was Rule 5 fodder a year and a half ago. Last night he was starting in the middle of a pennant race.

“He was good,” Joe Girardi said. “He was real good today I thought his changeup was good. I thought his fastball was really good today. He threw strikes… He didn’t panic (in the first inning). He continued to throw strikes. I thought he did a good job.”

That said, there’s no way of knowing what’s next for Nova. The Yankees haven’t promised another start. They haven’t promised a long-term role in the bullpen. They haven’t promised a major league job beyond last night.

At the very least, Nova seems worth a long look.

“It wasn’t like he was all over the place,” Mark Teixeira said. “He wasn’t walking guys. A lot of rookie pitchers come out and try to throw as hard as they can, and the ball’s everywhere. His command was great. He’s obviously got great stuff.”

Question is: What’s next? With Andy Pettitte on the disabled list, Phil Hughes pitching with an innings limit and Javier Vazquez struggling, there’s room for a guy like Nova. Expanded rosters are eight days away. Can the Yankees carry, basically, six starters until then? I have no idea. It would seem like a waste, but Nova also seems like a guy who could help.

“We liked what the kid did,” Girardi said.

It was hard not to

Associated Press photo

Hard not to be impressed by Ivan Nova tonight. Making his first major league start against a dangerous lineup, Nova was tested in every which way: He got out of that bases-loaded jam in the first. Never pitched with more than a one-run lead or deficit. Bounced back to retire eight in a row after Jose Bautista’s home run in the third, then he didn’t back down when Bautista shouted at him in the sixth.

So does the kid get another start?

“That’s to early to talk about,” Joe Girardi said.

The game itself was decided in the eighth when Dave Robertson gave up Bautista’s second home run of the night. Robertson wasn’t paying attention as Bautista took his time getting around the bases, then pumped his fist as he stepped on home plate.

“I was more upset that I cost us the game on that home run,” Robertson said. “I don’t really care how he ran around the bases.”

The larger impact of tonight might have been Nova. He gave the Yankees something to think about as they move into September. That first inning might have rattled most rookies, but Nova stuck around to throw strikes and bounce back from the only mistake that cost him.

“When you first come into the big leagues, you think it’s something big,” Nova said. “You don’t think it’s the same baseball that you’ve been playing in Triple-A. After that (first inning) I thought, it is.”

A few Yankee takes on that Bautista vs. Nova incident in the sixth.

Nova: “I wasn’t on purpose. I just threw the ball. I’ve got to pitch.”

Girardi: “I don’t want any of our pitchers to back down. You go at hitters and you make hitters uncomfortable. People have been doing this for years. That’s baseball… It was handled fine. They gave warnings but I don’t think our guy is trying to hit him. But we don’t want him to be comfortable.”

Mark Teixeira: “It wasn’t in. It was a ball right down the middle to the backstop. I guess I don’t know what that’s all about.”

Here’s Girardi talking after the game.

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• Robertson hadn’t allowed a run since July 2, a span of 19 scoreless outings. “It doesn’t make it easier,” he said. “I don’t want to cause us to lose the ballgame no matter what.”

• The first Baustista home run was a breaking ball that Nova left over the plate. The second was a fastball that Robertson wanted off the plate away but ran to the middle.

• Brandon Morrow has faced the Yankees twice in Toronto this season, and he’s been outstanding both times. He’s faced them twice in New York, and they’ve handled him pretty well. “He was tough,” Teixeira said. “He didn’t give us much to hit at all. You have to live with those nights sometimes.”

• Robinson Cano went 1-for-2 and is now hitting .396 when batting cleanup.

• The Yankees have lost five of their past seven games at Rogers Centre.

• Say what you will about Bautista’s sudden surge of home runs. I know it creates plenty of suspicion. I’m not one to get caught up in it, but for whatever it’s worth, here’s Girardi’s response when asked whether we should wonder about Bautista’s suddenly gaudy numbers: “I don’t have any suspicions. It’s a guy that’s playing every day. Sometimes when a guy gets a chance to play every day in one spot, they figure it out.”

