The LoHud Yankees Blog

Derek Jeter sat at a table in the back corner of a Rangers Ballpark restaurant this afternoon. He had been answering questions for a while by the time I got over there — the room was full of Yankees answering questions at various tables — but the first question I heard Jeter answer was about a gyro ball and whether C.J. Wilson throws one.

“I haven’t seen it,” Jeter said. “Hopefully I won’t. I’m not looking for it.”

Apparently after five days off, there really wasn’t much left to ask these guys. 

The Yankees are ready to play. They went through one last workout this afternoon, and the Texas writers were amazed at Robinson Cano launching home runs in that now famous net drill he does with Kevin Long. The ALCS logos are painted, there is bunting hanging all over the outfield, and there’s a fancy TBS camera hanging from a wire along the first-base line. There’s nothing left to do but play.

“We’ve got no choice (but to take the time off),” Jeter said. “That’s pretty much how it is. If you play well after they say it helped. If you don’t they say it hurt. The way I look at it is we have no choice, so you deal with it.”

•  When CC Sabathia had extra time off leading into his ALDS start, he threw only one bullpen in between. This time he threw two bullpens, and did his flatground work twice. “Last time I was a little too strong and tend to get out of whack and it’s tough for me to throw strikes,” Sabathai said. “The toughest thing is making sure that my mechanics stay good and I’m standing tall and throwing downhill.”

• Even though he’s not planning on it, Sabathia said he could throw on three-days rest in Game 4 if necessary. “If they tell me that, I just go for it,” he said. “The only thing is (Girardi) would have to tell me before I throw a bullpen, because if I’ve thrown one on three days, I normally don’t throw a bullpen and just do two flat grounds and be ready to go.”

• One fairly minor lineup note for the Rangers, manager Ron Washington said he will start catcher Matt Treanor in Game 1. Treanor is the backup to Bengie Molina, but he’s been catching C.J. Wilson all year. Washington said he hasn’t decided on a first baseman.

• As for the Yankees, Girardi made no lineup announcement, but with a lefty starter on the mound, you can bet Marcus Thames will be in there. Thames has hit C.J. Wilson pretty well in his career. ”Knowing I’m going to be in Game 1, make sure I get myself prepared and ready to compete against these guys,” Thames said. “He’s a strike thrower. Make sure you’re ready to hit. He’s going to try to get strike one, so you have to make sure you’re ready to hit.”

• In a big late-inning situation, it’s reasonable to expect Boone Logan to face Josh Hamilton, who’s 0-for-3 with a strikeout in his career against Logan. “No approach,” Logan said. “I know he’s Josh Hamilton. He’s one of my favorite players to watch. But he’s in my eyes he’s just another lefty to go in and get out. I’m not going to approach it any differently.”

• Dave Eiland remains encouraged by what he saw from Mariano Rivera in the division series. “Crisp,” Eiland said. “He located the ball where he wanted to, both sides of the plate. He was working ahead of the count. You could just see the way the ball was coming out of his hand, he was feeling good.”

• Girardi on A.J. Burnett’s simulated game: “I actually thought he threw the ball pretty well. I know a lot was made of him hitting a couple of hitters, and we talk about that with our hitters all the time and obviously you never want to hit your own hitters. It happens, and we don’t want to see the guys get beat up and I am confident in him and I’ve seen what A.J. can do and I saw what A.J. did in the last season for us. He went through some difficult times during the course of the last season, he did. And he also ran off 12 or 13 good starts in a row. We know that A.J. can do and we are looking for a good start from A.J.”

• There was even more talk today about the Rangers aggressive base running in the ALDS. “The other night, Bengie Molina stole his first base since September 9, 2006, if I remember right,” Brett Gardner said. “Suddenly it’s important to get in scoring position, I guess. Nothing against him but, that’s how guys are playing now because every game and every play is so important. That’s obviously heads up on his part. He saw something from the pitcher that he got a read against.”

