The LoHud Yankees Blog

Phil Hughes wasn’t great this afternoon, but he certainly kept his team in the game. Seven runs were charged to the bullpen, but on a perfect day only one of those would have crossed the plate. The Yankees scored just two runs, but there’s something to be said for facing Felix Hernandez.

All day it seemed that every Yankees success came with some failure, and every failure came with some success.

“Two runs is a decent outing,” Hughes said. “But it wasn’t good enough.”

Joe Girardi pointed to the seventh inning — when Robinson Cano botched a play and Curtis Granderon let a triple glance of his glove — as the turning point. “We gave them too many outs that inning,” he said. “That was the difference in the ballgame. It really changed the complexion of the game.”

That’s a fair point. Boone Logan faced four batters and let three of them reach, but the three lefties he faced each produced results that very easily could have resulted in an out. The two runs charged to Hector Noesi in the ninth were earned only because scorers won’t charge an error on a ball lost in the sun.

In the big picture, this game was about Hughes, who was much better than last time — “better isn’t really saying all that much compared to last outing,” he admitted — but still allowed nine hits to the worst-hitting team in baseball. He only walked one, and most of the hits were singles, but obviously this wasn’t a perfect outing.

“I felt like I really executed pitches better early in the count and not as good late, so that’s something that needs to change,” Hughes said. “I’d rather be able to execute those pitches when I need them with two strikes.”

Girardi said Hughes fastball command was much better than last time, and his curveball was more like the one Hughes showed in Toronto. Hughes wasn’t happy with the hits, but he felt like he made some good pitches in key spots.

“I think he can be sharper,” Girardi said. “His command can get better and his curveball can even get better. All of his pitches. It’s been kind of a strange year for him, but two out of his last three starts have been pretty good… We want to try to get back to who he was last year. If he’s going to give up two runs in six innings, I’ll sign up for that. I think we’re going to win a lot of games if a starting pitcher does that. Two out of his last three starts have been pretty good. The one (in between) was not. We just need him to be himself.”

Here’s Hughes.

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• Hughes said he never thought about the fact he was facing at team that had lost 17 in a row, but he didn’t like being the guy they finally beat. “It wasn’t even a thought,” he said. “I was just trying to go up there and pitch. I never really thought about that. I knew we were going up against a really good pitcher, who’s pitched really well here. He usually gives us trouble. I can’t remember the last time we’ve gotten him good. So I knew I was going to have to be good today.”

• Hughes on his curveball: “It was off and on. I threw some decent ones. A couple of times I threw some really good ones early in the count and then was frustrated with myself when I threw some poor ones later in the count, which seems like a common theme the last few outings, with not being able to make as good a pitch late when I need it. Overall, I’d say t was so-so.”

• Granderson said he simply lost the ninth-inning double in the sun. The seventh-inning triple was a little more complicated because Granderson said he always had a good read on it, it was just a matter of getting to it. Ultimately, it glanced off his glove in deep center field. “I knew it was definitely over my head to begin with,” Granderson said. “… I just wasn’t able to go ahead and get that extra inch on it.”

• The seventh inning really opened up after Robinson Cano threw the ball away trying to start a tough double play. “Robbie was trying to get two, and that’s a situation where you probably just take the one out,” Girardi said. “That’s going to happen. Robbie’s very talented and there are some special things he can do, but you probably need to get one out there.”

• Girardi took exception to the notion that the bullpen struggled today. “I didn’t think the bullpen really got hit hard today,” he said. “After we gave them five outs in the one inning, yeah, we gave up a hard-hit bal, but I thought the bullpen did a pretty good job. The bullpen probably should have escaped with one run in three innings; I’ll take that all the time.”

• Girardi said he was wrong when he said this morning that Alex Rodriguez’s next step would be to join the big league team for baseball drills. Rodriguez will report to Tampa next week and begin his baseball rehab there.

• This was the Yankees fifth loss in their past 22 games at home dating back to June 10. They are 6-5 this season in games when they have a chance to finish off a sweep.

• The Yankees have now lost their past four one-run games, and they’re 12-16 in one-run games this season.

• Brett Gardner has now been successful in 18 consecutive stolen base attempts. The Yankees have been caught in just three of their past 43 attempts.

• The Yankees have twice in franchise history faced a team with a 17-game losing streak, and the Yankees lost each time. They also lost to the Red Sox to snap a 17-game losing streak in 1926.

• A final word from Girardi about being the team that the Mariners finally beat after losing 17 in a row: “When I look back 20 years from now, I’m probably not going to remember. They were going to win a game at some point, I really believe that. We didn’t play well today, and that’s why we got beat.”

