The LoHud Yankees Blog

YANKEES (57-38)
Brett Gardner CF
Derek Jeter SS
Mark Teixeira 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Jorge Posada DH
Russell Martin C
Eduardo Nunez 3B
Chris Dickerson LF

LHP CC Sabathia (14-4, 2.64)
Sabathia vs. Rays

RAYS (51-45)
Ben Zobrist DH
Sean Rodriguez 2B
Evan Longoria 3B
B.J. Upton CF
Justin Ruggiano RF
Kelly Shoppach C
Casey Kotchman 1B
Elliot Johnson SS
Sam Fuld LF

RHP James Shields (8-8, 2.60)
Shields vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 7:10 p.m., YES Network and MLB Network

WEATHER: On last day under the big, white dome.

UMPIRES: HP Alfonso Marquez, 1B Ed Hickox, 2B Ed Rapuano, 3B Dan Iassogna

LIMIT THE DAMAGE: The Yankees allowed eight hits last night. According to Elias, it was the most hits the Yankees had allowed in a shutout win in the past 13 years.

LIMIT THE LONG BALL: The Yankees now gone eight straight games without allowing a home run, matching their longest such streak since 1999 when they also went eight straight without a homer. The last time they went more than eight games without a home run was in 1984 when they went 11 in a row without allowing a home run.

LIMITED AT THE END: The Yankees bullpen has not allowed a run in the past five games, allowing just four hits and three walks with 19 strikeouts in 11.2 innings during that stretch.

UPDATE, 7:29 p.m.: So much for the homerless streak. That ended with Evan Longoria’s two-out shot in the first inning. It’s 1-0 Rays heading into the second.

UPDATE, 8:07 p.m.: Soriano pitching one inning for Tampa tonight. He threw 16 pitches and allowed two hits and one earned run. He walked none and struck out none.

UPDATE, 8:22 p.m.: Hey look, Gardner bunted. That’s a two-out bunt single in the fifth. It’s still 1-0 on that first-inning homer.

UPDATE, 8:26 p.m.: Jeter goes down swinging to end the inning. Shields and Sabathia locked in another terrific pitching matchup.

UPDATE, 8:36 p.m.: Sometimes  you give up a triple to a fast guy at the bottom of the order. Walking Johnson was the real problem for Sabathia here in the fifth. I’m sitting next to Sweeny Murti who pointed out that Sam Fuld’s RBI triple went into the right-field corner with a runner at first base. It was basically the same situation as the flip play, and sure enough, it ended with Jeter running across the infield to be in the exact same spot he was in against the A’s.

UPDATE, 9:00 p.m.: After a two-out Nunez single, Girardi made the logical move and brought Granderson off the bench to pinch hit. He flied to left and it’s still a 2-0 Rays lead heading into the bottom of the seventh.

UPDATE, 9:22 p.m.: Don’tchaknow. Robinson Cano comes through with a two-out RBI double to right, scoring Jeter and pulling the Yankees within 2-1 in the eight. Shields is done, Gomes is in to face Swisher. This is the first sign of life from the Yankees offense. Shields was terrific.

Joe Girardi asked Curtis Granderson about three specific injuries: His right calf felt fine. So did his left foot. But when Girardi asked about Granderson’s back, Granderson said he’d have to take batting practice before he’d know for sure.

“That kind of gave me a heads up that it’s probably pretty sore,” Girardi said.

The lineup was finalized before batting practice. Girardi was already leaning toward giving Granderson the day off, and his hesitation pretty much sealed the decision.

Would Girardi have chosen Brett Gardner a the leadoff hitter with or without Granderson in the lineup?

“I could have,” Girardi said. “The lineup’s a big topic now, but I kind of had in my mind that Grandy would need a day off so I never really thought about it.”

• Why did Russell Martin shave his mustache? Was it getting too hot? Was it uncomfortable? “It was ugly as crap,” Martin said.*

• Granderson said his back is the most sore part of him right now, but he believes he could play if necessary. He said the left foot — which was hit Tuesday — feels perfectly fine, and the right calf — which was hit yesterday — was actually spared most of the damage. The ball hit more on his shin than his calf, so the muscle didn’t tighten up too much.

• Rafael Soriano has another inning tonight and Eric Chavez will play third base for High-A Tampa. That’s a 7 o’clock game.

• Girardi said Soriano could go back-to-back on Sunday and Monday — it won’t be tonight and tomorrow — which would put him on track to be back with the Yankees as early as Wednesday or Thursday.

• Nothing new on Ivan Nova, but Girardi did confirm that he remains their most likely starter for that July 30 double header. “If he’s fine and we feel he’s ready to go, I think that’s probably what you have to do,” Girardi said.

• Alex Rodriguez got his stitches out today.

