The LoHud Yankees Blog

For just a moment, there was a real sense of late optimism in Yankee Stadium. A triple and a wild pitch had pulled the Yankees within two, and a gutsy double steal had moved the tying run into scoring position, but when Jorge Posada grounded to second base to end the eighth inning, the place fell silent. A 5-4 loss to the Red Sox was just the latest in a string of disappointments while the Yankees continue to search for offensive consistency. Bartolo Colon walked off the mound with a standing ovation and a 2-2 tie in the seventh, but Joba Chamberlain allowed a go-ahead sac fly and game-changing two-run homer.  The Yankees chances to rally were cut short by Nick Swisher’s strikeout and Posada’s grounder in the eighth, then by Mark Teixeira’s game-ending popup in the ninth.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (20-15)
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

RHP Bartolo Colon (2-1, 3.86)
Colon vs. Red Sox

RED SOX (17-20)
Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Dustin Pedroia 2B
Adrian Gonzalez 1B
Kevin Youkilis 3B
David Ortiz DH
J.D. Drew RF
Jed Lowrie SS
Carl Crawford LF
Jarrod Saltalamacchia C

RHP Clay Buchholz (3-3, 4.19)
Buchholz vs. Yankees

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

WEATHER: Pretty nice night. Might want a very light jacket, but right now it’s warm enough without one. Cloudy with some wind blowing right to left, but nothing too crazy.

UMPIRES: HP Chris Guccione, 1B Mike Winters, 2B Mike Everitt, 3B Mark Wegner

SPREADING THE OPPORTUNITIES: The Yankees are the only team in the majors with at least five players who have 20 or more RBI (Cano, Granderson, Martin, Rodriguez and Teixiera).

NEXT ON THE LIST: Derek Jeter needs one hit to pass Sam Crawford for sole possession of 29th place on baseball’s all-time hits list… Alex Rodriguez is 11 RBI from tying Mel Ott for ninth on baseball’s RBI list. If all of those RBI come on solo home runs, he’ll also tie Ken Griffey Jr. for five most homers all-time.

A NUMBERS GAME: On this date in 1929, the Yankees and Indians played the first Major League game between two teams wearing numbered uniforms.

UPDATE, 8:05 p.m.: Well, things were moving along pretty quickly and easily for Colon, then Gonzalez hit a no-doubter to right field for a 1-0 Red Sox lead in the fourth. Meanwhile, the Yankees are being no-hit with only Nick Swisher’s walk and Kevin Youkilis’s error putting runners on base.

UPDATE, 8:19 p.m.: Girardi was hoping the Red Sox would snap the Yankees out of their funk, but Russell Martin’s passed ball — on a strikeout — has opened the door to a second run in the fourth inning, and it’s now a 2-0 Red Sox lead.

UPDATE, 8:40 p.m.: A solo home run and a passed ball shouldn’t be enough to beat the Yankees. They’ve gotta consistently score some runs at some point.

UPDATE, 8:43 p.m.: And there ya go, single by Posada and a two-run homer by Martin. Just like that, it’s tied at 2 in the bottom of the fifth.

UPDATE, 8:49 p.m.: Yankees caught a break there with the blown call at second base. Looked like Pedroia’s foot was on the bag when he caught the ball

UPDATE, 9:31 p.m.: YES had Chamberlain’s fastball at 98 mph on the Youkilis home run. Velocity didn’t do much to help on that one. It was a tied game just two batters ago, now it’s a 5-2 Red Sox lead.

UPDATE, 10:14 p.m.: Most of the air went out of this place on the Youkilis home run. The rest of the air went out on that Posada grounder. The speakers are apparently not working in the stadium, and the place is silent.

Kind of an unusual pregame here at Yankee Stadium. Hardly any players were in the clubhouse when it was open to media — they were in start-of-the-series pitchers and hitters meetings — and the truth is, there wasn’t much that could have changed between the end of the Royals series and the start of this one.

Bartolo Colon isn’t going to address his shoulder surgery until after the game.

No overwhelmingly significant player moves were made this afternoon.

There’s no way of knowing whether the arrival of the Red Sox will snap the Yankees out of their funk.

“I just feel like sometimes when you get in these series, it brings out the best in you,” Joe Girardi said. “We haven’t played our best baseball. There are a lot of clubs, if you look over the first six weeks of the season, that haven’t played their baseball during a period of time. I’m just hoping it brings out the best in us – and not the best in the Red Sox.”

