The LoHud Yankees Blog

X-rays are negative on Russell Martin’s thumb, but Joe Girardi said he’ll be out a day or two. Girardi also doesn’t want Jorge Posada to catch back to back games.

“Montero will probably catch (tomorrow),” Girardi said.

Francisco Cervelli is going back to New York for tests and Girardi indicated that a catcher will likely be called up. He hinted at Austin Romine.

Even before first pitch, things weren’t going well for the Yankees. By the end of the game, not only was Eduardo Nunez in right field, but Jorge Posada was behind the plate and the Yankees had a 6-0 loss against the Angels. It was their fourth straight loss, and they missed a chance to increase their lead in the division. CC Sabathia pitched out of trouble all night and missed his chance to pickup win No. 20. The injured Yankees had just four hits again Dan Haren, who pitched a shutout.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (87-56)
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jesus Montero DH
Eric Chavez 3B
Russell Martin C
Eduardo Nunez RF
Brett Gardner LF

LHP CC Sabathia (19-7, 2.97)
Sabathia vs. Angels

ANGELS (79-65)
Maicer Izturis 3B
Peter Bourjos CF
Howie Kendrick 2B
Torii Hunter DH
Mark Trumbo 1B
Vernon Wells LF
Mike Trout RF
Erick Aybar SS
Jeff Mathis C

RHP Dan Haren (14-8, 3.20)
Haren vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 9:05 p.m., YES Network / MLB Network

WEATHER: There’s something like a 20 percent chance of rain, which is pretty high for this place. Doesn’t seem too threatening, though.

UMPIRES: HP Tony Randazzo, 1B Larry Vanover, 2B Brian Gorman, 3B Dan Bellino

CC BEING CC: CC Sabathia has become the first Yankees pitcher to win at least 19 games in three straight years since Vic Raschi had four straight seasons of at least 19 wins from 1948-51. Sabathia is looking to become the first Yankee to win at least 20 games in consecutive seasons since Tommy John in 1979-80.

THREE DOWN: The Yankees have lost three straight games. It’s their longest losing streak since dropping three consecutive games August 6-9. The current losing streak matches their second-longest of the season. The longest was six in-a-row in mid-May.

HORSESHOES AND SLOW DANCING: The Yankees have lost each of their last three games by one run. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it marks the first time the Yankees have had a streak of that kind since July 2-4, 1993 (4-3, 5-4 and 7-6 losses at Oakland). Each of their last three losses have come in their opponent’s final at-bat.

UPDATE, 9:28 p.m.: The Angels had the bases loaded, but Sabathia got out of it with the game still scoreless. It’s 0-0 after one inning.

UPDATE, 9:36 p.m.: Hey look, Nunez caught one!

UPDATE, 9:41 p.m.: Busted thumb for Martin? Really? This is turning into some pretty rough luck for the Yankees. Martin just took a foul tip to his throwing hand. Looks like it busted up his thumbnail. His warmup throws didn’t look great, but Martin’s staying in the game.

UPDATE, 9:43 p.m.: Looked to me like Granderson took a bad first step on that ball, but I haven’t seen a replay to be sure. Either way, it’s an RBI double and the Angels are up 1-0 in the second.

UPDATE, 9:53 p.m.: Martin is coming out. Still no sign of who’s taking over behind the plate. Posada?

UPDATE, 9:54 p.m.: Big ovation from the Yankees fans here in Anaheim. Jorge Posada is the new Yankees catcher.

UPDATE, 9:58 p.m.: High throw from Posada, but Cano made a nice play to get the out. Posada’s been in the game for a batter and a half and he’s already caught a runner trying to steal.

UPDATE, 10:02 p.m.: That’s a nice little play by Chavez to end the third. It’s still a 1-0 game.

UPDATE, 10:36 p.m.: CC is through the fifth, still with a 1-0 Yankees deficit. The Angels have seven hits, the Yankees have two.

UPDATE, 11:00 p.m.: Bases loaded with one out, Sabathia gets out of it with back-to-back ground balls to Chavez at third. He went home on the first one, then made a quick throw to first to end the inning (nice play by Teixeira to get the out). Still 1-0 heading into the seventh.

UPDATE, 11:22 p.m.: Mike Trout goes out and gets one, slapping/driving an RBI single to right field for a 2-0 Angels lead in the seveth.