Associated Press photos

The Yankees rotation is more or less set for the weekend.

Friday: A.J. Burnett
Saturday: Bartolo Colon and TBA
Sunday: Freddy Garcia

Girardi said he’s not ready to announce the other starter of the double header, but he said the media should feel free to draw our own conclusions from Girardi’s comments that Ivan Nova is healthy and came through a simulated game with no problem. He basically announced Nova as a Saturday starter, without actually making the move official.

Then he said this…

Asked whether Nova’s return could start a competition between Nova and Phil Hughes for a spot in the big league rotation, Girardi’s answer was yes, then it was no.

“There could be,” he said. “I’m not going to say that there will be, but we want our guys to compete all the time. We want guys to throw the ball well and earn their spots every time. As far as saying there’s a competition for Phil Hughes’ next start, I’m not saying that.”

Hughes embraced the idea.

“That’s how it always is,” he said. “That’s how I look at it. You know, if I go out there every time and am not good, there’s obviously going to be consequences from that, so that’s nothing new. I know I have to go out and pitch well, and today was certainly a lot better than last time. And I’ll try to work on some things and build off this outing.”

The Mariners losing streak was going to end eventually, but the Yankees were hoping it would last just one more day. Behind another strong start by Felix Hernandez, the Mariners finally beat the Yankees 9-2 this afternoon, ending their losing streak at 17 games. Phil Hughes took the loss, allowing just two runs but also giving up nine hits to the worst-hitting team in baseball. The bullpen — and the Yankees sloppy defense — let things get out of hand during a five-run seventh and a two-run ninth.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (61-40)
Brett Gardner LF
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Russell Martin C
Jorge Posada 1B
Eduardo Nunez 3B

RHP Phil Hughes (1-2, 9.47)
Hughes vs. Mariners

MARINERS (43-60)
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Brendan Ryan SS
Dustin Ackley 2B
Justin Smoak 1B
Adam Kennedy 3B
Mike Carp LF
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Jack Cust DH
Josh Bard C

RHP Felix Hernandez (8-9, 3.47)
Hernandez vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 1:05 p.m., YES Network

WEATHER: Pretty warm here in the Bronx. Very little wind. I would say there’s no chance of a rain delay, but I learned my lesson last night.

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

KERRY DID IT: According to Elias, last night the Yankees became the second team in the Modern Era to hold an opponent to one hit or less while striking out 18 or more. The only other instance was on May 6, 1998 when Kerry Wood held Houston to one hit while striking out 20.

RANDY DID IT: Also according to Elias, CC Sabathia became the fifth left-handed pitcher in the Live Ball Era — since 1920 — to allow one hit while striking out at least 14 in a game. Steve Carlton, Sandy Koufax and Warren Spann each did it once. Randy Johnson did it six times!

MARK DID IT: One more item from Elias: With Mark Teixeira hitting his 100th Yankees home run last night, the Yankees how have 37 different players with at least 100 homers in pinstripes. That’s the highest total of 100-homer players for any franchise ahead of the Tigers (33), Red Sox (28) and Giants (27).

UPDATE, 1:38 p.m.: Hughes is through two scoreless showing a 93-mph fastball. Meanwhile, baseball trade market is beginning to take shape. Apparently Colby Rasmus is heading to Toronto and Carlos Beltran is going to San Francisco.

UPDATE, 1:54 p.m.: Two-out RBI triple by Dustin Ackley has the Mariners in the lead 1-0 after the top of the third.

UPDATE, 2:38 p.m.: Good throw by Brett Gardner and tag by Russell Martin saved a run in the top of the fifth, but the Mariners still added one to pull ahead 2-0. The Yankees have gotten that run back in the bottom of the fifth on Jeter’s bases-loaded sac fly. Now it’s Granderson up with two outs and runners at the corners, Mariners leading 2-1.

UPDATE, 3:16 p.m.: Another uneven outing for Hughes — too many hits, not many runs — and now the Mariners have expanded their lead to 3-1 off the Yankees bullpen in the seventh.

UPDATE, 3:22 p.m.: Pockets of Yankee Stadium currently booing Boone Logan after he faced four hitters, and a ground ball, walk, strikeout and fly ball. The two balls put in play should have been outs — the first might have been a double play — but Robinson Cano made a bad flip and Curtis Granderson let the ball bounce out of his glove. It’s now 6-1 Mariners.

Phil Hughes has made three starts since coming off the disabled list. There was a so-so outing against the Indians, a good start against the Blue Jays and last week’s ugly performance against the A’s.

