The LoHud Yankees Blog

Eric Chavez wasn’t surprised to see his name in the lineup today. He still hasn’t been officially activated from the disabled list — the Yankees will wait until after batting practice to complete the transaction — but after six minor league games and an off day Monday, Chavez showed up ready to play.

“The last day actually I fielded about six balls,” he said. “When I had played third, I didn’t have a lot of action until the last day. Once that happened, in my mind I knew I was ready to go.”

Joe Girardi said this isn’t an indication that Chavez will takeover as the Yankees everyday third baseman until Alex Rodriguez returns. In fact, Girardi said he still plans to play Eduardo Nunez, but obviously Chavez is a proven alternative.

“Nuney’s been playing extremely well,” Girardi said. “Nuney has played every day here at third base for us, so I thought he could probably use a day — especially the way he plays, at such a fast pace. His legs could use a day. I’m not of the belief that we would play Chavy six or seven days in a row. We have to make sure we keep him healthy.”

Chavez was hitting .303 before the foot injury that landed him on the DL, but he’s actually hoping for better in his return. He said his minor league at-bats felt good last week, and he’d like to drive the ball a little more than he was back in April and May. He actually felt like he was starting to drive the ball when he broke his foot.

“I’m sure if I play well, then I’ll play,” he said. “If I don’t look too good, I probably won’t play… It was more of filling in for Tex and Al than being an everyday guy (out of spring training), but if this did happen, I was hoping to be physically in shape to do it. And hopefully I can do that.”

• There appears to be a fake Twitter account claiming to be Carlos Pena. Whoever has the account just tweeted that Pena has been traded to the Yankees. It’s not true. A Yankees source just confirmed that no such deal is in place.

• Rafael Soriano felt normal soreness today, and the Yankees expect to activate him in a few days. Could he be activated tomorrow? “Possible,” Girardi said. “But probably not.” That’s because Soriano just pitched back-to-back days and the Yankees prefer to give him two days off. It’s not because of any sort of injury concern.

• Girardi said Soriano will be reevaluated tomorrow before any decision is finalized. An off day Thursday would give Soriano an automatic extra day of rest either right before or right after being activated.

• The Yankees have to open both a 25-man and 40-man roster spot for Chavez because he was on the 60-day. The assumption seems to be that Brandon Laird will be optioned back to Triple-A, but the Yankees won’t announce anything until after BP, which is going on right now. (Actually, maybe they don’t have to open a 40-man spot. Don’t remember when they opened on, but it seems there is one open for Chavez).

• CC Sabathia is going for his 15th win of the season, which would be the Mariners 17th straight loss. “Our job is just to win games,” Girardi said. “That’s the bottom line. You can’t worry about how your opponent has been playing or what’s going on with their club, because on any given night, a club can win a game. Clubs go through tough spells and then they get hot, so you obviously don’t want to be the start of someone getting hot. You go out, play the game, play the right way and hope you get CC another win.”

• A lot of young kids from today’s HOPE Week event around the Yankees today. There were a few roaming through the clubhouse, and a bunch went through stretch with the players. Pretty cool to see how much the Yankees are smiling and laughing with those kids around.

UPDATE, 5:45 p.m.: The Yankees still haven’t sent any sort of official announcement, but MLB.com lists the transaction as Chavez being activated and Laird being option. As expected.

MARINERS
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

Associated Press photo

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

Are you going to be in the city on Wednesday night? Want to have a drink with an all-star?

To raise money for High Socks for Hope, Dave Robertson will serve as a celebrity bartender at Foley’s Pub and Restaurant in Manhattan on Wednesday night. Robertson will be behind the bar from 7 to 9 p.m. raising funds and awareness to help victims of the tornado that crushed his home town of Tuscaloosa, Ala. back in April.

From the High Socks for Hope website:

Foley’s will donate half of its proceeds that evening to the High Socks for Hope fund, established by David Robertson with his wife, Erin, to help people who live in Tuscaloosa rebuild their lives. All of David’s tips from bartending will go to the fund, as will the proceeds from photographs and baseballs that he signs at the event. There will also be an auction for prizes including Yankee memorabilia and a chance to have lunch with David at Foley’s.