• Is there a chance Granderson will be the No. 3 hitter tomorrow. “It just depends on who I play,” Girardi said. “There’s some pieces that I’m going to have to see how guys are doing tomorrow. It’s definitely something I could do. I could hit Grandy third and it’s a possibility, but I’ve got to see who I have tomorrow.”

* Actually, that’s the censored version of Martin’s explanation. He agreed to change the last word when someone explained that his original quote wouldn’t work on television or in the newspaper.

RAYS
Ben Zobrist DH
Sean Rodriguez 2B
Evan Longoria 3B
B.J. Upton CF
Justin Ruggiano RF
Kelly Shoppach C
Casey Kotchman 1B
Elliot Johnson SS
Sam Fuld LF

Associated Press photos

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

Still no lineup posted, but there is this breaking news coming out of the Yankees clubhouse: Russell Martin has shaved the mustache.

May it rest in peace.

My friend Jon is a few years older than me, and I remember him saying that turning 30 wasn’t a big deal. It was turning 31 that made him feel old.

CC Sabathia turns 31 years old today.

He has 171 career wins, the most by any pitcher before their 31st birthday since Catfish Hunter had 202 in 1977. According to Elias, the last pitchers with at least 170 wins before turning 31 are currently in the Hall of Fame: Hunter, Bob Feller, Hal Newhouser, Robin Roberts, Don Drysdale, Juan Marichal, Ferguson Jenkins and Jim Palmer.

Maybe Sabathia will feel like an old man today, but I doubt it. Since May 19 he’s gone 11-1 with a 2.11 ERA, 84 strikeouts and 17 walks. If he’s pitching like an old man, it’s because he’s pitching like Cy Young. And for whatever it’s worth, I didn’t think turning 31 was so bad.

Associated Press photo

Curtis Granderson has missed one game this season. It might be time for him to miss another.

“He’s a little beat up,” Joe Girardi said. “He hit a ball off his foot yesterday, had the calf today, so I’ll check with him (tonight).”

Granderson has become so productive that he might be the most difficult person to take out of the Yankees lineup, but in the past two days he has:

• Been hit by a pitch in the left foot, leading him to ice and wrap his foot that night.
• Fouled a ball off his right calf, hitting a spot very close to where he was hit at home against the Twins.
• Crashed into the wall in center field, resulting in only a small scratch from where he landed on the ground.
• Been hit by a pitch in the upper back, leading to soreness that tightened up before the end of the game.

“I don’t know, we’ll see,” Granderson said. “For the most part I think I’ll be alright. We’ll see how things go waking up in the morning, but it should be fine. Should be ready to go.”

Associated Press photo

After last night’s game, the picture at the top of these postgame notes was of the Yankees bench in the seventh inning, heads hung low as the game was slipping away. Tonight, the picture is of the Yankees bench in the ninth, heads up high as the game is reaching its inevitable end.

“That’s what good pitchers and good players do,” Freddy Garcia said. “It can be rough the night before, then the next day you can be the hero. That’s the way baseball goes.”

This game seemed to be all about second chances for the Yankees, from their rotation to their bullpen to their very best player this season.

Freddy Garcia’s second chance

Last week, Garcia was pitching on 11 days rest, and it showed. He was rusty, much more sloppy than what he’d been in the first half. Tonight was the Garcia the Yankees were used to seeing. He was sharp, and although the Rays got their hits, they didn’t take a single walk and Garcia got big outs when he needed them. The Rays were 0-for-6 with four strikeouts with runners in scoring position. Three of those strikeouts were inning-enders by Garcia.

“You’re a professional, so you expect to do your job,” Garcia said. “I’m a pitcher. I try to do my job every time I go out there, win some games and help the team.”

This was the third time in his past four starts that Garcia didn’t allow a walk. He hasn’t allowed a home run in his past 46 innings, the longest streak of his career. Opponents are hitting .173 against him with runners in scoring position. That average dips to .163 when there are two outs and runners in scoring position.

“Because (Garcia and Bartolo Colon) are older, people seem to think, ‘Is this the end?’ every time they have a bad start,” Joe Girardi said. “Freddy didn’t start for about 15 days after being skipped by the rain (last time), so I wasn’t sure how sharp he was going to be. I’m not surprised he did what he did.”

Boone Logan’s second chance

Logan’s first two and a half months mean he’ll probably be a punching bag the rest of the season, but he’s been pretty good since the middle of June, and tonight he got a massive strikeout against baseball’s third-leading hitter. One night after Logan’s error cost the Yankees the ball game, he and Casey Kotchman battled through a seven-pitch at-bat that ended with Kotchman swinging through a 94-mph fastball.