• Any difference opening an ALCS on the road? “I don’t feel any different,” Sabathia said. “We’re a veteran ballclub, and we knew what the situation we got into getting the Wild Card and we knew that we had to win games on the road to win in the series. For me, I don’t pitch any different in any other park and it seems not to have affected us up to this point.”

• Girardi turned 46 years old today, on the same day our great friend Sam Borden celebrated his anniversary.

Associated Press photos of Posada, Sabathia and Jeter

In what must have been the easiest decision of all time, Rangers president Nolan Ryan will throw out the first pitch of tomorrow’s ALCS opener in Texas. He’ll throw to fellow Rangers Hall of Famer Jim Sundberg.

Texas country artist Stoney Larue will sing the Star Spangled Banner and God Bless American will be performed by Michael Borts, who has performed the anthem at Rangers games for more than two decades.

For Saturday’s Game 2, Ferguson Jenkins will throw the first pitch, also with Sundberg catching. Country artist Steve Wariner will sing the National Anthem and another country singer, Neal McCoy, will perform God Bless America.

Rally towels are being given away both nights.

Obstructed view seats remain for both games. Standing room tickets are sold out for Game 1 but remain for Game 2.

Decision to flip Phil Hughes and Andy Pettitte in the rotation
Girardi: “There’s a lot of things that go into determining what your rotation is going to be during the course of the post-season, and does it change from series to series. Some of the things we looked at was the success (Hughes) has had here. He’s pitched very well here. He’s pitched very well on the road this year. If you look at his starts, both of them were going to be on the road this year. You look at our ballpark, sometimes it’s a little bit more favorable to a left-handed pitcher than right-handed pitchers, and those are some of the things that we looked at.”

Consideration toward starting Sabathia three times on short rest
Girardi: “We just think it’s too difficult. This is a guy that we have, for a long time, and I’m not so sure that if we did that, we would be able to do it with the other guy. And I think asking him to do that, you may not get the distance out of him that you would get in the two games, and you don’t know if he’ll be as sharp.”

Better off having Pettitte pitch in a potential Game 7
Girardi: “You look at Andy, he’s got, what, 40 post-season starts? A lot of people talk about Game 3 being a pivotal game, as well, and we just felt that this was the way to go with the rotation. There were a lot of factors that went into this, and now you’re going left, right, left, right and they have some positions that they possibly platoon at and we just looked at all of those things and felt that this was the best way to do it.”

Keeping the roster the same after the division series
Girardi: “We had some discussions. That’s the first thing that we talked about when we had our scouting meeting yesterday and we just decided that we were going to stand pat. We like the way that we have put the roster together. There was discussions about, do you want an extra pitcher and we felt we didn’t need to. We tried to cover our bases with all things involved and we just decided to stand pat.”

Mark Teixeira and Michael Young remained very close friends even after Teixeira was traded from the Rangers to the Braves, and Teixeira said earlier this week that he texted Young during the division series to say that he hoped that the two friends would have the chance to meet in the ALCS.

When Young was asked about that, he said, “It’s going to be fun. I love Tex. Can’t say enough great things about him. Once the game starts (though) … it’s Rangers-Yankees.”

What did the two say to each other in their texts? Young grinned.

“He invited himself to shack up at my house,” Young said. “I told him I had no room.”

Chad and Sam will be here taking your questions at 4 p.m. Be sure to come on over a few minutes early as questions will be accepted starting about five minutes before the chat goes live!

After a long day of travel delays with my friend Sweeny Murti — it’s not a great thing when the airport announces “this plane will not be taking you to Dallas” — I’ve finally arrived in Texas with just enough time to grab a quick lunch and get to the ball park. Meanwhile, MLB has announced the umpire crews for ALCS and NLCS. Here’s that release.

