The LoHud Yankees Blog

No surprise, the pregame topic today was the same as the postgame topic yesterday. The clubhouse television was tuned to SportsCenter, and it showed Russell Martin being plunked more than once this morning. Including in the footage was a shot of Joe Girardi emphatically pumping his fist after Brett Gardner’s home run.

“I’m aware of what I did,” Girardi said. “I feel fine today. I didn’t hurt anything.”

It was a rare show of emotion for the Yankees manager. He said he was happy that Martin showed restraint and didn’t charge the mound, he also said he doesn’t believe Josh Rupe was trying to hit Martin in the head, but a pitcher ultimately has to be responsible for a where a pitch ends up. And Rupe’s pitch ended up too high for Girardi’s taste.

Should we expect any sort of retaliation or carry over? Probably not.

“You go out and play the game,” Girardi said. “What happened last night, it’s ugly. It’s unfortunate. Russell gets hit close to his head, which is obviously very dangerous. Alex made a good point about it talking about, it brings teams closer together. The resolve. The energy. Everyone’s on the top step now.”

• Girardi checked with Martin to make sure he was OK to play today. Obviously Girardi doesn’t like to play his catcher in a day game after a night game, but the Yankees have been off so many times he felt Martin could play today. “Physically he’s strong,” Girardi said. “At some point next week he’ll get a day off. He could possibly get two.”

• Speaking of which, Francisco Cervelli will take today off and catch back-to-back games on Monday and Tuesday. Girardi said he’ll probably stay with Tampa until the Yankees are ready to give him a start a game. They won’t call him up and then have him sit on the bench for three or four days. “If they’re not going to play here you might as well give him at-bats and try to get him sharper,” Girardi said.

• Phil Hughes will throw another bullpen on Monday and Girardi said his first rehab start “could be” on Thursday. The Yankees still don’t know where he’ll be assigned.

• Because Freddy Garcia is a veteran, Girardi said he doesn’t worry too much about the time between starts. “He’s not complaining that he’s not making starts,” Girardi said. “He’s just trying to stay prepared.”

• Derek Jeter is hitting .235 in his past eight games, but Girardi said the Yankees have bee encouraged by his at-bats. “I think he’s swinging the bat better,” Girardi said. “He looks more comfortable to me, too.”

Associated Press photos

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

In the Yankees clubhouse, there was no doubt Josh Rupe intentionally hit Russell Martin in the ninth inning last night. In the Orioles clubhouse, Rupe insisted he was simply trying to throw a fastball inside.

“Trust me, that’s the last thing that I want to do,” Rupe said. “I know how it looked, and for me and a lot of these guys on this team, I pitch in. That’s what I do when I’m coming out of the ‘pen. I’ve already given up a home run, and yeah, I was really (ticked) off. But I’m not going to resort to possibly hurting a guy and end his career or anything like that. There’s no reason for me to do that.”

One by one, the Yankees said it was hard to believe Rupe simply made a bad pitch. Orioles manager Buck Showalter said he understood, but he also said he was choosing to believe Rupe’s side of the story.

“I’ve known Josh for a long time,” Showalter said. “I think he’d be very straight with me. But I do understand what it looked like, and it didn’t look good.”

Rupe said if he were trying to hit Martin he wouldn’t have hit him in the upper back.

“There’s no way that I would do that and intentionally go at somebody’s head or go way up there,” Rupe said. “I know how to hit a guy when the situation calls for it, and that wasn’t it.”

The Yankees hit five home runs tonight, and they’ve hit 35 this season, but none seemed to carry same kind of weight as Brett Gardner’s two-run shot in the ninth.

Gardner’s been struggling, and his first home run of the season was surely a sign that he might be turning a corner. More importantly, Russell Martin had just been hit in the upper back by a pitch that seemed intentional. Martin had homered in each of his previous two at-bats, and although Gardner’s response had no impact on the game — it was well out of reach at that point — it did send a kind of message.

