The LoHud Yankees Blog

Just a quick reading recommendation: Check out the story of Jack Hannahan getting home to see the birth of his baby boy, thanks to an assist from his teammates in the Indians clubhouse.

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

Consider this a preemptive blog post.

Yesterday, the Yankees shuffled their Triple-A rotation. Normally not a big deal, but it created an intriguing possibility: It moved Manny Banuelos into a position to start one of those doubleheader games against the Orioles at the end of the month.

That’s not going to happen.

Brian Cashman said via email that the Triple-A rotation was not shuffled to put Banuelos in position for a big league call-up. The change was apparently made because David Phelps is coming off the disabled list and will make his return on Friday. Cashman said it’s “false” that Banuelos is being lined up to possibly start one of those doubleheader games.

Banuelos starts tonight, Dellin Betances on Thursday and Phelps on Friday.

Here’s the short version of Ivan Nova last night: He wasn’t very good. With the Yankees rotation still uncertain, Nova’s been underwhelming — at best — in back-to-back starts.

“He doesn’t need a mulligan,” Joe Girardi said. “He’s pitched really well. We’ve seen great pitchers get hit. That’s going to happen. He just hung some pitches tonight.”

Nova won again, but it was a win that belonged to the bullpen and the lineup, not the starting pitcher.

“It felt different,” Nova said. “I think I had command in the beginning, and the slider, I just stopped trying because I don’t think it was the right pitch at the time. We don’t make the pitch when we had to make it, and that was the difference in the game.”

There were times when Nova was good last night. He had some perfectly clean innings, then he had some multi-run innings. Big picture: It was a sloppy night in a good season. Maybe it was a bump in the road, or maybe it was a cautionary tale for a young pitcher still finding himself at this level.

“I thought he kind of got on a roll, then he didn’t,” Girardi said. “They’ve swung the bat well off of Nova. Is that because they see him or because he’s made mistakes? Tonight, when he made his pitches, he got them out. When he made mistakes, they hit him. That’s what hitters are supposed to do.”

Or, as Nova put it: “When you make mistakes, you have to pay for that. This is not minor leagues. We’re in the big leagues, so you better make sure you throw the right pitch at the right time.”

Here’s Nova.

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Associated Press photo

After 12 pitches and seven consecutive foul balls, the thing that caught my eye was the reaction of Melky Cabrera. Robinson Cano had just fought through one of the best at-bats of the season, and when it ended with a game-changing, three-run home run to deep right-center field, Cabrera reacted as if he’d been expecting it all along. He took maybe a step and a half, then stopped to watch it fly away.

At some point, when you’ve seen Cano enough times, you know something like this is possible.

“Robbie’s going to hit,” Joe Girardi said. “It seems like Robbie was born to hit.”

In his past 16 games, Cano is hitting .422 with five home runs and 22 RBI. Girardi it’s the best Cano’s ever been, and Cano said he’s felt as good as he did last season when he finished third in MVP voting.

“I’ve been more able to drive the ball the other way, something I wasn’t doing most of the first half,” Cano said. “Now in the second half, I’ve got three or four homers the other way, and that’s something you want. You want power to the whole field, not just pulling things and hitting ground balls to second base.”

That fourth-inning at-bat was a perfect example of just how good he can be. A left-handed pitcher was firing fastballs and sliders, and Cano kept fighting them off — including two fastballs that he said were “on the ground” — until he finally got a slider he could handle. Cano said he had been kicking himself for not taking a walk, but he did better than a free pass.

“It’s as good as it gets,” Girardi said. “That’s just a great at-bat. Even just to foul off that many pitches and continue the at-bat is great. To get a hit is great, then to top it with a homer… To be able to recognize a pitch and foul it off when it’s not your pitch, a guy who’s throwing pretty hard up to 95-96 with a good (breaking ball), that’s not easy to do. That’s where you see the talent in Robbie.”

Here’s Cano.

