The LoHud Yankees Blog

YANKEES (92-62)
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Marcus Thames DH
Austin Kearns LF
Curtis Granderson CF
Francisco Cervelli C

RHP Ivan Nova (1-0, 4.11)
Nova has never faced the Red Sox

RED SOX (85-68)
Marco Scutaro 2B
J.D. Drew RF
Victor Martinez C
David Ortiz DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
Jed Lowrie SS
Ryan Kalish CF
Daniel Nava LF
Lars Anderson 1B

LHP Jon Lester (18-8, 3.06)
Lester vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 4:10 p.m. / FOX

UMPIRES: HP Chris Guccione, 1B Phil Cuzzi, 2B Brian O’Nora, 3B Jerry Crawford

WEATHER: Bright and sunny with temperatures in the 80s. Could drop into the 70s by the late innings, but should remain sunny throughout.

THREE DOWN: The Yankees have lost three in a row at home, matching their longest home losing streak of the season. Under Joe Girardi, the Yankees lost four in a row at home once in 2008 and once in 2009.

THREE TIMES: Last night was the third time the Yankees hit six home runs in a loss. According to Elias, they also did it in 1999 (Knoblauch, Ledee, two from O’Neill, two from Posada) and in 1950 (Berra, Coleman, DiMaggio, Henrich, two from Bauer).

THREE IS THE NUMBER: The Yankees magic number to clinch a playoff spot remains three.

MORE THAN THREE: The Yankees have allowed seven or more runs and 10 or more hits in back-to-back games for the first time since August 15-16, 1945 in St. Louis.

UPDATE, 4:48 p.m.: Ivan Nova got through the top six hitters in this Red Sox lineup, and now it’s the bottom third that’s given him trouble. A hit batter, walk and single have loaded the bases with no outs in the third inning.

UPDATE, 4:53 p.m.: How long is the leash on Nova? Maybe not nearly as long as the past two times out. Dave Robertson is already getting loose in the bullpen. The Red Sox have taken a 2-0 lead with two outs in the third.

UPDATE, 4:59 p.m.: RBI single by David Ortiz pushed the Boston lead to 3-0 before Nova got out of the third with a ground ball to third base. He’s at 55 pitches.

UPDATE, 5:26 p.m.: First time against the bottom of the order, Nova hit a guy, walked a guy and allowed a single. Second time through, he got the bottom three to strikeout, ground out, ground out. This might be nothing more than the growing pains of a young pitcher. After the final runner reached in that three-run third, Nova got the next six hitters out, without letting the ball leave the infield.

UPDATE, 5:28 p.m.: Now Nova’s in trouble again. A two-out double and two-out walk have put two on for David Ortiz in the fifth.

UPDATE, 5:29 p.m.: And here comes Girardi. Nova’s out. Royce Ring is in.

UPDATE, 5:32 p.m.: Ring got a weak ground ball, but it was just far enough up the middle to get past Cano for an RBI single. Now it’s trusted setup man Chad Gaudin coming in to face Beltre.

UPDATE, 5:44 p.m.: The Yankees finally got a base runner on Alex Rodriguez’s walk, but Cano immediately grounded into a double play, Thames struck out and Jon Lester is through five hitless innings.  A 4-0 deficit looks pretty big right now.

UPDATE, 5:55 p.m.: Gaudin’s kept the score right where it was. It’s still 4-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth. A nice catch from Austin Kearns helped.

UPDATE, 6:01 p.m.: The Yankees won’t be no-hit today. Francisco Cervelli dumped a single that Daniel Nava couldn’t quite catch, leaving two on with one out for the top of the order in the sixth.

UPDATE, 6:03 p.m.: With Lester dealing a rookie in left field, the Yankees took a shot, but Nava made a good throw and Austin Kearns was out at the plate. It’s still 4-0. Now up to Swisher.

UPDATE, 6:10 p.m.: Back-to-back home runs off Gaudin. It’s now 6-0.

UPDATE, 6:55 p.m.: The two big boys from Scranton, Romulo Sanchez and Jonathan Albaladejo, stranded runners to keep the score 6-0 heading into the bottom of the eighth. Lester is finally finished after seven innings of two-hit ball.