In addition, Foley’s is renaming one of its menu items in honor of the Robertsons, and a portion of on-going sales will continue to benefit High Socks for Hope.

Foley’s is the same place where Brian Cashman tended bar this winter. It’s a great little baseball place in the city. My  hope is to get out of Wednesday’s day game in time to get down there.

Here’s the Yankees latest release about today’s HOPE Week event.

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The New York Yankees are proud to continue HOPE Week 2011 (Helping Others Persevere & Excel) on Tuesday by celebrating the Tuesday’s Children Mentoring program.

Yankees players Mariano Rivera, Curtis Granderson, Phil Hughes, Cory Wade and Steve Garrison along with former Yankees Manager Joe Torre will honor Tuesday’s Children by surprising them at the Beekman Beach Club at the South Street Seaport for lunch, games, and a ride on the Delta Baseball Water Taxi. The boat ride will take mentors and mentees past the Statue of Liberty and on to Yankee Stadium, where they will be the Yankees’ special guests for their 7:05 p.m. game vs. Seattle.

THE STORY OF TUESDAY’S CHILDREN

During the tragic day of Sept. 11, 2001, thousands of children lost their parents and thousands of parents lost their children. As the 10-year anniversary of that dark day approaches, the voids created from the losses continue to be immeasurable.

Tuesday’s Children was founded in the year following the terrorist attacks to promote healing and recovery. The organization established a unique mentoring program that has helped to heal still-open wounds. Serving the greater New York tri-state region, its mentorship program supports relationships between affected children and adult role models who themselves have lost family as a result of tragic circumstances. To date, more than 175 children have participated in the program, including 50 who are currently part of active mentoring relationships.

The relationships support the emotional and social growth of the mentees as their mentors share coping skills and act as a shoulder to lean on. The pairs meet at least twice a month, and the get-togethers are informal, involving anything from going to the movies, playing at a park or just hanging out in the house.

For the mentors, the pain of losing a family member did nothing to dry up the reservoir of love in their hearts.

MENTOR OF THE YEAR PRESENTATION: During the beach party on Tuesday, Keith Pryde [R] from Middletown, N.Y., will be honored as Tuesday’s Children’s “Mentor of the Year.” He was matched with 10-year-old Robert in February 2008. One year earlier, Keith lost his sister in the April 2007 Virginia Tech campus shootings. His mentee, Robert, was born a month before his father, a foreign exchange broker at Cantor Fitzgerald, was killed on Sept. 11. Keith and his fiancée, Rebecca, are engaged to be married in September 2012, with Robert set to serve as their ring bearer.

Before last night’s game, there was a lot of talk among fans and writers about it being a “trap game” for the Yankees. The Mariners losing streak is going to end eventually, and some team is going to look bad when it happens.

“I didn’t hear anyone say a word about it from our club,” Joe Girardi said. “We were inside a long time today, and I didn’t hear anyone talk about it.”

Freddy Garcia admitted that he knew the Mariners had lost 15 in a row, and he certainly didn’t want to be the guy who finally let them win a game.

“I wasn’t thinking about it, but when that happens, you don’t want to be that guy,” Garcia said. “Go out there and do your job and do the best that you can do.”

So the Mariners have now lost 16 in a row. Do the Yankees feel sorry for them?

Joe Girardi: “That’s a tough situation that they’re in. I know (manager Eric Wedge). Eric and I were both in the expansion draft a long time ago in Colorado. It’s just a tough situation that they’re going through. The bottom line is that we’re trying to win games.”

Freddy Garcia: “I always talk to Felix (Hernandez). They lost 16 straight. You play baseball and it’s no fun to go to the ball park and lose every game. It gets in your head. Hopefully they’re playing better after they leave here.”

