The LoHud Yankees Blog

Outfielder Chris Dickerson just walked into the clubhouse. Looks like he’ll fill
out the Yankees bench. No word on an official move.

The Yankees have signed veteran left-hander Randy Flores to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He was originally drafted by the Yankees in 1997 and has 350 Major League appearances through parts of eight seasons.

Have to consider him insurance behind Boone Logan.

Meanwhile, still waiting for a lineup to be posted.

Ever wanted to run all over Yankee Stadium? Now you can, while also helping raise money for cancer research. This is a pretty cool event so if you’re interested, registration opened yesterday and is limited to the first 4,000 folks. Check out the release below.

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IN ITS THIRD YEAR, DAMON RUNYON 5K AT YANKEE STADIUM ON TRACK TO RAISE $1 MILLION FOR CANCER RESEARCH

Thousands of avid runners, passionate baseball fans, cancer survivors, and supporters from across the country will descend on Yankee Stadium on August 7, and it won’t be to see the Bronx Bombers play the Red Sox.  Instead, they will be supporting the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, which opened registration today for its annual Runyon 5K at Yankee Stadium.

The only charitable run/walk that uses the legendary ballpark as its course, the 5K will take place on Sunday, August 7, 2011.  The event is on track to reach a three-year total of $1 million raised to fund groundbreaking cancer research by the nation’s most innovative young scientists.

Registration for individuals and teams opened today at www.damonrunyon.org/yankeestadium and is limited to the first 4,000 registrants.  For a $40 registration fee and a minimum fundraising requirement of $60, participants can run or walk the Stadium’s concourses, climb stairs between levels, appear on the video board, and follow in the footsteps of their favorite players by taking their own victory laps on the warning track that circles the field.  After July 7, the registration fee will increase to $50.  Family members and supporters will have the opportunity to view the event from the Delta SKY360° Suite overlooking home plate – 100% of all funds raised by participants will go directly to top cancer researchers, some of whom will be on hand to answer questions about their cancer research.

Last year’s event raised more than $400,000 and drew a capacity crowd of 4,000 participants, from ages 5-75 and from 29 states.

An inning got out of control. A.J. Burnett had been pitching so well, and the Yankees had given him a lead, and suddenly Burnett’s outing imploded. It felt like last year.

“Last year’s gone, man,” Burnett said. “We need to turn a page about talking about last year. This is this year. If ya’ll can’t tell that I’m better this year already, then I don’t know what else you want me to do.”

One night doesn’t define a season, and one inning certainly doesn’t define a pitcher. Burnett was right. He has proven himself to be a better pitcher this season, and one night doesn’t change that.

But this is Burnett we’re talking about, and last night was a winable game until he blew it. It’s hard not to think about last year, even if Burnett’s right to call it a thing of the past.

“Everyone is going to have a tough start,” Joe Girardi said. “You see guys take a lot of steps forward, you see them continue to get better, and sometimes they’re going to take a step back. The thing is, you have to take a couple steps forward the next time, and you’ve got to get yourself back on that track.”

Maybe it was just Burnett’s turn. In this on-going Yankees debacle, everyone but Curtis Granderson seems to have taken a turn as the player — or one of the players — responsible for a loss. Last night, Burnett took the blame.

“It’s not positive, I’ll say that,” Burnett said. “But it will be. I think I’ve come too far to let one inning pop in my head, so we go back to work. These guys came out and gave me a chance and I let it go.”

Here’s Burnett speaking after last night’s game.

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Associated Press photo

Joe Girardi speaks of confidence and character. He said his team is too talented to play this poorly, and he said he’s seen teams bounce back from slumps just as bad as this one.

But in his time as Yankees manager, Girardi never had a team lose six in a row until tonight. If the Yankees lose again tomorrow night, they’ll fall to .500 for the season, a full four games behind the Rays for first place in the American League East. Just one week ago, the Yankees were leading by a game. Two weeks ago they were ahead by three games.

“It’s like when I have to go to the dentist,” Girardi said. “I know I’m going to get through it, but I still dread it every time I go.”

