The LoHud Yankees Blog

Mariano Rivera was laughing from the very beginning.

After three disappointing outings, the Yankees closer finally had a clean one last night, and as a small group of reporters began to gather around his locker afterward, Rivera laughed when the first question was asked.

Is the crisis over?

The crisis sarcastically in question was quite literally four hits in a span of 2.2 innings. But because of who Rivera is and what he does, it was a big deal. I wasn’t even covering the game on Thursday, but very soon after Russell Branyan’s home run, I got my first email from a reader saying it was time for Rivera to be placed on the disabled list and Dave Robertson to be inserted into the closer’s role.

“Everyone’s going to struggle,” Joe Girardi said last night. “You’re going to go through your struggles, I don’t care who you are. Even the greatest closer of all time is going to go through his struggles.”

The Yankees never saw a crisis, and Rivera dismissed the idea that he needed a nice, quick, clean outing to ease his own mind.

“I don’t worry about it,” he said. “I have peace of mind, believe me.”

For a guy like Rivera, three outings — no matter how bad — don’t constitute a crisis, and one clean inning doesn’t signify the beginning or end of anything.

“You just want to do your job,” Rivera said. “Especially in a situation like that when your teammates are there battling and you go out there and don’t do your job. We won. The whole team did great.”

Here’s Rivera.

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Associated Press photo

A.J. Burnett knows when to celebrate. He knows when to move on quietly. Tonight he was moving on.

Burnett’s first win since June 29 was good enough. It was good enough to give the lineup a chance to rally. It was good enough to hand a lead to the Yankees lock-down relievers. It was good enough to put the Yankees back into a tie for first place. Burnett scattered singles, got a few key outs and walked just one batter.

“Maybe a cupcake,” Burnett said. “No pie for that. You’ve got to do a lot better than three runs in five and two-thirds to get a pie.”

Fair enough. Really, this outing wasn’t much different than the seven winless starts that came before it. Burnett had his one bad inning, and he was rarely overwhelming, but this time the Yankees scored enough runs. Burnett wasn’t happy to come out of the game in the middle of the sixth, but Joe Girardi wanted to matchup against a lefty, and Burnett seemed to realize he was in no position to argue.

“You can’t fight City Hall,” Burnett said. “Skip’s got a reason for everything. The way I look at it is we’ll build from this one, start pitching a little better and give Skip some confidence. The bottom line is, the better I pitch, the longer I’m going to stay out there.”

Derek Jeter said Burnett should be “real pleased” with this start, and Girardi said it was a chance for Burnett to feel like he’s contributing.

Burnett gave up 10 hits, but none went for extra-bases. He walked only one batter, but that was with the bases loaded. He got a win, but didn’t pitch through the sixth. It was enough to put the Yankees back in first place, but it probably wasn’t enough to quiet the frustration with the pitcher who’s supposed to be the Yankees go-to No. 2 starter.

“I think a lot of times when players are evaluated, I think the salary is one thing that’s always thrown into the mix,” Girardi said. “And that’s understandable. I understand that. With a high salary is always high expectations, but there’s been some games here that he could have won that we didn’t necessarily score runs. What’s fair in life and unfair, everyone’s going to have a different opinion, but I think he’s thrown the ball better than some of the outcomes he’s had.”

Here’s Burnett.

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• The Red Sox didn’t play tonight, so the two teams are once again tied at the top of the American League East.

• Hey look, it’s a scoreless inning by Mariano Rivera! After three straight rocky outings, the Yankees closer pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to seemingly put himself back on track. “That doesn’t matter,” Rivera said. “We won the game. That’s the most important thing. It feels good. You just want to be there, just go out there and pitch.”

• Another good night for the top of the Yankees lineup. Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter reached base six times and drove in five runs. Jeter had the biggest hit of the night with a two-run triple in the sixth. “We were leading the whole way, then they scored three, but we answered right back,” Jeter said. “I think that’s important. It probably relaxes A.J. a little bit. I don’t want to speak on his behalf, but I would assume so. You’re probably not feeling too good to give up the lead, but then we come right back.”

• Was Jeter thinking triple off the bat? “To be quite honest with you, I hit it and then I lost it in the scoreboard,” Jeter said. “The scoreboard is lit up pretty well. I saw Gardy going, so I just kept going. No one told me to stop.”

• This was Jeter’s 2,391st game, passing Lou Whitaker for the 17th-most games among players who spent their entire career with one team.

• Gardner is hitting .500 (7-for-14) against the Royals this season.

