The LoHud Yankees Blog

After 15 innings dragged nearly all the way to midnight last night, Yankees batting practice was optional this afternoon. Nick Swisher showed up early, anyway, and went to work with Kevin Long.

“I told him, there’s something that’s just not right, man,” Swisher said. “And I feel like it’s been going on long enough. We went in there, dissected a lot of stuff, took a lot of swings today, and at the end of the day I think it brings us back to that attitude. Just have that positive mind set every single time.

“Now it kind of feels like the clouds have parted a little bit.”

Last weekend, it was Swisher and Jorge Posada who were dropped to the bottom of the lineup — maybe you heard something about it — and tonight those two combined to reach base six times and drive in five runs, three of them on Swisher’s two-out, bases-loaded double in the first inning. In that one inning, the Yankees scored as many runs as they’d scored in all but two of their previous 19 games.

The Yankees have played better baseball the past three games. They beat a first-place team on Tuesday, had to scratch for a win on Wednesday and they ran away with one tonight. The losing, it seems, had gone on long enough.

“We were struggling for a couple of weeks there, and we seemed to get things on track,” Joe Girardi said. “This was good. This is a good time for this”

Obviously, three games don’t mean everything is corrected, but the Yankees can go home feeling much better than when they left. They can enter this weekend’s Subway Series knowing that the bats have shown some life, and the defense looks sound, and the pitching remains a strength.

“We’ve got a lot of talent in this room,” Swisher said. “And when it all comes together it’s pretty fun to watch, and tonight was one of those nights.”

Here’s Swisher.

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In the ninth inning, Derek Jeter was the only Yankees infielder playing his usual position. Eduardo Nunez had shifted to second, and the corners were occupied by a pair of long-time catchers, which led to plenty of postgame discussion.

Jorge Posada: In his first infield start since 2008, Posada didn’t get a single ground ball, but he did pick one ball out of the dirt. Jeter also pulled him off the bag once. “It’s tough when you’re not there a whole lot,” Posada said. “It’s not an easy job. I haven’t played that much there. You take ground balls there, but once the game starts, it’s a whole different thing.”

Russell Martin: To give Robinson Cano an inning off, Martin moved from catcher to third base in the ninth. He made one play, then let a ball glance off the end of his glove. Well, not his glove. He was using Cano’s. “I was going to grab A-Rod’s and his is a little bit longer,” Martin said. “I made the wrong choice.”

Francisco Cervelli: When Martin moved to third, Cervelli came off the bench to catch. If he got to pick, would Cervelli have preferred the hot corner for an inning? “I love to catch, every time,” he said.

Joe Girardi: As a former catcher himself, the Yankees manager got a laugh out of two catchers in the infield. If he used his coaching staff, Girardi said he could have filled the whole thing. “I told Jorge, we only need two more and we could have a complete set,” Girardi said. “I would have had to put Jorge at second, because that’s where he started (in the minors). Russell definitely would go to short, because he’s the most athletic. Tony (Pena)’s the oldest so he goes to first. That leaves me at third.”

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• This was vintage CC Sabathia. After a few so-so starts, Sabathia threw 109 pitches, 84 of them for strikes. He struck out nine, walked none, and every time the Orioles got a runners in scoring position, Sabathia ended the inning against the very next batter. “(An early lead) calms you down a little bit,” Sabathia said. “You can go out and just try to pound the zone, get these guys back in to score as many runs as possible.”

• Whether you believe him or not, Sabathia said he didn’t mean to hit Nick Markakis. It certainly seemed to be retaliation for Chris Dickerson and Robinson Cano. “It just got away from me,” Sabathia said. “Just a fastball, trying to go in, I always pitch him in. It’s just one of those things.”

• Sabathia said he thought it was funny to get to the mound and see Posada at first. “He was constantly talking to me, telling me to get over and things like that,” Sabathia said. “It was fun to have him out there.”

• Back-to-back Yankees starters have pitched eight innings. “It’s big because if they’re in the eighth inning that means they’re pitching well,” Girardi said. “It also gives your bullpen a break, which those guys needed. Robby needed a day. It doesn’t hurt to give Joba an extra day and Mo a day. Those guys have been pitching in all these close games. It’s a big lift.”

