The LoHud Yankees Blog

This must be what the Yankees had in mind back in the winter of 2009 when they traded three legitimate young players — their center fielder of the future, a young left-handed reliever and a former first-round pick — for Curtis Granderson.

The Yankees knew Granderson would strike out a bunch, and they knew he had a tendency to struggle against lefties, but they also knew he could provide a good glove and a powerful bat.

They saw the glove last year. Now they’re seeing the bat.

Through 16 games, Granderson is hitting .273/.322/.691. He’s now homered in three straight games and left-handers have not been a problem. It’s hard to make too much out of 16 games, but Granderson’s success dates back to last season when he hit .261/.356/.564 after making a mid-August mechanical adjustment.

“We always knew he had a lot of power,” Joe Girardi said. “I think what you’re seeing is he’s making more consistent contact and hitting the ball harder on a consistent basis. It’s been a fairly lengthy period, so that’s a good thing. It bodes well for us.”

Here’s the thing: Sixteen games into last season Granderson was hitting .268/.349/.482. The power numbers weren’t quite the same as today, but he was clearly off to a pretty strong start. By August — when he made those mechanical changes — his slash line was down to .239/.306/.415.

The trick is — as always — to keep going.

Associated Press photo

Out of spring training, the Yankees settled on a rotation without Bartolo Colon. They weren’t sure he could hold up through a starter’s workload, and they liked the idea of using Colon as a versatile reliever. At this point, though, the rotation has been a weakness, and after last night, the Yankees could be tempted to stick with Colon beyond this fill-in duty.

“Obviously you don’t want to take him out of the rotation if he can continue to do this,” Joe Girardi said. “Our concern was innings, and it’s something we have to be cognizant of, I believe, and watch him closely. If you’re going to throw the ball well, you’re going to get the ball.”

The Yankees don’t know yet whether Phil Hughes has made significant progress with his arm strength, and giving Colon a second start is a no-brainer.

But if Colon pitches like this again, the Yankees might have to consider keeping him beyond Hughes’ DL stint. Even on a limited pitch count, Colon pitched into the seventh inning, giving the Yankees more depth than they’re used to seeing. CC Sabathia has pitched into the seventh twice, A.J. Burnett has done it once, and no other starter has lasted beyond the sixth inning.

It’s one start, so it’s hard to make too much of it, but Colon has pitched well since spring training. As my good friend Mark Feinsand pointed out, Colon has pitched more than twice as many innings as Freddy Garcia, the guy who got a rotation spot because of his durability. Hughes remains on the DL, Ivan Nova has not pitched well, and Colon might be emerging as one of the Yankees five best starters.

“There are some (concerns about durability) and that’s something we’ll watch,” Girardi said. “We’ll continue to watch the movement on his fastball and the location and his velocity, but he’s not showing any signs of fatigue, and he’s worked pretty regular here.”

As for Colon?

“I feel like I can go every five days,” he said.

Associated Press photo

Winter statistics and spring success can be misleading. They can make over-hyped prospects seem legitimate and washed-up veterans seem viable. They can distort the reality of a pitcher like Bartolo Colon. Wednesday night, though, there was no illusion. Colon faced a legitimately dangerous lineup in a regular season game, and he once again exceeded even his own expectations.

“It’s not like he was getting lucky out there (in spring training),” Russell Martin said. “He was making pitches since the beginning of spring. Obviously guys are tuning up and they’re working on things, but not many balls were squared up off him during spring. He was just consistently good, and he just kind of carried it over. It doesn’t always happen, but it happened for him.”

Like he’s said for the past month or so, Colon said he’s been surprised at how well his pitches are working and how effective he’s been. It had been almost 21 months since his last Major League start, and nearly two years since his last Major League win. Colon said there was a time in 2009 that he didn’t think he’d ever pitch again.

At this point, though, Colon is clearly one of the Yankees best rotation options. After the home run to J.P. Arencibia in the second inning Colon retired 12 in row, mostly because he started locating his pitches down in the zone.

“I don’t think it’s amazing at all,” Alex Rodriguez said. “I think he’s just a very, very good pitcher. You saw what he did in ’05 when he won the Cy Young. Bartolo’s just a natural pitcher.”