“I think it’s important for him to bounce back after the last start,” Joe Girardi said. “His pitches just weren’t crisp the last time like they were in Toronto. I think it’s important for him… The trade deadline does not enter my mind when we talk about Phil Hughes, does he solidify (his spot)? That doesn’t enter my mind. The bottom line is we’ve got to get this guy back to where he was last year, and how do we do that, and what’s the best approach? That’s what’s mostly in the back of my mind because we know what he’s capable of doing, and it’s getting him there.”

Hughes seemed to take a significant step forward with his improved curveball and improved fastball command in Cleveland, but those things weren’t evident in his 4.1 innings against Oakland on Friday.

Girardi has talked a lot about Hughes keeping a good downward plane on his fastball, and Girardi brought that up again this morning. Someone asked if swing-and-miss stuff would be a key this afternoon, but Girardi said that’s not exactly the case.

“That was part of what he did last year,” Girardi said. “I look at swings more than swings and misses. Are they squaring the ball up is the bottom line. You can have deception, have guys out front and they hit weak ground balls or weak pop ups. That’s a good sign. To me, it’s the quality of the swing more than the swings and misses.”

• The Yankees decided not to activate Rafael Soriano for today’s game and will likely activate him on Friday. “With him throwing two days in a row, we feel it’s probably best in this situation – because he’s just coming off an injury – to give him two days,” Girardi said.

• Speaking of players on the disabled list, Girardi finally vocalized a truth that’s been pretty obvious for a while now: It’s time to give up on Pedro Feliciano pitching this year. “I would think so, yeah,” Girardi said. As it stands, Feliciano is still in Tampa, and Girardi said he’s “trying” to play catch. “He’s not doing much,” Girardi said.

• Damaso Marte is still throwing bullpens in Tampa, so he actually has some chance of playing some sort of role down the stretch.

• Girardi wasn’t sure when exactly, but Alex Rodriguez will do his early rehab work — taking batting practice and such — with the Yankees rather than at the minor league complex in Tampa. They Yankees have a date in mind that Rodriguez will join the Yankees to begin baseball activities, but Girardi couldn’t remember the exact day.

• The decision not to play Eric Chavez today: “It’s a day game after a night game and Chavy’s played seven out of eight days,” Girardi said. “We want o be smart about this. This is not a guy that we want to lose again.”

• The Yankees still haven’t announced starting pitchers for Saturday’s double header. Bartolo Colon will start one of them, but Girardi said the other game is still TBA. Ivan Nova is available to make the start — Girardi said health is not a concern for Nova — but the Yankees aren’t certain he’ll come up to pitch one of those games. “Just some things we’re talking about that we could do with our rotation,” Girardi said.

Assocaited Press photo

Rafael Soriano is not listed as an available reliever.

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

Steve Garrison is the low man in the Yankees clubhouse. He’s the new guy, the lefty at the back of the bullpen with two-thirds of a big league inning to his name. He was a spectator last night.

While I was waiting for Francisco Cervelli to talk about CC Sabathia’s near perfect game last night, I randomly decided to make a quick stop at Garrison’s locker to ask about the greatest pitching performance he’d ever seen. This is what he said.

“It’s unbelievable. I went over to him, and I was like, ‘CC, that was awesome. That was very impressive.’ That’s exactly what I said. To watch him dominate like he does every single start, it’s amazing. Someone that good, it’s awesome to watch. I can try to pitch like that, but he’s just in whole different league. He’s in a whole different class. You have your average MLB players. Then you have superstars. Then you have CC.

“Things like that, it’s almost like, that’s why you play the game because you want to reach that level. Someone like me will always, always strive for it, but guys like that, I’ll never be able to get that. And I’m no even ashamed to say it. It’s really that impressive. Just to be in the same locker room as him is really an honor.”

Good stuff from the guy tucked away in the corner of the room.

—

While we wait for today’s lineup, here are a few other facts about last night’s Sabathia start:

• Nineteen batters was the longest Sabathia had ever carried a perfect game. His previous high was 17 set in 2005.

• Fourteen strikeouts was the most for a Yankees starter since David Cone struck out 14 on June 7, 1998. It was the most by a Yankees lefty since David Wells struck out 16 on July 30, 1997.

• According to Elias, it was the first time the outright Major League leader in wins started against a team with a losing streak of 15 or more games.

• Also from Elias: Sabathia is the first Yankee to ever become the first Major League pitcher to 15 wins in two different seasons.

Through most of CC Sabathia’s career with the Indians — including his Cy Young season — the Cleveland manager was Eric Wedge, who tonight sat in the Mariners dugout and watched his former ace dismantle his current lineup.

