The LoHud Yankees Blog

YANKEES (31-23)
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Russell Martin C
Nick Swisher RF
Jorge Posada DH
Brett Gardner LF

RHP Ivan Nova (4-3, 4.67)
Nova vs. Angels

ANGELS (29-29)
Maicer Izturis 2B
Erick Aybar SS
Bobby Abreu LF
Torii Hunter RF
Alberto Callaspo 3B
Russell Branyan DH
Mark Trumbo 1B
Jeff Mathis C
Peter Bourjos CF

RHP Jered Weaver (6-4, 2.10)
Weaver vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 10:05 p.m., YES Network

WEATHER: Every time the Yankees come to Anaheim, I’m reminded of what great weather really looks and feels like.

UMPIRES: HP Mike Estabrook, 1B Marty Foster, 2B Bill Welke, 3B Tim Tschida

CASHMAN HONORED: General manager Brian Cashman has been awarded the Covenant House Beacon of Hope for his work with homeless and runaway youth who get support from the Covenant House shelter. That’s an AP picture of Cashman receiving the award.

GOOD BEGINNINGS: According to the Yankees game notes, the Yankees starters have gone 9-2 with a 2.99 ERA in the past 15 games. The Yankees are 11-4 in that stretch, improving from three games back to two games ahead in the AL East.

RELIEVED: The Yankees starters have been terrific during his four-game winning streak, but the bullpen’s also been awfully good lately. The Yankees reliever have combined for a 1.68 ERA in the past 16 games dating back to May 14. Excluding the first nine games of the season, the Yankees has a 2.44 ERA.

STREAKING: Mark Teixeira has a nine-game hitting streak, with a home run in four of his past seven games and seven of his past 13. Derek Jeter has a seven-game hitting streak, Nick Swisher has a six-game hitting streak and Robinson Cano has a five-game hitting streak.

ON THIS DATE: On June 3, 1932, Lou Gehrig hit four consecutive home runs and just missed a fifth. Tony Lazzeri also hit for a cycle in the game and the Yankees beat Philadelphia, 20-13. It’s the most combined runs in a single game in franchise history.

UPDATE, 10:13 p.m.: Fifteen-pitch at-bat by Jeter to open the game.

UPDATE, 10:32 p.m.: Yankees might be lucky Nova gave up only two runs that inning. He was all over the place.

UPDATE, 11:07 p.m.: Not sure Nova actually settled in during those past two innings, but he didn’t allow any more runs, so I guess that’s a good thing for the Yankees. It’s a 2-1 game heading into the fourth.

UPDATE, 11:21 p.m.: Check it out, Posada with a big hit. That’s a two-out, game-tying double in the fourth. Would have put the Yankees in the lead, but it bounced over the wall and Nick Swisher had to stop running.

UPDATE, 11:33 p.m.: Yankees bullpen is starting to stir as Nova allowed a hard-hit, bases-loaded single to put the Angels on top 3-2 in the fourth.

UPDATE, 12:13 p.m.: He wasn’t good tonight, but I’ll give Nova credit for lasting into the seventh. I thought for sure he’d be finished before the end of the fifth. Absolutely have to go to Robertson with a one-run lead here.

UPDATE, 12:36 p.m.: When Teixeira got on in the eighth, I really thought Rodriguez might do something in that situation. Guess not. Still a 3-2 game, Boone Logan coming in for the bottom of the eighth. Hector Noesi also getting loose.

Alex Rodriguez offered neither apology nor denial this afternoon. His cousin Yuri Sucart was with Rodriguez in California this week, and Rodriguez said he has no plans of cutting ties with his controversial relative.

“There are no rules that are being broken,” Rodriguez said. “He stays at his own place. The team is fully aware. He’s not on the team bus, not on the team plane, not in the clubhouse, not at the stadiums. We’re compliant with all the rules. One thing I learned a few years ago were my responsibilities, and they’re very clear… He’s been with me since I was born and I love him very much. He’ll be around for many, many years – well after I’m done playing baseball.”

Rodriguez said neither the league nor the team contacted him to discuss Sucart’s presence this weekend. Joe Girardi said he had no problem with the two still spending time together, even after Rodriguez admitted that Sucart helped him acquire performance-enhancing drugs several years ago.