That might be true, but he’s also 38 years old and after such a long layoff it was natural to wonder whether Colon had anything left. Clearly he does. There are obvious concerns about durability and stamina, but so far, so good. He was good this winter, he was good this spring, and he’s been good through these first few weeks of the regular season. He keeps proving he’s not finished just yet.

“I think he’s done a good job getting himself ready to pitch,” Joe Girardi said. “I think pitching in winter ball really helped him out. He took the initiative. There are guys, you get to a certain age and you say, ‘I’ve done a lot of things in this game.’ But Bartolo still wants to pitch, and I think that’s a big part of it.”

Here’s Martin talking about another good Colon outing.

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• Of all things to keep as a memento, Colon said he’s going to keep his shoes from tonight’s game.

• Girardi had decided not to use Mariano Rivera, he wanted to avoid Joba Chamberlain and he wanted to keep Rafael Soriano out of the game. When things got a little dicy in the ninth, though, he went to Soriano who picked up his first Yankees save.

• The Soriano situation wasn’t completely out of the question at the beginning of the game. Soriano said Girardi told him pregame that he would pitch the ninth if things got tricky. Soriano knew he was the closer for the day.

• Curtis Granderson has now homered in three consecutive games. The Yankees have homered in 14 of 16 games and have hit 30 home runs this season.

• Despite all the home runs, Girardi was clearly happy to see his team score some runs without going deep tonight. They scored their first five runs without a home run. “We were just putting hits together,” Girardi said. “Sac flies when we had to, moving runners when we had to… It was just good baseball.”

• When Girardi went to the mound to talk to Colon in the seventh inning, he used Rodriguez as the translator. Rodriguez suggests using Robinson Cano next time. “I completely messed up the translation,” Rodriguez said. “I got it an out later and it was too late. Robby’s a better translator than me.” Rodriguez said his mistake wasn’t really drastic — it’s not like Colon asked to come out and Rodriguez said to keep him in — but Rodriguez didn’t say what exactly he got wrong.

• Rodriguez said he felt physically fine. Before he attempted a steal — he was called out, looked safe — Rodriguez said he actually thought about how he should slide to stay safe. “Instincts took over,” he said. Rodriguez said the umpire initially called him safe before calling him out.

• Martin said Colon threw more sliders than changeups, but as always, tonight was mostly fastballs. “Ever since spring, his location has been great and his sinker has been consistently good for the whole time that I’ve caught him,” Martin said.

• Three doubles for Mark Teixeira… Cano extended his hitting streak to 11 games… Martin went 2-for-3 with two RBI… Derek Jeter’s average dropped to 219, Jorge Posada’s to .160.

• There was some joking in the clubhouse after the game about Nick Swisher getting the easiest outfield assist of his life. He threw the ball to Teixeira, who ran to third base to tag out Arencibia who made a base-running blunder.

Associated Press photos

Looking every bit like the guy who pitched his way onto the roster this spring, Bartolo Colon made his first Major League start since July of 2009 and lifted the Yankees to a 6-2 win against the Blue Jays. Colon seemed to run out of gas late, but he pitched into the seventh inning — something not many Yankees starters have done this season — and was charged with two runs while striking out seven. Between a second-inning home run and a sixth-inning single, Colon retired 12 in a row, seven on strikeouts. To lead the offense, Mark Teixeira had three doubles, Curtis Granderson hit his sixth home run and Russell Martin was 2-for-3.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (9-6)
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

RHP Bartolo Colon (0-1, 3.97)
Colon vs. Blue Jays

BLUE JAYS (8-9)
Yunel Escobar SS
Corey Patterson CF
Jose Bautista RF
Adam Lind 1B
Edwin Encarnacion DH
J.P. Arencibia C
Travis Snider LF
Jayson Nix 2B
John McDonald 3B

LHP Brett Cecil (1-1, 6.19)
Cecil vs. Yankees

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

WEATHER: Another rainy day in Toronto. One of the few times I’m happy to watch a game in a dome.

