The LoHud Yankees Blog

Joe Girardi will be scoreboard watching this afternoon. On the big scoreboard in left field, the first game listed is TAM vs. KC. That game means just as much as this one, and Girardi will be paying attention.

“If Tampa is blowing a team out, then you might think about (resting) guys who played a lot yesterday,” he said.

If that Tampa Bay score goes the other way, the Yankees will have a shot at the division and home-field advantage. As you can imagine, everything beyond this afternoon hinges on what happens today, so the notes were pretty limited pregame.

Even postgame, Girardi said, the Yankees won’t be able to answer a lot of questions. He said the team literally has nothing set. They haven’t decided on a roster or a rotation. There are nothing more than ideas at this point.

“Obviously we know Derek Jeter is going to be on the roster,” Girardi said. “But we have a meeting tomorrow and we’re going to talk about everything.”

• How much power does a starting pitcher have on game day? Joba Chamberlain’s locker in Boston is between Mariano Rivera and Dustin Moseley. When Joba got to his locker this morning, Rivera’s suitcase and Moseley’s suitcase had both spilled over into his spot. Joba had to move at least one of them, and he moved the closer’s. “(Moseley) can do what he wants today,” he said.

• Girardi said Dave Robertson is the only reliever from yesterday’s first game who he’ll have to check with before using him today.

• Are there relievers he needs to see to make roster decisions? “We’re going to try to win the game, that’s the bottom line, so not necessarily,” Girardi said.

• Moseley probably won’t go much over 75 pitches.

• Despite his struggles, count on Austin Kearns making the playoff roster. “At this point (leaving him off) is not something we’ve talked about,” Girardi said. “My guess is he’s going to be there.”

• Jorge Posada took a foul ball off the mask yesterday. “He’s OK,” Girardi said. “I specifically asked him last night after the game.”

• CC Sabathia has a bullpen today. It’s his last bit of pitching before Wednesday’s playoff opener.

• The Yankees will meet about the playoff roster tomorrow, but Girardi said not to expect an announcement until Tuesday.

UPDATE, 1:05 p.m.: Boston lineup.
Eric Patterson CF
Jed Lowrie SS
J.D. Drew RF
David Ortiz DH
Bill Hall 2B
Ryan Kalish CF
Jason Varitek C
Daniel Nava LF
Lars Anderson 1B

Associated Press photo of Rivera

For whatever reason, I could not get this to post from my phone, so it’s a few minutes late. I had to wait to get back upstairs.

Brett Gardner CF
Derek Jeter SS
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano DH
Nick Swisher RF
Jorge Posada C
Marcus Thames LF
Ramiro Pena 2B

Everyone is slowly trickling back into Fenway Park. We left this place less than eight hours ago, and now we’re back for the Yankees last attempt to win the American League East.

Dustin Moseley will make his ninth start of the season. He began the year as an afterthought in spring training. Then he pitched well in Triple-A, won a call-up, pitched his way into a temporary rotation spot and now he’ll start the final game of the regular season with the division on the line.

Out in Kansas City, the Rays are facing the notorious Sean O’Sullivan, who’s faced the Yankees three times with two different teams this season. The first time the Yankees saw him, O’Sullivan allowed two runs through six innings for a win in the Bronx. This is the first time the Rays have seen him this season.

Tampa Bay counters with Wade Davis, who’s strong second half might have moved him into the top three-to-five in Rookie of the Year voting.

Both games — the one in Boston and the one in Kansas City — carry equal weight for the Yankees. Everything has to go right or they’re heading for the wild card. I’ll have the lineup as soon as it’s posted, but I don’t think the first players bus has even left the hotel at this point.

It was past 1 a.m. when Dustin Moseley found out he would be starting tomorrow’s today’s regular season finale in Boston. The Yankees had just dropped the second game of a double header, and manager Joe Girardi couldn’t name a starter any earlier because he wasn’t sure which pitchers he would need as Saturday’s second game drifted into extra innings.

“It’s good, man,” Moseley said. “Go out there and give them my all tomorrow. Try to get home real quick and get some sleep, then try to get back out there… The routine isn’t in place, but the mentality will be there and ready to go tomorrow.”