“It took all the pain away,” Martin said. “… There’s no doubt about it (that the pitch was intentional). I want to stay in the lineup so I’m not going to do anything stupid, but I wouldn’t recommend him doing that again.”

Said Alex Rodriguez: “Situations like that, moments like that, they bring our team closer together.”

Said Joe Girardi: “It was beautiful. I’ll just say it was beautiful.”

Said Gardner: “Russ had a great game, and I’m glad he’s OK. Obviously he got hit kind of high. It was quite a coincidence, I guess.”

Rodriguez had six RBI tonight, CC Sabathia picked up his first win and Gardner had two extra-base hits. But it was Martin who stole the show and paid the price. He has six home runs this season, one more than he hit all of last year and only one less than he hit in 2009.

“Obivously it’s my best start of my career,” Martin said. “I think it’s my workouts from the offseason that are paying off right now. I’ve got a quicker bat and feel stronger. I’ve been choking up a little bit on the bat. I just feel quick, and I’ve been hitting mainly fastballs. I feel good, man.”

Gardner is off to the worst start of his career, but tonight he had a double and the emotional two-run home run. When Martin was hit, Gardner said his only thought was that he knew he’d get another at-bat. There were two outs at the time, and Gardner had been on deck wondering if he’d get another chance.

“Just take a good swing,” he said. “Be ready and don’t get cheated. So many times I take pitches on the outside corner and try and get a perfect pitch to hit. Just go up there and be aggressive and try and take my A swing.”

Here’s Martin’s postgame interview.

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And here’s Gardner.

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• Of course Sabathia played down his first win of the season, but it’s hard to downplay the fact that he was so effective just one day after being pretty sick with a sore throat, the chills and stomach pains. “I felt like crap yesterday,” he said. “Being able to sleep all day today, hang out and get some fluids, it definitely helped me.”

• Sabathia said he was happy with his changeup, and Martin said he had a good slider, but it was the fastball that made the difference for the Yankees ace. “They were swinging early in the count,” Sabathia said. “The two-seamer was working pretty good, and the first time through, we just went first-pitch fastball, two-seamers in and out and just got some ground balls.”

• Girardi said he never seriously considered sending Sabathia out for the ninth. “We’re in a stretch here where he’s going to go every fifth day,” Girardi said. “So we just said the inning was kind of long the inning before, you’re going to let him go 5-10 more pitches, then bring someone in with his runners on. Give whoever is coming in a clean inning.”

• Buddy Carlyle came in and pitched a scoreless ninth in his Yankees debut.

• Rodriguez hit the 22nd grand slam of his career, moving past Manny Ramirez for sole possession of second place on the all-time grand slam list. He’s one behind Lou Gehrig. He also moved into sole possession of 12th place on baseball’s all-time RBI list, passing Carl Yastrzemski. “I’ve grown and matured to the level now where I can appreciate it some, not just brush it off like I would have in the past, perhaps,” Rodriguez said. I initially wrote sixth on the RBI list. Not sure if I read it wrong or the postgame notes had it wrong. It was probably my fault, not theirs.

• Robinson Cano now has a 12-game hitting streak, the Yankees longest of the season. He went 3-for-4 and has hit safely in 15 straight games against the Orioles.

• Speaking of success against Baltimore, Sabathia has a .882 winning percentage against the Orioles. That’s the highest of all time for a pitcher with at least 20 starts against Baltimore.

• The last time Baltimore allowed five home runs in a game was September 1, 2009 also against the Yankees.

• Jorge Posada has nine hits this season. Six have been home runs. He was 2-for-20 before his home run in the eighth. When he and Martin went back-to-back in the eighth, it was the first time the Yankees hit back-to-back homers this season, that’s according to the postgame notes from the Orioles.

• Girardi said he wasn’t sure whether Martin would play tomorrow. My guess would be no — strictly a guess — but Girardi said he was going to sleep on it.

• The Yankees scored 15 runs for the first time since August 21, 2009 when they beat Boston 20-11.

