The LoHud Yankees Blog

Joba Chamberlain went on the disabled list, Russell Martin was bothered by a sore back and first place in the American League East went to the Red Sox. Obviously this wasn’t a good day for the Yankees. A.J. Burnett gave Boston a big early lead and the Yankees lost 11-6, their seventh loss in eight games against Boston this season. Jorge Posada wasn’t available because his son was having surgery, Boone Logan had another frustrating relief appearance and both Francisco Cervelli and Eduardo Nunez both managed to be hit by foul balls on a day when nearly everything seemed to go wrong for the Yankees. Mark Teixeira was healthy and Derek Jeter moved one hit closer to 3,000, but highlights were few and far between today.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (33-25)
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Brett Gardner LF
Eduardo Nunez 3B
Francisco Cervelli C

RHP A.J. Burnett (6-3, 3.86)
Burnett vs. Red Sox

RED SOX (34-26)
Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Dustin Pedroia 2B
Adrian Gonzalez 1B
Kevin Youkilis 3B
David Ortiz DH
Carl Crawford LF
Marco Scutaro SS
J.D. Drew RF
Jason Varitek C

RHP Tim Wakefield (2-1, 4.40)
Wakefield vs. Yankees

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

WEATHER: Hot. Not as hot as it might be in mid-July, but for right now, this feels really, really hot.

UMPIRES: HP Bob Davidson, 1B Hunter Wendelstedt, 2B Brian Knight, 3B Jerry Layne

FAMILIAR FOES: Derek Jeter has 31 hits in 115 plate appearances against Tim Wakefield. He has more hits off Wakefield than against any other pitcher in his career, and Jeter and Wakefield have faced one another more than any other active batter/pitcher combination in the big leagues.

NEW GUY ARRIVED: Jeff Marquez walked into the Yankees clubhouse just a few minutes before 6 p.m., when the room was closed to media. He took a corner locker and I saw him exchanging familiar hellos with two players: Brett Gardner, who he played with in the minors, and Andruw Jones, who he played with in Chicago.

CHAVEZ TO THE 60-DAY: To make room for Marquez on the 40-man roster, Eric Chavez was moved to the 60-day disabled list. Girardi announced last night that Chavez is not ready to begin running, so he’s still a little ways from baseball activities.

FOR THE BENEFIT OF MR. KITE: The Yankees announced today that Paul McCartney will perform at Yankee Stadium on July 15. Tickets go on sale on June 13. More information at www.yankees.com/mccartney.

UPDATE, 7:31 p.m.: Once upon a time, Francisco Cervelli was a good defensive catcher.

UPDATE, 7:58 p.m.: That strikeout snaps a 58 plate appearances streak without a strikeout for Jeter. That was a career high.

UPDATE, 8:20 p.m.: This is not at all the start the Yankees needed, and Cervelli hasn’t helped. Burnett’s already approaching 90 pitches in the fourth and Pendleton is up in the bullpen. Amazing that it was only two days ago the Yankees were rolling.

UPDATE, 8:43 p.m.: Cervelli’s second hit of the night scores Nunez and pulls the Yankees within 7-2. Two three-run innings by the Red Sox are everything in this game.

UPDATE, 8:44 p.m.: Jeter’s career hit No. 2,989 is an RBI double that scores that Cervelli and makes it 7-3 in the fifth.

UPDATE, 8:54 p.m.: Of course Cervelli would take a foul ball to the cup tonight. Been a rough 24 hours or so for the Yankees. Last thing they needed was their only healthy catcher to be hurt. Looks like he’s alright.

UPDATE, 9:05 p.m.: Oh wow. Boone Logan and I talked yesterday afternoon about how badly he wanted to pitch in this series. He said he was feeling better, thought he needed to throw more fastballs, and felt he could prove himself all over again. So far, he’s faced three batters tonight, allowing a single and two walks, the second of which came with the bases loaded.

Mark Teixeira says his right knee feels great. He’s taking batting practice with no apparent problems and feels good enough to start tonight’s game at first base.

That’s pretty much the extent of the good news.