Associated Press photos of Robertson, Nova and Bautista, and Swisher

Having already homered once and more-or-less challenged a rookie to a fight, Jose Bautista broke a eight-inning tie by hitting his 40th home run of the season tonight in Toronto. It was the first run Dave Robertson had allowed after 19 scoreless appearances, and it gave the Blue Jays a 3-2 win. Rookie Ivan Nova was terrific for the Yankees, having allowed only two runs on an earlier home run by Bautista.

Associated Press photo of Nova

YANKEES (77-47)
Brett Gardner LF
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Eduardo Nunez SS
Ramiro Pena 3B
Francisco Cervelli C

RHP Ivan Nova (0-0, 0.00)
Nova has never faced the Blue Jays

BLUE JAYS (64-59)
Fred Lewis LF
Yunel Escobar SS
Jose Bautista RF
Vernon Wells CF
Adam Lind DH
Aaron Hill 2B
Lyle Overbay 1B
Edwin Encarnacion 3B
Jose Molina C

RHP Brandon Morrow (9-6, 4.45)
Morrow vs. Yankees

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

UMPIRES: HP Jerry Meals, 1B Mark Wegner, 2B Dan Iassogna, 3B Dale Scott

WEATHER: Looks like there’s a hotel blowing in from center field. The sky is so dark, it literally looks like a series of steel beams woven into a gray dome.

FIRST IN THE FIRST: Ivan Nova is not making his major league debut, but he is making his first big league start. Called up earlier this season to serve as a long man at the back of the bullpen, Nova has pitched three major league innings this season. He pitched one scoreless against the Twins and two scoreless against the Tigers.

NOT A GOOD MATCHUP: Joe Girardi did not indicate that this played into his decision to sit Derek Jeter, but it’s worth noting that Jeter is a career .188 hitter against Brandon Morrow. If Girardi had decided to give Jeter one day off in Toronto, that might have been enough to convince him today would be the day.

ANOTHER ZERO: Yesterday the Yankees got their seventh shutout of the season. That’s one away from their total from last season.

CLEANING UP: Robinson Cano as a clean-up hitter this season: .375 with 16 runs, two doubles, six home runs and 19 RBI in 12 games.

MINOR MOVES: Just got a text from Mike Ashmore: Alfredo Aceves will make his rehab start with Trenton. D.J. Mitchell and Hector Noesi have been promoted to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. All of this comes on the day the promotions of Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances to Double-A became official.

UPDATE, 7:16 p.m.: Two-out RBI double by Cano has given the Yankees a 1-0 lead. I’m out of words to describe him.

UPDATE, 7:28p.m.: What a huge break for the Yankees, and a huge throw from Brett Gardner. Bases loaded with no outs, Gardner fielded a fairly shallow fly ball and made the perfect throw to the plate to get the lead runner trying to score. Nova makes it hold up with a strikeout to get out of the inning.

UPDATE, 8:00 p.m.: There’s Nunez’s arm on display. Too bad the missed call at first base meant it went for nothing.

UPDATE, 8:04 p.m.: The blown call hurts. Bautista’s 39th home run was a two-run shot for a 2-1 Blue Jays lead.

UPDATE, 8:25 p.m.: Nova has settled in nicely, but the Yankees haven’t been able to do anything against Morrow.

UPDATE, 8:30 p.m.: Cito Gaston was just ejected before the start of the sixth inning. Not sure why. I’m sure he was defending Escobar, but I didn’t see the moment he was ejected.

UPDATE, 8:41 p.m.: Great at-bat by Cano ends with a walk, then Posada doubles him home to tie the game. Two-out RBI have saved the Yankees tonight.

UPDATE, 8:50 p.m.: Might have been a bit of gamesmanship by Bautista. Try to get in the kid’s head a little bit. I’m not sure Girardi had ever moved that fast in his life.

