The LoHud Yankees Blog

YANKEES (17-11)
Brett Gardner LF
Nick Swisher RF
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Curtis Granderson CF
Jorge Posada DH
Eric Chavez 3B
Russell Martin C
Eduardo Nunez SS

RHP A.J. Burnett (4-1, 3.93)
Burnett vs. Tigers

TIGERS (14-17)
Don Kelly CF
Scott Sizemore 2B
Brennan Boesch RF
Miguel Cabrera 1B
Victor Martinez C
Magglio Ordonez DH
Ryan Raburn LF
Brandon Inge 3B
Ramon Santiago SS

RHP Rick Porcello (1-2, 4.25)
Porcello vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 1:05 p.m., YES Network

WEATHER: Detroit saved the best for last. This is easily the nicest day of the series, a good time for a day game. Temperatures are supposed to get into the 60s during the game.

UMPIRES: HP Tim Tschida, 1B Jeff Nelson, 2B Marty Foster, 3B Bill Welke

YANKEES TRIPLE CROWN: Robinson Cano has at least a share of the Yankees team lead in batting average (.296), home runs (eight) and RBI (21). He’s tied for second in the American League and fifth in the majors in homers.

THREE TO WEE: Derek Jeter needs three hits to match Willie Keeler for 30th on baseball’s all-time hits list. Probably won’t get those three today, though.

IF YOU BUILD IT: On this day in 1922, the construction contract for the original Yankee Stadium was award to the White Construction Company in New York. It was stipulated that the stadium should be completed “at a definite price” of $2.5 million by Opening Day 1923. It was finished in just 284 working days.

UPDATE, 1:35 p.m.: Burnett might have needed a quick second inning like that. He threw 20 pitches in that first inning. It’s still 1-0 Tigers on a hit batter, Burnett’s pickoff error and a sac fly in the first.

UPDATE, 1:54 p.m.: Another quick and easy inning for Burnett. He didn’t seem especially sharp in that first inning, but he’s looked good since then.

UPDATE, 2:06 p.m.: Chavez seemed to be having trouble after he rounded second base. He’s pulled with some sort of injury — I’d guess back, but they seemed to be checking his lower leg/foot/ankle — and Rodriguez is off the bench as a pinch runner. That doesn’t happen too often.

UPDATE, 2:30 p.m.: Cano opens the fifth inning with his second hit of the game. Still waiting on an update on Chavez.

UPDATE, 2:50 p.m.: Obviously I wasn’t watching the dugout, but word is that a fan jumped or fell into the Yankees dugout just before the bottom of the sixth inning. Not sure what exactly happened. There was some sort of commotion, but Girardi seemed completely uninterested.

UPDATE, 2:53 p.m.: Burnett had a no-hitter when this inning started. Now he’s allowed two hits and the game is tied at 2.

UPDATE, 3:01 p.m.: The Yankees have legitimately hit some balls hard this afternoon, but they don’t have much to show for it and it’s shaping up to be another game in which the lineup really struggles behind a starter who’s pitching pretty well.

UPDATE, 3:22 p.m.: Burnett got himself into trouble, and he earned the sacrifice fly that put the Tigers in the lead, but a two-run throwing error by Eduardo Nunez could be really costly. It’s now 5-2 Tigers.

*** UPDATE, 3:25 p.m.: Eric Chavez update ***

Chavez has a small fracture of the fifth metatarsal in his left foot.

Joe Girardi met with the media a little later than usual — relative to first pitch — and seeing Austin Jackson on the field during batting practice did nothing to speed up my morning. As usual, there’s not a whole lot of news coming out of pregame for a 1:05 start, and in the interest of getting these posted as quickly as possible, here’s the short version of today’s pregame notes.

• Derek Jeter got no treatment on his hip and once again insisted it was a non-issue. “There’s no injury,” he said. “I had zero treatment today.”

• Girardi said he noticed Jeter favoring the hip a little bit yesterday, and because he was going to give Jeter one of these days off anyway, he decided to make it today. Girardi usually tells Jeter ahead of time that he’s getting a day off, but Jeter said he was surprised to see his name missing from the lineup this morning. He didn’t argue the decision.

• Jeter does not have good numbers against Tigers starter Rick Porcello, but Girardi said that didn’t play much of a role in his decision. “I look at that, but it’s not like it’s a lot of numbers,” Girardi said.

• Similar story with Alex Rodriguez, except Rodriguez was told last night that he was getting tonight’s game off. Rodriguez said he understands he need occasional days off to hit his goal of 145 to 150 games this season, but his recent struggles made him want to play. “The more you’re struggling, the more you want to go play,” he said.

