The LoHud Yankees Blog

Interleague came at exactly the wrong time for Jorge Posada. He’d built a nine-game hitting streak during last week’s home stand, and it seemed he was finally — finally! — finding his swing. Then the team went to Chicago and Cincinnati and Posada was limited to sporadic at-bats, a pinch hit appearance at best.

“Just make the most of it,” Posada said.

Today’s doubleheader changed Posada’s role for the day. Joe Girardi texted Posada last night to tell him he would be playing first base this afternoon, and in Posada’s third plate appearance, he hit his first home run since April 23. It was the game-winner, a game-changing two-run shot immediately after the Yankees had thrown away a two-run lead.

“Home runs happen,” Posada said. “I don’t know when the last time was I hit one, but I wasn’t trying to hit one. They happen for me. I don’t care when they do happen, I’m happy (when they happen), but I’m not trying to go out there and hit a home run.”

Posada’s batting average is up to .227, which isn’t good, but it’s a lot better than his .125 average at the end of April or his .169 at the end of May. He also drew a walk today.

“If you’ve played long enough, you’ve struggled, and you’ve struggled pretty mightily, probably, during the course of your career,” Girardi said. “All players go through it. Jorge’s a tough kid — he’s not a kid any more, I joke with him — but he’s been through tough spells in his career. He’s been through adversity. He’s been through injuries. He always seemed to find a way to come back.”

Here’s Posada.

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• We’re almost three months into the season and Freddy Garcia has a 3.30 ERA. I couldn’t see it from the press box, but apparently Brandon Phillips started laughing when he struck out swinging a split-finger in the third inning. “I didn’t want to look at him, because it would make me laugh,” Garcia said. “… I throw a good split, try to hit the spot. When I don’t do that, that’s when I get hit. When I hit my spots, I’m successful.”

• Garcia said he was pitching around Joey Votto in the first inning. He preferred facing Jay Bruce, and he got Bruce to strikeout, a pivotal early at-bat.

• Speaking of Votto at-bats, the biggest Reds at-bat of the night might have been Votto’s strikeout against Dave Robertson in the eighth inning. Phillips had just singled, which meant the NL MVP came to the plate as the potential tying run. Robertson got him on three pitches. “Just be aggressive, but don’t really give him something he can hit out of the ballpark,” Robertson said. “I ended up, 0-2, throwing him a pitch he could hit out of the ballpark and I got away with it, and I feel lucky, but that’s pretty much it. I’ve got to throw strikes and I’ve got to get him out because right behind him is Bruce, and you don’t want to face him either. Just find a way to get him out.”

• Garcia had thrown only 89 pitches, so he could have gone back out for the eighth, but Girardi said he wanted Robertson to face the lefty, Fred Lewis, who would be the second hitter that inning. At most, Garcia was going to face one batter, and Girardi decided he’d rather give Robertson a clean inning.

• Even without sending Garcia for the eighth, the Yankees starter gave them plenty of distance, which was key in the first game of a doubleheader, especially with largely unknown starter going in the second game. “I always think about trying to save the bullpen,” Garcia said. “With two games, you don’t know what’s going to happen. I tried to go deep in the game.”

• Girardi said Robertson is almost certainly unavailable for the second game. He’ll check with Mariano Rivera, but Rivera is probably out as well.

• Ramiro Pena said he couldn’t remember ever having three errors in a game. He’s a legitimately outstanding defensive player, but today was a bad one. “Never in my life, never in my life,” Pena said. “Not even in Little League, minor leagues, nothing. Most was like two, maybe. It was weird, man, but it happened. Good thing we won.”

• Pena’s first error was a throw to first that tailed on him and got away. The second was the throw home, and Pena said he was concentrating on keeping the throw low so that Francisco Cervelli could apply the tag, and he wound up throwing it into the dirt. “Nino’s a great defender and it wasn’t his day,” Girardi said. “I’ll put him out there any time, I have no fear putting him out there. He’s a great defender. Today, just a tough day.”

• By the way, Girardi said he didn’t think the Yankees could have turned two on that ground ball to third when Pena made the bad throw home. If the ball’s on target — as you’d expect — the Yankees have the out at the plate and the double play still in order.

• Other than the Pena plays, the Yankees actually played very good defense today (and even Pena made some nice plays on balls hit to him later in the game).

• Jeff Marquez walked into the clubhouse with his right shoulder wrapped after today’s game. He’s seeing Dr. Ahmad when the Yankees get back to New York. Buddy Carlyle is immediately available in the bullpen.