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• Alex Rodriguez played six innings in the field and went 1-for-3 at the plate in his Triple-A rehab appearance. Girardi said he had not yet gotten a full report, but all indications were that Rodriguez came through the game just fine and will play again tomorrow.

• A side note: I wrote yesterday that the Yankees are keeping the Triple-A clubhouse closed to media before Rodriguez’s rehab games. Turns out they did the same thing when Derek Jeter was in Trenton. I don’t remember that ever happening when I was in Scranton, but apparently it’s something the Yankees have started doing to control the chaos. Understandable, just struck me as unusual when I first heard about it.

• Cano was asked whether he feels more pressure when Rodriguez is out of the lineup: “Here is always a feeling of responsibility, even with Alex not here,” he said. “But it’s more with Al here, because you want to make them pitch to him, not just walk him and try and face you. That means you’re not doing your thing.”

• Cano’s at-bat was clearly the turning point, and the Yankees wouldn’t win this game without a big night from the lineup, but the bullpen was beyond outstanding. Yankees relievers faced 11 hitters and retired all of them. “They’ve done a tremendous job in these two games here,” Girardi said. “They’ve been really good. It’s how you draw it up.”

• Derek Jeter is now hitting .352 with 17 runs and 21 RBI in his past 22 games. he’s a career .318 hitter against the Royals… Not to be outdone, Brett Gardner is a career .474 hitter against the Royals (9-for-19).

• Ivan Nova’s two worst starts this year have come against the Royals. “They hit me,” Nova said. “They see my ball really well. That’s why I get hit against this team.”

• Girardi and Nova seemed to have different takes on the problem tonight. Nova felt like he got hit on some good pitches. Girardi thought Nova made some good pitches, but got hit on mistakes that were up in the zone. “He was up,” Girardi said. “You look at the hits he gave up, high slider, high curveball, high fastball. He threw some good sliders and good curveballs, but it seemed like when he made a mistake – sometimes with two strikes – they hit it.”

• Nova has won five straight starts and his 12 wins are the most among Major League rookies. It’s the highest win total for a Yankees rookie since Orlando Hernandez went 12-4 in 1998. He’s already matched the Yankees rookie win record for the past 30 years. “A win is a win,” Nova said. “I don’t think I get paid for my ERA. I think I get paid to win games, so a win’s a win, no matter the way you get it.”

• The Yankees claimed left-handed reliever Raul Valdes off waivers from the Cardinals and assigned him to Triple-A. His lefty splits are pretty bad, but he’s spent parts of two years in the big leagues, so apparently the Yankees aren’t the only team to see something in him.

• To make room on the 40-man, Jeff Marquez was transfered to the 60-day disabled list.

• If for no other reason, click the Cano audio to hear Nick Swisher pleading his case for the early bus to wait for him. He was clearly joking, but it was very funny. Also, the postgame song of choice tonight was Smells Like Teen Spirit. Unusual, but solid.

Associated Press photos

The Yankees have first place all to themselves. On a rough night for Ivan Nova, the lineup picked up the slack and carried the team to a 9-7 win against the Royals. Boston split a doubleheader, giving the Yankees sole possession of the division lead. Robinson Cano delivered the big blow, capping a 12-pitch at-bat with a tie-breaking, three-run home run in the fourth. Cano, Derek Jeter and Brett Gardner combined for six hits, six RBI and five runs. Nova allowed seven runs on nine hits through 5.1 innings, but still extended his winning streak to five straight starts. The Yankees bullpen was tremendous, delivering 3.2 hitless innings.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (73-46)
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Andruw Jones DH
Russell Martin C
Eduardo Nunez 3B
Brett Gardner LF

RHP Ivan Nova (11-4, 3.85)
Nova vs. Royals

ROYALS (50-72)
Alex Gordon LF
Melky Cabrera CF
Billy Butler DH
Eric Hosmer 1B
Jeff Francoeur RF
Johnny Giavotella 2B
Salvador Perez C
Mike Moustakas 3B
Alcides Escobar SS

LHP Danny Duffy (3-6. 4.97)
Duffy vs. Yankees (debut vs. Yankees)

TIME/TV: 8:10 p.m., MY9

WEATHER: Much, much better than yesterday. A lot of wind blowing right to left, but the sky is blue.