• Girardi saw things differently: “The last thing we want to do is wear him down early in the season,” Girardi said. “I think there can be an advantage because you come back, you feel fresh going into Texas, you’re facing a couple of left-handers, and maybe you get going again.”

• The Yankees are facing lefties Matt Harrison and Derek Holland the next two games. Brett Gardner is scheduled to take one of those games off, and Curtis Granderson is scheduled to have the other off.

• Obviously the presence of Eric Chavez makes it a little easier to rest two infielders on the same day and still have productive bats up and down the lineup. “He has a dangerous bat,” Girardi said. “And every time he’s played for us this year, he’s produced.”

• Girardi on A.J. Burnett: “That was one thing that he struggled with a lot of times (last year), that innings could get away from him. He’s done a really good job, because he’s had his fair share of base runners and has kept us in every ball game and has pitched pretty well. That has been a big difference for him.”

TIGERS
Don Kelly CF
Scott Sizemore 2B
Brennan Boesch RF
Miguel Cabrera 1B
Victor Martinez C
Magglio Ordonez DH
Ryan Raburn LF
Brandon Inge 3B
Ramon Santiago SS

Associated Press photo

Brett Gardner LF
Nick Swisher RF
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Curtis Granderson CF
Jorge Posada DH
Eric Chavez 3B
Russell Martin C
Eduardo Nunez SS

The Yankees are wrapping up this Detroit series with a day game, which means we should have a lineup in an hour or so. Until then, just a quick note on the non-Kevin Millwood veteran who’s trying to pitch his way into the Yankees plans.

Carlos Silva made his first regular-season start with High-A Tampa yesterday. He went three innings, striking out four and walking one. He allowed two runs, both of them on a two-run home run by Jae-Hoon Ha, a Cubs outfield prospect who’s hitting .346 with five home runs this season.

All nine of Silva’s outs were either on strikes or on the ground. I haven’t heard anything about the outing other than what the numbers show. My guess would be that Silva could pitch his way in the mix as long as he shows something fairly quickly. By the second half of the season, there’s a solid chance one of those Triple-A starters will have set himself apart and emerge as an obvious call-up/spot-start candidate. Plus there’s that Phil Hughes guy who could be back in six to eight weeks.

On April 16, Alex Rodriguez was hitting .385/.500/.821, the kind of red-hot start that recalled those MVP years of not so long ago. It was a 12-game sample size, but it was impressive, and for the Yankees, it was promising.

Then Rodriguez was shutdown because of an oblique strain, and he hasn’t been the same since.

“It’s definitely not an excuse,” Rodriguez said after tonight’s loss. “I got off to a great start and haven’t been swinging the bat really well the last couple of weeks. It’s time to get back in the saddle and help the team win.”

Since the injury, Rodriguez is hitting .149 with three extra-base hits, two of them coming in his second game back. He has one RBI in his past nine games. Rodriguez said he feels healthy, and Joe Girardi said the Yankees believe he’s healthy, but there’s a “disconnect” in his swing.

“Kind of a two-parted swing, upper-body and lower-body disconnect a little bit,” Rodriguez said. “But my swing is going to be fine.”

Rodriguez said he doesn’t feel like he’s in a slump. He actually feels fine at the plate, and that’s the “kind of frustrating thing.” Maybe the time off took him out of his rhythm. Maybe he’s going through a normal two-week slide.

“He’s not swinging like he was earlier,” Girardi said. “Alex will talk about how he’s kind of disconnected and everything’s just not right with his swing. It seems like he’s leaving his legs at times. He’s not staying in his legs, and he’s getting out in front a little bit.”

Here’s Rodriguez postgame.

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And here’s Yankees starter Freddy Garcia (more on him in a bit).

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• Here’s Derek Jeter describing the hip injury that forced him out of tonight’s game: “It’s really not a problem. It’s not hurt. Seriously, it’s not that big of an issue. I played with it… I know I say it all the time, but it’s really not a big deal.”

• Although Girardi called him day-to-day, Jeter responded with a no-doubt-about-it “Yes” when asked if he expected to play tomorrow.

• Obviously we’re not watching the YES feed here in the Detroit press box, but apparently the camera’s showed some sort of argument/disagreement between Garcia and Francisco Cervelli after the Magglio Ordonez homer. Both Garcia and Cervelli said there was no argument whatsoever. “He never was upset,” Cervelli said. “I think it was maybe his body language, but he never was upset. He didn’t tell me anything bad. Maybe (he felt it) inside, but he never showed me like he was mad, or he never told me anything bad.”