• I’ll give Mark Teixeira the last word on the pitch that hit Martin: “That’s a heck of a coincidence if it wasn’t intentional. I’ve never understood it. I’ve never understood why guys choose to hit someone when they hit two home runs. It’s happened to me plenty of times in my career and every time it happens, it doesn’t make any sense. All it takes is one stray pitch to hit you in the head, the wrist, the elbow, and ruin your season. That’s not baseball. There’s no place for it.”

Associated Press photos

The Yankees keep hitting home runs at a record pace, and tonight they hit enough of them to give CC Sabathia his first win. Russell Martin went deep twice, including a solo home run as part of a seven-run eighth inning that put the game well on its way to a 15-3 Yankees win. Jorge Posada also homered in the eighth and Alex Rodriguez capped the inning with a grand slam. Even struggling left fielder Brett Gardner went deep. With 35 home runs, the Yankees have broken the franchise record for home runs through 17 games. Sabathia became the first Yankees starter to pitch through the eighth inning this season, finally getting a victory in his fifth start.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (10-6)
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Andruw Jones LF
Jorge Posada DH
Russell Martin C
Curtis Granderson CF

LHP CC Sabathia (0-1, 2.52)
Sabathia vs. Orioles

ORIOLES (8-10)
Brian Roberts 2B
Nick Markakis RF
Derrek Lee 1B
Vladimir Guerrero DH
Adam Jones CF
Mark Reynolds 3B
Matt Wieters C
Jake Fox LF
Robert Andino SS

RHP Brad Bergesen (0-2, 3.38)
Bergesen vs. Yankees

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

WEATHER: Much better than yesterday, it’s actually bright and sunny for the first time in a long time.

UMPIRES: HP Brian Runge, 1B Angel Campos, 2B Marvin Hudson, 3B Ted Barrett

SIX WITH FOUR: Six different Yankees — Cano, Granderson, Teixeira, Rodriguez, Martin and Posada — have at least four home runs. According to Elias, no other team in Major League history has had that many players with four or more homers fewer than 17 games into a season.

GRANDY MAN: Curtis Granderson has 20 home runs since August 14, 2010. According to the Yankees, that’s the third-most home runs in the Majors in that span. Troy Tulowitzki and Jose Bautista have 23.

EARLY TEX MESSAGES: With six home runs, Mark Teixeira has already matched his career high for March/April. He hit five home runs combined in his past two Aprils.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Andruw Jones turns 34 years old today. On his birthday in 2010, Jones hit two home runs against Seattle, including a walkoff. He became the first player since Alex Rodriguez in 2002 to hit two or more home runs, including a walkoff, on his birthday.

UPDATE, 7:13 p.m.: Didn’t take long for the Yankees to jump on Bergesen. Single by Jeter and back-to-back doubles by Teixeira and Rodriguez gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead. Then Cano extended it to 3-0 with an RBI single. We’re still in the first inning, still just one out.

UPDATE, 8:00 p.m.: Bergesen has settled in after that first inning, but it doesn’t matter too much because Sabathia is dealing.

UPDATE, 8:04 p.m.: The Orioles just got their first hit with two outs in the fourth. Sabathia quickly got the next guy to ground to third, keeping it 3-0 through four innings.

UPDATE, 8:27 p.m.: Russell Martin just keeps hitting. His fifth homer of the season is a three-run shot for a 6-0 Yankees lead in the sixth.

There is no definite plan in place for Phil Hughes. Joe Girardi said he’s not sure when or where Hughes will make his first rehab start, but the Yankees were encouraged enough to believe he’s ready to pitch in a game.

“Larry felt that he got stronger, and that’s not what we saw in his last start, so it seems that this time as been beneficial,” Girardi said. “He’ll do another long toss and a side on Monday and then we’ll make a decision after that.”