Major League Baseball has named the two umpiring crews that will oversee the League Championship Series. The American League Championship Series between the New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers, which will be covered by TBS, will begin on Friday, October 15th at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, while the National League Championship Series featuring the San Francisco Giants and the Philadelphia Phillies, which will be televised by FOX, will start on Saturday, October 16th at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

Gerry Davis, who is in his 27th year as a Major League Umpire, will be the crew chief in the 2010 ALCS, marking the 21st postseason series of his career, including his eighth LCS. Davis will work with regular season crew chief Brian Gorman, Angel Hernandez, Fieldin Culbreth, Jim Reynolds and Tony Randazzo.

Derryl Cousins, a 32-year Major League Umpire, will serve as the crew chief during the 2010 NLCS. It is the 15th career postseason assignment for Cousins, who will be on the field for his seventh LCS. Cousins’ crew will feature regular season crew chief Tom Hallion, Wally Bell, Ted Barrett, Jeff Nelson and Dan Iassogna.

A quick reminder that Sam and I will be chatting at 4 p.m. ET. Hope to see you there. Until then, here’s the broadcast schedule for the ALCS.

All ALCS games will be on TBS with Ernie Johnson (play-by-play), Ron Darling (analyst), John Smoltz (analyst) and Craig Sager (reporter). The TBS pregame and postgame shows will include Dennis Eckersley, Cal Ripken and David Wells.

Friday
Game 1, at Rangers
8:07 p.m.

Saturday
Game 2, at Rangers
4:07 p.m.

Monday
Game 3, at Yankees
8:07 p.m.

Tuesday
Game 4, at Yankees
8:07 p.m.

Wednesday
Game 5, at Yankees
4:07 p.m.

Friday
Game 6, at Rangers
8:07 p.m.

Saturday
Game 7, at Rangers
8:07 p.m.

Time to go back to Texas.

Sam and I will be in Arlington this afternoon. The Yankees are working out at 6:30 ET, with some media availability beginning around 5.

Before Joe Girardi talks about his final rotation and roster decisions, Sam and I will be hosting a chat at 4 ET. We’ll talk about the pitching matchups and the lineups and the looming presence of Cliff Lee. We’ll do our best to answer as many questions as we can get to while hanging out at Rangers Ballpark.

It’s a familiar place for two of the Yankees top hitters. Mark Teixeira was drafted by the Rangers, and Alex Rodriguez signed his landmark deal with Texas before being traded to the Yankees.

“I went there many years ago with the intention of being in the position they’re in today,” Rodriguez said. “I think Nolan Ryan and their general manager and their manager have done a terrific job of bringing that great team to where it’s at today.”

A significant step in making the Rangers what they are today was trading Teixeira in a deal that brought the current Rangers shortstop and closer.

“It was definitely a rebuilding,” Teixeira said. “Jon Daniels, you give him all the credit in the world. He’s done a great job of rebuilding. He rebuilt into the best team in the American League West. I was a part of the rebuilding process, and I was on my way out.”

Associated Press photo of Rodriguez

Up next for the Yankees is Rangers starter C.J. Wilson, a converted reliever who had a 3.35 ERA in his first full year as a Major League starter and pitched 6.1 scoreless innings in Game 2 of the division series. He’s a legitimate No. 2 starter who would have pitched his way into the No. 1 spot on a lot of teams.

On Wednesday, though, Wilson was a small part of the conversation after the Yankees final Bronx workout before flying to Texas. Certainly his name was brought up, but he was easily eclipsed by two things: Cliff Lee and the Rangers base running.

In finishing off the Rays in Tuesday’s Game 5, the Rangers ace once again stole the show, and it was the team’s aggressive base running — twice scoring from second on a ground ball — that gave them an early lead.

“As you saw last night in the first five innings, they stole three runs,” Alex Rodriguez said. “Obviously defensively we have a great challenge. We have to be heads up and we have to expect the unexpected from them.”