• Here’s the Reds night game lineup:

REDS
Chris Heisey CF
Brandon Phillips 2B
Joey Votto 1B
Jay Bruce RF
Jonny Gomes LF
Ramon Hernandez C
Miguel Cairo 3B
Paul Janish SS
Johnny Cueto RHP

Jeff Marquez has a sore right shoulder and will be evaluated by Dr. Ahmad tomorrow. He’s been replaced on the roster by Buddy Carlyle, who will be here for tonight’s game.

Brett Gardner LF
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Nick Swisher RF
Russell Martin C
Eduardo Nunez SS
Ramiro Pena 2B
Brian Gordon RHP

With three regulars out of the starting lineup, the Yankees managed a 4-2 win in the first game of today’s doubleheader against the Reds. Jorge Posada replaced Mark Teixeira at first base and hit the go-ahead home run in the sixth inning. Freddy Garcia was terrific through seven innings, allowing just three hits and two unearned runs for his sixth win of the season. Robinson Cano was the only everyday middle-of-the-order hitter in the lineup, and he went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (42-29)
Brett Gardner LF
Curtis Granderson CF
Nick Swisher RF
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada 1B
Eduardo Nunez SS
Ramiro Pena 3B
Francisco Cervelli C
Freddy Garcia RHP

RHP Freddy Garcia (5-6, 3.63)
Garcia vs. Reds

REDS (38-36)
Fred Lewis LF
Brandon Phillips 2B
Joey Votto 1B
Jay Bruce RF
Scott Rolen 3B
Drew Stubbs CF
Edgar Renteria SS
Ryan Hanigan C
Ryan Leake RHP

RHP Mike Leake (6-3, 4.04)
Leake vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 12:35 p.m., YES Network

WEATHER: So far, so good. Cloudy, but no rain just yet. Wind blowing pretty hard from right to left.

UMPIRES: HP D.J. Reyburn, 1B Ted Barrett, 2B Tim McClelland, 3B Marvin Hudson

CHANGING OF THE GARDY: In the Yankees past 11 games, Brett Gardner is hitting .472 with eight runs, five doubles, a triple, a home run and four walks. That’s the third-highest average in the Majors during that span.

GET AWAY: The Yankees have the best road record in the Majors at 19-12 (.613). Their pitching staff has the second-lowest road ERA in the big leagues (3.15) and their lineup has scored the most road runs per game (5.45).

TWO AWAY: Mariano Rivera is two games away from tying Roberto Hernandez for the 12th-most games pitched in Major League history.

ON THIS DATE: On June 22, 1938, Joe Louis knocked out Max Schmelling in 124 seconds during a heavyweight fight at Yankee Stadium… On June 22, 1957, Yogi Berra hit a walk-off homer in the 13th inning to give the Yankees a 6-5 win against the White Sox. Tommy Byrne got the win, having pitched nine innings of scoreless relief.

UPDATE, 12:51 p.m.: Things could have gotten out of hand for Garcia in that first inning. The first two balls were hit hard and the third guy walked, but Garcia got a big strikeout — Jay Bruce swinging at an offspeed pitch — and a fly ball to left to leave two runners stranded. Scoreless after one.

UPDATE, 1:26 p.m.: High throw to the plate + Gardner’s speed from third = An early 1-0 Yankees lead in the third inning.

UPDATE, 2:01 p.m.: With a 2-0 Yankees lead heading into the bottom of the fifth, the Yankees have scored their runs by playing an NL style of baseball, and so far Freddy Garcia has negotiated this Reds lineup without much trouble beyond that first inning jam.

UPDATE, 2:11 p.m.: Rough inning for Pena at third. One throw sailed wide to first base, and another short-hopped it’s way to the plate. His pair of errors have opened the door to a game-tying two-run fifth for the Reds.

UPDATE, 2:24 p.m.: The Yankees replacement at first base just made up for their replacement at third. Posada’s two-run homer has the Yankees back in front, 4-2, in the sixth.

UPDATE, 2:55 p.m.: Terrific start by Garcia, who gave the Yankees seven strong innings and shouldn’t have allowed a run. He’s turned a 4-2 lead over to the bullpen, with Dave Robertson in to handle the eighth. The Yankees have upgraded their defense with Mark Teixeira taking over at first base and Chris Dickerson moving into right field.

Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and Russell Martin might not be the only Yankees regulars given a game off today. Joe Girardi said he’s not certain he’ll play Robinson Cano in the second game of today’s doubleheader.

“These guys have been going hard,” Girardi said. “This is the third stretch of 16 days in a row. They’ve basically played almost every day and physically you can’t kill them, you just can’t do it.”