“That was about as good of stuff as I’ve seen him have,” Wedge said. “He had a better fastball than we’ve seen him have a times. He’s always had a good fastball, but at times, but he was really consistent with it tonight. His secondary stuff was as good as we’ve seen it too.”

It was a performance for the ages until the rain came. Clouds had been gathering since the early innings, and it was quickly very obvious that the weather was a greater threat than the Mariners. Sabathia had struck out seven in a row — one shy of an American League record — before a steady shower turned into a temporary downpour, forcing a 30-minute rain delay. Sabathia retired the first three batters after the break, but Joe Girardi said Sabathia’s stuff wasn’t quite the same. He’d thrown for a while underneath the stands, but the offspeed stuff was different.

“He was so sharp before the rain delay, and I thought his slider got a little bit bigger after the rain delay,” Girardi said. “I didn’t think he was quite as sharp, and we’ll never know, but golly, for that (six) and a third he was brilliant… It’s one of those nights, he’s rolling along so well, it’s just like, please don’t stop this game. But you can’t stop mother nature.”

Sabathia said he still felt good after the first delay, but the second was obviously a different story. Ultimately, Sabathia settled for a career-high 14 strikeouts on a night that was more memorable for what might have happened than for what actually happened.

—

Francisco Cervelli: “The whole game, I had in my mind, no-hitter… The first inning, the way he was throwing the ball in my glove, sliders in the dirt, I thought we had a chance to do it. They’re professional hitters, but CC was really good today.”

Mark Teixeira: “He was so dominant. You always figure someone’s going to bloop one in or you’re going to make a mistake, someone’s going to get a hit. But the fourth or fifth inning, he was dominant, and we figured, alright, if he can keep this up, I think he’s going to get it… You never know. No rain, he might have had a perfect game.”

Eric Chavez: “There was no doubt in my mind he was going to throw a no-hitter.”

CC Sabathia: “You know you haven’t pitched out of the stretch the whole game. Some guys say they don’t know, but I know from the first pitch until I get out of the stretch that I’m in the situation I’m in.”

Here’s Sabathia.

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• Girardi said the first delay could have gone quite a while without Sabathia needing to come out of the game. His pitch count was low enough, that the Yankees could have let Sabathia throw simulated innings every 15 minutes or so and just counted that against his game pitches. Sabathia said it didn’t matter. There was no chance Girardi was taking him out. “I was going back out,” he said.

• During the rain delay, Sabathia said he sat in the clubhouse and talked to his teammates. There was no superstitious silent treatment during the game or the delay. “I’m really not that type of person,” Sabathia said. “It was just normal.”

• Sabathia guessed that he’s shaken off Cervelli two or three times since Cervelli became his regular catcher. As soon as he started his postgame press conference, Sabathia gave a ton of credit to his catcher. Cervelli, of course, deflected the praise right back to his pitcher. “He’s a liar,” Cervelli said. “He’s got the ball, so he throws what he wants. I just try to be on the same page.”

• The single by Brendan Ryan was a 2-0 fastball. It extended Ryan’s hitting streak to 10 games.

• The Yankees had a total of 18 strikeouts tonight, their highest nine-inning total since Ron Guidry’s 18-strikeout game in 1978… This was the first time the Yankees held their opponent to one hit since September of last year when Sabathia beat the Athletics… This was the first time the Yankees held the Mariners to one hit since 2002 when Freddy Garcia was opposing starter for Seattle.

• Curtis Granderson momentarily took sole possession of the team lead in home runs tonight, but just a few innings after he hit his 28th, Teixeira responded with his own 28th homer in the eighth inning. “It’s a lot of fun,” Teixeira said. “We don’t like sitting on whatever number we’re at, so we enjoy going back and forth.”

• Teixeira has now hit 100 home runs since coming to the Yankees.

• Nothing more to say about Dave Robertson. That was still a three-run game when he came out of the bullpen with the bases loaded and no outs in the eighth. He allowed one run on a routine grounder to third, but got two quick outs to limit the damage. “He does it every time, doesn’t he?” Teixeira said.

• By the way, Girardi said he’s still not sure whether Rafael Soriano will be activated tomorrow or Friday. He also refused to say whether Soriano will take back the eighth inning. “The first thing is, let me get him back, and then we’ll make decisions as the game goes on,” Girardi said. “We need to get him pitching well, that’s the bottom line, and get him comfortable. He had four outings, which is not a ton of outings. It’s somewhat of a short spring training, but we feel that we need him and then I’ll make those decisions.”