Joba Chamberlain is on the disabled list, Jorge Posada is away for the day, Russell Martin’s back is bothering him, Hector Noesi was temporarily sacrificed for fresh arms and the Yankees need a win tonight to stay in first place. If ever they needed Good A.J. to show up, this is the night.

“Every club’s going to go through injuries, and you got to find a way to get through it,” Joe Girardi said. “One of the ways to get through it is by what your starter does that night.”

Let’s hit on these issues one at a time, shall we?

Joba Chamberlain
On the 15-day disabled list with a strained flexor muscle in his right elbow

Turns out, Chamberlain’s elbow has been bothering him for a while. Girardi is about as careful with his relievers as any manager out there, and he was convinced that his setup man going through normal soreness. On Monday — one day after throwing a season-high 35 pitches — Chamberlain finally told the Yankees that it might be more than the normal discomfort.

He went for an MRI that showed a strained flexor muscle. He won’t throw at all for 10 to 14 days, then, if he’s healthy enough, he’ll start working his way back. This is almost certainly going to take more than 15 days.

“His arm has been a little tender the last couple of weeks, so we’ve been careful with him in what we’ve done,” Girardi said. “He played catch yesterday and he said, ‘It feels pretty good today, but it’s been tender.’ We had the doctor look at it, and they decided to do an MRI this morning. It’s really pretty amazing. He probably pitched with it for a while.”

Chamberlain said it never bothered him when he pitched, only afterward. He got a little treatment — ice and such — but he believed everything was fine. He said even today he feels like he could pitch, but he knows what the MRI showed and he knows he’s out for a while.

Both Girardi and Chamberlain said they believe with absolute conviction that the 35-pitch outing is not a direct cause of this problem.

“It just happened to be this is what it was after,” Chamberlain said. “But the 35 pitches had nothing to do with it. Obviously, if it was to this point, I would have said something to Joe, or Joe would have said something to me.”

To be fair, Girardi is notorious about his reliever rules. He’s generally a manager who plays it safe if he sees any cause for concern.

“Part of me believes that he pitched through it for a couple weeks,” Girardi said. “I don’t know exactly when the strain came in the muscle, I don’t. We hadn’t used him a lot. We used him when we needed him like we always would, but his stuff had been great.”

Here’s Chamberlain.

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Russell Martin
Day-to-day with a sore back

According to Girardi, Russell Martin’s back “locked up” after last night’s game. Martin told Girardi that he wanted to try to work through it and see if he could play tonight. Girardi told him to take the day off and go through treatment.

“I can’t tell you (when he’ll be back),” Girardi said. “When a back locks up, you really don’t know. It could take a couple of days. It could take three days. I can’t really tell you. It could be tomorrow.”

Girardi said if something were to happen to Francisco Cervelli, Martin would probably play. But he’s going into this game planning to manage as if he has no backup catcher.

Jorge Posada
Away for his son’s surgery

Jorge Posada is away for the night because his son is having surgery. It’s been known for a while that Posada would probably be away tonight, but Girardi indicated last night that Posada might be around to play first base if necessary.

Girardi said he expects to have Posada back tomorrow.

Mark Teixeira
Back in the lineup after being hit by a pitch

Amazing that Teixeira has become a footnote. Showing up at the park today, I believed there was no chance the Yankees first baseman would be in there. Girardi said he went to bed last night also convinced that he’d be without Teixeira for at least one night.

At around 10 a.m., Girardi got a text from Teixeira saying he was good to go.

“Geno saw him and said he was ready to go,” Girardi said. “So I was really surprised.”

Teixeira said he feels good enough that playing the field shouldn’t be an issue. No need to DH tonight.

Hector Noesi
Optioned to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre

Fair and unfair don’t really matter in situations like this. Of course Noesi deserves to stay, but after pitching six innings last night, he’ll need four days off. The Yankees decided to option him to Triple-A — where he’ll almost certainly work as a starter — and replace him with a fresh arm.

The Yankees will add two multi-inning guys before tonight’s game. They called up Amauri Sanit and claimed Jeff Marquez, the former Yankees prospect who was traded away in the Nick Swisher deal and ultimately designated for assignment by the White Sox. Still no word on a 40-man move for Marquez, but he’s coming straight here.

