The LoHud Yankees Blog

Eduardo Nunez remembers that CC Sabathia was on the mound when he made two errors in one game in New York in April, and he remembers that it was A.J. Burnett on the mound when he made two errors in Detroit in May. He remembers these things, because those early season mistakes affected him.

“Early in the season I lost a little of my confidence,” he said. “In the first month, I think, when I made like six errors in two games, with Burnett in Detroit and CC at home. Now I feel great. I feel ready. I have my confidence back. Making errors is part of the game, you know? If you’re not making errors, you’re not playing.”

Although Nunez battled errors throughout the minor leagues — he had more than 30 three times in four years — his cleanest season was last year in Triple-A (14 errors in 452 chances). He has the range for shortstop, and he has plenty of arm for either short or third, but he’s made mistakes regularly this year. In part-time duty, he leads the Yankees in errors. By a lot.

It was suggested last night that the pressure of replacing Alex Rodriguez or Derek Jeter might get to him.

“No,” Nunez said, sounding as if he’d never even considered the possibility. “I feel it’s another opportunity for me to show I can play third base too, not just short. I’ll be fine. I feel OK. I feel good. Keep working.”

For now, the Yankees have no plans to change. Joe Girardi said he’s planning to stick with Nunez at third base, and the fact the Yankees didn’t call up Brandon Laird or Kevin Russo or Jorge Vazquez on Thursday tells you that they’re expecting Nunez to do the job.

“Let’s not make too much of one of his starts,” Girardi said. “He played great third base the other day, but that goes unnoticed when you do it the right way. He made an error today. This is a little different for all of us, playing on this AstroTurf. We haven’t been on it for a while, and we didn’t play great defense on it.”

Associated Press photo

After tonight’s game, Joe Girardi compared Bartolo Colon to Derek Jeter. Both have a hard time admitting when they’re hurt.

Colon has told the Yankees that he has recovered from a strained left hamstring, and he’s told them he’s healthy enough to pitch, but tonight he admitted that he doesn’t trust the muscle to hold up on every movement and every pitch. He’s tentative making plays off the mound, and he’s less aggressive throwing pitches over the plate.

“It’s affecting me a little bit because I’m not pitching the same way I’m pitching (when I’m) aggressive,” Colon said. “I have been a little bit afraid. I’ve been thinking about it… I think it’s why my sinker is not sinking the way it’s supposed to is because I’ve been thinking about my leg too much.”

Colon’s hesitation was most noticeable when he went to cover first base on a ground ball to the right side. He admitted to being “unsure” on that play. He didn’t want to blow out his hamstring again, just like he did about this time last month.

“That’s something that I’m going to have to talk to him about, see how he’s really doing,” Girardi said. “Bart always says that he’s okay. That’s something I’m going to have to sort through in the next day or two.”

Colon said he’ll wait to see how he feels in the morning, but right now he anticipates telling Girardi that he feels healthy and ready to pitch. He said there’s no pain, but there’s also no mistaking his past two starts. They’ve been bad. Bad defense and bad luck certainly played a role tonight, but this was not Colon at his best.

“I don’t blame anybody,” Colon said. “That was my fault. I don’t pitch good, and they hit me, and I lost the game.’

Here’s Girardi.

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And here’s Colon, with Roman Rodriguez as interpreter.

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• Girardi said Colon only iced his shoulder and elbow after the game. That’s his usual routine. No extra treatment because of the hamstring.

• Girardi said he didn’t think Colon was pitching particularly poorly in the first inning, but once he topped 40 pitches, there was no chance Girardi was going to leave him out there. “You start to worry about the pitch count and him hurting his arm,” Girardi said. “When you’re over 40 pitches, how far are you going to let him go? Are you going to let him throw 60 in one inning? That’s just not what a starter does. For Bartolo, who is always extremely efficient, he’s not built to do that.”

• Eight runs was the most the Yankees had allowed in the first inning since June 18, 2000. It was the most allowed in any inning since 2009. The 16 runs allowed all night was the highest total allowed by the Yankees since April 25, 2009 (also 16).

• The first inning might have been different had Brett Gardner caught that shallow fly ball that slipped underneath his glove for a double. Gardner said he thought he was going to catch it, but as he got ready to dive, he lost the ball in the lights. From the moment he dove, he no longer saw the ball. “I thought I could have caught it if I had seen it the whole way,” he said.

• The first inning also would have been a lot different had Eduardo Nunez properly fielded a sharp bouncer to third. That error opened the door for five more runs. “That’s my first time, I think, playing third base on this field,” he said. “I’ve never played in a game at third base, and it’s a little hard to read very early how the ball comes. High chopper. Slow chopper. They gave me in between chopper.”