UPDATE, 8:54 p.m.: That’s it for Nova. After that terrible start when he loaded the bases with no outs, he went on to pitch 5.1 innings allowing four hits and no walks. Two of the hits were infield singles, one of which should have been an out. Just a terrific outing for Nova.

UPDATE, 9:22 p.m.: Some guy just ran onto the field from the left-field corner. Security had him on the ground in about two seconds. Pretty impressive. Then he tried to put up a fight, which was a mistake. To paraphrase some comedian I once heard: I don’t know how many guys it was going to take to arrest him, but I know how many they were going to use. It was plenty.

There wasn’t really one big story that came out of today’s pregame. It was more a series of fairly significant updates and explanations. We’ll start with the thing that stood out the most about the lineup.

Why isn’t Derek Jeter playing?
“Seventeen days in a row he’s played,” Joe Girardi said. “The man needs a day off. You hate to give him a day off, but we can’t have him physically break down.”

Eduardo Nunez got the nod at shortstop because he doesn’t have as much third base experience as Ramiro Pena. And there’s a chance the remaining everyday infielders could also get a day off — or a DH day — here in Toronto.

“I’ll think about maybe giving Robbie a day off here too,” Girardi said. “I know he’s tired too, so it’s something we’ll have to look at. Maybe we’ll look at Tex.”

What’s the rotation after Ivan Nova?
Girardi said the Yankees plan to stick with the original plan of using their five regular starters in the next five games. Everyone will simply be bumped back a day to make room for Nova. That’s with one exception.

CC Sabathia will start Saturday’s game in Chicago. That’s so that he will fall between A.J. Burnett and Javier Vazquez. The Yankees want to split those two so that Francisco Cervelli can go back to being the regular catcher for both of them. Also, the Yankees don’t want to give Sabathia seven days off.

What’s next for Andy Pettitte?
The plan is for Pettitte to get back on the mound on Friday. He’s cleared to play catch. Assuming he feels OK playing catch on flat ground on Friday, he’s step back on the mound for a bullpen that day.

“I think you kind of work up to what he can do,” Girardi said. “Obviously we would like for him to be able to throw a full bullpen and not feel anything.”

Where’s Alex Rodriguez?
He’s in Toronto, but he’s not doing much.

“Just a lot of ice,” he said. “A lot of treatment. Heat. Cold. A little bit of everything. A lot of massaging… They want me to stay off my feet (and) spend a lot of time with Steve and Geno. Doing all my treatment stuff, but no baseball stuff. No hitting. None of that.”

Some other minor notes for the day.

• Alfredo Aceves will make another rehab start tomorrow. Girardi said it will be with either Trenton or Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, whichever is home that day. Problem is, both are home that day. “He’ll continue to pitch,” Girardi said. “It’s just not quite sharp enough.”

• Damaso Marte will throw a bullpen — his second since going on the DL — tomorrow.

• Even with Robinson Cano playing so well, Girardi said there’s no temptation to leave Cano in the clean-up spot. “I’ll insert Alex right back where he was and put him right back in the fourth hole,” Girardi said. “He’s a clean-up hitter. He’s done a tremendous job.”

• Girardi said he’ll look for early strikes to tell him whether Nova’s going to be on his game tonight. “This is a young man that we have high hopes for,” he said. “He’s being asked to pitch in the pennant race.”

• Cano and Evan Longoria were named the American League’s co-Players of the Week.

UPDATE, 6:28 p.m.: Toronto’s lineup
Fred Lewis LF
Yunel Escobar SS
Jose Bautista RF
Vernon Wells CF
Adam Lind DH
Aaron Hill 2B
Lyle Overbay 1B
Edwin Encarnacion 3B
Jose Molina C

Associated Press photo of Jeter

Brett Gardner LF
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Eduardo Nunez SS
Ramiro Pena 3B
Francisco Cervelli C

Jon Heyman is reporting that the Red Sox have claimed Johnny Damon off waivers from the Tigers. Boston obviously needs some help in the outfield with Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron out of the mix. We’ll have to wait to find out if some sort of deal is worked out to actually send Damon back to Boston.