Moseley last pitched on Monday, two scoreless innings in Toronto. He last started September 12 in Texas, where he matched Cliff Lee for six innings before allowing three runs in the seventh.

“I’m going to take it for what its worth,” Moseley said. “Go out there and do what I can do and hopefully we come out on top tomorrow. Or today.”

The Yankees need more than Moseley to win the division. They also need the Rays to lose in Kansas City. The Yankees and Rays are currently tied for the division lead, but Tampa Bay has the tiebreaker. A double header sweep would have left the Yankees in control of their own destiny. Instead they enter Sunday’s game needing Moseley and needing help.

• Girardi said he doesn’t know yet how many everyday players will be in the lineup on Sunday. “I’ll have to see when everybody gets in,” he said.

• Girardi used all of his go-to relievers in the first game, knowing he wouldn’t want to use any of them in the second. “You have to win the first game because you don’t know what’s going to arise in the second game,” he said.

• A.J. Burnett said he felt better than he has in his past few starts. “When I was quick I was able to slow down,” he said. “I didn’t let a lot of things bother me out there tonight. I never broke, so that’s a positive.”

• Four errors in the second game set a season high for the Yankees. The most glaring came on the play when Burnett argued with the umpire, forgetting about the runner at third base, who came around to score. “I probably should have called time, but I didn’t think about it,” Burnett said.

• Girardi’s take on the Burnett play at first: “It’s something that probably shouldn’t happen and it cost us a run.” Girardi said he never saw a replay of the controversial call at first.

• That 10th inning was going to be Ivan Nova’s last. Both of his major league losses have come against the Red Sox.

• The Yankees went 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position in the second game. They were 4-for-37 with RISP in the double header.

• Burnett has now hit 19 batters this season, the third-highest single-season total in Yankees history and the most since Jack Warhop hit 26 batters in 1909.

• Brett Gardner had five stolen bases today. These were the third and fourth multi-steal games of the season for Gardner. Three steals in the second game matched his career high.

• Robinson Cano picked up three hits in both games. It’s the fourth time this year that he’s had back-to-back three-hit games.

Associated Press photos of Burnett with Francisco Cervelli and Eduardo Nunez with Curtis Granderson.

YANKEES (95-65)
Brett Gardner LF
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira DH
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Lance Berkman 1B
Austin Kearns RF
Francisco Cervelli C
Eduardo Nunez SS

RHP A.J. Burnett (10-15, 5.33)

RED SOX (87-73)
Eric Patterson 2B
Felipe Lopez 3B
J.D. Drew DH
Lars Anderson 1B
Ryan Kalish CF
Daniel Nava LF
Josh Reddick RF
Yamaico Navarro SS
Kevin Cash C

RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka

TIME/TV: 9:15 p.m. / MY9

Word is the Yankees and Red Sox are going to try to play this thing at 9:15. Fans are just now coming back into the stadium and players are just starting to jog in the outfield. Joe Girardi normally speaks to the media between games of a double header, but tonight he said he had no time.

Phil Hughes, Andy Pettitte and Derek Jeter did talk to the media, so I’ll have comments from them posted ASAP.

***POSTGAME NOTES***

Despite bad numbers, Andy Pettitte was encouraged by his start in the opener. He said the back-to-back strikeouts of Victor Martinez and David Ortiz in the fourth inning showed how good his stuff could be tonight. His back never gave him any trouble, he was happy with his cutter and he still felt strong at the end.

“Obviously I wish my command would have been a little bit better,” Pettitte said. “I wish I would have been a little bit sharper with my stuff, but I wasn’t. It was kind of a grind to get out there today as far as my location and stuff like that. This one is over and I look forward to the postseason. I got up close to 90 pitches and I still felt good. I still felt strong. I’m ready to go. I’m ready to do what I need to do.”

• Phil Hughes said he was scheduled to go back out for the 10th if the game were still tied. “I don’t know how much further past that,” he said.

• Hughes doesn’t know when he’s pitching in the postseason.

• This was Hughes’ 18th win of the season. “A lot of the guys were giving me grief about it,” he said. “But these wins are valuable, especially in this league. I’ll take whatever ones I can get.”