• The Yankees had three triples in a game (Jeter, Gardner and Granderson) for the first time since May 13, 2009. They’re the first team to have three triples in a game at Camden Yards since Oakland did it in 1995.

• Orioles starters had allowed eight earned runs in their past 56 innings. Brad Bergesen allowed eight earned in 3.1 tonight.

• Robinson Cano now has a hit in 18 straight games against the Orioles. During those games he’s hitting .427. He also has a 17-game hitting streak at Camden Yards, dating back to May 10, 2009. It’s the longest active hitting streak by an opponent at the stadium.

• Speaking of beating up on the Orioles, Sabathia is 16-2 with a 2.74 ERA in 22 career starts against Baltimore.

• Donnie Collins reports that Greg Golson is rehabbing in Tampa, but Mark Prior is not close to returning from his groin injury.

• Kevin Millwood has agreed to a minor league deal with the Red Sox.

Associated Press photos

The Yankees seem to have an offense again. Building a three-game winning streak, the Yankees beat the Orioles 13-2 tonight. Every Yankees starter reached base, Mark Teixeira and Eduardo Nunez went deep and struggling Jorge Posada and Nick Swisher each had key doubles and reached base a total of six times. CC Sabathia looked like his old self with eight scoreless innings, and the Yankees are coming home feeling much better than when they left.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (22-19)
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira DH
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Russell Martin C
Jorge Posada 1B
Nick Swisher RF
Brett Gardner LF

LHP CC Sabathia (3-3, 3.47)
Sabathia vs. Orioles

ORIOLES (19-22)
Robert Andino 2B
J.J. Hardy SS
Nick Markakis RF
Vladimir Guerrero DH
Adam Jones CF
Felix Pie LF
Mark Reynolds 3B
Jake Fox C
Brandon Snyder 1B

RHP Jeremy Guthrie (1-6, 3.98)
Guthrie vs. Yankees

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

WEATHER: The Orioles had the tarp on and off the field multiple times pregame, including coming on the field around 6:30 and back on the field around 6:50. It’s another night kind of like last night with rain possible throughout.

UMPIRES: HP Larry Vanover, 1B Brian Gorman, 2B Tony Randazzo, 3B Dan Bellino

BEATING UP ON THE O’S: With two hits last night, Derek Jeter now has 301 career hits against the Orioles. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he is the first Major Leaguer to collect 300 hits against one franchise since Tony Gwynn had at least 300 against the Astros, Braves, Giants and Reds. Gwynn retired after the 2000 season.

FIRST TIME FEELING: Also according to Elias, Hector Noesi is the first Yankee to win his major-league debut while pitching at least four scoreless innings out of the bullpen. He’s the first Major Leaguer to do it since Jim Brower in 1999 and the first to do it in extra innings since Kansas City’s Scott Bankhead in 1986.

OTHER NOTES FROM LAST NIGHT: Last night was the Yankees longest road game — in terms of innings — since a 17-inning game against the Tigers… A.J. Burnett became the first Yankees pitcher to pinch run since Jaret Wright ran for Jason Giambi in 2006… At four hours and 46 minutes, last night was the Yankees longest game — in terms of time — since at 4:57 game against Oakland in 2009.

A NICE ROUND NUMBER: Mariano Rivera has now pitched in 999 games. With his next appearance he’ll become the 15th pitcher to reach 1,000 career appearances.’

UPDATE, 7:01 p.m.: It was just announced that we’re going to open in a delay.

UPDATE, 7:21 p.m.: The tarp is coming off the field.

UPDATE, 7:53 p.m.: Double by Jeter, RBI triple by Granderson and an error by Jennings. Completely forgot to update this post to say that Bergesen is starting instead of Guthrie.

UPDATE, 7:58 p.m.: Cano was just hit by a pitch. Maybe Guthrie is pitching after all.

UPDATE, 8:07 p.m.: Not a good play for Pie, but I’m sure Swisher will take the double and the three RBI. It’s 5-0 Yankees after a half inning.

UPDATE, 8:13 p.m.: I honestly didn’t think the Yankees would retaliate. I never got the sense that anyone in the clubhouse believed Gonzalez meant to hit Dickerson, but I always think it’s a good thing to see a pitcher standup for his teammate no matter what. Can’t hit a guy in the face — intentional or not — and expect everything to be fine and dandy. Wonder if it had as much to do with Cano as Dickerson.