Girardi once again addressed the obvious: “We have not played very well in the last week and a half, two weeks,” he said. That sparked a question about whether that week and a half, two weeks was simply a matter of a veteran team slogging through a chunk of the season.

“I hope it’s not that,” he said. “Because I think all our guys know what it takes. You can’t just try to get through months. You have to take advantage of each month that is in front of you. This is not a young team that got off to a great start and thinks, ‘Wow, we’re always going to play like this.’ Our guys know how difficult this game is, so I don’t think it’s that.”

Here’s Girardi’s pregame audio.

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• Rafael Soriano is available tonight.

• Phil Hughes started his throwing program with 30 throws from 50 feet. “He’ll probably have something every day,” Girardi said. “It’ll continue to progress. He’ll have some off days in there, but I don’t have in front of me exactly what his schedule is going to be, but he did start his throwing program today. I can tell you that.”

• Today was Hector Noesi’s scheduled day to start, so he’s good for plenty of distance out of the bullpen. That’s why the Yankees felt comfortable making only one move today, keeping Amauri Sanit on the roster even though he almost certainly can’t be used for a few days. “Out thought was too we probably wouldn’t be able to use Buddy (Carlyle) for a couple of days either,” Girardi said. “Sanit is a little bit more stretched out than Buddy and we just felt that we have coverage with Hector here today. If we have to make another move, we have to make another move.”

• To be perfectly honest, I showed up at the park today absolutely expecting both Carlyle and Sanit to be gone, replaced by one pitcher and one position player. I still wouldn’t be surprised to see a position player move in the next day or two.

• Girardi said he hasn’t seen any signs that the shoulder surgery story — and whether or not HGH was involved — is affecting Colon’s mindset. “Normal as ever,” Girardi said.

• Speaking of Colon, he was knocked around in his previous start against Texas. “It comes down to basically mechanics,” Girardi said. “Everything being on time, locating the ball, making sure your hand is on top of the ball, not getting under balls, making sure that your front shoulder — pitchers walk such a fine line. When you’re a guy who throws a ton of fastballs, you even walk maybe a little finer line. If you miss on the thirds of the plate or in the middle, they’re going to hit you hard. It really comes down to location.”

• After answering day after day of questions about Derek Jeter, Girardi now seems to be handling a steady dose of Alex Rodriguez questions. “We just went from one superstar to the next about the at-bats every day,” he said. “I thought (his at-bats) were better (yesterday). I thought he had some of his better swings than what we’ve seen. One of the best swings I thought he had was the ball he popped straight up. The ball was a little too high for him to swing at, but I thought the swing was excellent. Maybe last night is going to get him going.”

RED SOX
Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Dustin Pedroia 2B
Adrian Gonzalez 1B
Kevin Youkilis 3B
David Ortiz DH
J.D. Drew RF
Jed Lowrie SS
Carl Crawford LF
Jarrod Saltalamacchia C

Associated Press photos

No pitchers listed, which is usually a sure sign that a pitcher is on the way.

Buddy Carlyle seems to be packing his locker and there is a locker labeled Noesi. That could be the move.

UPDATE, 4:10 p.m.: As expected, Hector Noesi is here, Buddy Carlyle is down. That’s the only move. Sanit is staying for now.

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

It has nothing to do with the pitching matchups for this weekend, but be sure to check out this story about Yankees prospect Slade Heathcott. It begins with Heathcott pointing a shotgun at his father, so it’s safe to say this is not your typical prospect story.

Tonight
RHP Bartolo Colon (2-1, 3.86)
vs.
RHP Clay Buchholz (3-3, 4.19)
7:05 p.m., YES Network / MLB Network

Saturday
LHP CC Sabathia (3-2, 2.89)
vs.
RHP Josh Beckett (2-1, 1.99)
7:10 p.m., FOX

Sunday
RHP Freddy Garcia (2-2, 2.61)
vs.
LHP Jon Lester (4-1, 2.96)
8:05 p.m., ESPN

So the Yankees have dropped two straight and six of nine. They played another sloppy game in falling to Kansas City 11-5 Thursday night. They are out of first place for the first time since April 12. Can the Red Sox be the antidote?

Boston is coming to start a three-game series at Yankee Stadium tonight. The Sox have also been underachieving, now 17-20 after dropping two straight at Toronto, although they did begin at 2-10.

Joe Girardi is hoping, though, that this series can jump-start the Yankees.