UMPIRES: HP Doug Eddings, 1B Chad Fairchild, 2B Dan DeMuth, 3B Kerwin Danley

ALL I DO IS WIN, WIN, WIN: Ivan Nova’s 11 wins are the most among Major League rookies. He is the 10th Yankees rookie to record at least 11 wins in a season since 1950, and first since Orlando Hernandez went 12-4 in 1998.

BETTER THAN LAST YEAR: According to Elias, the Yankees are 13-4 this year in games in which they have been opposed by a starting pitcher who was facing them for the first time in his career. They’ve won their last eight such games and 11 of their last 12. The Yankees were 5-9 in those games during the 2010 season.

OLDER AT THE CORNER: Third Base Coach Rob Thomson is celebrating his 48th birthday today.

UPDATE, 8:21 p.m.: Nova made it look pretty easy through the first two hitters, but the next two singled and doubled and now it’s a 1-0 Royals lead in the first inning.

UPDATE, 8:23 p.m.: And there’s an RBI single by Francoeur. It’s now 2-0.

UPDATE, 8:48 p.m.: Rodriguez is finished for the night. He went 1-for-3 and played six innings in the field.

UPDATE, 8:54 p.m.: Duffy’s a little wild this inning, and the Yankees have taken advantage with an RBI single by Cano.

UPDATE, 9:03 p.m.: Two-run single by Martin and the Yankees are in front 3-2 in the middle of the third.

UPDATE, 9:06 p.m.: Don’t see a lot of triples to left-center, but Escobar can move and Gardner picked the wrong angle to cutoff the ball. Royals have the tying run at third with no outs in the bottom of the third.

UPDATE, 9:12 p.m.: The triple came around to score, then Melky Cabrera went deep and now the Royals have another runner at second base with one out. It’s a 4-3 Kansas City lead, and Nova doesn’t look especially sharp.

UPDATE, 9:18 p.m.: Make that 5-3 Kansas City. By the way, Melky Cabrera has tied his career high with 73 RBI.

UPDATE, 9:43 p.m.: After a tremendous at-bat, Robinson Cano just crushed a home run to right-center. Melky Cabrera took maybe a step and a half before freezing in his tracks to watch it fly. It’s now an 8-5 Yankees lead.

Also, the Yankees have claimed LHP Raul Valdes from the Cardinals. He’ll report to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Jeff Marquez has been moved to the 60-day disabled list to make room on the 40-man.

UPDATE, 10:29 p.m.: Rough night for Nova. He’s out after 5.1 innings, having allowed seven runs on nine hits. The Yankees lead is down to 8-7, and it’s intact only because Boone Logan stranded a runner in the sixth.

UPDATE, 10:43 p.m.: Derek Jeter stays hot with an RBI single and the Yankees lead is up to 9-7 in the seventh.

Freddy Garcia threw a bullpen today, but that bullpen included no splitfingers. Essentially, the Yankees are keeping Garcia stretched out and ready to pitch, but they won’t put him in a game until he’s ready to throw his best offspeed pitch.

“We’ll look at it every day to make an evaluation if we think it’s ready to throw it,” Joe Girardi said.

Right now, Girardi said he’s thinking Garcia will be ready to start Saturday. If not Saturday, maybe Sunday. The Yankees are just trying to be careful with that cut, making sure they don’t test it too early. Girardi said he wouldn’t rule out Friday for Garcia, but that seems unlikely.

CC Sabathia will start Thursday’s series opener against the Twins, and Girardi said it’s likely Phil Hughes will start Friday.