UPDATE, 8:45 p.m.: As Posada flies to center to open the fourth inning, a rain delay seems inevitable. It’s not good here.

UPDATE, 8:51 p.m.: Back-to-back triples into the right-field corner and it’s now 7-0 Yankees in the fourth.

UPDATE, 9:48 p.m.: Vlad. Not fast. Or particularly graceful.

The Yankees did not hit on the field this afternoon, which meant no infield drills. At least, that was the initial plan. Just a few minutes ago, Derek Jeter and Eduardo Nunez went to shortstop and Jorge Posada went to first base for a brief session of infield practice.

“Every day I’ve been taking grounders,” Posada said. “Today, I wish I could take a little bit more grounders because obviously I’m out there. I would like to be on the field taking more grounders, yeah.”

Obviously Posada got some friends to help him out. Someone asked if Posada made a point of telling the shortstop to make all of his throws chest-high. Posada said he told all of the infielders that.

Joe Girardi said he had this in mind a few days ago, deciding today would be a good day to give Mark Teixeira a DH start, and all along he was planning to play Posada in his place at first base. The Yankees told Posada to start taking extra grounders after Eric Chavez went on the disabled list.

“Where to be with people on base, where you have to be (on) cut-offs, if it’s a double. It’s just challenging,” Posada said. “You have to think about it before the play starts. It keeps you in the game.”

By the way, Posada got own first baseman’s glove this spring. Until this year he’s kept a first base mitt with him, but it was an old one that used to belong to Tino Martinez.

“(The ball) will find me,” Posada said.

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All things considered, Chris Dickerson is in good shape. He has a cut along the bottom of his forehead extending just above his left eye. The bump from last night is gone, replaced with a scratch that Dickerson said might be from the ball itself grazing his face. He has a very minor concussion, but none of the usual symptoms — no sensitivity to light or dizziness — except for a “splitting” headache.

“Every time I look at the replay, if you don’t look down just in time, it hits you right in the face, right square in the eye rather than in the side,” Dickerson said. “I just feel extremely fortunate today.”

Dickerson said he absolutely does not believe the pitch was intentional, and he also does not believe he’ll need to be placed on the seven-day concussion disabled list. Girardi said it was a possibility, but Dickerson said he felt surprisingly good today. He was still wearing the bracelets from his hospital visit last night.

Here’s Dickerson speaking this afternoon.

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• The tarp just came off the field.

• Girardi said there was no serious consideration of a player move. The Yankees feel that they’re covered for multiple innings because Amauri Sanit is here as a second long man.

• It’s not a sure thing — Girardi said it depends on what time the Yankees get back to New York tonight/tomorrow — but right now the Yankees are planning to have Alex Rodriguez go for a short checkup tomorrow afternoon.

• Phil Hughes did more or less the exact same series of throws that he did on Tuesday. Said everything still feels pretty good.

• Girardi said it’s possible he’ll use Teixeira for late-inning defense tonight.

• Girardi said he will not use Dickerson tonight.

• No word on whether Dave Robertson is available tonight. The only pitcher Girardi ruled out was Hector Noesi. He has to check with Robertson and the rest to make sure they’re up to pitching. The fact Robertson got hot in the bullpen last night almost counts like a game the way the Yankees view workload.

• Girardi said it’s good to start Posada at first base on a day CC Sabathia is pitching. “A lot of right-handers in their lineup,” he said. “CC is a guy that, he’s going to get his share of ground balls, but you’re going to think more of them are going to be to the left side than the right side.”

• Had Rodriguez been ejected last night, Girardi said his first thought would have been to put Posada at catcher and Russell Martin at third base. “Probably would have been my first thought and we would have seen how it went,” Girardi said. “Or maybe you put Texy at first and Jorge at first.”

• Yes, Girardi really called Teixeira, “Texy.”

ORIOLES
Robert Andino 2B
J.J. Hardy SS
Nick Markakis RF
Vladimir Guerrero DH
Adam Jones CF
Felix Pie LF
Mark Reynolds 3B
Jake Fox C
Brandon Snyder 1B

Associated Press photos

Right now the posted lineup and roster suggest no player move will be made today. Dickerson and Noesi are both listed as active players.