Derek Jeter: “Not when you’re playing them. When we’re playing them we’re trying to beat them, but you have sympathy for individuals when they struggle, teams when they struggle, because everyone’s gone through it. It’s not easy to play this game, and they have a good team. They have some pitchers over there that people aren’t too happy to face. I think it’s just a coincidence right now. I’m sure they’ll turn things around. I just hope they don’t do it these next couple of days.”

Associated Press photo

The trade deadline is less than a week away. There’s plenty of speculation and conversation about whether the Yankees need to, have to, or even want to add a starting pitcher. A lot of that trade talk centers on whether Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon will remain reliable through the postseason.

That was the big-picture backdrop of tonight’s game, and Garcia delivered his longest outing of the season. As usual, he wasn’t perfect, but he walked just one batter and did his usual off-balance act of mixing speeds and pitches.

“(It tells me) that he knows how to concentrate,” Joe Girardi said. “He knows how not to get caught up in what’s going on around him. It also tells you he knows how to pitch. This guy has been real effective for us.”

Garcia was as understated as ever, both during the game and after. He joked about not wanting to be the pitcher who finally lost to the Mariners. He said the nearly-two-hour rain delay was a non-issue. He said a standing ovation always makes him feel good, “especially here.”

“(The trade deadline) is not in my hands,” Garcia said. “I’m a player. That’s all the front office. I have to worry about when I’m pitching. Whatever they have to do, they’re doing it. That’s not my business. I always try to go out there and do my job.”

He’s done that all season, with the same underwhelming stuff and the same been-there, done-that demeanor. This was the Yankees 100th game, so it’s clearly too late in the season to consider this a strange fluke. But is Garcia the kind of pitcher who can keep doing this beyond the regular season?

“Pitching is pitching, to me, whether it’s in the postseason or during the course of the season,” Girardi said. “There have been a lot of guys that have won a lot of games in the postseason that haven’t lit up the radar gun. The bottom line is if you make your pitches, you’re going to be successful.”

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It was kind of a late decision to get Steve Garrison into this game. Garrison didn’t start warming up until Boone Logan was almost ready to face the leadoff man in the ninth inning, but Garrison said there was so much adrenalin running through his body that he felt ready after one toss in the bullpen.

“It was definitely a cool feeling,” he said. “It’s something I’ll gladly do again if they want me to… After I got out there and threw my first pitch I felt much more comfortable. It’s where I want to be. I want to be on the mound. It’s where I feel most comfortable.”

Girardi said he felt comfortable bringing Garrison into the middle of an inning because he’d done it in spring training, and Girardi liked the idea because Garrison might have to pitch in those situation if he develops a role later in the season.

By the way, Garrison’s mother took the hour train ride up from Trenton for the past three games. Of course she decided to skip this game.

Here’s Garrison.

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• Rafael Soriano pitched a scoreless inning tonight for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He said afterward that he felt good and was leaving immediately for New York. “I’m not sure where he would go if he’s not coming to see us,” Girardi said.

• Because he’s thrown on back-to-back days, the earliest the Yankees would activate Soriano would be Wednesday. Girardi said they’ll wait until then to make a decision on him. They might give him two full days off — three, actually, with the off day — after throwing back-to-back.

• Girardi said everything went well with Eric Chavez’s test this afternoon. Girardi wouldn’t say for certain that he’ll be activated tomorrow, but he certainly indicated that the Yankees are planning to activate Chavez tomorrow.

• This was Garcia’s longest start since September 20, 2009 with the White Sox against the Royals. He pitched eight innings that day… Garcia’s now gone 53.2 innings without allowing a home run, which is his career-long streak… He’s won four of his past five starts at Yankee Stadium.

• Derek Jeter homered for the first time since career hit No. 3,000. He also tripled later in the game, driving both extra-base hits to right field. He’s hitting .324 with nine extra-base hits since coming off the DL. “We have seen that (Jeter driving the ball that way),” Girardi said. “I thought it started in Texas, but since he’s come back, we’ve even seen it more… He’s hitting like the Derek we’re used to seeing.”