Hughes threw long toss then went through a lengthy “pregame” warmup of roughly 45 pitches (he usually throw 30 to 35 before a start). In the bullpen, Hughes did three sets of 15 pitches, sitting between each one to make sure his arm could bounce back time after time.

“I still felt like my arm had some juice in it and Larry felt the same way,” Hughes said. “I was encouraged with today… It felt like there was more in my arm. I was able to sit down and get back up and bounce back.”

As he’s said several times, Hughes once again said it’s impossible to know exactly how far he’s come. He won’t be able to really judge that until he gets in a game, and he said a minor league start should bring enough intensity for him to gauge his progress.

“I think it will be a fair gauge,” he said. “I’ll be up and ready to go for it.”

• The Yankees rotation for the next four days:

Sunday: Freddy Garcia
Monday: A.J. Burnett
Tuesday: Ivan Nova
Wednesday: Bartolo Colon

“As much as we can we’re trying to keep guys on schedule,” Girardi said. “But two days off and rainouts, it’s nearly impossible.”

• Francisco Cervelli is catching today. He’ll take tomorrow off then catch back-to-back games on Monday and Tuesday, after which the Yankees will reevaluate the situation. “I don’t know if you’d do it right after Tuesday, but he’s obviously getting closer,” Girardi said. “We want him to get his at-bats and know that he can play back-to-back days and be able to bounce back. It’s still pretty early for him in spring training.”

• CC Sabathia has been sick the past few days, but Girardi said he’s better today and shouldn’t have any problems making the start. He would have pitched yesterday as well.

• Kevin Millwood allowed two runs through seven innings today with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He threw 95 pitches, 60 for strikes. Girardi said he’s paying attention to Millwood and Carlos Silva. “If one of our starters did go down and you don’t feel that a young kid is ready, it might be that you turn to one of those guys,” Girardi said.

ORIOLES
Brian Roberts 2B
Nick Markakis RF
Derrek Lee 1B
Vladimir Guerrero DH
Adam Jones CF
Mark Reynolds 3B
Matt Wieters C
Jake Fox LF
Robert Andino SS

Associated Press photo of Hughes

Phil Hughes was encouraged by today’s bullpen and said he’s expecting to make a rehab start in five days.

Hughes isn’t sure where he’ll make that start, but Larry Rothschild told him he thinks he’s ready to make a start, probably going about five innings.

Hughes will continue to do his arm strengthening exercises between now and then, with a lot of long toss and one regular bullpen.

“I felt like balls were coming out pretty good,” Hughes said. “We’ll have to wait and see.”

The sun is out here in Baltimore, and when I left for the clubhouse, the crew was setting up the cage for batting practice. Looks like we might have a game today.

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

Commissioner Bud Selig has indicated Major League Baseball might expand the playoffs to include two wild card teams in 2012. Yankees manager Joe Girardi likes the idea, as long as the league finds a way to limit the days off.

In theory, the expanded playoffs would include a short series between the two wild card teams. The winner of that series would play a division winner in a division series just like baseball has today.

“I think it’s interesting,” Girardi said. “It’s good for baseball in the sense that it keeps more teams alive longer. I think it’s more exciting for the fans. My concern would be that if you’re one of those teams waiting to play, that you don’t have too many off-days.

“My thought is if you’re one of those two wild card teams that’s going to play to see who plays one of the division-winners, it’s a three-game series that starts the day after the season, then the fourth day you go and play whoever. It’s a reward for the teams that won the division, and you’re not penalizing them in a sense by having them sit out too long.”

Girardi likes the idea of keeping more teams involved for the fans, but he said he also likes the idea of increasing the reward for teams that win the division. Home field advantage is one thing. Avoiding a three-game play-in series is something different entirely.

“I think that makes it a lot different,” Girardi said. “I think that is a much bigger carrot and a much bigger disadvantage for a wild-card team.”

Would Girardi have managed differently the stretch last year if losing the division meant falling into a wild-card play-in series?

“No,” Girardi said. “I didn’t have healthy guys. I just didn’t.”

Associated Press photo