• Mike Moustakas was hitting 4-for-50 against left-handers this season. That’s why Girardi went to Boone Logan instead of letting Burnett finish the sixth. “The struggles that he’s had against left-handers, that’s the time to use my lefty because I know that I have the seventh, eighth and ninth guys if I want to go to them,” Girardi said.

• Another nice game for Jorge Posada, who drew a walk and had the single that started that pivotal three-run sixth.

• The Royals like to run, but the Yankees threw out two runners trying to steal and got another out on a pickoff. “Russell can really throw the baseball,” Girardi said. “And you take your chances when he’s behind home plate.”

• Burnett got two big double plays, the first of which came on a changeup. The second came on a fastball inside to Eric Hosmer. That’s certainly one of the biggest pitches of the night. “Confidence in the fastball in,” Burnett said. “I got it inside him a little and Robbie was able to make that play that not a lot of second basemen make. I threw some good changeups to righties all game. Billy (Butler) had a good swing on a changeup, but what can you do? It was a good pitch and he took it over there; that’s baseball. I have to learn to live with those things and that’s why I was able to get out of that inning.”

• You may have noticed Jeter and Burnett talking on the mound after Burnett was pulled. It was a conversation about the way Burnett was holding his glove to hid the ball before pitches. “I asked him to keep an eye on my hand, because I feel at times the way I set, maybe a runner at second can see my grip,” Burnett said. “I made a conscious effort to turn my glove in a little bit. That’s what I had him keep an eye on, and he said he never saw a thing.”

Associated Press photos

A.J. Burnett’s finally won a game. He allowed 10 hits through 5.2 innings, but the Yankees lineup picked up the slack in a 7-4 win against the Royals. Burnett hadn’t won since June 29. He allowed nothing but singles, and all of the runs he gave up came in a three-run fifth. After Burnett blew an early lead, the Yankees got it back with a three-run sixth before pulling away with runs in the seventh and eighth. Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter combined to reach base six times and drive in five runs. Jeter’s two-run triple put the Yankees in front for good.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (72-46)
Brett Gardner LF
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Eric Chavez 3B
Jorge Posada DH
Russell Martin C

RHP A.J. Burnett (8-9, 4.60)
Burnett vs. Royals

ROYALS (50-71)
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

RHP Felipe Paulino (1-4, 3.45)
Paulino vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 8:10 p.m., YES Network

WEATHER: The rain has gone away, but there’s a solid chance it will come back before the end of the game. Right now, though, the only falling water is coming from the outfield fountains.

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

BLAME IT ON THE RAIN: With Sunday’s rainout, the Yankees have now had 16 games affected by weather this season, including six postponed contests and 10 games that have experienced delays. That total includes their July 18 win at Tampa Bay when a bank of lights went out due to lightning in the Tropicana Field vicinity. Such a bad year for weather, they were delayed in a dome. Brutal.

EVEN THE KIDS ARE GETTING RAINED OUT: Yankee Stadium was supposed to host the Borough President’s Cup today — that’s a Little League championship — but it’s been rained out and rescheduled for Wednesday, August 31, at noon.

THE CAPTAIN: Since returning from the 15-day disabled list, Derek Jeter is batting .313 (42-for-134) with eight doubles, one triple, two homers and 21 RBI in 33 games.

ON THIS DATE: On August 15, 1948, Mickey Mantle homered from both sides of the plate for the second time in his career. He did it in the second game of a doubleheader sweep in Baltimore.

UPDATE, 8:33 p.m.: Gardner reached and was left stranded in the first inning. Now he’s made sure the Yankees didn’t do the same in the second, coming through with a two-out RBI single for a 1-0 lead.

UPDATE, 8:57 p.m.: Some updates were lost and I couldn’t login for a while. I’m just hoping it’s a momentary problem. Anyway, here’s the short version of what’s happened in the past half hour or so…

Jeter had an RBI single to make it 2-0 in the second.
Gardner was out at home trying to score on a ball past the catcher.
Burnett flirted with trouble in the bottom of the second but got out of it.
The Yankees just stranded a double in the third. Still 2-0 heading into the third.

UPDATE, 9:17 p.m.: Two Royals hits in the fourth, but Burnett got out of it with a double play ball to third. Nice, quick turn by Cano. Still 2-0.

UPDATE, 9:35 p.m.: Back-to-back one-out singles from the 8 and 9 hitters in the fifth. Kansas City already has seven hits, but Burnett is still sitting at just 59 pitches… Make that three straight one-out singles for the Royals. Bases loaded in the fifth.