UPDATE, 7:14 p.m.: Curtis Granderson’s sixth home run in the past 10 games has put the Yankees on the board, but it’s still a 6-2 deficit heading into the ninth.

The Yankees clubhouse was closed to the media for an extra hour this afternoon while former NFL coach Tony Dungy spoke to the team. Manager Joe Girardi tried to get Dungy to speak to the team in spring training, but the schedules never aligned until today when Dungy was in New York for some television work.

“In important games, it’s not necessary who has the most talent, but what team sticks together and executes their fundamentals the best,” Dungy said afterward, explaining his message. “Probably nothing they haven’t heard from Joe, but I know I have a son who doesn’t listen to anything I say, but if he hears the same thing from someone else, sometimes it has a little more impact.”

Girardi is a big Dungy fan, and he likes bringing speakers to talk to the team. This spring, he brought former Olympic sprinter Michael Johnson to be a guest speaker.

“I admire (Dungy) tremendously for his faith, his beliefs, the kind of man he is, the kind of family man, the kind of coach,” Girardi said. “I’ve read his books. I subscribe to his website. A ton of respect.”

The players and Girardi said Dungy’s message didn’t have a lot to do with sports, but was more about the life experiences of an athlete. It was a brief speech — Dungy guessed it lasted about five minutes — and there were some follow-up discussion. My most accounts, it was Nick Swisher who asked the most questions.

“Winning at any level in any other sport, seems so much harder because you’re not doing it,” Curtis Granderson said. “When you listen to it, you’re like man that’s pretty cool and that’s pretty neat just because it’s related in a different aspect. It’s still winning. The philosophies are very similar.”

• Other than the Dungy appearance, this seemed to be a pretty slow afternoon at Yankee Stadium. The players had optional batting practice and were filtering in and out of the clubhouse the whole time the media was in there.

• Austin Kearns is back in the Yankees lineup for the first time since being hit in the elbow by a pitch in Baltimore. “The last couple of days it’s gotten better,” he said. “It was just a matter of the swelling and stiffness getting better.”

• Phil Hughes said he wasn’t caught to off guard by having his start changed to Wednesday. He joked that he’s not thinking of this as being skipped, just pushed back three days.

• Hughes seemed to have the same attitude as Dave Eiland, saying he doesn’t know what made the difference the last time he had a start pushed back. Maybe the inning of relief helped. Maybe the change in some of his side work helped. Or maybe he simply had better stuff that day. Either way, he’s not putting too much thought into the extra rest this time around, or leading into the playoffs.

• As he’s said before, Girardi once again said his management style would not have been any different had their spot in the standings been different. “I haven’t managed any different the whole year,” he said.

• Funniest father-son combination in the clubhouse has to be Kerry Wood and his little boy. That kid will follow Wood everywhere, and the two seem to be always having some sort of playful conversation. It’s really funny to watch.

RED SOX
Marco Scutaro SS
J.D. Drew RF
Victor Martinez C
David Ortiz DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
Jed Lowrie SS
Ryan Kalish CF
Daniel Nava LF
Lars Anderson 1B

Dungy picture from his website

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Marcus Thames DH
Austin Kearns LF
Curtis Granderson CF
Francisco Cervelli C

Here’s the press release from the Yankees.

The New York Yankees will honor the first-ever Eunice Kennedy Shriver Day and Special Olympics on Saturday, September 25, when two extraordinary Special Olympics athletes from the Bronx will throw out the ceremonial first pitch prior to the Yankees-Red Sox game scheduled to begin at 4:10 p.m.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Special Olympics founder, Best Buddies board member, and champion of all people with intellectual disabilities passed away last August. Eunice Kennedy Shriver Day (www.eksday.org) has been created as an annual celebration of her life and global call for people to commit actions of inclusion, acceptance and unity for and with individuals with intellectual disabilities. The Yankees are hoping to extend the goal of inspiring new fans to experience the impact of Shriver’s legacy and embrace the movement she started.

Throwing out Saturday’s ceremonial first pitch will be two athletes from Special Olympics New York – John Eacobacci and Ivelisse Caraballo. John is 50 years old and has been a Special Olympics athlete for more than 20 years. He is a bowler, who has won dozens of medals throughout this time with Special Olympics and he is also a huge Yankees fan. Ivelisse is 46 years old and participates in softball skills. She too has been a Special Olympics athlete for more than 20 years and has won dozens of medals.