Tonight the Yankees had a four-run lead after five innings, and Burnett was dealing. And then, in an instant, he wasn’t. Even after the home run to Sam Fuld, Burnett was still just one out away from ending the sixth inning and keeping the Yankees in front by two runs. Two singles, two wild pitches and a bad curveball to B.J. Upton changed this game in a hurry.

That was tonight’s tooth-pulling moment.

“This is a tough one,” Russell Martin said. “We had a decent lead at certain points, so those games you definitely want to win, especially when you’ve got a guy like A.J. who’s been throwing the ball really good. But there’s going to be tough ones. We’re in a tough stretch right now, but good teams know how to get out of them, and I think we’re a good team.”

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From the bad to the bizarre, Rafael Soriano is going to see Dr. Ahmad tomorrow. His elbow felt tight again this afternoon and he had to cut his bullpen session short. Girardi seemed legitimately concerned about his setup man, who said he felt better today than last week, and who said he felt “a lot different” from his injury plagued 2008 season.

Of all the things he said, though, tonight’s Soriano interview will be remembered for three things, all of them suggesting he skipped the media training session this spring.

At one point Soriano said he had been advised to take a week or two off, but when asked who gave him the advice, he said it was team vice president Felix Lopez, who Soriano had been talking to pregame. The Yankees later clarified that Lopez had been acting as a sort of intermediary for the training staff. Maybe that’s explainable, but two other comments suggest Soriano will need to apologize more than Jorge Posada.

Asked whether it bothers him to not be able to pitch, Soriano threw his lineup under the bus: “I don’t think the bullpen be the problem right now. I think it be the hitters. That thing happens sometimes. Whatever we have to do, make a good game and see what happens. One of these days, everything be better.”

Given a second chance to answer essentially the same question, Soriano was asked how much it’s bothered him to miss games against Boston and Tampa Bay: “Not at all, to me,” he said. “Because in the situation, how the team looks be the situation when I’m supposed to be in the game, the eighth. Everybody see, (the team is) losing two, three runs. I don’t think it be that situation that I would be in the bullpen, that I would be in the game.”

Here’s the Soriano group session, which will surely create some sort of stir.

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• Robinson Cano fouled a ball off his left leg, just above the knee. He was clearly hobbled late in the game. “It hurt a little bit,” he said. “Hopefully I’ll be alright tomorrow.”

• Given the way A.J. Burnett pitched through the first five innings, and the fact he got two outs before two ground ball singles, Girardi said he never seriously considered bringing a reliever to pitch to B.J. Upton. “Of course you have confidence that he’s going to be able to shut it down,” Girardi said. “Even after he gave up the two-run homer to Sam Fuld, you believe that he’s going to shut it down, get you through seven innings and do his job. It just didn’t happen.”

• If he had a full bullpen, though, Girardi said the sixth inning might have been different. The Yankees didn’t have Rafael Soriano or Dave Robertson available. “If you have a full bullpen, you might have different options,” Girardi said. “But we don’t right now.”

• The pitch to Upton was a curveball that Burnett said he didn’t get low enough. After a fastball up on the previous pitch, Russell Martin said he thought the Yankees could get Upton with a breaking ball. “The hook to Upton floated in there,” Burnett said. “It’s got to be bounced.”

• As you might expect, Burnett was kicking himself and put the loss on himself. “Taking nothing away from the Rays, they’re a good-hitting team, but I had way too good of stuff tonight,” he said. “I was locating early, mixing early, and it just got away. You can’t allow it to happen, not when (the Yankees hitters) came out like they did tonight swinging the bats.”

• Curtis Granderson is absolutely the bright side for the Yankees right now. He leads the big leagues with seven home runs against left-handed pitchers. Tonight’s was the first left-handed home run David Price had allowed since Chase Utley hit one in 2009. Price had faced 310 consecutive lefties without giving up a homer.