• Derek Jeter on the game-winning single/error: “That was luck. That’s all you can say. Check swing, the ball hit my bat and fortunately it got past Papelbon. Sometimes that’s how it goes.”

• Brett Gardner has now reached base seven times in eight career plate appearances against Jonathan Papelbon.

• Kerry Wood had a career-best streak of 21 scoreless appearances, but it ended on that wild pitch in the eighth. He had not allowed a run since August 6, a streak of 23.1 scoreless innings.

• The Yankees are 25-2 when Robinson Cano homers.

• Joe Girardi did not meet with the media after the game. He usually talks between games in a double header, but with such a quick turnaround, he said he didn’t have time. He was literally running when he told us he couldn’t talk. That’s the long way of saying I have no idea which relievers are available tonight, which position players are available off the bench or who’s starting tomorrow.

• The Yankees tied a franchise record with 18 strikeouts in the game.

UPDATE, 9:44 p.m.: Yankees have an early 1-0 lead on a bases-loaded walk in the first inning. Plenty of folks are saying the game’s not on MY9. I have no idea what that’s about. Everything I’ve seen and been told says the game should be on that channel. Just this morning the Yankees listed Game 1 as a FOX game and Game 2 as a MY9 game.

UPDATE, 10:06 p.m.: Burnett didn’t inspire much confidence in the bottom of the first, but he stranded the bases loaded to keep the game from falling apart early. The Yankees responded with two runs in the second and have a 3-1 lead after an inning and a half.

By the way, the Rays won tonight, so the Yankees need a win to stay in control of their own destiny.

UPDATE, 10:49 p.m.: We’ve entered fiasco territory here in Boston. It’s still a 4-3 Yankees lead, but A.J. Burnett is doing nothing to build that confidence he talked about yesterday, and now he’s pulled a Knoblauch and allowed a run to score while arguing with an umpire. It might have been a blown call at first base — I thought he was safe live, but he looked out on the replay — but not paying attention cost a run.

UPDATE, 11:17 p.m.: A.J. Burnett is one inning away from a quality start. Amazing but true. The Yankees have the same number of hits as errors, but still have a 4-3 lead. Also amazing but true.

UPDATE, 11:28 p.m.: Tied at 4 in an inning that included yet another Yankees error. One of the worst baseball games I’ve ever seen, and I covered the minor leagues for seven years.

UPDATE, 12:05 a.m.: Ivan Nova is getting loose in the bullpen. That seems to indicate Dustin Moseley is tomorrow’s starting pitcher. Not sure though.

UPDATE, 12:36 a.m.: That’s Kevin Cash’s first RBI of the season. The Boston beat writers say there had only been one player in Red Sox history with more plate appearances and no RBI in a season. We’re tied in the eighth. This night is an absolute mess in every which way.

UPDATE, 1:01 a.m.: I just typed the words UPDATE, 1:01 a.m., then I made the words bold. Then I realized I have nothing to say. This day was going to be long at best. It’s been…………………………. longer than that. Amazingly, these innings are among the most important of the season, making all of the difference between the Yankees controlling their own destiny or needing help on the final day of the season.

The Yankees nearly let this one slip away on a pair of late-inning wild pitches, but Brett Gardner scored on a 10th inning fielding error and the Yankees managed to sneak a 6-5 win against the Red Sox in the opening game of a double header. The Yankees seemed to allow base runners in every inning, but Phil Hughes and Mariano Rivera put a stop to it to keep the Yankees in control of their own destiny.

Associated Press photo of Dave Robertson

YANKEES (94-65)
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Jorge Posada C
Brett Gardner LF
Ramiro Pena 3B

LHP Andy Pettitte (11-3, 3.17)
Pettitte vs. Red Sox

RED SOX (87-72)
Darnell McDonald CF
Jed Lowrie SS
Victor Martinez C
David Ortiz DH
Mike Lowell 1B
Bill Hall RF
Daniel Nava LF
Yamaico Navarro 3B
Felipe Lopez 2B

RHP Tim Wakefield (4-10, 5.20)
Wakefield vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 4:10 10 p.m. / FOX
Tonight’s game is on MY9

UMPIRES: HP Mike Winters, 1B Jeff Nelson, 2B Brian Runge, 3B Jerry Layne

WEATHER: Beautiful. Sunny. Blue Skies. It’s everything last night was not.