• For whatever it’s worth, Jeter said it’s not so much driving the ball to right field that tells him he’s hitting better lately, it’s more the pitches that he’s choosing to take and the pitches he’s choosing to attack. “I can tell if I’m staying back, taking pitches and swinging at good pitches,” he said. “I feel as though I’ve been doing that for the last few weeks so I’m happy with where I am right now.”

• This was the fifth time Jeter had ever homered and tripled in the same game. He last did it April 30 of last season against the White Sox.

• Mark Teixeira leads the Majors with 12 games with at least three RBI this season. He’s back in a tie for the team lead with 27 home runs.

• Donnie Collins reports that Ivan Nova came through a simulated game with no problems today. He seems to be in line to start Saturday’s double header.

• For the first time this season, the Yankees have improved to 20 games over .500. “It kept escaping us, trying to get to 20,” Girardi said. “Go back to the Saturday after we played the Mets, we were 19 games over. It’s been a while since we could get to 20. We’ve had some tough losses in there and our guys have responded pretty well.”

Associated Press photo of Garcia and a Scranton Times-Tribune photo of Soriano. For whatever reason, the AP service I use still hasn’t moved any pictures of tonight’s game, so that’s a shot of Garcia in Tampa.

YANKEES (59-40)
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher DH
Russell Martin C
Andruw Jones RF
Eduardo Nunez 3B
Brett Gardner LF

RHP Freddy Garcia (8-7, 3.21)
Garcia vs. Mariners

MARINERS (43-58)
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Brendan Ryan SS
Dustin Ackley 2B
Miguel Olico C
Adam Kennedy 3B
Mike Carp DH
Justin Smoak 1B
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Greg Halman LF

LHP Jason Vargas (6-8, 3.94)
Vargas vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 7:05 p.m., YES Network (pushed back to 9 p.m.)

WEATHER: Rain never fell very hard, but obviously the radar was a mess. After a lengthy delay, it actually feels pretty nice here.

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

LOOKING FOR 60: If the Yankees win tonight, it would mark the 46th time in franchise history that the team has won 60 of its first 100 games.

KEEPING IT CLOSE: The Yankees have had 12 of their 20 July games decided by three runs or less. Four of their past seven games have been decided by just one run. The Yankees are 12-15 in one-run games this season.

BEST VS. THE WEST: The Yankees are 15-6 against teams in the American League West this season. That’s the best winning percentage against the AL West of any team in 2011. The Yankees only series loss against an AL West team came in Seattle.

MOTIVATION: The Mariners have lost 15 games in a row. The last time the Yankees lost to a team that that had lost its previous 15 games was in 1926 when the Red Sox won at Yankee Stadium to end a 17-game losing streak.

UPDATE, 9:13 p.m.: There’s home run No. 27 for Teixeira, a two-run shot over the Poland Spring sign in left for a 2-0 Yankees lead in the first. Against this Mariners lineup, two runs might be more than enough.

UPDATE, 9:40 p.m.: Couple of hits and a sac fly have put the Mariners on the board. It’s 2-1 in the third.

UPDATE, 9:50 p.m.: Jeter’s fourth homer of the year has extended the Yankees lead to 3-1 in the third.

UPDATE, 10:16 p.m.: Three straight hits from the bottom of the order — including an infield single by Andruw Jones — have sparked a five-run fourth inning for the Yankees. Seattle looks like a team capable of losing 16 in a row, and it might be about to happen. It’s 8-1.

UPDATE, 10:45 p.m.: Another run for the Yankees, meanwhile Freddy Garcia just keeps plowing through this weak Mariners lineup. It’s 9-1 heading into the seventh.

UPDATE, 11:34 p.m.: Here’s Steve Garrison to make his major league debut in the ninth inning of a 10-3 game. He’s gotta get the final two outs.

Looks like the Yankees are going to try to play tonight after all.

They just announced a 9 p.m. first pitch. Settle in everyone, we’re going to be here for a while.