• Chavez said everything felt fine in his return from the disabled list. He was tested a little bit — and made some nice plays at third — but he came out of the game with no pain, having gone 1-for-3 with an RBI single.

• Let’s end with this Robertson stat: When he struck out the first batter he faced in the eighth, it was his 10th consecutive strikeout with the bases loaded. No pitcher since at least 1965 had a bases-loaded strikeout streak that long in a single season. Robertson has faced 12 batters with the bases loaded this season: 10 strikeouts, one ground ball out and one double.

Associated Press photos

CC Sabathia came eight outs away from a perfect game tonight. He settled for a career-high 14 strikeouts and a 4-1 Yankees win. Perfection ended with Brendan Ryan’s seventh-inning single to left field, and Sabathia responded by striking out the next two batters. The weather was a bigger problem than the Mariners, and after the game’s second rain delay, Sabathia walked the bases loaded with no outs in the eighth — his only walks of the night — only to have Dave Robertson come out of the bullpen to get out of the jam with only one run coming around to score. Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira each hit their 28th home runs of the season.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (60-40)
Brett Gardner LF
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Jorge Posada DH
Eric Chavez 3B
Francisco Cervelli C

RHP CC Sabathia (14-5, 2.62)
Sabathia vs. Mariners

MARINERS (43-59)
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Brendan Ryan SS
Dustin Ackley 2B
Miguel Olivo C
Justin Smoak 1B
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Mike Carp DH
Greg Halman LF
Chone Figgins 3B

RHP Doug Fister (3-11, 3.30)
Fister vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 7:05 p.m., MY9 and MLB Network

WEATHER: Much nicer than last night. The sun’s been shining today and there doesn’t seem to be much chance of a delay. Very light wind blowing right to left.

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

ONE OF FOUR: According to Elias, last night Derek Jeter became the fourth player in franchise history to have a home run and a triple in the same game at age 37 or older (Babe Ruth twice in 1932, Red Ruffing in 1941 and Tim Raines in 1998).

ONE OF A KIND: CC Sabathia has allowed four runs, all earned, in his past 51.2 innings dating back to June 19… He’s 11-2 with a 2.12 ER in his past 13 starts since May 19… He’s won his past six starts against the Mariners dating back to August 13, 2009. He has a 0.82 ERA in those games, allowing a total of four earned runs and 26 hits in 44 innings.

MAKE IT OFFICIAL: After batting practice, the Yankees officially optioned Brandon Laird back to Triple-A to make room for Eric Chavez.

ON THIS DATE: On July 26, 1931 the Yankees set a franchise record for runs scored in a game at home. They beat the White Sox 22-5 in the second game of a double header at the original Yankee Stadium.

UPDATE, 7:37 p.m.: Sabathia’s gone three up, three down in the first three innings. I’m honestly not sure he’s broken a sweat.

UPDATE, 8:02 p.m.: There’s No. 28 for Curtis Granderson. That’s a 1-0 lead for the Yankees in the fourth.

UPDATE, 8:12 p.m.: CC is through five innings. If you’re not already watching, I’d start.

UPDATE, 8:14 p.m.: Serious clouds starting to form all around Yankee Stadium. Needless to say, those could make things interesting.

UPDATE, 8:18 p.m.: Welcome back Eric Chavez. His RBI single has pushed the Yankees lead to 2-0 in the fifth.

UPDATE, 8:26 p.m.: Rain is falling steadily and there’s some lightning in the area, but so far the players are still on the field.

UPDATE, 8:29 p.m.: It was beautiful here this afternoon, but now it’s pouring and we’re in a rain delay with one out in the bottom of the sixth. Sabathia has struck out seven in a row.

UPDATE, 8:47 p.m.: The crew is beginning to remove the tarp.

UPDATE, 8:54 p.m.: The Yankees say play will resume at 9 p.m. That’s pretty quick. The Yankees are getting loose as I type this.

UPDATE, 9:02 p.m.: It was a 30-minute delay, and Sabathia promptly retired the first two batters he faced after getting back on the mound. He’s through six innings.

UPDATE, 9:14 p.m.: Brendan Ryan’s hit streak continues, and Sabathia’s no hitter ends.

UPDATE, 9:21 p.m.: Second rain delay. Ugh.

UPDATE, 9:34 p.m.: And we’re back. That one lasted just 14 minutes.

UPDATE, 9:49 p.m.: That second rain delay might have been too much for Sabathia. He’s walked the bases loaded with no outs in the eighth, and now Houdini himself is coming out of the pen to try to get out of trouble. Here’s Robertson.