“It felt good,” Logan said. “Felt just as good as I did yesterday, luckily he didn’t hit the ball back to me. They’re all big outs, and coming in after what I did yesterday and coming out to get that big strikeout, I got pretty pumped up.”

Curtis Granderson’s second chance

Until the ninth inning, Granderson two-run home run was responsible for the only scoring in the ball game, but that wasn’t his most memorable moment. With two on in the fifth, Evan Longoria drove a ball to deep center field. It was a much more difficult catch than the ball Granderson lost in the roof last night, and this time he made a sprinting grab just before slamming into the center field wall.

“I saw that one all the way,” he said. “I thought I was going to be able to stay and brace myself because I could see (the wall) coming up and I got my hand out. The good thing is, this wall doesn’t have much behind it so there’s a lot of give. It just kind of pushed me off and I fell back off it. It probably looked worse than it actually was… If that would have been in Yankee Stadium it wouldn’t have been pretty by no means.”

Let’s go with the Garcia audio tonight.

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• Granderson has taken a beating these past two days, and he said that hit-by-pitch in the eighth inning knocked the wind of him for a second. There’s no way around it, that one hurt. He’s also been hit in the left foot, fouled a ball off his right calf and slammed into a wall. Girardi said he’ll check with Granderson before playing him tomorrow, but Granderson feels confident that he’ll be good to go. “For the most part, I think I’ll be alright,” he said. “We’ll see how things go waking up in the morning, but it should be fine. Should be ready to go.”

• David Price apologized to Granderson on the field after drilling him between the shoulder blades with a 95-mph fastball. Obviously there’s no chance Price was trying to hit him, but he apparently felt a little bad about that one.

• After 6.2 scoreless from Garcia, Logan got a big out against a lefty, Dave Robertson and Mariano Rivera struck out four through hitless eight and ninth innings. “That’s a perfect scenario,” Logan said. “That’s what we want to do. When the bullpen comes in and shuts it down, you can’t ask for more from it, and it’s always a good feeling when we all go out there and do our job.”

• For Garcia, the biggest difference between this start and the last start was his command, especially with his split. Once again, both Garcia and Girardi praised Russell Martin’s ability to block that pitch when Garcia buries it. “He’s going to bounce it,” Martin said. “You want him to keep it down in the zone, so it’s going to make me work a little bit. I’ll work if it’s getting us outs.”

• Garcia’s been through his own health problems in the recent past, and tonight he was asked whether he’s feeling stronger as he gets further removed from surgery. “It doesn’t matter,” Garcia said. “That surgery happened three years ago. I don’t think about it. I have to go out there and pitch my game. It doesn’t matter how hard I throw, I find a way to get people out. That’s the most important thing. A lot of people throw hard and don’t get anybody out. You gotta make your pitch and try to survive.”

• Girardi on the decision to face Longoria instead of giving him the open base in the fifth inning: “We thought if Freddy made his pitches, he had a good chance of getting him out. He had to make his pitches. Matt Joyce is a dangerous hitter, too, an all-star in the first half. Freddy had gotten him out the time before, had gotten him to chase some splits and his split was good, so we decided to go after him.”

• Girardi on Granderson’s catch to end that at-bat: “Outstanding. To be able to go back on that ball, and Grandy plays fairly shallow, he showed tremendous range. It was a big out… He’s good at going back. There are center fielders who have different ideas about how to play; he plays shallow and it’s worked for him.”

• Brett Gardner reached base two more times tonight, and he’s hitting .346 since June 4, raising his batting average from .244 to .291. He’s now stolen 16 bases in a row, including at least one in five straight games.

• Gardner is the first Yankee with consecutive 30-steal seasons since Alfonso Soriano did it in three straight, from 2001 to 2003.

• Granderson now has 26 home runs for the season, 10 of them off left-handed pitchers. He has two homers in 24 career at-bats against Price. All other left-handed hitters have two homers in 399 at-bats against him.

Associated Press photos

Another fly ball to Curtis Granderson and another late-inning opportunity for Boone Logan. Redemption came to the Yankees in a 4-0 win against the Rays tonight at Tropicana Field. One night after Granderson lost a costly fly ball in the roof, he made a lead-saving catch in dead center field, crashing into the wall to keep two runs from scoring. One night after Logan committed a ruinous seventh-inning error, he struck out Casey Kotchman to strand two runners in the seventh, walking off the field with a fist pump. Freddy Garcia pitched 6.1 scoreless, Granderson hit his team-leading 26th homer, Eduardo Nunez drove in two insurances runs in the ninth, and Dave Robertson and Mariano Rivera handled the final six outs.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (56-38)
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 Freddy Garcia (7-7, 3.43)
Garcia vs. Rays

RAYS (51-43)
Johnny Damon DH
Robinson Chirinos C
Casey Kotchman 1B
Evan Longoria 3B
Matt Joyce RF
B.J. Upton CF
Sam Fuld LF
Sean Rodriguez 2B
Reid Brignac SS

LHP David Price (9-7, 3.73)
Price vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 7:10 p.m., YES Network

WEATHER: Same day all over again.