• Actually, what Nunez said is incorrect. His point still stands, but Nunez did play third base here twice last season. There’s a solid chance he never had an in between hop like that — and I don’t doubt that the surface makes a difference — but he’d certainly played that spot before.

• Nunez was also turned around on a popup behind third base. He said the ball kind of circled him overhead, so he started following it over one shoulder, then had to switch to the other side.

• For just a little while, the Yankees were back in the game. Andruw Jones hit his two home runs, and the Yankees had pulled within 9-7 in the sixth inning. That’s when the bullpen let them down. “We were back in the game and we had a chance, but we weren’t able to close the door,” Girardi said. “They just kept tacking on runs to where it got out of hand.”

• Jones had his second multi-homer game of the season and now has six homers for the year. With 42 career multi-homer games, Jones is tied with Vladimir Guerrero for the third most among active players. He’s hit three of his six home runs this season off Jo-Joe Reyes.

• Curtis Granderson hit his eighth triple of the season, surpassing last year’s total.

• The Yankees used four different relievers, but Girardi said the team might not need to make a move for extra pitching before tomorrow’s game.

• Juan Bautista left tonight’s game with a twisted right ankle. He’s considered day-to-day.

• Bottom line is this: “You don’t make too much of one game, but it was not a good game on our part,” Girardi said. “Offensively, we swung the bats good. Defensively and pitching, we didn’t play that well.”

Associated Press photos

Some of it was bad luck and some of it was bad pitching, but when Bartolo Colon failed to pitch out of the first inning tonight, the Yankees were on their way to a deflating 16-7 loss in their first game after the all-star break. Colon got only two outs. He allowed eight runs (three of them earned) and six hits (half of them infield singles and a missed diving catch in left). Eduardo Nunez’s error, Luis Ayala’s balk and a few close calls by home plate umpire Angel Hernandez certainly didn’t help. The Yankees kept it interesting for a while because of Andruw Jones’ two home runs, but the bullpen followed Colon’s lead and allowed seven runs in the final three innings. Colon has now stumbled in two straight starts, allowing a total of 16 hits and six walks while striking out only one in his past 6.1 innings.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (53-35)
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Russell Martin C
Andruw Jones DH
Eduardo Nunez 3B
Brett Gardner LF

RHP Bartolo Colon (6-4, 3.20)
Colon vs. Blue Jays

BLUE JAYS (45-47)
Yunel Escobar SS
Eric Thames RF
Jose Bautista 3B
Adam Lind 1B
Aaron Hill 2B
Edwin Encarnacion DH
Travis Snider LF
J.P. Arencibia C
Rajai Davis CF

LHP Jo-Jo Reyes (4-7, 4.57)
Reyes vs. Yankees

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

WEATHER: The roof is wide open. Gorgeous here in Toronto. Couldn’t ask for better weather.

UMPIRES: HP Greg Gibson, 1B Angel Hernandez, 2B Todd Tichenor, 3B Gerry Davis

WELCOME BACK: According to Elias, the Yankees have won the first game following the all-star break in each of the past nine seasons. That ties an all-time record streak held by the Montreal Expos (1984-1992) and the Yankees (1940-49). There was no all-star game in ’45 because of World War II.

WHAT’S LEFT? The Yankees are 18-8 against left-handed starters this season. They’ve won their past four games against lefty starters (and six of their past seven, and 13 of their past 15). They are batting .271 (224-for-827) against left-handed pitchers this season, which is the fourth-highest in the Majors.

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS: The Yankees play 18 of their next 22 games against teams at or below .500, and they play 46 of their remaining 74 games against teams at or below .500. The Yankees also play 42 of their 74 remaining games on the road.

UPDATE, 7:25 p.m.: A lot of balls in the dirt from Colon, and Aaron Hill’s single up the middle has scored two runs for a 2-0 lead in the first inning. The Jays are still hitting with two on and two out.

UPDATE, 7:30 p.m.: Another  hit, a Nunez error, and back-to-back infield singles have led to three more Blue Jays runs. It’s now 5-0, still not out of the first inning.

UPDATE, 7:36 p.m.: After getting two outs and allowing seven runs, Colon is finished and Ayala is in.

UPDATE, 7:58 p.m.: Anyone think Andruw Jones would be the Yankees first bright spot of the night? His solo homer has the Yankees on the board, still losing 9-1 in the third.

UPDATE, 8:04 p.m.: The Yankees just managed three runs on four hits and they’ve cut the lead to 9-4 in the third.

UPDATE, 8:27 p.m.: The trailer for the new Harry Potter movie just played on the big screen here at Rogers Centre.