“(Noesi) grew up a lot in front of us,” Girardi said. “And we envision him as a starter one day. I can’t tell you that’s how we’ll use him in the near future, but that’s how we envision him, and we want him to work on his stuff. But it really came down to, we needed some arms… He did everything that we could have asked.”

—

• Without Chamberlain or Rafael Soriano, Girardi said he will mix-and-match in the seventh and use Dave Robertson as his primary eighth-inning reliever.

• Girardi indicated that he doesn’t expect retribution for last night’s hit batters or the David Ortiz bat flip. “I didn’t hear our guys talk about it at all,” Girardi said. “It seems like it’s been talked about more amongst the media than our guys.”

• Girardi was asked if he second guesses the decision to start Freddy Garcia last night. “If I wouldn’t have pitched him yesterday, I think probably a lot of people would have said, what are you doing?” Girardi said. “But it’s easy to say after the fact that he didn’t pitch well, do you second guess? No I don’t second guess. This guy’s pitched well for us all year long.”

• Although Girardi said Martin might be available to catch in an emergency, he said he’s treating tonight as a two-man bench with Chris Dickerson and Andruw Jones. “I guess that’s probably safe to say,” he said.

RED SOX
Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Dustin Pedroia 2B
Adrian Gonzalez 1B
Kevin Youkilis 3B
David Ortiz DH
Carl Crawford LF
Marco Scutaro SS
J.D. Drew RF
Jason Varitek C

Associated Press photos

Joba Chamberlain going on the DL with a strained flexor muscle. Apparently it’s something he’s had for a while.

Hector Noesi optioned to Triple-A.

Amauri Sanit called up from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Jeff Marquez claimed from the White Sox and added to the big league roster. Should arrive in time for tonight’s game.

UPDATE, 4:10 p.m.: The hits keep coming. Russell Martin’s back locked up after last night’s game. He’s day to day.

Before we get to the lineup, a quick update on today’s media game at Yankee Stadium. No one seems to know the exact score — I’m sure manager Ken Davidoff has it somewhere — but the New York writers won. The guess is that 15-8 was the final. Something like that, anyway.

Sam and I had a good day. We combined to go 2-or-3 with three RBI, three stolen bases, two walks, two runs and a sac fly. I successfully caught the only ball hit to me in left field. Sam got time in both left and center, but I don’t remember whether he had a ball hit his way. Regardless, a good day for the New York writers and the LoHud writers.

Except for this…

In the third inning, I had a clean RBI single up the middle. My first base coach gave me this advice: “They’re not going to throw you out. Run on the first pitch.” I was a few feet off the bag — not a massive lead — and I was mostly making small talk, waiting for the pitcher to do his thing. That’s when the second baseman threw to first, picking me off with a hidden ball trick. Shameful, and believe me, I’ll be hearing about it from my teammates for the next several weeks and months.

Mark Feinsand, caring friend that he is, took the above picture immediately after my slow jog off the field.

Anyway, here’s the lineup for tonight. Mark Teixeira says he feels great. The bench isn’t listed, which suggests a roster move coming.

Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Brett Gardner LF
Eduardo Nunez 3B
Francisco Cervelli C

Derek Jeter’s first hit last night was a gift, a ground ball to shortstop that would have been a close play but almost certainly an out had the throw not gone wide. No error was called. His second hit was a clean single to center field.

With nine games left during this home stand, Jeter is 12 hits away. He’s now averaging 1.11 hits per game, which still leaves him on pace to reach 3,000 hits on the road. But just barely.

“I would like to (hit it at home),” Jeter said before yesterday’s game. “I’d be lying to you if I said no. There are 10 other pitchers, at least, who don’t want me to do it here. I’ll try, and we’ll see what happens. We have a long home stand. I’m really not focused on it as of yet because it’s still a ways away, but I would love to do it here. Any time you get a chance to do something special here at the stadium, you appreciate it, the atmosphere, the environment. The Yankee fans get into it.”

It’s an interesting situation to follow, but at this point it’s hard to call it much of a distraction for Jeter or the team.