Said Girardi: “They’re more aggressive (than the Twins) on the basepaths. That’s a big part of their game. They’re more of a right-handed power lineup where the Twins were more split up. They’ve got a huge left-handed bat in Josh Hamilton. They’re going to throw a lot of big, powerful right-handers at you. They’re a much more aggressive club than the Twins are.”

And they have Cliff Lee.

The Yankees don’t need to be reminded of how good Lee has been in the postseason. They saw it first hand last year. Last night, he used his curveball more than usual, something all of the Yankees seemed to either notice or hear about.

“We know we’re going to face him,” Girardi said. “Their other guys threw the ball (well). C.J. Wilson, his start against Tampa was outstanding. It’s not like it’s going to get any easier. We’re not going to face him until Game 3, but we better worry about Game 1 first.”

• Lee and CC Sabathia are old friends from their days in the Indians organization. So was Sabathia rooting for his buddy last night? “Sure,” Sabathia said. “You want your friends to pitch well and play well. Not so much in Game 3.”

• Did today’s workout feel different because the Yankees knew who they would be playing? “We all knew when we were going to be playing,” Nick Swisher said. “I think more than the team itself, we were ready for the opportunity and the time. You’ve got to take care of the things that you need to take care of. You can’t worry about how good the other team is or what they’ve accomplished. We feel like we’ve got a good team, and we’ve done that all year long by taking care of the things we need to take care of.”

• Girardi said the team had not decided whether Franciso Cervelli would catch Burnett. ”That’s something that we’re going to talk about,” Girardi said. “The most we’re going to play is three days in a row, unless there’s some crazy rainout. I really haven’t gotten beyond the first couple of games as far as our schedule right now.”

• Even though the day was full of Cliff Lee questions, Girardi said he wasn’t worried about his players looking too far ahead. Several players — Swisher, Posada and Teixeira stood out to me — brushed off most of the Lee questions throughout the day. “I don’t think our guys have any focus on Game 3,” Girardi said. “These are professional guys that have been here, that know we’ve got to worry about Game 1. And I don’t think our guys are going to talk about Game 3, I really don’t, because our most important game right now is Game 1 and that’s what you worry about.”

• Mark Teixeira began his career with the Rangers and played in Texas for most of five seasons. Michael Young remains one of his best friends in the game. That being said, he was traded away as part of a rebuilding process, and that rebuilding has been pretty thurough. “It was actually more odd last year with the Angels because it was basically the exact same team that I left,” Teixeira said.

• Although Lee dominated most of the conversations, Wilson was certainly discussed this afternoon. “His style of pitching over the last couple of years has changed,” Swisher said. “He’s not throwing 96, 97 any more. He’s really spotting the ball. He’s pitching now. And I think he’s a lot tougher now. He’s really doing a good job of changing speeds, working the plate, staying down in the zone. The mistakes he does make, we’re going to have to take advantage of because it seems of late they’ve been few and far between.”

• The Yankees will workout in Arlington tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. central.

Associated Press photos of Swisher and Girardi

The Yankees just announced their rotation for the American League Championship, and it has Phil Hughes and Andy Pettitte swapping places.

Game 1 – LHP CC Sabathia
Game 2 – RHP Phil Hughes
Game 3 – LHP Andy Pettitte
Game 4 – RHP A.J. Burnett

The roster will be the exact same as in the division series.

Why swap Hughes and Pettitte? The Yankees haven’t talked publicly about the decision, but it does give them a chance to split their lefties and it lets Hughes make both of his starts on the road, where he’s been much better than at Yankee Stadium.  Hughes had a 3.47 ERA on the road and a 4.66 at home.

Joe Girardi said before the ALDS that he was using Pettitte ahead of Hughes so that the Twins left-heavy lineup would have to face four left-handed starters (if the series went five games). That’s no longer an issue against the Rangers.

“There’s a lot of factors that go into making a rotation,” Girardi said this afternoon. “Do you decide to go left-right-left-right? Do you stack your lefties together? These are a lot of things and factors that we have to discuss in making that rotation. Home and away, a lot of different things.”