“Maybe it’s what we need,” Girardi said. “Maybe we need the Red Sox to come in. Everything seems to get turned up, the coverage, the intensity. The games seem to take on a new flavor. Each at-bat seems to take on a new game of its own. Maybe it is the right time. I don’t know. But I know we’re capable of playing much better. And we need to start doing that.”

Tonight’s matchup will feature Bartolo Colon and Clay Buchholz.

Joe Girardi was irked after this 11-5 loss to the Royals, especially by the six-run second. There were the throwing errors by Robinson Cano and Francisco Cervelli, the passed ball by Cervelli and the dropped comebacker by Ivan Nova, who compounded the problem by going to first for the out instead of going home.

Girardi has seen this sloppy act before.

“We have one sloppy game, I don’t like it,” Girardi said. “So when you have three or four or five in two weeks, yeah, it does bother me.”

This was the first time the Royals won a series here since 1999.

The Yankees’ inconsistent lineup had just one productive inning in the finale, the four-run fifth. Sean O’Sullivan had a perfect game for 4 1/3. The Yankees finished with only eight hits.

“We hit some balls hard right at people,” Curtis Granderson said.

Cano, back from Wednesday night’s beaning, hit his ninth homer to break up that perfect game. Cano decided not to wear the oversized helmet he was given before the game, like the one Cervelli had worn to protect against more concussions. Cano had tried the large hat in his first at-bat at the All-Star Game last year and found it to be too heavy. And he said he felt fine.

Alex Rodriguez snapped a streak of 65 at-bats without a homer, the second longest single-season streak of his career.

Nova didn’t have his curveball and turned in the shortest and worst start of his young career, allowing eight runs – four earned — and 10 hits in three-plus innings.

“It was a bad day,” Nova said. “I’ve just got to keep my head up and keep working hard.”

Yankees lineup

1. Derek Jeter DH

2. Curtis Granderson CF

3. Mark Teixeira 1B

4. Alex Rodriguez 3B

5. Robinson Cano 2B

6. Nick Swisher RF

7. Brett Gardner LF

8. Eduardo Nunez SS

9. Francisco Cervelli C

Ivan Nova P

Royals lineup

1. Mike Aviles 2B

2. Melky Cabrera CF

3. Alex Gordon LF

4. Billy Butler DH

5. Jeff Francoeur RF

6. Eric Hosmer 1B

7. Wilson Betemit 3B

8. Matt Treanor C

9. Alcides Escobar SS

Sean O’Sullivan P

Time/TV: 7:08/YES

Weather: Fair, 57 degrees

Umpires: Brian O’Nora HP, Alfonso Marquez 1B, Ed Hickox 2B, Ed Rapuano 3B

Happy birthday: Yogi Berra turned 86 today.

3,000 watch: Derek Jeter still needs one hit to tie Sam Crawford for 29th on the all-time list with 2,963 hits after going 0 for 6 last night.

Second best: Despite going 4-5 in their last nine games, the Yankees have the second-best winning percentage in the AL (.588) behind the surprising Indians (.657).

Rubber game: The Yankees have not lost a home series this season (5-0-1) heading into this deciding game. They are 8-3 in series finales, including 5-1 in home-series finales.

Update, 7:18: Jeff Francoeur has been tough this series, but Ivan Nova strikes him out to get out of the second-and-third, two-out jam in the first.

Update, 7:24: A punchless 1-2-3 first for the Yankees against Sean O’Sullivan.

Update, 7:27: Hosmer does it again, solo homer, the second in two nights for the impressive rookie.

Update, 7:35: Shaky inning for the Yankees defensively with Robinson Cano’s throwing error and Francisco Cervelli’s passed ball. It’s 2-0 thanks to Mike Aviles’ infield hit. One out, first and third.

Update, 7:37: Melky hits against his old team again, RBI double, 3-0, second and third, one out.

Update, 7:39: The inning is officially a disaster for the Yankees. Cervelli threw a pickoff attempt of Cabrera into center, 4-0.

Update, 7:44: Nova drops a comebacker and can only get the out at first, 5-0. Then Francoeur singles to right, 6-0, and takes second on the throw. But the inning is now over, three runs earned, three unearned.

Update, 7:52: 1-2-3 second for O’Sullivan. The drought continues.

Update, 7:56: They just announced that four of the six runs in the second were actually unearned.

Update, 8:05: Nova gets out of the third with just one hit allowed. Now let’s see if the Yankees can get a hit.

Update, 8:09: Perfect game through three for O’Sullivan.