Jeter’s missed only two games and played as many as 16 days in a row this season, so it wouldn’t be out of the question to see him in the lineup every day this home stand even without the milestone chase. The media seems interested in the chase for 3,000, but not infatuated to the point of surrounding Jeter for 15 minutes a day everyday. And Jeter himself, well, he’s Jeter. He’s already been through a similar situation with the pursuit of Lou Gehrig’s franchise hit record.

“I’m aware of it, but it’s still something that can’t happen today,” he said. “If it does happen today, we’ll be here for a long time. There’s still some time.”

Associated Press photo

Sam and I are at Yankee Stadium this morning for the first game of the New York’s media’s two-game series against the Boston media. We play one game at Yankee Stadium and one game at Fenway Park. Last year we split the series, with each team winning on the road.

Tyler Kepner of the Times is on the mound for New York. Bryan Hoch of MLB.com and Bob Klapisch of The Record are available out of the pen. I’ll have some updates later.

For now, just a heads up…

After tonight’s postgame show, at approximately 11 p.m., the YES Network will debut the Yankeeography of manager Joe Girardi.

Several current and former Yankees players, coaches, executives and broadcasters were interviewed including Hal Steinbrenner, Brian Cashman, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, Mark Teixeira, Joe Torre, Paul O’Neill, David Cone, Al Leiter and Ken Singleton.

In addition, the Yankeeography includes interviews with Kim Girardi (Joe’s wife), Dave Roberts (his Little League coach), Paul Stevens (Northwestern assistant baseball coach when Girardi played there), Don Zimmer (when managed Girardi as a rookie with the Cubs), Mike Harkey (current bullpen coach and former Cubs pitcher, still one of Girardi’s closest friends), Don Baylor (Rockies manager while Girardi was with team), and Bob Watson (the former Yankees GM).

Joe Girardi said he has two options at first base if Mark Teixeira can’t play tonight. One is Nick Swisher. The other is Jorge Posada.*

Last night, Posada had one of those games. He had one of those games that, the morning after, lets everyone wonder whether it was a game might get him turned around. After all, he had two hits the game before, and a double two games before that.

“He swung the bat real well on the road trip,” Joe Girardi said. “And I’m not surprised that it carried over.”

Said Mark Teixeira: “Jorge was great. Three hits tonight. He did a great job filling in there. Hopefully that gets him going because he’s a dangerous hitter.”

Thing is, Posada could have a lot of those games, but is he going to have the game? Is he going to have the game that actually stirs more than momentary hope? It’s nice to talk about possibilities the morning after an unexpected 3-for-3, but the Yankees need Posada to legitimately produce. As I’ve written before, the best-case scenario is always that a good player remembers how to be good again.

The Yankees need that to happen sooner rather than later with Posada.

“I wasn’t even thinking about it,” Posada said. “Go out there and just keep fighting. That was the case (last night). The ball found some holes.”

—

* Just my own guess, but I would think Swisher starts at first, Posada at DH and Chris Dickerson goes to right field. Again, just a guess.

The Yankees lost sole possession of first place in the American League East tonight. They could have lost much more.

Mark Teixeira seems to be relatively OK after being hit in the right knee by a first-inning pitch. Teixeira gets hit quite a bit, but this one was different. Teixeira was left squirming in the dirt, and he had trouble walking off the field, even with help from Joe Girardi and Tony Pena.

“My concern was that he fractured his kneecap,” Girardi said. “Tex has been hit a lot in three years that we’ve had him, and I’ve never seen him show that much pain before. He’s tough. He’s played with a broken toe and a lot of ailments. He was in a lot of pain, and that was scary.”

Girardi said Teixeira will probably not play tomorrow. Teixeira said not to rule it out.

“I always hope to play tomorrow. Always,” he said. “If I’m alright to go tomorrow, I’m going to go.”

First place on June 8 is something the Yankees want. Teixeira is someone they need. At this point in the season, Teixeira’s health immediately became the greatest concern. X-rays were negative, and Teixeira was diagnosed with a contusion (basically a bone bruise). He said there was never much swelling, and it wasn’t too painful after the game.