• The pitch in question was an inside sinker that Ordonez hit for a two-out, two-run home run in the third. Garcia said he executed the pitch, but it was the wrong pitch to throw, and he knew it. He should have gone away in that situation. “That’s me,” Garcia said. “No reason to be mad at (Cervelli). I’m the one throwing the ball. If I don’t want to throw the pitch, I don’t throw that pitch. But we agreed to throw it and a bad thing happened.” By the way, moments after Garcia said that pitch was his fault, Cervelli also took responsibility, saying it was his fault for calling the pitch in the first place.

• By the way, it looked like Ordonez was looking fastball in that situation and cheating to catch up to it. “They’re always cheating,” Garcia said. “If you’re not cheating, you don’t try.”

• Asked what it was like to pitch to Cervelli, Garcia made everyone in the room laugh. “He’s a hyper guy,” Garcia said. “You have to talk to him and try to calm him down, try to stay on the same page.”

• Asked about the throw to second base that almost hit Garcia, Cervelli also had the room laughing. “I almost killed him, yeah,” Cervelli said. “Let me tell you that.”

• Max Scherzer was good tonight. His fastball had life and he was able to get outs with his changeup (and able to locate his offspeed stuff when he fell behind). Scherzer was good, but Rodriguez placed more blame than credit. “We need to be better offensively,” he said.

• Garcia took his second loss, but he actually pitched pretty well. He pitched into the eighth and didn’t allow a run after that home run in the third. “I’ve said all along that you need to pitch on a consistent basis because bats are going to come and go,” Girardi said. The bats have been gone for two nights now.

• This was the third time the Yankees were shutout this season, and they’ve now lost back-to-back games for the second time.

• I know he’s mostly pitched mopup duty, but Buddy Carlyle has pitched well since coming up from Triple-A. Luis Ayala has started a rehab assignment with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and Carlyle might be pitching well enough to stick around when Ayala is ready to be activated.

• Trenton officially put lefty Steve Garrison on the disabled list. He’s the fourth Double-A starter to go on the DL this year. Brian Anderson also went on the Trenton disabled list while Josh Schmidt was sent down from Triple-A to help fill the void.

Associated Press photos

Joe Girardi said Derek Jeter’s right hip was “grabbing” tonight, which is the reason Jeter was pulled from the game.

Girardi said it started at some point tonight, but he wasn’t sure exactly when. Jeter is considered day-to-day.

Too early to know whether Jeter will go for tests.

UPDATE, 10:30 p.m.: As you might expect, Jeter said it’s not an injury at all and he absolutely expects to play tomorrow. His hip got stiff tonight, but that’s all.

The Yankees never got a runner past second base tonight. They scattered four hits, put seven runners on base, and were shutout 4-0 by the Tigers and their young starter Max Scherzer. Freddy Garcia pitched into the eighth inning and didn’t allow a run after the third, but a second-inning RBI single gave the Tigers a lead and a three-run third — it turned out — put the game well out of reach. Every Yankees hitter except Curtis Granderson struck out at least once.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (17-10)
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Jorge Posada DH
Brett Gardner LF
Francisco Cervelli C

RHP Freddy Garcia (1-1, 2.00)
Garcia vs. Tigers

TIGERS (13-17)
Austin Jackson CF
Scott Sizemore 2B
Brennan Boesch LF
Miguel Cabrera 1B
Victor Martinez DH
Magglio Ordonez RF
Jhonny Peralta SS
Alex Avila C
Brandon Inge 3B

RHP Max Scherzer (4-0, 3.82)
Scherzer vs. Yankees

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

WEATHER: First thing Joe Girardi did when he sat down to talk to the media in the visiting dugout this afternoon was to make everyone turn around and look at the sky. There was sunshine. Haven’t seen that much this year, but this has been a pretty nice day in Detroit.

UMPIRES: HP Bill Welke, 1B Tim Tschida, 2B Jeff Nelson, 3B Marty Foster

GO GO GARDNER: In his past eight games, Brett Gardner has a .739 on-base percentage and a .571 batting average with six runs scored, nine walks and a stolen base. In his first 18 games this season he hit .136 with a .190 on-base percentage.

GO GO ROTATION: Even with CC Sabathia shaky start last night, the Yankees rotation has a 2.73 ERA through the past 15 games, a sample size of 99 innings. In that time, the Yankees have gone 10-5.

FOUR AWAY: Derek Jeter needs four hits to tie Willie Keeler on baseball’s all-time hits list. Jeter will move into 30th place when he matches Keeler’s total of 2,956.