There’s been no announcement about a first pitch. The gates are open and plenty of folks have entered the stadium, but the tarp is still on the field and there’s no indication that a game is about to be played.

Players are no longer outside playing catch, and there’s no activity in the bullpens.

UPDATE, 7:47 p.m.: The update is that there is no update. Still a tarp on the field. Still no word on a first pitch. The rain hasn’t fallen very hard in the past hour, but the radar is a mess. I’ll be a little surprised if they play this thing. If they’re waiting this long, it makes me think they’re waiting for that first little outburst of rain to send everyone home, but I honestly haven’t heard a thing. That’s just me guessing.

Brett Gardner was sitting in his locker, looking at something on his phone when he noticed a group of reporters gathering around a locker just a few feet away. Nick Swisher wasn’t in the room. Neither was Russell Martin.

“Is Chavy here?” Gardner said.

Eric Chavez arrived about an hour ago. He’ll be evaluated today, and if that goes well, he could be activated tomorrow.

“Knowing that this team was obviously a real good team and hopefully going to make the playoffs, that’s why I’m here,” he said. “I’ve got a chance to contribute, and hopefully I can still do that.”

The foot is healed. The kidney stone issue has come and gone. The back feels good. Chavez said it might take a while to feel as comfortable at the plate as he was back in May, but he feels healthy enough to play.

“I’m still a guy with a bad back history and I still have to worry about it and stuff like that,” he said. “But I’ve been on the field. Yesterday I played nine and everything went smooth, so I’ll just hold my breath for the next two months.”

Joe Girardi said he doesn’t expect Chavez to be an everyday player — he’s not going to push the health issue and try to play Chavez seven days in a row — but it’s entirely possible Chavez could be in the lineup right away, if only to give Eduardo Nunez a day off.

As for Chavez, he just seems happy to be back. The broken foot, he said, was an extreme level of frustration because he was playing better than he’d played in years. When his back forced him to delay his rehab — when he was just days away — Chavez said the idea of retirement briefly crossed his mind. Now he’s as healthy as he’s going to be, and Chavez is expecting to be ready to play tomorrow.

“Everything’s fine,” he said. “That’s why I’m here.”

Here’s Chavez.

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• The tarp has been on the field since I got here, but players are outside playing catch, which doesn’t always happen if the teams are expecting to have the game rained out. It’s not a beautiful night, but it might be good enough. Have to wait and see, I guess.

• Rafael Soriano is still scheduled to pitch today in Triple-A, but there’s also rain in the forecast there. This would be Soriano’s second straight outing. The Yankees want Soriano to go back-to-back, and Girardi said they would have to discuss whether to activate him if today’s Triple-A game is rained out.

• Alex Rodriguez is progressing as expected after knee surgery. Girardi said he’s still doing pool work and other low-impact exercises. He’s “on schedule” but Girardi’s not sure when he’ll be ready to begin baseball activities in Tampa.

• Girardi on facing a team that’s lost 15 games in a row: “It’s a weird feeling because obviously you got to believe they will be playing extremely hard because the motivation to end this streak. It’s going to be a team that is excited to play here as well. They got some young kids on their club that I know will be excited so I would throw out that they lost 15 in a row.”

• The guys who went to the HOPE Week event this morning said it was a lot of fun, and apparently included quite a bit of Yankees singing (including a Backstreet Boys song at some point). Feel free to imagine Nick Swisher’s comments and enthusiasm. He was exactly as excited as you would expect.

• Girardi on HOPE Week: “I love that our players go through this because you could be going through a good time as a player or a bad time as a player and you realize that some of the obstacles that others have to overcome are so much greater than what we’re trying to overcome. Whether you’re in a 0-for-10 slump or you haven’t won a start in a couple of times or you gave up a few runs and we lost a game, you realize that there’s so much more to life than what we do.”

MARINERS
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Brendan Ryan SS
Dustin Ackley 2B
Miguel Olico C
Adam Kennedy 3B
Mike Carp DH
Justin Smoak 1B
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Greg Halman LF

Associated Press photo