“It hit right there, kind of in between the knee cap and the side of the knee,” he said. “It was actually a lucky place. If it hits on the knee cap, it might do a lot of damage, so I feel lucky in that regard.”

Said Alex Rodriguez: “There are certain guys you can’t go without, and Tex is one of those guys. He’s in the middle of our lineup, and he produces day in and day out on both sides. I had a little bit of a flashback to the postseason when he got hurt running down the bases. You talk about him or Robbie, there are some guys that are irreplaceable.”

Here’s Teixeira.

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• Freddy Garcia threw a total of 46 pitches tonight. That’s all it took for Girardi to realize his starter didn’t have it. “He was up. He was behind. His stuff wasn’t crisp tonight,” Girardi said. “It’s really the first start we’ve seen that from him. He struggled, and they jumped on him early.”

• Girardi suggested that it seemed like the Red Sox were sitting on Garcia’s offspeed pitches. Garcia said that’s nothing new. “Probably,” he said. “But when I’m pitching I have to concentrate and throw strikes. I don’t have the chance really to make any adjustment. Everybody is sitting on my offspeed, but if you throw it where you want to hit the spot (you have success). If you don’t do that, that’s when you get hit.”

• Garcia said he would have liked to have had a chance to get himself straightened out, but he also seemed to understand Girardi’s decision to pull him early. “Next time, hopefully do my job,” he said.

• Ultimately, it’s hard to argue with the decision to pull Garcia in the middle of the second. Luis Ayala pitched 1.1 hitless innings, and Hector Noesi was tremendous. Technically, I guess the David Ortiz two-run homer stands as the difference, but it’s impossible to pin this loss on Noesi. The rookie keeps proving his value around here. He allowed a total of three hits through six innings. “He gave us a chance to get to where we were,” Girardi said.

• The last Yankee to pick six innings in relief? Kei Igawa, who did it on April 28, 2007 against the Red Sox. He got the win in a 3-1 game that day.

• Raise your hand if you thought you’d be reading about Kei Igawa tonight.

• The Yankees best players tonight were two guys who didn’t start the game. Noesi had his six innings of excellent relief, and Jorge Posada went 3-for-3 with a walk and the RBI single that brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth. “I wasn’t even in the lineup,” he said. “It’s one of those things. Throw you out there and hopefully you can produce.”

• Posada’s first two hits came off Jon Lester, his first two hits off a left-hander this season. That broke an 0-for-27 streak against lefties.

• Derek Jeter had two hits to move within 12 of career hit No. 3,000.

• Nick Swisher also had two hits, including a two-run double. That’s a good game following a good road trip.

• Girardi said Eric Chavez was examined and it was determined that he’s better, but not better enough to begin running and going through baseball drills. “He’s still not there,” Girardi said.

• Ortiz flipped his bat after the home run. Girardi seemed bothered by it, but not too bothered by it. “I didn’t really care for it,” he said. “I don’t know if he was upset that he missed some pitches earlier. I’ve got a young kid on the mound. I don’t know if he was upset that he came in hard on him. When it happens to you, you’re going to defend your guy. If it’s our guy, I’m going to say there was nothing intentional about it.”

• The Yankees are 1-6 against the Red Sox this season, including a sweep the last time the Red Sox played at Yankee Stadium. “We go back and forth with these guys,” Rodriguez said. “One year we were 0-8 and then we tied it 8-8. It goes back and forth, we play these guys so many times. We have a lot of respect for each other. Right now, they’re playing very well, and they’re very comfortable on our home field.”

Associated Press photos

Even Phil Hughes never had a start this short this season. Freddy Garcia lasted just an inning and two-thirds tonight, putting the Yankees in a early hole on their way to a 6-4 loss to the Red Sox. The two teams moved into a tie for first place in the American League East. By the middle of the second inning, the Yankees starter was already out of the game, their first baseman had been helped off the field and the Red Sox were leading 4-1. Hector Noesi pitched six strong innings of relief, and the Yankees actually out-hit the Red Sox, but that early hole stood as the difference.

Associated Press photo