MOST SINCE THE SKIPPER: Francisco Cervelli has 70 hits, the most in a season for a Yankees catcher other than Jorge Posada since Joe Girardi had 70 in 1998.

TWO PER GAME: Derek Jeter needs six more hits to tie Al Simmons for the 35th most hits all time. Simmons has 2,928. If Jeter can get eight more hits, he’ll tie Jake Beckley and Rogers Hornsby for 33rd place.

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN: This is the third time in history that the Yankees have opened and closed a season by playing in Boston. They did the same thing in 1938 and 1950, two seasons in which the Yankees advanced to the World Series and swept.

IT’S BEEN A WHILE: The previous nine games between the Yankees and Red Sox were played in New York. According to Elias, it’s the first time either New York or Boston played nine consecutive home games in the season series since 1944, when they played 22 times including nine straight in the Bronx.

UPDATE, 4:34 p.m.: Nick Swisher might not have played it right, but Lowell hit that ball hard. That’s a legit double and a 2-0 Red Sox lead in the first.

UPDATE, 5:01 p.m.: Pettitte stranded some runners in the second, and now Granderson has cut the lead to 2-1 with an RBI triple in the third. For whatever reason the triple made me think of Granderson’s huge home run here in Boston at the start of the season.

UPDATE, 5:05 p.m. And now we’re tied on Rodriguez’s RBI grounder.

UPDATE, 5:06 p.m.: And now the Yankees are in front. Cano got a home run just inside the right-field foul pole, his 29th of the season for a 3-2 Yankees lead in the top of the third.

UPDATE, 5:44 p.m.: That might have been Pettitte’s last pitch of the game, and it was a big one, a strikeout of David Ortiz to leave runners at the corners in the fourth inning. Pettitte is already above 80 pitches, a level he didn’t reach in his previous two starts, and Dave Robertson has already been getting loose in the bullpen.

UPDATE, 5:48 p.m.: Either a hit and run or a straight steal, either way Granderson scored from first on a double by Teixiera for a 4-3 Yankees lead in the fifth.

UPDATE, 5:50 p.m.: No longer anyone getting loose in the Yankees bullpen. Looks like Pettitte is going out for at least a few more pitches.

UPDATE, 5:51 p.m.: RBI double by Cano. The guy had been struggling a little bit lately, but he got two days off and now he has two huge RBI. It’s a 5-3 Yankees lead.

UPDATE, 5:59 p.m.: Here’s Robertson after a leadoff double by Lowell in the bottom of the fifth. Nice moment as Lowell got a curtain call after being pulled for a pinch runner.

UPDATE, 6:13 p.m.: Navarro and McDonald weren’t happy with their strike three calls, but both looked like good pitches to me. A good fastball, then a good curveball and Robertson was able to strand the bases loaded. He put himself in the trouble, but he made the pitches when he had to. Still 5-3 Yankees.

UPDATE, 6:40 p.m.: During Ortiz’s first at-bat, I was telling Sam how much I liked the fact the Yankees moved Pena — not Jeter — to play up the middle on the shift. Might as well go with the guy who has actually played second base in his career. Good turn by Pena on that double play, getting the Yankees out of the sixth and keeping the lead intact.

UPDATE, 7:08 p.m.: Joba Chamberlain gave the Red Sox a chance — and a run — but he finally got three straight outs to keep the Yankees in front, 5-4.

UPDATE, 7:51 p.m.: Bad pitch by Kerry Wood on the wild pitch that scored the tying run, but a great job to stick with the play, make the catch on the bad throw from third and get the out on what would have been the go-ahead run. Tied at 5 heading into the ninth.

UPDATE, 8:00 p.m.: I don’t believe it! They’re playing Phil Hughes’ music! Old-school WWF? Anyone? Point is, Phil Hughes is now pitching in the ninth. I’m guessing he won’t be starting tomorrow. Girardi is clearly going to try to win this game, and hope for Good A.J. to show up tonight.