Joe Giradi said after last night’s game that he was not ready to announce the date of Andy Pettitte’s next start. He also would not confirm that CC Sabathia’s next start will be on Friday.

“Nothing is etched in stone,” he said. “We are through this weekend and we will continue to adjust as we feel necessary.”

Based on what we know, and what we think we know, here’s the rest of the Yankees regular season rotation. The names in bold have either been announced or basically announced. The names in italics are guesses.

Today – Ivan Nova
Sunday – Dustin Moseley
Monday – A.J. Burnett
Tuesday – Javier Vazquez/Chad Gaudin
Wednesday – Phil Hughes
Thursday – Off day
Friday – CC Sabathia
Saturday – Pettitte/Burnett
Sunday – Burnett/Pettitte

What comes next — and when Pettitte and Burnett take their final starts — depends entirely on how the Yankees want to lineup their postseason rotation. Do they want to split the lefties, leaving either Hughes or Burnett to start Game 2? Do they want to use a three-man rotation in the first round — meaning Sabathia would pitch Game 4 on short rest — knowing they’ll need a fourth starter in the ALCS?

Two ways it could play out (it doesn’t have to be either of these)…

Beginning on Monday, October 4
Monday – Off day
Tuesday – Off day
Wednesday – Sabathia
Thursday – Pettitte
Friday – Off day
Saturday – Hughes/Burnett
Sunday – Sabathia
Monday – Off day
Tuesday – Pettitte

Or…

Monday – Off day
Tuesday – Off day
Wednesday – Sabathia
Thursday – Hughes/Burnett
Friday – Off day
Saturday – Pettitte
Sunday – Burnett/Hughes
Monday – Off day
Tuesday – Sabathia

After Andy Pettitte’s worst start of the season, there seem to be two reasons for concern and one reason for hope.

Pettitte is not stretched out
The Yankees were hoping to get Pettitte up to 90 pitches tonight. Pettitte was hoping for 100. He instead threw 75 and will be limited to roughly 90 in his last regular-season start. “It would have been nice to get him up to 90 and feel good about that,” Girardi said. “But we didn’t get there so we’ll have to deal with it.”

The good news about his endurance: Pettitte said his arm and groin felt fine. His problem tonight was mechanical. “I didn’t feel like I was too tired out there,” he said. “I think I was OK as far as that.”

Pettitte was not sharp and has only one more start
There’s only one more opportunity for Pettitte to get himself ready for the playoffs, and he still has one pitch that needs to be refined. “I feel like I haven’t been able to establish my cutter back since I’ve been out,” he said. “It wasn’t very good in my rehab starts. Trying to win those games, I didn’t work on it very much and then it wasn’t real sharp in Baltimore but everything else was so sharp I didn’t have to use it.”

Tonight, Pettitte said his location was bad in the strike zone. His pitches were up, and when he tried to hit the corners, he hit the middle of the plate. He was also frustrated by his “absolutely horrible” pitch sequences.

Pettitte has been here before
Even with the bad outing and limited innings, the Yankees know Pettitte is capable of better than they saw tonight. “It’s not what you want to see, but I believe in Andy,” Girardi said. “…You’d like to see him get back to the way he threw in Baltimore. If he doesn’t, I’m not going to panic. Andy has a history of being very good as time goes on.”

Said Pettitte: “I’ve done horrible going into the playoffs and pitched great, and I’ve felt great going into the playoffs and struggled. It doesn’t matter. I’ve got something like 40 playoff starts. You go out there and you hope you’ve got it that night, and if you don’t, you’re probably going to get knocked around.”

Here’s Pettitte’s postgame session. He mentioned giving up nine runs in his last start last season, but that was actually in 2007.

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• Alex Rodriguez tied and then moved ahead of Sammy Sosa for sixth place on baseball’s all-time home runs list. He hit No. 609 in the sixth inning, and No. 610 in the seventh. It was his 58th career multi-homer game.

• Mark Teixeira also went deep twice, Curtis Granderson had a solo home run and Nick Swisher hit a two-run homer. “How many home runs did we have?” Girardi said. “Six tonight? And lose? It’s hard to believe.”