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

The Yankees just announced that Chris Dickerson’s CT scan came back “normal” after last night’s game.

No other information available, so I can’t tell you what exactly that means. Can’t even say whether he’s still on the active roster, but it certainly seems like good news.

Normal is good when you’ve just been hit in the face by a fastball.

No lineup posted in the Yankees clubhouse and the lockers offer no clues about a potential move.

Chris Dickerson’s locker is full, but I haven’t seen him. Hector Noesi is here, but that doesn’t mean he’s active. And there are no lockers with unexpected names above them.

After Hector Noesi gave the Yankees all they could have asked and more than they could have expected, Robinson Cano finally drove in the runs that gave the Yankees first-timer his first big league win. And when it was over, Cano had a message for the kid.

“I told him in the dugout, I said, ‘This is your first win. So you’ve got to buy me dinner now,’” Cano said. “He said, ‘OK, Saturday.’ I said, ‘You’ve got to take me to one of those special places.’ It’s good. He was here two weeks, didn’t pitch, and came back. It’s good, I like that. Guys, when they don’t pitch, they get their chance.”

Noesi said he was absolutely planning to take his second baseman to dinner, but here’s the thing: I have to think Noesi’s reward for such a terrific performance might be a demotion back to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre rotation. The Yankees will need a fresh arm tonight, and Noesi won’t be available for at least three or four days. He has options, and it certainly doesn’t hurt to keep him stretched out. Might be a tough break for the player, but that doesn’t mean it’s not the right move for the team.

Whether he goes or stays, Noesi had quite the big league debut last night. Four scoreless innings in an extra-inning game when there was no margin for error. Joe Girardi said he was most impressed that Noesi came out of the gate throwing strikes. Noesi struck out the first two guys he faced before having to pitch out of a bases-loaded jam.

“I said to my family, ‘I’m going to strikeout the first one for them,’” Noesi said.

There was incredible calm from Noesi on the mound, and he said after the game that he never felt like there were runners on base. He had to stay calm and stay focused — “Be relaxed to do what you have to do, pitch by pitch,” he said — and for four innings last night, he was able to do all that.

“This is a guy that was just watching everybody pitching,” Cano said. “Your first game, tie game. It’s really tough to be in a game like that. That guy, he can pitch. I was real impressed.”

Here’s Noesi, soft spoken after the biggest innings of his career.

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Associated Press photo

First, let’s take a moment to realize what happened tonight.

• A guy who came to spring training as an assumed-to-be-washed-up minor league free agent pitched eight shutout innings (and needed just 87 pitches to do it).
• The greatest closer of all time blew a save (then watched a series of largely unknown relievers dance out of every sort of danger).
• A kid made his major-league debut in the 12th inning of a 1-1 game and managed to pitch four scoreless (after striking out his first two batters, then promptly loading the bases, and knowing every batter was the potential game-winner).
• In quick succession a player was hit in the head by a fastball, tried to stay in the game, was replaced by a starting-pitcher-turned-pinch-runner, all while another starting pitcher came out of the other team’s bullpen to pitch in relief (oh, and a half inning later a base runner was hit by a ground ball for what was actually a key out).
• And the last out of the game was made by a backup infielder who was playing right field on a day when he started at shortstop ahead of a sure Hall of Famer (yet everything about that situation made perfect sense given the context and the events of the day).

“Honestly, yeah, (I’m glad it’s over),” Robinson Cano said. “I’m not going to lie. Especially going from Tampa, a long day in New York, Sunday night baseball. We get to Tampa 3 in the morning, get here at 2. But when you’re winning, you always have fun, even if you’re tired. We need to start winning series and put this together.”

Here’s Joe Girardi talking about a little of everything tonight.

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That pitch hitting Chris Dickerson was one of the scariest thing I’ve ever seen on a baseball field.

It wasn’t so much the pitch itself, it was the reaction. Girardi said Dickerson never lost consciousness, but the way he was blinking his eyes, it looked like he was just waking up while he was lying there in the dirt. Then Girardi tossed away the broken helmet, which wasn’t a good sign, and Dickerson stood up to reveal a big knot near his eye, which was a far worse sign.