UMPIRES: HP Jim Wolf, 1B Derryl Cousins, 2B Jim Joyce, 3B Ron Kulpa

NOT FOUR OR MORE: According to Elias, the Yankees are the only Major League team that has yet to score as many as four runs in an inning. The streak of 131 innings without scoring four or more runs is the Yankees longest to begin a season since 1966 (139 innings), and it’s their longest streak at any point during one season since a stretch of 135 innings in May 2008.

STILL GOING DEEP: Despite their lack of huge innings, the Yankees still lead the majors in home runs and multi-homer games. They have hit more home runs through 15 games than any Yankees team in history, and they need two home runs tonight to match the franchise record for total home runs through 16 games.

CANO CAN GO: Right now, Robinson Cano has gone 10 straight games with a hit. It’s the Yankees longest hitting streak of the season and it’s tied for the fourth longest active Major League streak. He’s a career .319 hitter when batting fourth.

NO MO: According to the Yankees pregame notes, last night was the second time in his past 242 outings that Mariano Rivera allowed four or more hits. He had not allowed a run in April since April 30, 2009, a stretch of 19 scoreless April outings.

MINOR SETBACK FOR PRIOR: Mark Prior’s DL assignment in Scranton has nothing to do with his arm. It’s a minor groin injury and he’s not expected to miss much time.

UPDATE, 7:19 p.m.: Bartolo Colon has an early lead to work with. It’s 1-0 Yankees after they loaded the bases and got an RBI ground out in the top of the first.

UPDATE, 7:34 p.m.: Granderson just keeps hitting lefties. His RBI triple opened the door for a two-run second inning that has the Yankees in front 3-0. That a little bit of breathing room for Colon.

UPDATE, 8:26 p.m.: Two sac flies and the lead is up to 5-1 in the middle of the fifth. Colon looks a lot like the guy we saw this spring, and he’s at 53 pitches heading into the fifth. If the Yankees get six innings out of him, that should be more than enough for a guy making his first start.

UPDATE, 8:46 p.m.: Another weak ground ball by Jeter ends the top of the sixth, but Colon breezed through another strong bottom half. I still find it hard to believe Colon is on this team and pitching this well.

UPDATE, 9:18 p.m.: Robertson can’t strand every inherited runner. He allowed an RBI single before getting a strikeout to end the seventh inning. Colon’s night is finished and his line is complete: 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB and 7 K. He and Freddy Garcia have given the Yankees two of their best starts of the season.

UPDATE, 9:25 p.m.: Posada caught the warmup pitches between innings!

Phil Hughes threw 30 pitches today, his first bullpen since the start that landed him on the disabled list with a dead arm. Hughes has done four days of long toss in an attempt to build arm strength. He’ll take tomorrow off, then throw another bullpen on Friday — probably two sets of 15 pitches — and that bullpen will decide what’s next.

Hughes said the Yankees have talked about possibly beginning a rehab assignment after Friday’s bullpen, but they might decide another bullpen is necessary.

“It’s frustrating right now,” Hughes said. “I’m doing everything I can do, doing all my work and stuff, and it’s really just one of those things I have to do everything I can to get my arm strong to where it needs to be. Hopefully when I do go on that assignment I can get out there and show some improvement and hopefully be back and ready to go.”

Hughes said it’s hard to know much at this point because h doesn’t know how his arm is going to bounce back. He needs to be in a game situation to know for sure whether he’s made progress. The Yankees put him on anti-inflammatory medication, but Hughes said that was strictly a precaution, largely in preparation for the work ahead.

“With the extreme arm program and long toss and arm exercises I was going through, they just wanted to make sure I didn’t hit a peak and feel a drop off from the intensity that I was putting my shoulder through,” Hughes said. “Just a precautionary thing to make sure nothing gets inflamed in there.”

Hughes isn’t sure how many rehab starts the Yankees will need him to make, but he said he’ll know within one start whether he’s physically ready.

“I’ll be able to tell in that third or fourth inning if I see an extreme drop off and arm strength is still an issue,” he said. “(If) I’m not able to let the ball go like I know I can, then I’ll know I’m not ready. It’s not one of those things where it’s going to take me four games to know that… Whether I show enough that they’re comfortable with letting me start here, that’s a whole separate issue that I have nothing to do with.”