Girardi said he looked at several combinations for today’s lineups and eventually settled on sitting Rodriguez and Teixeira in the same game. Both are available to play defense or pinch hit if necessary.

“We were going to play Jorge at first one game, so we chose to do it this way,” Girardi said. “It’s just the way I chose to do it based on the different pieces. Robbie’s pretty adequate when he’s hitting fourth, and you just move some guys around a little bit. Without that DH, it makes it difficult. It’s hard to play these guys two games like this when we’ve been going so hard.”

The Reds are starting Johnny Cueto in the second game, and he’s been their best starters (4-2, 1.68 in eight starts). Girardi said Cueto was “part of it” when he was deciding whether to use Rodriguez and Teixeira in the first or second game.

• Here’s the frustrating part for the Yankees (and for the Reds): It didn’t rain last night. There’s no doubt they could have played last night’s game, but when the Reds decided to postpone, it seemed to be absolutely the right decision. The radar was a mess. Girardi said he was told there was a “100 percent chance” of rain last night. “It’s disappointing,” Girardi said. “I think the Reds made the decision based on the information they got, and sometimes the information changes.”

• Why Freddy Garcia in the first game? “No particular reason,” Girardi said. “Freddy wanted to pitch the first game, and we said OK.”

• What does Garcia need to do today? “Just do what he did in Chicago,” Girardi said. “It’s locating, and Freddy, for him it’s changing speeds and being able to throw his offspeed over at any time. If he’s able to do that, he should be able to give us some distance, and when you have a split doubleheader, you like the distance.”

• As you probably expect, Girardi said he wants to stay away from using any of his relievers in both games. “I’m not crazy about doing it with anyone,” he said. “I’d check to see if a guy only threw a few pitches, but still, a guy heats up. It’s why you hate split doubleheaders.”

• Girardi said Derek Jeter is scheduled to hit either today or tomorrow. “There’s so many guys down there that I try to get a report from Geno every day,” Girardi said.

REDS
Fred Lewis LF
Brandon Phillips 2B
Joey Votto 1B
Jay Bruce RF
Scott Rolen 3B
Drew Stubbs CF
Edgar Renteria SS
Ryan Hanigan C
Ryan Leake RHP

Associated Press photo

Obviously Joe Girardi knows the bench matters more in the National League, and so he’s given himself a remarkably good bench.

Brett Gardner LF
Curtis Granderson CF
Nick Swisher RF
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada 1B
Eduardo Nunez SS
Ramiro Pena 3B
Francisco Cervelli C
Freddy Garcia RHP

The YES Network sent an email with an updated television schedule for tomorrow.

The first game starts at 12:35 and will be televised on YES, with the pre-game show beginning at noon and the postgame show immediately following the game. The 7:10 game will be televised on My9, with a YES pregame show at 6:30 p.m. and the YES Extra Innings show immediately following the game.

Take away his first 18 games this season, and Brett Gardner is a .356/.438/.521 hitter. That’s since April 26, a fairly significant sample size of 52 games and 146 at-bats. In the past 11 games, Gardner has hit a Major League-best .472, and since June 7 he has more walks than strikeouts and an on-base percentage well above .500.

Gardner was so bad in those first 18 games that Joe Girardi had little choice but to dump him from the leadoff spot, but now that Gardner’s hitting again, it’s unlikely he’ll return to that leadoff role when Derek Jeter is healthy.

“I don’t think so,” Girardi said. “Derek’s been our leadoff guy.”

Jeter will remain at the top and Curtis Granderson has been an MVP candidate in the No. 2 hole, which doesn’t leave room for Gardner up top, but make no mistake, he has quietly turned his season around. Without much fanfare — certainly without all the attention of his earlier struggles — Gardner has become the same sort of hitter he was in the first half of last season. He said it started with some late-April adjustments, though he couldn’t remember an exact date that he made the changes.

“Whenever I went like 7-for-70 or whatever it was,” he said. “Whenever I was as low as low got.”

Gardner has moved closer to the plate, an adjustment that’s forced him to attack the baseball because he can’t afford to be late (before he could stay back and just slap the ball the other way). He’s also changed his approach to take advantage of some ahead-in-the-count fastballs. It’s led to Gardner being an unusually dynamic hitter.

Equally unusual is his situation: Jeter is Jeter, which carries weight and obviously leads to a delicate situation when shaking up the top of the order. The Yankees also have Andruw Jones, who’s hit for enough power against left-handers to remain a viable role player, and because of Nick Swisher’s success against lefties and Granderson’s success overall, a lot of Jones’ at-bats have come at the expense of Gardner (something that doesn’t have to be the case when the Yankees are back in American League parks).