“He said he was all right,” Girardi said. “But I was listening to Geno. Geno said he had to come out. Geno made the right call and took him to the hospital. Hopefully everything is okay.”

Dickerson went for a CT Scan and the Yankees should know more tomorrow. Girardi said Dickerson was lucid on the field, knew where he was and who he was, all that good stuff. I’m telling you, this place was silent.

“You have to assume that he’s probably got a concussion,” Girardi said. “We’ll see.”

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My guess is that there’s a great desire to absolutely crush Girardi for bringing in Mariano Rivera when Bartolo Colon was pitching so well. I wrote in the game post — before Girardi made his move — that I would have stuck with Colon.

It’s an easy move to second-guess.

But let’s not pretend that’s an obvious or easy choice. The choices were a starting pitcher who was positively dealing, or Mariano Rivera himself. Either decision would have been perfectly justifiable, and either decision would have looked bad had the pitcher given up a run.

“Of course there’s a thought to leave him in there,” Girardi said. “But I have Mariano Rivera. That’s why I made the move.”

Luis Ayala and Boone Logan did their jobs after Rivera gave up the tying run, but my gosh, how good was Hector Noesi? In this game? Coming into that inning? When ever base runner was the winning run? That’s an incredible way to make a Major League debut, and an amazing way to make a first impression.

“I can’t imagine that, but I thank God,” Rivera said. “Thank God the job that he did. Well deserved. He did tremendous. He made good pitches at the end and he won the game… The whole game was a tremendous game. Only my participation wasn’t good.”

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• After Dickerson was hit, Girardi said the only decision was which pitcher to use as a pinch runner. It was never going to be Jorge Posada because it’s a base-running situation and there was no sense burning the last position player in that spot. Girardi chose Burnett because he figured he had the most base-running experience, then he gave Burnett one instruction: Don’t get picked off.

• Mike Gonzalez was ejected for hitting Dickerson, but he stayed on the field and watched with some obvious fear on his face. Did Girardi think it was intentional? “I don’t get into that,” he said. “It’s just a scary part of the game when a guy gets hit there.” For whatever it’s worth, I find it hard to believe Gonzalez meant to do that.

• Noesi was good for 90 pitches. “He was going to have to get it done for us,” Girardi said.

• Can’t overlook the Mark Teixeira play that saved the game in the 11th. Alex Rodriguez made a nice stop, but his throw was way off line and it was all Teixeira could do to keep it from going into the outfield. Boone Logan took it from there. Two huge outs. To be honest, my “Yankees lose” game story was 100 percent ready to go at that point (and in the bottom of every inning after it, except the 15th).

• Rodriguez on why he threw the ball in the first place: “Make a play. At that point you’ve got to go crazy, you’ve got to make plays. That’s the way we play baseball, we attack.”

• Teixeira on the play: “Really, when I dove I said, ‘Just go in my glove. Just knock it down somehow.’ Luckily, I came up with it clean and we got out of the jam.”

• Colon was one inning away from his first complete game shutout since 2006. “That’s my best game so far (this year),” he said. “I thank God for the way I’m pitching right now. I wish I continue pitching that way.”

• What was wrong with Rivera? “A lot of things happened,” he said. “I didn’t make my pitches. Balls were finding holes. Bad day at the office.”

• Dave Robertson wasn’t supposed to be available tonight, but when those two runners were on base in the bottom of the 15th, Robertson was loose in the bullpen. He said he was ready to go and he assumed he was coming into the game had that ball not hit the base runner and given Noesi a gift second out. Girardi said Robertson might not be available tomorrow because of the pitches he threw in the bullpen tonight.

• Completely forgot to mention pregame that Thursday will be two weeks since the Eric Chavez injury. He’s due to be reexamined. “I think they talked about doing some functional stuff (as part of early rehab work),” Girardi said.

• The Orioles have lost to the Yankees five times this season, three of them in extra innings.

• I’m beyond tired. Get some sleep everyone. If you stayed up for all of this one, you really did see a pretty incredible baseball game.

Associated Press photos

I have no idea what to say.

Associated Press photo