Update, 8:12: Melky does it again, solo homer, his second of the series. It’s 7-0. Alex Gordon followed with a double over Curtis Granderson’s head. Nova is hearing it from the crowd. Amauri Sanit is warming.

Update, 8:14: RBI single for Billy Butler, 8-0. Nova is done. Ups and downs of a young pitcher. This is Sanit’s MLB debut.

Update, 8:35: Teixeira just missed a homer, flying to the wall in right-center. Perfect game through four.

Update, 8:43: Sanit looks good so far, two innings, one hit. It’s 8-0 bottom of the fifth.

Update, 8:47: Finally a hit, one out in the fifth, Robinson Cano solo shot to right. Nick Swisher follows with a line double to right. There is a pulse.

Update, 8:54: O’Sullivan suddenly looks shaky, bases loaded, one out.

Update, 8:57: Cervelli rips a two-run double over Gordon’s head in left, 8-3.

Update, 8:59: The Yankees are getting back in the neighborhood, 8-4 after Jeter’s sac fly.

Update, 9:10: RBI double for Hosmer, first three-hit game of his six-game career. So the neighborhood is farther away; it’s 9-4 in the sixth.

Update, 9:13: Bases loaded, two outs for Alcides Escobar.

Update, 9:14: Sanit gets out of it with just the one run allowed.

Update, 9:40: Seeing-eye single through the middle for Jeter, hit No. 2,963. First and third, two outs in the seventh. O’Sullivan is leaving. Blake Wood will be the new pitcher.

Update, 9:45: Granderson fouls out, another empty inning on the scoreboard.

Update, 9:50: Francoeur is taking a beating. A.J. Burnett drilled him in the back last night and Sanit just drilled him in the hand here in the eighth.

Update, 9:55: Sanit just hit Treanor, and now the reliever is being taken out. Buddy Carlyle is coming on. The bases loaded are loaded with two outs, but you can’t complain about Sanit. He saved the bullpen with the Red Sox coming. So far Sanit is charged with just one run in 4 2/3.

Update, 9:59: Carlyle gives up a two-run double to Escobar, 11-4.

Update, 10:08: A-Rod’s solo homer in the eighth snapped a streak of 65 at-bats without one. This was No. 619.

Update, 10:30: Yankees lose, 11-5.

Eric Chavez broke his foot running the bases on an RBI triple last Thursday in Detroit. Actually, he didn’t. His foot was already broken. Actually, both feet.

So what’s going on here? Chavez said he believes he has had a fracture in both of his feet since birth. So when it was announced that he had fractured the fifth metatarsal on the play, that was incorrect. He said he received a revised diagnosis after seeing team physician Dr. Chris Ahmad and a foot specialist when he returned to New York, that he’s just dealing with a really deep bone bruise.

“It’s got to be a genetic defect or whatever,” Chavez said. “Basically, how I can explain it is the fractures, however they had happened, never healed completely. So there were two bones here that were semi weak. And when I hit the ground, one of them slipped and that’s where the irritation came from.”

He doesn’t think he will be starting baseball duties for at least two weeks unless he suddenly starts feeling better.

“The doc feels that in two or three weeks, it’s going to feel good,” Chavez said.

Chavez has shed his protective boot, which wasn’t providing comfort. He was hitting .303 (10 for 33) with six RBI when he got hurt.

“I was frustrated when I did it,” Chavez said. “I was assuming the worst. To hear that maybe this will only be a few weeks was a breath of fresh air. Hopefully it’s just a hiccup and I can pick up where I left off.” 

Robinson Cano has passed all his neurological tests since getting beaned last night, but Joe Girardi said he needed final approval from a neurologist to be cleared for tonight. Cano has indeed been cleared. He may use a bigger helmet, although he doesn’t want to. We’ll see.

The Yankees have brought up righty reliever Amauri Sanit. Ramiro Pena has been sent down. Righty Jess Todd was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Sanit.

Nick Swisher is batting .400 from the right side. Unfortunately he’s only had 30 at-bats from that side. He’s batting .153 in 85 at-bats from the left side.

“His swing is not right,” Girardi said.

Rafael Soriano tested his right elbow by playing catch today. A team spokesman said he felt good and that there were no setbacks. He will be reevaluated tomorrow. Girardi said that Phil Hughes, who was supposed to try to play catch today, should do so tomorrow.

Jorge Posada was very uncomfortable talking about his DH work and hitting in general. He’s not in the lineup after getting two hits last night to raise his average to .162. After saying that it isn’t easy basically pinch hitting four times a game, he cut off the next question and walked away from the pack of reporters.