• On the other end of the spectrum is Alex Rodriguez, who took an 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. His batting average is down to .242. “I sense he’s probably frustrated like a lot of other hitters we have,” Girardi said. “But I’m not sure what pressing means. I see Alex do his work, I see him relaxed every day. I see him go about his business the right way; the results just haven’t been there.”

• Why pinch hit Brett Gardner for Andruw Jones, who had good numbers off Kyle Farnsworth? “You’ve got the speed there,” Girardi said. “And Gardy’s been doing a pretty good job off of righthanders the last three and a half weeks.”

• Strange defensive game for Eduardo Nunez who made another throwing error — he has six errors this season, a massive number for a guy who hardly plays — but he also made several nice plays, starting a double play and charging a bunt. “This is an adjustment that he has to make,” Girardi said. “We’ll continue to work with him.”

• Of course, it helps Nunez’s case that he had the only non-Granderson RBI on a two-out, two-run single in the second inning.

• Before that game-winning home run, Upton was 7-for-36 (.194) with no home runs in his career against Burnett. That’s the way the Yankees season is going right now.

Associated Press photos

A four-run lead was not enough tonight. The Yankees keep losing, and they keep looking bad doing it. A.J. Burnett gave up five runs in the sixth inning, the last coming on B.J. Upton’s go-ahead two-run home run to send the Rays to a 6-5 win. Curtis Granderson remains the Yankees only bright spot. He hit his 14th home run of the season to put the Yankees in front 5-1 in the fifth, but the Yankees keep finding ways to squander opportunities. They’ve now lost six in a row, their longest losing streak since Joe Girardi became manager.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (20-18)
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Andruw Jones LF
Russell Martin C
Eduardo Nunez 3B

RHP A.J. Burnett (4-2, 3.38)
Burnett vs. Rays

RAYS (23-17)
Sam Fuld LF
Ben Zobrist 2B
Johnny Damon DH
Evan Longoria 3B
Matt Joyce RF
B.J. Upton CF
Casey Kotchman 1B
Reid Brignac SS
John Jaso C

LHP David Price (5-3, 3.12)
Price vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 6:40 p.m., YES Network

WEATHER: Just like in your living room, only louder and bigger.

UMPIRES: HP Rob Drake, 1B Gary Darling, 2B David Rackley, 3B Paul Emmel

GRAND PLANS: Not only has Curtis Granderson topped his previous single-season high for home runs vs. LHP, he actually leads the Majors in home runs against lefties. Six of Granderson’s 13 homers have come against left-handers.

PART OF THE PROBLEM: The Yankees are 7-for-44 with runners in scoring position during their current five-game losing streak.

FIVE YEARS AGO: On this date in 2006, the Yankees tied a franchise record by overcoming a nine-run deficit to beat Texas 14-13 in nine innings. The walk-off home run was hit by … of course … Jorge Posada.

UPDATE, 6:47 p.m.: Look at that, Nunez made a nice throw!

UPDATE, 7:04 p.m.: Nunez makes a nice play in the first inning, now he has a big two-run base hit in the second.

UPDATE, 7:42 p.m.: On a 2-2 pitch, Johnny Damon has his seventh home run of the season, a solo shot to pull the Rays within 2-1 in the fourth inning. Burnett has otherwise been pretty good so far.

UPDATE, 7:52 p.m.: Foul ball between Sweeny Murti and myself. I probably should have let Sweeny take it. Neither of us made the catch.

UPDATE, 8:00 p.m.: Crushed. I mean, crushed. Curtis Granderson just clobbered a three-run home run. I can’t imagine David Price has had many balls hit harder than that against him. It’s now 5-1 Yankees.

UPDATE, 8:36 p.m.: Things are starting to fall apart for Burnett a little bit here in the sixth. A double, two-run home run, two-out single, wild pitch and RBI single have pulled the Rays within 5-4. Looks like Luis Ayala getting loose in the bullpen.

UPDATE, 8:41 p.m.: A limited bullpen might have just cost the Yankees. Without Rafael Soriano or Dave Robertson available, Girardi tried to get one more out from A.J. Burnett. It didn’t work. Three straight two-out hits, capped by a two-run homer have put the Rays in front 6-5.