UPDATE, 9:42 p.m.: Bases-loaded walk to Melky Cabrera, two-run single by Billy Butler. It’s now 3-2 Royals and there’s activity in the Yankees bullpen. Burnett’s at 70 pitches, but he might not last much longer.

UPDATE, 9:44 p.m.: Hosmer grounds into a double play to let Burnett off the hook, but he’s lost the lead.

UPDATE, 9:51 p.m.: RBI single by Gardner has tied the game with one out in the sixth. Of course, us writers are spending much more time talking about the ball bouncing off the base and hitting Gardner in the feet as he tried to jump over it. Just a random moment. It really has no relevance in the game, but it was something new to see. Here’s Jeter with a chance to put the Yankees back in front.

UPDATE, 9:53 p.m.: Two-run triple by the captain, and the Yankees are back ahead 5-3. All five Yankees runs have been driven in by the top two hitters in the lineup.

UPDATE, 10:18 p.m.: Boone Logan out of the bullpen, gets a pickoff to end the sixth inning and keep the 5-3 Yankees lead intact. Burnett is in line for the win despite allowing 10 hits — all singles — through 5.2 innings.

Joe Girardi said he came into the weekend planning to have Jorge Posada at designated hitter both Saturday and Sunday. That was going to happen with or without Posada’s six-RBI game on Saturday. After a rainout, though, Girardi had no need to rest anyone. The Royals starter has no significant track record against any of the Yankees. Girardi simply chose to put Posada back in the lineup.

“The next three days, we have three lefties, so we’ll see what we do,” Girardi said. “I like the way Jorge swung the bat. He’s going to play, and we need him to help us.”

Even after the big game on Saturday, Posada said he still showed up today and felt the need to check the lineup. He didn’t take it for granted that one big day was enough to earn himself another start.

“You feel pretty good about yourself going home, that’s about it,” he said. “You put yourself in a situation, and hopefully you try to do everything possible to stay in the lineup. I have to look at it like that, now.”

Looking ahead to next year, Posada said he hasn’t put much thought into whether he’ll retire, but right now he thinks he’ll come back for another season. Staying healthy, he said, is the biggest issue, and right now he feels good.

“It’s tough for me to tell you exactly what I’m going to do,” he said. “To tell you the truth, I really don’t know until the season’s over and I get home and see what happens during the offseason, all the workouts and stuff. I haven’t really thought about it, but I still think that I will right now.”

• Freddy Garcia will try to throw a full bullpen either Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on the progress of the cut at the top of his right index finger. Girardi said the Yankees have to be careful about when Garcia throws, because if the cut hasn’t healed enough, he could rip it back open and cause a setback. He’ll be slotted into the rotation after the bullpen. Right now there’s no date in mind for Garcia to pitch again.

• Garcia’s been able to throw, he just can’t throw his splitfinger. That one pitch, though, is too much of a weapon to go without it. “Hell yeah,” Garcia said. “That’s a pitch I use a lot.”

• Garcia’s cut is this year’s version of last season’s A.J. Burnett black eye: No one seems exactly sure how it happened. “Stuff in the house,” Garcia said when asked how it happened. Was he cooking dinner? “Something like that,” he said.

• Alex Rodriguez has today off. He’ll travel to Scranton and play Triple-A rehab games Tuesday and Wednesday. At that point, the Yankees will reevaluate. Thursday is the earliest Rodriguez could be back. It could be later depending on these two games for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

• Girardi said Rodriguez will play third base the next two days.

• Quite an unusual move: The Triple-A Yankees clubhouse will be closed to reporters before both the Tuesday and Wednesday games. Rodriguez will hold a press conference after the game. I can’t remember ever covering a rehab game when the clubhouse was closed because of the big league player in attendance. I know it didn’t happen with Jason Giambi, and I don’t remember it happening with Roger Clemens.

• For whatever reason, Burnett has been awful in August since he came to the Yankees. “There are pitchers that have some months that aren’t as good as others,” Girardi said. “You hear about it when you acquire them and you understand that. Is there a real reason that you can say he struggles in August? No, I don’t think so.”

• The Royals continue to bring kids up from their minor league system, but Girardi said they’re not necessarily playing a different style of baseball than when the Yankees saw them earlier this season. “They’re still playing the same way,” Girardi said. “They’re aggressive, they’re among the league-leaders in stolen bases and they score runs. Their pitching staff has changed because some people have been hurt. The guy we’re seeing tonight, Paulino, was not on the club when we saw them. They have changed, because they’ve brought some more young kids up.”