“See how (Garcia) is tomorrow and then probably try to give a rotation,” Girardi said.

• Alex Rodriguez begins his Triple-A rehab assignment tonight. He’s batting third and playing third for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He’ll be playing these two games behind prospect starters Adam Warren and Manny Banuelos. Of course, my great friend Donnie Collins is on the scene to keep you informed.

• Girardi on what he hopes to hear about Rodriguez: “I’m most anxious to see how he’s moving and how he feels playing defense. Sitting down, going back out. Sitting down, going back out. Running the bases. If he feels 100 percent.”

• You’ll be shocked — shocked! — to learn that Girardi would not announce a planned lineup for when Rodriguez returns to the big league roster. My guess is that Brett Gardner will fall back to the bottom of the order against right-handers and stay there against left-handers, but I can’t say for certain.

• If you’re curious, Derek Jeter said last night’s decision to bunt in the first inning was all on his own. Girardi said he had no problem with it because it wasn’t a straight sacrifice. Jeter was bunting for a hit, with a sacrifice being the alternative if he didn’t beat the play. “That’s part of his game,” Girardi said.

• The Yankees are facing lefties in three of their next four games (counting this one) and Girardi said he’s not sure what he’ll do about the DH when they see another right-hander. It’s entirely possible, he said, that Rodriguez will DH in his first game back with the team.

ROYALS
Alex Gordon LF
Melky Cabrera CF
Billy Butler DH
Eric Hosmer 1B
Jeff Francoeur RF
Johnny Giavotella 2B
Salvador Perez C
Mike Moustakas 3B
Alcides Escobar SS

Associated Press photos

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

Two press releases came from the Yankees today. First an updated list of the draft picks signed before last night’s midnight deadline. Second, a statement from Alex Rodriguez about Jim Thome’s 600th home run.

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An updated list of draft picks signed by the Yankees last night prior to the midnight deadline. Those listed below in bold were signed on Monday.

3B Dante Bichette Jr. (Comp. A)
RHP Jordan Cote (3rd rd.)
INF Matt Duran (4th)
C Gregory Bird (5th)
OF Jake Cave (6th)
1B Austin Jones (7th)
RHP Philip Wetherell (8th)
RHP Zachary Arneson (9th)
RHP Mark Montgomery (11th)
OF Cody Grice (12th)
OF Justin James (13th)
RHP William Davis (14th)
RHP Branden Pinder (16th)
RHP Hayden Sharp (18th)
RHP Robert Paullus (19th)
LHP Daniel Camarena (20th)
INF Zach Wilson (21st)
RHP Corey Maines (23rd)
LHP Matthew Tracy (24th)
LHP Chaz Herbert (27th)
RHP Joseph Maher (38th)

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Statement from Alex Rodriguez regarding Jim Thome joining the 600-home run club:

“Jim is one of the easiest players of our generation to root for. It’s hard to overshadow 600 home runs, because it is a tremendous accomplishment and an exclamation point on a career bound for the Hall of Fame. But to me, the way he has treated the game — and the people in and around it — will always be the first thing that I think of when I think of Jim Thome. In so many ways, he is a legend of our game.”

The scoreboard in Kansas City is big and bright, and Derek Jeter lost the ball last night. He’d driven a ball to right-center, and when he could no longer see it, Jeter decided to run until someone told him to stop.

His two-run triple was the biggest hit of the night.

“I thought it was important that we responded right then,” Joe Girardi said. “Because we hadn’t scored since the second inning, and we got some big hits. A real big one from Jeet.”

Jeter’s been doing that for more than a month now. The numbers suggest a significant improvement since his return from the disabled list, and the naked-eye evidence suggests the same. The Yankees shortstop just seems to be driving the ball a little more often, going into the gap more than he was in the first half.

“Staying back,” Jeter said. “Stay back better and obviously you’re going to drive balls more. That’s what I’ve been doing since I’ve been back, so I just want it to continue.”

Associated Press photo