As you can imagine, there wasn’t a lot of news coming out of Fenway Park this afternoon, so when Brian Cashman took a seat on a box in the Yankees clubhouse to address a handful of writers, we were all hoping to fill out notebooks. Instead, Cashman came up with this.

“You ever watch the Brady Bunch and they had the phony football playbook?”

Seriously. The Yankees general manager compared the Yankees down the stretch to an episode of the Brady Bunch. I’ll be perfectly honest, The Bunch — is it OK to call it that? — was not part of the regular TV viewing cycle in the Jennings household. I had no idea what Cashman was talking about, but it seemed to make sense is a very strange, family friendly sort of way.

“You guys know the episode, the playbook one where Marcia was dating somebody, the quarterback from the opposing team, and he left his playbook and they stole it,” he said. “It’s like the Brady Bunch playbook. If you’re advance scouting us here in September, I think we’re holding back all our big plays. We’re saving hopefully out best for October, and we’re playing possum in September.”

• As you can probably guess from the lineup, Girardi is hoping to play Alex Rodriguez in both games. He’ll DH in the first and play third base in the second. “You’re concerned about all your guys, but when we start talking about the guys that play a lot and have a little less youth on their side (there’s more concern),” Girardi said. “We’re looking at three games in 24 hours. It’s tough.”

• Girardi said he will probably not use any relievers in both games, but as always he’ll check with his guys. Sounds like Boone Logan is possible in both.

• Girardi considered it an easy decision to catch Jorge Posada in the day game instead of the night game. This way he can play tomorrow, too.

• The Yankees won’t announce a Sunday starter until after the second game.

• Neither Girardi nor Cashman would say much about the Yankees postseason roster plans.

• Cashman basically guaranteed they will not carry 12 pitchers in the first round.
• Two left-handers remains “possible” according to Girardi.
• Eduardo Nunez is “probably a little better of a base-stealing threat” than Greg Golson, according to Girardi.
• Could anything that happens tonight affect their rotation decisions in the Division Series? “I wouldn’t say,” Cashman said.

• One slightly interesting bit about the postseason roster, Girardi said his bullpen construction could depend on who they play. Cashman said, in his mind, it shouldn’t matter. “I think for Joe it matters a little bit more than it does for me, which is fine,” Cashman said. “I’ll certainly lean toward what we anticipate he will do because he likes to go to the pen a lot and mix and match, especially on the individual basis. I saw what he did in the postseason last year so it’s something that he loves to do. How he wants the bench to be constructed and what he wants the bullpen to look like will rule the day.”

• Cashman on the Yankees suddenly being in a position of controlling their own destiny: “I knew we had a shot at it and knew we might not have a shot at it. Now we’ve got a great shot at it, so let’s take advantage of it and run the table if we can. I know that’s what our guys’ intent is, that’s what our intent is, but the Red Sox have a lot to say about it too.”

Google found that picture of the Brady Bunch. The Swisher photo is from last night and from the AP.

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

There has always been something of a love-hate relationship with A.J. Burnett. He’s massively talented but prone to implosions. The Yankees knew that when they signed him, and they experienced it to some degree last season, but this year has been different.

“I’m inconsistent,” Burnett said. “But not this inconsistent.”

Burnett said his terrific first two months of the season “seems like four years ago.” He was 6-2 at the end of May. Then he went 0-5 in June. He had a 2.00 ERA in July. Then he didn’t win a game in August. Even when his stuff was good, Burnett managed to lose a complete game in Kansas City.

Tonight, Burnett goes back to the mound with a shot at some level of redemption. “There’s no erasing it,” Burnett said, but he could put some minds a little bit at ease by finishing the season strong. For better or worse — and there’s literally no way of knowing which — the Yankees will almost certainly need Burnett at some point if they’re going to win another World Series.

“I’m sure a lot of people are curious,” Burnett said. “I broke every record in the wrong direction for the Yankees this year. It ain’t like we got a Cy Young on the mound. Then again, I can go out there and throw a no-hitter at any time. I have that in the back of my head too. Confidence is not lost, but I know there are questions. I’m not oblivious to that.”

Here’s Burnett speaking on Friday.

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Associated Press photo