• For Teixeira, a two-homer game was sign that he’s starting to feel better at the plate. “The last two days and even a couple of days before that I think I’ve been swinging the bat better,” he said. “It’s been feeling a little better. Hopefully I can build on the last two nights.”

• Granderson has hit eight home runs in his past 21 games at Yankee Stadium. Swisher is one home run away from matching last year’s total of 29.

• The last time two different Yankees hit more than one home run in the same game: July 11 of last year when Rodriguez and Eric Hinske did it.

• Dave Robertson was available. “I think they were going to try to stay away from me,” Robertson said. “But I was available if it came down to it.”

• Derek Jeter extended his season-high hitting streak to 13 games.

• Sergio Mitre pitched for the third time since August 27. He pitched two scoreless innings, allowing two hits and no walks.

• Kerry Wood and Boone Logan combined for two hitless innings. Wood struck out two.

Associated Press photos of Pettitte and Robinson Cano

The Yankees hit six home runs tonight, but that wasn’t enough to keep them in first place in the division. A 10-8 loss dumped the Yankees back into second place in the American League East, a half game behind Tampa Bay. Andy Pettitte had his shortest healthy start of the year, allowing the first seven runs of an early 10-1 deficit that the Yankees couldn’t climb out of despite homers from Curtis Granderson, Nick Swisher, Mark Teixeira (2) and Alex Rodriguez (2).

Associated Press photo of Pettitte with Rodriguez and Jeter

YANKEES (92-61)
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Lance Berkman DH
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Granderson CF
Brett Gardner LF

LHP Andy Pettitte (11-2, 2.81)
Pettitte vs. Red Sox

RED SOX (84-68)
Marco Scutaro SS
J.D. Drew RF
Victor Martinez C
Adrian Beltre 3B
David Ortiz DH
Mike Lowell 1B
Jed Lowrie SS
Bill Hall LF
Darnell McDonald CF

RHP Josh Beckett (5-5, 5.71)
Beckett vs. Yankees

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

UMPIRES: HP Jerry Crawford, 1B Chris Guccione, 2B Phil Cuzzi, 3B Brian O’Nora

WEATHER: Temperatures in the 70s. A few clouds but no real chance of rain. Pretty good way to kick off the final home series of the regular season.

NEW ADDITION: Triple-A hitting coach Butch Wynegar has joined the Yankees coaching staff and will be with the team through the end of the season. Really, really good guy. Glad to see him.

ARMS IN THE OUTFIELD: The Yankees are sixth in the American League with 29 outfield assists this season. They had 15 all of last year, the fewest of any major league team. Brett Gardner is tied for second in the major with 11 outfield assists, and Swisher is tied for fifth with 10.

SECOND CHANCE: Lance Berkman is hitting .370 since coming off the disabled list on September 1. He’s hitting .442 against right-handed pitchers this month.

UPDATE, 7:30 p.m.: Nick Swisher dropped a fly ball, then watched Jed Lowrie’s three-run home run sail over his head. It’s a 3-0 Red Sox lead in the second on two hard-hit balls off Pettitte.

UPDATE, 7:57 p.m.: Curtis Granderson’s been hitting ever since those mechanical tweaks in Texas. His solo homer here in the third has pulled the Yankees within 3-1.

UPDATE, 8:13 p.m.: Things are fell apart pretty quickly for Pettitte and his night is finished in the fourth inning. Here’s Jonathan Albaladejo after Pettitte allowed six hits and got his only out when Cano made a nice running catch in foul territory. It’s 7-1 Red Sox, still just one out in the fourth.

UPDATE, 8:37 p.m.: Lowrie’s sharp grounder to Teixeira was ruled a hit, so all three runs that inning are earned for Albaladejo. It’s a 10-1 Red Sox lead.

UPDATE, 8:50 p.m.: Here’s Sergio Mitre. And if you’re wondering if/when Andrew Brackman might get in a game, this might be the night.

UPDATE, 9:30 p.m.: Teixeira and Rodriguez went back-to-back in the sixth inning, now Swisher has a two-run home run in the seventh. It might be premature to say the Yankees are back in this, but they’ve cut the lead to 10-5. Beckett is finished.