“Obviously the ultimate goal is to be an everyday player,” Gardner said. “But I understand that obviously there’s other guys that are going to get at-bats and I understand that. That’s part of it… Maybe a little bit (frustrating) just from the aspect of, when you get on a roll you want to be in there and play every day and try and keep things going. Also, if your not getting a lot of at-bats against lefties, it’s hard to get better against them.”

• Tomorrow’s pitching matchups: RHP Freddy Garcia vs. RHP Mike Leake in the first game, RHP Brian Gordon vs. RHP Johnny Cueto in the second.

• Girardi said the day off was good for his banged up players, but that doesn’t mean Russell Martin and Alex Rodriguez will be available for 18 innings tomorrow. “I think it helps them,” he said. “You definitely won’t see Russell playing two games, and Alex, we’ll have to see. Probably not. It probably helps them physically.”

• Jeter got on the field today in Tampa. He threw, but Girardi wasn’t sure whether he took any swings. It’s still uncertain whether he’ll go on a rehab assignment. “You may want him to go through a game just to see how he feels and how he bounces back the next day,” Girardi said. “The one thing you’d hate is if he was to come back, play a day and then have to take a couple days off.”

• By the way, I vividly remember the Roger Clemens rehab start in Scranton when people were absolutely everywhere. I’d never seen anything quite like it. I can’t imagine what a Jeter rehab would be like. Can a minor league team sell seats on the warning track?

• Injured pitcher updates: Bartolo Colon threw from 120 feet today… Phil Hughes threw a side today… Rafael Soriano played catch and had no problems. Girardi said “the reports were good” on Soriano… Damaso Marte and Pedro Feliciano each played catch.

• Girardi wasn’t sure what exactly Eric Chavez did today, but he said, “I’m sure he hit.”

• Girardi on the decision not to have Eduardo Nunez in the lineup today: “Nuney’s played seven days in a row, with the game he came in, eight. He hadn’t done that since probably last year in the minor leagues. Even though he’s young, you get a little bit concerned about fatigue in the heat and humidity. I worry about all our guys, but when you haven’t done that in a long time, there’s some fear that if he is fatigued, he could hurt something.”

• Andruw Jones rolled ankle is fine.

• Despite Gardner’s recent success and .390 on-base percentage against lefties, Girardi said he still likes having Nick Swisher in the leadoff spot against left-handers. Swisher is hitting .347/.451/.556 against lefties. “Swish has done a good job leading off,” Girardi said. “We did it and Swish had a lot of success over there, so I wasn’t going to change it. You look at the job he’s done, his on-base percentage against lefties – what is it, .430, .440? – that’s hard to beat. You want to set the table before those other guys.”

• Girardi once against expressed confidence in Boone Logan and said he plans to still use him against lefties. “I think it’s consistency of strikes,” Girardi said. “Getting ahead of hitters is important for all pitchers. It comes down to location… It’s been tough for him this year. He had a little streak where he had a good streak going, then he ran into a little trouble. We need him. That’s the bottom line.”

• The beat writers were actually in Girardi’s office when he got the call saying the game was postponed. If you’re wondering how that whole thing goes down, apparently it’s as simple as this: Girardi’s phone rang, it was Red GM Walt Jocketty, and he told Girardi that they were playing two games tomorrow. The whole thing took 20 seconds, but then again, it was so crystal clear that this game was going to be rained out that Girardi suggested we do the pregame interview as if the game had already been called, even though it had not been officially called. There really was little sense pretending there was going to be a game at that point.

Associated Press photos

Tonight’s game has been rained out. Two games tomorrow, 12:35 and 7:10.

UPDATE, 5:38 p.m.: Freddy Garcia will start the first game, Brian Gordon will start the second. Joe Girardi said there’s no chance Russell Martin will play both games, and chances are Alex Rodriguez will skip one of the games as well.

About five minutes ago, rain started falling really hard here at Great American Ball Park. Now, it’s just steady rain.

Actually, I take that back. In the two seconds it took for me to write those first two sentences, it started pouring again. Downpour.

Brett Gardner LF
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Russell Martin C
Ramiro Pena SS
Brian Gordon RHP

UPDATE, 3:16 p.m.: Still pouring, but MLB also just released the latest round of American League all-star voting results. The leaders are the same, with Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Russell Martin and Curtis Granderson all in line to start. Adrian Gonzalez has widened his lead over Mark Teixeira at first base.