“I just thought, well, his cousin showed up,” Girardi said. “I know there’s history there, and I think it’s important as people that we don’t turn our back on family. We’ve all had family members — or it could have even been us — that have done things that haven’t necessarily been the right thing to do, but I don’t think you turn your back on family. And I really didn’t think much of it.”

Rodriguez didn’t go into many detail about his current relationship with his cousin, except to say that Sucart works for him and the two watched the NBA Finals together this week. Any concern that continued association makes it more difficult to put the steroid story behind him?

“There’s nothing popping up,” Rodriguez said. “My mom is coming in next week, my daughter is coming in in a couple weeks. I’m not really concerned. I’m really crystal clear on my responsibilities, both with this team and personally. I love my family — all my family — very much, and I’m very good with where I stand today.”

Here’s Rodriguez.

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• The Yankees must have gotten some good news on Eric Chavez. Girardi said it’s possible Chavez could begin baseball activities next week. “We’ll have to evaluate him when we get home on Tuesday,” Girardi said. “But hopefully we can start doing some BP and maybe throwing and maybe even taking some ground balls.”

• Speaking of injured players on their way back, Phil Hughes is still on schedule to face hitters tomorrow. He’ll go through a normal pregame warmup, then throw essentially one simulated inning. Girardi said he wasn’t sure exactly how many pitches Hughes would be allowed to throw.

• Girardi said he will not announce his rotation for the upcoming Red Sox series until after this weekend series against the Angels.

• Speaking of rotation decisions: The Angels have decided to skip Dan Haren tomorrow. Haren felt some lower-back stiffness during a bullpen on Wednesday.

• Girardi on today’s Angels starter, Jered Weaver: “He’s right up there. He’s got deception because of his windup. I think he hides the ball really well. Look at his hits per innings, he’s given up 60 hits in 80 innings or whatever, and he’s a strikeout guy and he doesn’t walk people. He’s not going to beat himself, and he fields his position, so he’s tough.”

• Girardi said that by the end of the Oakland series, he felt like he needed to have some of his relievers throw just to get work. That’s why Boone Logan got loose in the ninth inning on Wednesday.

• This is the eight-year anniversary of Derek Jeter being named Captain. “There’s an expectation when you play with Derek to win every day,” Girardi said. “And he does a lot of his work by just example. He’s going to talk to guys one-on-one, but you know that when you come into a clubhouse that Derek’s in, there’s the expectation that we need to win every day, and I think that’s the way he plays the game.”

Associated Press photos

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

Dan Haren cut a bullpen session short on Wednesday. He was supposed to be checked out on Thursday after the Angels returned from a road trip, but I’ve been flying this morning and haven’t seen whether there’s been any announcement about his status. As far as I know, he’s still the scheduled starter for Saturday.

Tonight
RHP Ivan Nova (4-3, 4.67)
vs.
RHP Jered Weaver (6-4, 2.10)
10:05 p.m., YES Network

Saturday
LHP CC Sabathia (6-3, 2.98)
vs.
RHP Dan Haren (5-3, 2.29)
9:05 p.m., YES Network

Sunday
RHP Bartolo Colon (3-3, 3.26)
vs.
RHP Ervin Santana (3-4, 4.34)
3:35 p.m., YES Network

The Yankees have won four in a row, building a winning streak behind strong starts from four of their five starters. The odd man out is Ivan Nova, who’s pitched fewer than four innings in two of his past four starts, and last weekend in Seattle never seemed to find his command through five hits, four runs and three walks in just 3.2 innings.

“I know I can be better than what I am right now,” Nova said. “I can pitch better, a lot better. If I keep working hard, I know that I can pitch better here. I just gotta start doing it.”

Nova has the start in tonight’s series opener against the Angels, and Joe Girardi said Nova’s not pitching for his job.

“I haven’t thought that he needs to do that,” Girardi said. “We want him to pitch well just because we want him to pitch well. I wouldn’t say he’s pitching for a slot… He’s had some ups and downs. I think (his youth is) part of it. I think there’s been some inconsistency. I think he’s walked more people than he’s accustomed to walking. But I think it is all part of a learning process for him and trying to get him back to using all of his pitches.”