UPDATE, 8:30 p.m.: Jose Bautista might have injured his ankle on that play at third. He’s out of the game.

UPDATE, 8:44 p.m.: The Blue Jays are saying Bautista has a twisted right ankle. He’s day to day.

UPDATE, 8:48 p.m.: The raw hatred of Andruw Jones might have to be put on hold for a while. He has the Yankees back in this game with a three-run home run in the sixth. It’s now 9-7 Blue Jays.

UPDATE, 9:14 p.m.: An infield single keeps the inning alive long enough for a two-run single to left. The lead is now back up to 11-7 Blue Jays.

Derek Jeter was surprised that his decision to skip this week’s all-star game became such a story. He said a report that he skipped the game because of exhaustion — either mental or physical — was completely false. He wanted to take care of the calf, and if he wasn’t going to be able to play, he didn’t want to be in Arizona.

“I told you guys on Thursday or Friday why I was not going,” Jeter said. “It seemed to be a non-issue at the time. I hadn’t heard a word about it until someone told me it was all over TV on Tuesday. I guess I was surprised on the coverage. I understand the disappointment. I get that. I understand fans are disappointed. I was disappointed I didn’t have a chance to go play. Throughout the years, I’ve enjoyed going to play in All-Star Games. This was a decision I thought was best for our team for the second half of the year. I was surprised at the coverage.”

Told of players who said anyone elected to the game should be there, Jeter responded by saying he never comments on another player until he knows the facts of the situation. As for exhaustion, Jeter literally laughed at it.

“What did I have, physical and emotional exhaustion?,” he said. “That sounds like a good quote, but I didn’t say that. I told you on Friday why I wasn’t going. Emotional and physical exhaustion makes it sound good, but that wasn’t the case. It was strictly based on my leg.”

Jeter said he feels a difference after three days of rest.

“I do,” he said. “It’s interesting, when I got hurt, everyone was telling me how difficult an injury it is, that it takes until the offseason. It’s serious and you don’t want to come back too soon. Then I decide to take some days off to help out and it turned into this. Yeah, the days helped.”

Here’s Jeter.

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• Joe Girardi said the Yankees would have cut their bench to only one extra infielder before today, but they kept the second utility man because of Alex Rodriguez’s knee and because Jeter was fresh off a calf injury. With Rodriguez on the DL and Jeter rested, it’s not as much of an issue, that’s part of why the the Yankees called up an outfielder to take Rodriguez’s spot on the roster.

• Why Greg Golson as that right-hander? “We’re facing some lefties here in the next three days,” Girardi said. “We’ll get Romero on Saturday, so we decided to call him up.”

• Will Andruw Jones keep getting regular at-bats vs. leties? “I’m going to continue to use him, yeah,” Girardi said.

• Girardi said the minor league deal with J.C. Romero simply gives the Yankees another option if the decide to use him in the big leagues. It’s a guy that’s pitched in tough markets,” Girardi said. “It’s a guy that’s pitched in big markets and in pressure situations, so let’s just see how he does.”

• Rafael Soriano is throwing another batting practice session on Saturday, then the Yankees will decide whether he’s ready for a rehab assignment.

• Any lingering concern about Mariano Rivera after the sore triceps? “I don’t worry so much about the back-to-back, but you have to think about three days in a row or four out of five,” Girardi said. “I think that’s what you have to think about.”

• Worry about the Home Run Derby affecting Robinson Cano? “I don’t. I think Robbie’s a smart hitter, and I think you’ll watch Robbie have his approach tonight that he would normally have,” Girardi sadi. “I hope it affects the other guys.”

• Girardi said his hope would be that the Yankees are able to get Rodriguez back “somewhere between the four and five-week range.”

Associated Press photos

Greg Golson is available off the bench.

Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Russell Martin C
Andruw Jones DH
Eduardo Nunez 3B
Brett Gardner LF

Just got to Toronto and already there are a few things going on today.

• After a few rumors that this might happen, Buster Olney is now reporting that the Yankees have in fact signed left-handed reliever J.C. Romero to a minor league deal. That’s obviously some insurance for Boone Logan, or a potential second lefty in the bullpen.

• George King at the Post says Greg Golson will be added to the roster today, taking the place of Alex Rodriguez, who will obviously go on the disabled list.

• The Roger Clemens trial has been declared a mistrial. They’ll have to start the whole thing over again.