• Alex Rodriguez is going through batting practice right now. He’s in the lineup, but Joe Girardi said he’ll check with Rodriguez before the game to make sure the plan hasn’t changed.

• The Yankees rotation in Baltimore: CC Sabathia on Friday, Freddy Garcia on Saturday and Ivan Nova on Sunday.

• A.J. Burnett will start Monday’s series opener at home.

• Brett Gardner is a career .375 hitting against Brett Cecil, but Gardner said, given the way he’s hitting, it’s the right decision to sit him. “I expect these guys to be playing,” Gardner said. Girardi said he expects to have Gardner back in the lineup on Friday.

• Francisco Cervelli was a DH today in extended spring. He was hit by a pitch in the forearm — of course — but he’s fine and is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment with High-A Tampa tomorrow. He’ll catch tomorrow’s game, and Girardi said the Yankees will want him catching back-to-back days before they activate him.

• Girardi said he’ll start really paying attention to Bartolo Colon’s pitch count around 75-80 pitches. At that point, sticking with him will probably be a matter of how effective he’s been.

BLUE JAYS
Yunel Escobar SS
Corey Patterson CF
Jose Bautista RF
Adam Lind 1B
Edwin Encarnacion DH
J.P. Arencibia C
Travis Snider LF
Jayson Nix 2B
John McDonald 3B

Associated Press photo from Hughes’ previous start

Interesting note passed along by the Yankees:

With Bartolo Colon starting tonight, Mariano Rivera has a chance to join Goose Gossage and John Franco as the only relievers in Major League history to record saves in games won by six different Cy Young Award winners. That’s according to Elias, of course.

• Rivera has saved games for Dwight Gooden, David Cone, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson and CC Sabathia.

• Gossage saved games for Ron Guidry, LaMarr Hoyt, Catfish Hunter, Sparky Lyle, Gaylord Perry and Rick Sutcliffe.

• Franco saved games for John Denny, Gooden, Orel Hershiser, Bret Saberhagen, Tom Glavine and Frank Viola.

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

While we’re waiting to find out whether Alex Rodriguez will play tonight…

Mark Prior has been placed on the seven-day disabled list just two days after making his Scranton/Wilkes-Barre debut. As always in Triple-A, there’s a chance this is just a paper move to open a roster spot, and the Triple-A staff does need to add a pitcher in the next couple of days.

Things had been encouraging with Prior. He made three appearances in Tampa, and his first Triple-A outing was one hitless inning that lasted all of 10 pitches.

One day after a most unpredictable loss, the Yankees will turn to a most unpredictable starter.

A pitching wild card if there ever was one, Bartolo Colon is moving into the rotation to fill in for Phil Hughes. He’s basically been playing this role all season, just doing it in the middle of games instead of the beginning. Every one of his appearances this season has been in relief of Hughes, so Colon is actually on turn in a weird sort of way.

“This is not a rookie,” Joe Girardi said yesterday. “This is a guy that’s had a lot of success in the big leagues. He’s pitched at a very high level. His arm strength has been really good. It’s not quite what it used to be — I mean, this is a guy that I remember facing him and he would throw 93, 94 in the seventh and eighth inning, and he’d get up to 98. He had an extra gear, and it was impressive — but this guy knows how to pitch.”

Speaking of unexpected: Before yesterday’s game, Girardi was going through a routine pregame interview, and when the topic turned to Colon, Girardi said all the usual stuff about experience and knowing how to pitch. Then he said this:

“I know I had to do a deposition because of him.”

Turns out, Girardi once broke a bat in Cleveland while trying to hit a pitch from Colon. The business end of Girardi’s bat went into the stands, hit a fan, and Girardi was asked by authorities whether he had tampered with his bat. Apparently a doctored bat might have left Girardi liable for an injury.

“They wanted to know if I doctored my bat,” Girardi said. “I said, ‘Have you seen how many home runs I hit? What do you think?’ He got in my kitchen too much.”