Nova was happy to hear that Girardi had expressed confidence, but a manager’s confidence only goes so far.

“You just don’t want to make him look bad,” Nova said. “He’s giving me the opportunity to stay in the rotation and to keep pitching. If he says I’m not pitching for my spot, I still have to keep pitching like that. I have to keep doing my job. I want to be in the rotation, but even if I’m in the bullpen, I have to do my job. I just have to keep working hard, and every time I go out there, do the best that I can.”

Associated Press photo

First, a cool picture from Nick in San Francisco who went to see CC Sabathia toss out the first pitch for the North Vallejo Little League last night. Sabathia was joined by Joba Chamberlain for the event. I told CC to throw a slider and let the kid catching him really show what he could do. I strong doubt he took my advice.

Meanwhile, from the never-a-quiet-day file, Alex Rodriguez’s cousin Yuri popped back onto the radar today. The Daily News reported that Rodriguez’s steroid smuggling cousin was spotted at the team hotel this week. Brian Cashman told me basically the exact same thing he told every other writer: The team can’t keep a player from seeing his cousin outside of team functions and team facilities.

“It’s his cousin,” Cashman said. “He hasn’t been in any Yankee areas. We have nothing to do with any public areas.”

By the afternoon, Major League Baseball had finished investigating the issue and found that no violations occurred. Yuri Sucart is banned from team-controlled facilities, and joining his cousin on road trips doesn’t violate that ban.

Some other notes and links for the off day.

• Cashman also said there is “zero” new information on any of the injured Yankees. Phil Hughes is throwing batting practice on Saturday, but there’s nothing new on Eric Chavez, Pedro Feliciano, Damaso Marte or Rafael Soriano.

• Cashman also said Carlos Silva actually does not have an opt out date, so the Yankees have no reason to rush making that decision. I’d heard last week that he could opt out this month, but Cashman said that’s not the case.

• Kind of a strange story: Apparently the Angels flight from Kansas City made an emergency landing after some mechanical problems. Looks like everyone was fine, but that had to a pretty tense situation. The Yankees play the Angels tomorrow.

• Nice story by Wally Matthews, who looked that emergence of Curtis Granderson and the fact he could quickly become one of the most recognizable players in the game.

• Good stuff over at Bronx Banter, examining whether Rodriguez has been clutch since joining the Yankees. Spoiler alert, the answer is yes.

“That’ll probably be the only pressure thing, to try to do it at home. I know we go to Anaheim next. Then we go home. When you get closer, maybe, but we’re still a long ways away.”
– Derek Jeter

At this point, the question of when it’s nearly as interesting as the question of where. Derek Jeter has 2,984 career hits. The only player to get this far without reaching 3,000 was a guy named Sam Rice who played his last game in 1934. Lou Gehrig never got this far. Neither did Babe Ruth.

Three thousand hits is one of those colossal numbers, and it looks funny spelled out. Maybe it’s arbitrary, a benchmark only because it ends with a bunch of zeros, but in this game, that number carries weight. And in a perfect world, the first Yankee to reach that milestone, would do it in the Bronx.

Jeter has 58 hits in 52 games this season. That’s a pace of 1.115 hits per game. He needs 16 hits to reach 3,000, and if he keeps his current pace, he’ll reach that benchmark in 14 or 15 games.

The next Yankees home stand ends 13 games from today.

Of course, if Jeter keeps his pace from the past month — 1.25 hits per game since May 2 — he’ll reach 3,000 in 13 games, putting him right on track for the final day of the home stand.

It’s tantalizingly close, and the Yankees schedule might have bought Joe Girardi a little peace of mind. With off days the past two Thursdays, plus another off day on Monday, Girardi doesn’t necessarily have to give his shortstop a day off. Jeter can keep playing, try to get just slightly hot, and a take a shot at breaking the record before the Yankees travel to Chicago on June 17.

“I don’t really look at it as being close,” Jeter said. “We’re around the corner, the next block, but we’re not close.”

Associated Press photo

To be honest, it was nice to finally meet him. I’d heard he was a nice guy, and right away, it seemed like he would have offered me something to drink and maybe a slice of pie if had any. I shook his hand, introduced myself as a New York Yankees beat writer, then I told him that — aside from Cliff Lee — he was the opposing player who’s name had most often filled my email inbox.