UPDATE, 7:34 p.m.: Three straight singles to open the bottom of the second have given the Tigers a 1-0 lead and put Garcia in a bit of an early bind.

UPDATE, 7:59 p.m.: Garcia is once again having trouble with the middle of the order. RBI double by Miguel Cabrera and now a two-run home run by Magglio Ordonez. It’s 4-0 Tigers in the third.

UPDATE, 8:28 p.m.: Well, he’s not throwing curveballs, but Max Scherzer is dealing. His fastball-changeup combo has been very effective.

UPDATE, 8:40 p.m.: Intentional walk to Cabrera pays off as Garcia gets Martines and Ordonez to fly to left and strand two in the bottom of the fifth.

When the Yankees put Phil Hughes on the disabled list, they technically labeled the injury as “right shoulder inflammation,” but until today, there was no indication that the inflammation was a serious concern. Joe Girardi always referred to it as a dead arm issue, and Hughes himself said time and again that he did not know of any traditional injury.

Turns out, the inflammation might have been a bigger problem than the Yankees ever indicated.

The possibility of thoracic outlet syndrome “was a much bigger concern” according to Brian Cashman, but on April 28, the Yankees gave Hughes a cortisone injection. Either because of that that shot, or maybe because of the extended rest, Hughes is now indicating to the Yankees and their doctors that he feels “110 percent” better, according to Cashman. How exactly he feels better, Cashman couldn’t say, but he said he’s far more optimistic today than he was when Hughes left for St. Louis a few days ago.

“It sounds like he’s in a much better mental place, so we’ll see,” Cashman said. “It doesn’t guarantee anything. Ultimately, with where we’re at, the recommendation has been another two weeks of rest and then we’ll get him going. Clearly he’ll have to build his arm strength up again, and that will be that true test if we’re through the woods.”

Cashman guessed that Hughes is six to eight weeks away from rejoining the Yankees rotation. Dr. Ahmad has recommended that Hughes rest for two more weeks before beginning a throwing program. There are no further tests planned.

“Hopefully this is just a bump in the road,” Cashman said.

• Highlight of my day at Comerica: Girardi was asked whether Mariano Rivera would be available today. “He was a little upset when we said he was off duty yesterday,” Girardi said. “So I think he’d probably want to strangle me if I told him he was off today.”

At that point, someone noticed Rivera was stretching right in front of us and suggested Girardi tell him — as a joke — that he would not pitch tonight. Girardi stood up, yelled “Hey Mo” and gave him a thumbs up.

Then Girardi slowly turned it to a thumbs down, indicating Rivera was down for tonight’s game. The look on Rivera’s face was positively murderous. I mean it. One of the kindest, classiest men in all of baseball, and Rivera looked like he would rip Girardi’s face off.

So, yeah, Rivera’s available tonight.

• Regular day off for Russell Martin. He’ll “probably” get another day off this weekend in Texas.

• Girardi is obviously encouraged by the way Brett Gardner is hitting and reaching base lately, but there are no plans to move him back into the leadoff spot at this time. “We always discuss our lineup,” Girardi said. “We discuss different ideas every day. Is that something that I have a plan to do? No, not really.”

• Francisco Cervelli hasn’t had much time with Freddy Garcia, but Girardi gave Cervelli advance notice that he’d be catching tonight’s game. “I told Cervi to watch his last couple of starts and see what he’s doing so he would have a better understanding,” Girardi said. “He doesn’t have much of a history, but you hope the learning curve would be pretty quick.”

• Victor Martinez is off the Tigers disabled list and batting fifth behind Miguel Cabrera. Does that change the way the Yankees approach Cabrera? “I think you look at the score, the time of the game, the situation,” Girardi said. “You have to remember, you have one guy that’s been down for a while, too, and none of us really know how Victor’s swinging. But we know how Miguel’s swinging.”

• Eduardo Nunez went through extensive fielding drills before tonight’s game. Girardi said those drills were planned for yesterday but the session was rained out.

Associated Press photos

Brian Cashman just revealed that Phil Hughes had a cortisone injection on April 28. Hughes met with Dr. Ahmad today and has told the Yankees that his shoulder feels better since the shot.

Hughes never mentioned any pain in the past, and he hasn’t thrown, so I guess we have to assume that Hughes’ arm feeling “better” indicates that it feels stronger. Cashman said he wasn’t sure exactly what Hughes is feeling that’s different from before.

Dr. Ahmad is suggesting two additional weeks of rest before Hughes starts another throwing program.

“He believes that the shot is going to do the trick or has done the trick,” Cashman said.