UMPIRES: HP Dan Iassogna, 1B Alfonso Marquez, 2B Ed Hickox, 3B Ed Rapuano

NOT LIKE LAST YEAR: Last night, the Yankees took their first loss against a rookie pitcher this season. According to Elias, the Yankees were the last Major League team to be beaten by a rookie starter this season.

IN THE PARK: The Yankees have gone seven straight games without allowing a home run, their longest stretch of the season and their longest since a seven-game streak in 2008. Last time they went eight straight was in 1999.

GO-GO GARDNER: Brett Gardner is 24-for-28 on stolen base attempts since May 20, having stolen his past 15 in a row without being caught.

UPDATE, 7:34 p.m.: One turn through the lineup, both Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter have singled, the only run has come from Curtis Granderson’s two-run home run, and Gardner has stolen a base. Does any of that affect Girardi’s consideration of a lineup change?

UPDATE, 8:12 p.m.: Colon last night, Garcia tonight. They’re making it a little easier to forget about those starts last week.

UPDATE, 8:31 p.m.: That’s a big-time catch by Granderson. He really smacked that wall, but there was never any doubt that he had it. Garcia is through five innings scoreless. It’s still 2-0 Yankees.

UPDATE, 9:02 p.m.: Nunez kicks another one, but this time it’s ruled a base hit for some reason. Here’s Logan to face Kotchman with two on and two out in the seventh.

UPDATE, 9:05 p.m.: Now they’ve got it right. That’s an E5 on Nunez. Still Logan facing Kotchman.

UPDATE, 9:08 p.m.: That looked like a Cervelli fist pump out of Martin. Logan gave a mini-version of the Robertson fist pump. That’s a huge out in a huge spot. Still 2-0 Yankees.

Although it hasn’t happened yet, Joe Girardi said this afternoon that it’s entirely possible he’ll shuffle the Yankees lineup against right-handers so that Brett Gardner moves back into the leadoff spot.

“I might,” he said. “He’s going so well, it’s something I’ll definitely consider. Just wait and see what happens.”

Girardi said that since Alex Rodriguez went down with the knee injury, he’s spent some time thinking about new ways to configure the lineup. He’s thought about moving Gardner back to the top, and he’s considered moving Curtis Granderson into a run-producing spot in the middle of the order.

Before he makes a change, though, Girardi said he would discuss it with everyone involved. There will be no lineup surprises in the clubhouse.

“I think guys like knowing where they’re going to be,” Girardi said. “I think you can get caught up sometimes trying to catch lightning in the bottle. You move a guy up because he’s hot, then you disrupt your whole lineup just because a guy’s hot. I think you can get caught up in that too. There’s something to be said about the consistency of your lineup, and a lot of times it’s how it all works together.”

Would Girardi be afraid to have that conversation with Jeter?

“No,” he said. “I have to do what I feel is best for the team. When you look at a lineup, you look at how it works together, not independent of one guy. No, I’m not afraid to have that conversation.”

• Nick Swisher has been moved from right field to DH, and Andruw Jones has switched from DH to right field. Girardi said it’s strictly to give Swisher a day off his feet. There’s nothing physically wrong, he just changed his mind after the lineup was posted.

• Tests on Ivan Nova’s ankle came back negative. Girardi talked to Nova this afternoon, and Nova said he feels much better today than yesterday. Turns out, he didn’t exactly role the ankle, he just felt some pain in the spot where he was hit by a line drive in his first Triple-A start back on July 7. Donnie Collins texted me to say Nova’s been placed on the disabled list, but Girardi said this doesn’t necessarily rule out Nova starting one of those double header games on July 30.

• The Yankees were encouraged by Eric Chavez’s day in Tampa. “The positive thing there is that he was able to give you five at-bats where the foot didn’t get sore,” Girardi said. “That’s the positive thing for me. Obviously the hits are positive as well. He’s getting his timing back, but that he can continue running the bases and not get sore, that’s important to me.”

• Rafael Soriano is scheduled to pitch again either Thursday or Friday. Girardi said his reports had Soriano at 91-93 mph on Tuesday, and he considered that encouraging velocity for a guy making his first rehab appearance.

• Still no word on when Chavez might play the field. Girardi said he wasn’t sure.

• Girardi on Granderson’s left foot: “I told him to let me know if he could play today. I saw him, and he didn’t say anything.”

• Girardi wasn’t certain, but he thought Alex Rodriguez had started doing some pool work in his recovery from knee surgery.

Associated Press photos