That’s when David DeJesus scrunched his forehead and looked at me with complete confusion.

“Really?”

DeJesus grew used to trade rumors last season. He was a good player on a bad team, and the Royals might have traded him had he not been injured right before the deadline. DeJesus said his name floated through so many rumors that he finally told the Royals beat writer that he’d rather not answer any questions about it.

But he had no idea that some corners of the Yankees fan base had all but begged the Yankees to bring him to the Bronx.

“Hopefully they respect the way I go out there and play the game,” he said. “I give my all out there, and I’m a local guy too (born in Brooklyn, raised in New Jersey), so I think it was probably the combination of those two. That’s probably why my name was brought up.”

DeJesus said he never focused on the rumors, and he never dug around the internet to find which fans wanted him and which ones were completely oblivious to what he was doing in Kansas City. He went about his business with the Royals — often joking with other potential trade targets, “Is he still here? OK, good.” — but his mind was in two places: His clubhouse and his living room.

“Once I’m done with the game, I just go home with my son and wife and not worry about it,” he said. “Because it can overwhelm people and consume people’s lives. I try to get away from the game and just live life with my family, and when I’m here just focus on my job.”

Nice guy. Seemed to me that DeJesus would have fit pretty well in the Yankees clubhouse, but he’s with the A’s right now, and he’ll stay there. Until he shows up in my inbox again.

Associated Press photo

Who to call-up from Triple-A, whether to shuffle the lineup and when to realign the rotation are decisions that constantly come and go during the course of the season. It’s only natural that Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman will make those sort of decisions this month.

These five decisions are different. They don’t happen on a daily basis, and they’re somewhat time sensitive. One way or another, the Yankees will be forced to deal with these issues some time in the month of June. They can’t lean on struggling players forever, they can’t give injured players infinite rest and the dates of contractual issues don’t come with gray area.

How long does Jorge Posada get the benefit of the doubt?
He’s a great Yankee and one of this franchise’s most important players of the past decade and a half, but Posada is not hitting this season. And he’s playing a position that involves nothing but hitting. Eduardo Nunez and Andruw Jones have pretty much pushed Posada into a platoon role, but even in that limited capacity, how much longer can Posada remain a viable option? If Eric Chavez gets healthy, will he begin taking those at-bats?

Beyond the Big Three, is the bullpen deep enough?
Even without Rafael Soriano, the Yankees are still able to string together a series of dependable, late-inning relievers. But is the bullpen strong enough beyond Dave Robertson, Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera? Boone Logan has been inconsistent as the only left-hander, the two long relievers are rookies and Luis Ayala has gone from Opening Day mopup man to essentially the sixth-inning guy. No question the young guys have pitched well in limited action, but in shorter stints, the Yankees have to decide whether they’re strong enough beyond their top three relievers. The Triple-A bullpen would provide some alternatives.

How much longer can Ivan Nova stay in the rotation?
The answer might very well be, “For the rest of the season,” but Nova’s been erratic, and two of his past four starts have lasted fewer than four innings. A rocky outing tomorrow in Anaheim could put Nova on the fence, and a strong start could put him back on fairly solid ground. Nova’s shown that he can pitch — and pitch well — at this level, but the Yankees don’t necessarily have the time or the patience to let a 24-year-old starter find himself at the big league level. If Nova’s not polished enough to find some consistency, the Yankees might have to look elsewhere.

Does Carlos Silva deserve a role on the pitching staff?
This answer might be tied to the previous question. Silva is putting up solid numbers in the Yankees minor league system, and the veteran could be an option to replace Nova if the Yankees decide not to stick with their rookie starter. Silva might also be a candidate to take a long relief role in the bullpen, letting Hector Noesi or Lance Pendleton get regular work in the minor leagues. Silva can opt out this month, so the Yankees have to use him or lose him.