UPDATE, 9:36 p.m.: Now it’s a little bit more interesting. Alex Rodriguez’s 610th career homer has pulled the Yankees within 10-7. Tw home runs tonight have pushed Rodriguez ahead of Sammy Sosa for the sixth most homers in baseball history.

The Yankees have not committed to a playoff rotation, but they have a group in mind.

“I don’t think that’s hard to figure out,” pitching coach Dave Eiland said. “As long as we don’t make any late-season trade or anything, the four or five we have are the four or five we have.”

The smart money seems to be on CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, A.J. Burnett and Phil Hughes, and the Yankees have a week and a half to get those four lined up for the Division Series. Pushing Hughes to Wednesday, Girardi said, “has to do with innings,” but there will be more changes in the coming days. And those will be geared toward the playoffs.

Right now, Sabathia is on turn for Tuesday and Sunday, which would line him up for Game 3. Obviously that’s not going to happen.

“Something will be adjusted, yes,” Eiland said.

Basically, the Yankees have to hold Sabathia to one more regular season start. He could get extra rest now (and pitch on Friday), or he could get extra rest leading into the playoffs (and stick with Tuesday’s start), or the Yankees could split the difference and have him pitch on Thursday.

The rest of the rotation can more or less pitch whenever the Yankees need them to pitch. Neither Pettitte nor Burnett needs extra rest.

“Andy’s a guy that we feel doesn’t need the spacing because he hasn’t pitched a whole lot,” Girardi sad. “A.J. seems to get rain in the middle of every one of his starts, so we really haven’t spaced him a whole lot… We’re still thinking about the division in our sight, but you have to think about mapping it out as well.”

• Dave Robertson is probably available tonight. “We talked about him being available today,” Girardi said. “I have not seen him and seen what he’s been able to do, but he felt good playing catch yesterday so there’s a chance.”

• Both Girardi and Eiland said there are no plans of having Hughes pitch out of the bullpen between starts. Throwing one inning of relief seemed to help him the last time he was given extra time off, but Eiland credited that success to experience, not one inning out of the pen. “Who’s to say that’s what did it, and who’s to say the mental part is what did it?” Eiland said. “Maybe he got used to it and figured out how to approach it a little differently mentally.”

• Eiland on continuing to evaluate the postseason relievers: “You can’t discount what guys have done all year either.”

• Eiland on whether the postseason rotation will depend on who the Yankees face in the first round: “If you can pitch and get guys out, you can pitch and get guys out. It’s not like we’re going to play somebody we’ve never seen before and try to trick somebody.”

• Girardi said he does want to rest some position players, in the final week, but he didn’t feel he needed to today. “Obviously you have to clinch a playoff spot before you can do some of the things you want to do,” he said. “I checked with guys today. There was a possibility you might give a guy a day off, but everyone felt pretty good.”

• After a hot start and a terrible middle, Francisco Cervelli has been hitting again the past month or so. Since August 27 he’s hitting .400 with nine walks and four strikeouts in 30 at-bats. “As he’s gotten more experience and has seen the league more,” Girardi said. “He knows what to expect, how people are going to try to get him out. He’s seen pitchers more than once, and I think his at-bats are better because of that.”

• Amare Stoudemire threw out the first pitch last night. It’s a pretty light day for notes, so why not throw in a picture of a really tall NBA player?

UPDATE, 6:06 p.m.: I only saw CC Sabathia in the clubhouse for a couple of minutes this afternoon, but apparently Mark Feinsand talked to him and Sabathia confirmed that he’ll make his next start on Friday.

Also worth noting that Evan Longoria is out through the weekend with a strained left quad.

RED SOX
Marco Scutaro SS
J.D. Drew RF
Victor Martinez C
Adrian Beltre 3B
David Ortiz DH
Mike Lowell 1B
Jed Lowrie SS
Bill Hall LF
Darnell McDonald CF

Associated Press photos of Sabathia and Stoudemire with Joba Chamberlain

To further limit his innings, Phil Hughes will take his next start on Wednesday. Dustin Moseley will start for the Yankees on Sunday.

Joe Girardi said there might be more changes coming as the Yankees setup their playoff rotation.

This change, though, Girardi said is strictly for Hughes’ workload. Girardi said he expects Wednesday to be Hughes’ last outing of the regular season.