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

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

Two quick things as I head out to the ballpark:

1. The rain has stopped. The forecast isn’t great, but things looked a lot worse outside just a few hours ago. The Yankees at least have a chance of playing tonight.

2. Random note from The Hardball Times: Today is the anniversary of Don Mattingly being benched because of his hair. Off the top of my head, I’d say Joba Chamberlain and Sergio Mitre have been the longest-haired Yankees this season, but they’re both on the DL.

My parents saw Yankee Stadium for the first time last week. They flew out for a few days, then we all made our way to Missouri yesterday. Mom and Dad headed for the farm in Sikeston, and I came over here to Kansas City for the beginning of the Yankees midwest road trip. Two small bits of news — well, one bit of news and one worthwhile photo — from Twitter yesterday:

1. Dellin Betances is heading to Triple-A. Following quickly behind Manny Banuelos, the Yankees tall right-hander is taking the final step in the Yankees minor league system. Betances, Banuelos, Jesus Montero and Alex Rodriguez on the same minor league team? Probably worth seeing.

2. Brett Gardner stays comfortable on the team charter. This picture comes from Phil Hughes, who got a little creative with Twitter last night and decided to give a glimpse of the team flight to K.C. Well done.

As for the rotation… Joe Girardi said everyone is pushed back a day after yesterday’s rainout, so it looks like the Yankees starters will lineup this way against the Royals.

Tonight
RHP A.J. Burnett (8-9, 4.60)
vs.
RHP Felipe Paulino (1-4, 3.45)
8:10 p.m., YES Network

Tuesday
RHP Ivan Nova (11-4, 3.85)
vs.
LHP Danny Duffy (3-6. 4.97)
8:10 p.m., My9

Wednesday
RHP Bartolo Colon (8-6, 3.31)
vs.
LHP Bruce Chen (7-5, 4.15)
8:10 p.m., YES Network

The Yankees have gone 21-11 without Alex Rodriguez, last seen playing for them on July 7 before undergoing knee surgery four days later.

“A lot of guys have stepped up and swung the bats extremely well, but adding Al back, he can help out any team,” Derek Jeter said. ”Any time someone gets hurt, you can’t sit around and say, ‘Wait till he comes back.’ You have to continue to play. That’s what we’ve been able to do.”

But life without A-Rod appears to be coming to an end. He’s expected back during the four-game series in Minnesota that begins Thursday night.

“It makes our lineup so much deeper,” Mark Teixeira said. “It makes our bench deeper. It just gives us more options late in games, or maybe if we need to rest a guy here or there. It makes our team much better.”

The Yankees ended up 8-4 in this last 12-game span against the White Sox, Red Sox, Angels and Rays.

“I thought they were an important two weeks and I thought we played well,” Joe Girardi said. “I think we’ve played well the second half. … With the injuries that we had to our bullpen, the uncertainty of our rotation when we left spring training, the injury to Derek, the injury to Alex, this club has persevered.”

The Yankees struggled with injuries down the stretch last year, especially to Teixeira, Nick Swisher and Brett Gardner. Girardi had to sit guys, and the Yankees finished a game back of Boston, drawing the wild card instead. 

“There was so much made of last year,” Girardi said. “People thought, ‘Were we trying?’ Yeah, we were trying to win. I want to play here as many games as I can if we’re fortunate enough to get to the playoffs. That’s the bottom line. Our team was built for this park. So why wouldn’t we want to win our division? But you can’t run guys out there if they’re hurt. The big thing is, we’ve got to stay healthy.”

In tonight’s opener of the three-game series in Kansas City, A.J. Burnett and Felipe Paulino are the scheduled starters.

For a guy who doesn’t consider himself a home-run hitter, Curtis Granderson sure sends up a lot of homers. After hitting No. 33 on Saturday, the MVP candidate was tied with the Blue Jays’ Jose Bautista for the major-league lead.

“Since he made that adjustment in Texas (last August), he’s been a different guy,” Joe Girardi said. “The real difference to me is really against left-handers. I think he has 11 home runs off left-handers, more homers off of lefties than anyone in baseball. That’s not common that you see a left-handed hitter be the guy leading in that category.

“But he just seems to make solid contact. He’s got bat speed. He pulls the ball. He seems to hit homers the other way. We’ve seen him hit them all over. He just has a lot of power. When you look at his frame, that’s not what you necessarily think of. But he does.”

Granderson was also leading the majors with 33 RBI off lefties. Overall, he owns a team-high 94 RBI and is batting .275. He has 18 doubles, nine triples and 22 steals.