What’s next for Eric Chavez, Phil Hughes and Rafael Soriano?
Three key Yankees are currently on the disabled list. Chavez needs to run before he starts doing baseball activities, Hughes is about to face hitters and Soriano is probably out another six weeks or so. There’s a chance none of the three will be back this month, but that doesn’t mean key decisions won’t be made this month. If things go well, Hughes will be rehabbing fairly soon, and the Yankees will have to decide how aggressive to be with an injury-prone guy like Chavez. The initial timetable on Soriano was six to eight weeks. This is probably the month when the Yankees decide whether it’s closer to six or closer to eight.

Associated Press photos

When the first round of American League all-star voting results were released yesterday, the Yankees were an overwhelming majority. Right now, the Yankees are on pace to have six position players starting in the all-star game. Is that pace sustainable?

Catcher
1. Russell Martin, 843,459
2. Joe Mauer, 593,949
3. Alex Avila, 407,463

Hard to beat Mauer in a national popularity contest, but he’s on the disabled and just now getting ready to catch in extended spring training. That might open the window for Martin to keep building on his early lead. He’s playing well enough to earn an all-star nod, and the Yankees fan base could legitimately push him into the starting lineup.

First base
1. Mark Teixeira, 827,247
2. Adrian Gonzalez, 685,262
3. Miguel Cabrera, 657,594

The Yankees have played more home games than any other team in baseball, which is certainly an advantage in these early results, but they’ve played only one more home game than the Red Sox. That’s a pretty small advantage for Teixeira over Gonzalez, but the vote difference is fairly significant. Cabrera’s popularity might have taken a hit because of his off-the-field troubles, and Teixeira’s recent hot streak certainly hasn’t hurt his chances.

Second base
1. Robinson Cano, 1,185,952
2. Dustin Pedroia, 586,361
3. Ian Kinsler, 502,012

This is the biggest individual lead in the American League. Coming off his MVP season, Cano has a commanding lead over Pedroia and he’s already more than doubled Kinsler. Pretty easy to envision this becoming a two-man race between two rival teams, and right now Cano has a huge head start.

Third base
1. Alex Rodriguez, 945,127
2. Adrian Beltre, 755,551
3. Evan Longoria, 588,463

Beltre has more home runs and more RBI, but Rodriguez has a better slash line. Longoria hasn’t exactly lit the world on fire since coming back from an early injury, and the fact a dozen people come to every Rays game probably hurts his chances significantly. Right now, the only other third baseman remotely in the race is Kevin Youkilis,who has 491,422 votes. No one else has as many as 200,000.

Shortstop
1. Derek Jeter, 931,410
2. Asdrubal Cabrera, 672,105
3. Elvis Andrus, 560,309

Cabrera probably deserves the top spot here, but truth is, a lot of American League shortstops are having nice seasons. Jhonny Peralta and Alexi Ramirez have each topped 30 RBI, Erick Aybar is hitting better than .300 and Yunel Escobar has more walks than strikeouts with solid power numbers in Toronto. But it’s hard to top Jeter’s popularity in this game. Whatever his numbers, the Yankees captain will remain the favorite for this spot.

Outfield
1. Jose Bautista, 1,261,659
2. Curtis Granderson, 994,315
3. Josh Hamilton, 748,240
4. Ichiro Suzuki, 674,406
5. Nelson Cruz, 514,006
6. Jacoby Ellsbury, 494,721
7. Nick Swisher, 465,984
8. Grady Sizemore, 457,185

This is everyone with more than 450,000 votes. The next three on the list would be Carl Crawford, Jeff Francoeur and Brett Gardner. Hard to imagine Bautista not winning one of the three spots — and maybe keeping his overall lead — and it seems the voters have recognized that Granderson is having a career year. Hard to imagine Swisher or Gardner jumping into the top three at this point, but Granderson is in a pretty good spot thus far. He’s played well enough to deserve a starting spot, and so far he’s being rewarded.

Designated hitter
1. Michael Young, 646,979
2. David Ortiz, 618,609
3. Jorge Posada, 414,733

Young is pretty iconic within that Rangers franchise, and that fan base is supporting him through a really nice start to the season. Boston, of course, is also going to get involved in support of Ortiz. Travis Hafner is currently fourth, and he’s been outstanding, but my guess is that Dallas and Boston give the other two a significant advantage. Hard to imagine Yankees fans making a push for Posada at this point.

Associated Press photos