Tonight
RHP Bartolo Colon (6-4, 3.20)
vs.
LHP Jo-Jo Reyes (4-7, 4.57)
7:07 p.m., YES Network and MLB Network

Friday
RHP Freddy Garcia (7-6, 3.13)
vs.
RHP Brandon Morrow (5-4, 4.60)
7:07 p.m., MY9 and MLB Network

Saturday
LHP CC Sabathia (13-4, 2.72)
vs.
LHP Ricky Romero (7-8, 3.09)
1:07 p.m., YES Network

Sunday
RHP Phil Hughes (0-2, 10.57)
vs.
RHP Carlos Villanueva (5-1, 2.99)
1:07 p.m., YES Network

The Yankees will make one move today, officially putting Alex Rodriguez on the disabled list and adding someone to fill the roster spot. The list of candidates is long. It’s possible to make a case for Greg Golson, Chris Dickerson, Brandon Laird, Jorge Vazquez, Kevin Russo… but whoever gets the call-up, they’re likely to fall into secondary role while Eduardo Nunez gets the bulk of the starts at third base.

As for future moves, two injured relievers took positive steps forward yesterday. Here’s the latest from The Associated Press down in Tampa.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — New York Yankees right-hander Mark Prior is back pitching after missing almost three months because of a strained groin.

The converted reliever said it was a step in the right direction Wednesday after allowing an unearned run and one hit over two innings for the Gulf Coast League Yankees against Atlanta minor leaguers.

In his first outing since pitching on April 18 at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Prior threw 24 pitches with a fastball that reached 90 mph.

Prior has struggled with shoulder injuries and made his previous major league appearance in August 2006. The 30-year old went 18-6 with a 2.43 ERA in 30 starts for the NL Central champion Chicago Cubs in 2003.

Also, Yankees reliever Rafael Soriano threw 25 pitches during his second batting practice session since going on the disabled list May 17 because of right elbow inflammation.

Soriano signed a three-year, $35 million deal with New York in the offseason to handle the eighth inning, but struggled while adapting to the new role. He was 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA in 16 appearances before the injury.

Left-hander Pedro Feliciano, hoping to avoid surgery for a left shoulder tear, has resumed a light throwing program. Reliever Damaso Marte, coming back from left shoulder surgery, is continuing to throw off a bullpen mound.

Also, the Yankees have finalized a contract with 24-year old Cuban right-hander Reinier Casanova and assigned him to the GCL Yankees.

Associated Press photo of Prior in spring training

Brett Gardner and Nick Swisher each started the season with horrible numbers. Gardner lost his grip on the leadoff spot by the end of April, and Swisher sat for two days so that he could get his swing together. Lately, they’ve both been back to last year’s level of production.

First half
As recently as May 25, Swisher was hitting just .208 with just two home runs. He was frustrated and it was beginning to show. Since then, he’s hit .302/.420/.566 with eight homers and the same over-the-top attitude that made him a fan favorite. Gardner was hitting .188 with a .273 on-base percentage at the end of April, but in the past two and a half months he’s hit .292 with a .374 on-base. He’s also become a much more dangerous and effective base stealer. He’s been streaky, but he’s also been productive, and he’s played his usual Gold Glove caliber defense.

Second half
Unless the Yankees decide to replace Andruw Jones on the bench, they really have no need for an outfield upgrade. Gardner’s not a typical corner outfielder, but he’s been effective with his unusual approach at the plate and his game-changing speed on the bases. Swisher has regained last year’s form and is once again one of the Yankees most dangerous and versatile hitters. Where they best fit in the lineup might be a legitimate question, but whether to play them regularly shouldn’t be.

The minors
Justin Maxwell was crushing the baseball in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and might have hit his way onto the big league roster if not for a season-ending injury. With Maxwell on the DL, Jordan Parraz as been the top corner outfielder in Triple-A, and Tampa left fielder Ziolo Almonte has been the best corner outfielder in the system. Almonte has been hitting for average and power while stealing bases, and he has to be considered a promotion candidate in the second half. Ray Kruml has emerged as a terrific leadoff man in Trenton, while Ramon Flores has lived up to his reputation for outstanding plate discipline for a teenager in Charleston.

One question
Is Gardner about to win his first Gold Glove?
Gardner’s always had great speed, and last year he seemed to slowly make people realize just how well that speed plays in the outfield. This year, he’s also been effective throwing the ball. His four outfield assists aren’t near the AL leaders, but runners seem to be respecting his arm a little bit more this season and not taking as many chances. I’m guessing manager have noticed.

The future
Gardner is heading for his first year of arbitration, so he’s still relatively cheap for next season. Swisher has a $10.25-million club option for next year, and the Yankees have to decide whether to exercise it. Given the money that Carl Crawford and Jayson Werth got this winter, they might not think twice about getting Swisher at that price.

Associated Press photo