UPDATE, 8:50 p.m.: That was a 41-pitch sixth inning for the Yankees. Burnett threw 28 of those pitches.

Just when you thought the Jorge Posada saga was over, it came back to life this afternoon with the Yankees front office conference call to discuss Derek Jeter’s comments. I got on the plane this morning fully expecting the Posada story to have drifted into the background, then I landed to discover it was back on the front burner.

Jeter spoke about the call, but didn’t say much, there wasn’t really anything left for Posada to say and a team spokesman passed along word from the front office that everyone is on “the same page,” a phrase also used repeatedly by Jeter and Joe Girardi.

“Sometimes things in New York go a little while, but this is done,” Girardi said. “Happy with the way that this got handled. We stuck together as an organization. We are here for each other. When you think about a baseball team, we’re together a long, long time during the course of a season. Everything isn’t always going to go smoothly. And it’s how you handle that. And I think our club handled it well. We’re all on the same page, and we’re moving forward, and we’ve got to focus out there.”

At this point, I have to think everyone has had their say. Posada started the mess, then said he was sorry. Jeter backed his teammates, then had to discuss it with the front office. The front office was obviously irritated, but they’ve decided not to punish Posada and they’ve had their say with Jeter. Girardi has managed to publicly support just about everyone.

It’s been a fiasco, but right now it’s finished. Whether it will still be finished when we wake up in the morning remains to be seen.

“It might be what pulls this club even closer,” Girardi said. “This is a close-knit group of guys, but it might be what pulls us even closer and maybe gets the focus off maybe one of the guy’s recent struggles and gets this club going. When you go through eight, eight and a half months together, there are things that are going to happen. Some of them become public. Some of them don’t. This is a great group of guys, and we’ll get this righted.”

• Rafael Soriano threw his bullpen today, and a team spokesman said he still felt stiffness in his elbow. The team is deciding on a next step. No good.

• Posada is out of the lineup strictly because of the lefty. Will he play tomorrow? “We’ll worry about tomorrow, tomorrow,” Girardi said.

• Phil Hughes has today off in his throwing problem.

• Reliever Jess Todd — the guy claimed just a few days ago and almost immediately designated for assignment — was claimed off waivers by the Cardinals, his original team.

• Sounds like Mariano Rivera will be available tonight, but probably not Dave Robertson. “I’ll check with (Robertson),” Girardi said. “But he threw a lot of pitches yesterday.”

• Girardi gave a vague vote of confidence in Andruw Jones, saying his production has been limited because of inconsistent playing time. “Hopefully the more consistent at-bats and seeing some left-handers is going to help him,” Girardi said.

• It goes without saying, but the Yankees need a win tonight. “Obviously in our division it’s extremely important,” Girardi said. “It’s been a struggle, and there’s a lot of character in that room, and that character is going to pull us out of this and we’re going to start playing better.”

RAYS
Sam Fuld LF
Ben Zobrist 2B
Johnny Damon DH
Evan Longoria 3B
Matt Joyce RF
B.J. Upton CF
Casey Kotchman 1B
Reid Brignac SS
John Jaso C

Associated Press photo

Derek Jeter had a conference call with Hal Steinbrenner, Randy Levine and Brian Cashman this afternoon. Jeter would not go into detail about the details of the call, but he kept telling reporters, over and over again, “We are all on the same page.”

This morning, ESPN.com reported that the Yankees front office was upset with Jeter. According to the report, members of the front office felt that Jeter essentially took Jorge Posada off the hook, even after Posada had apologized and admitted being in the wrong when he asked out of Saturday’s game.

It’s not clear who felt the conference call was necessary, but Jeter said it wasn’t his idea. He woke up to find out that he was supposed to be on the call. Jeter also said this was not the first time he’d been on a conference call with that group of front office executives.

Cashman said through a team spokesman that he would not comment on the call, and Jeter said he was ready to move on.

“It’s a non-issue,” he said.

Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Andruw Jones LF
Russell Martin C
Eduardo Nunez 3B