UPDATE, 11:24 p.m.: The Yankees are calling Martin’s injury a bruised right thumb. He has been taken for x-rays.

UPDATE, 11:28 p.m.: Sac fly, then a two-run homer by Mathis. George Kontos is now warming for the Yankees with a 5-0 deficit.

UPDATE, 11:31 p.m.: After a double, here’s Kontos for his big league debut.

UPDATE, 11:40 p.m.: Of course Posada got a hit. Of course he did.

Just a few days ago, the mounting injuries in the Yankees clubhouse seemed to be a minor issue. A handful of guys were banged up, but none of the issues seemed serious. If anything, most guys seemed to be getting better.

Today, the feeling was different. Alex Rodriguez’s thumb injury just won’t go away. Nick Swisher isn’t sure how long he’ll be out. Francisco Cervelli was a late scratch (again). Boone Logan is still not available.

“I’m trying to win, just like I was last year,” Joe Girardi said. “If they can play, and be productive, I’m going to play them. If we feel like they’ll play and not be productive, we might as well let them get healthy so they can be productive. That’s what I have to measure.”

One-by-one, these are the issues the Yankees are dealing with.

Alex Rodriguez
This is the same thumb injury that’s bothered him ever since he made the awkward backhanded play in Minneapolis three weeks ago. The Yankees have tried to manage it with occasional days off, but it hasn’t quite gone away, and Rodriguez told Girardi after last night’s game that it was still bothering him.

“I feel like there’s a big difference between being hurt and playing through bumps and bruises,” Rodriguez said. “I can certainly play through bumps and bruises. Even with bumps and bruises, I can do serious damage. But the way I am right now, I don’t think it’s possible.”

Since coming off the disabled list — he injured the thumb the first day back — Rodriguez has hit just .194/.370/.389 with three extra-base hits in 10 games. He went for an additional MRI in New York last week, but Rodriguez thinks it’s actually been getting better, it’s just not fully healed yet.

“We’re trying to get him going, that’s the bottom line,” Girardi said. “If you keep taking these breaks, it’s hard to get going, and that’s the frustrating part.”

Nick Swisher
The test results could have been much worse. Swisher’s MRI revealed no structural damage, but it did show what Swisher described as “a lot of inflammation.” Girardi called it tendonitis, but the bottom line is this: Swisher is day-to-day, but he doesn’t seem to have a long-term issue.

“It’s a bummer because, right now, you want to be in there every day,” Swisher said. “Everyone is tired, everyone is going through their aches and pains, but you definitely want to try and be out there. Right now, we have relax a little bit. We just need to chill for a couple days.”

Swisher doesn’t seem to have a timetable. He’s going to do treatment today, and what he does tomorrow will depend on how he feels. Girardi expects this to be a smaller issue that Rodriguez’s thumb.

“I think Alex’s thumb might be more of a continual problem,” Girardi said. “Swish is probably just a few days rest of some medicine, some treatment. He should be ok. Tendonitis usually clears up. But Alex, we’ll just have to wait.”

Francisco Cervelli
After being run over by Nick Markakis on Thursday, Cervelli has been in the Yankees lineup two days in a row, only to be scratched each time. Girardi said Cervelli has some concussion symptoms, and he was sent for an ImPACT test tonight.

Andruw Jones
There’s no injury here, but the Yankees are cautious because Jones’ has a history of knee problems, and they don’t want to push him too hard when he’s not used to playing every day. Jones has missed only one day so far this month, so Girardi wanted to give him a day off. That’s why he’s not in right field tonight.

Boone Logan
Girardi plans to stay away from Logan again tonight. He’ll also stay away from Luis Ayala, and he has to check with Cory Wade, but Rafael Soriano is available again. Logan hasn’t had more than one day off since August 27, and in that span he’s thrown three days in a row once, and three out of four twice. His velocity has dipped lately, and the Yankees think fatigue and dead arm might be the cause.

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Eduardo Nunez was pretty funny when he saw the lineup posted this afternoon. His reaction was a single word that can’t be printed in this space, and he was laughing about it when reporters asked about his first career start in right field.

“I knew if they needed me, I could play outfield, but I didn’t know I was starting today,” he said. “They didn’t tell me… It’s fun. It’s a new experience. I’ll do the best I can.”

Nunez has played right field only once in his life. It was earlier this season in Baltimore, and he caught the only ball hit to him. He played some left field in spring training, and he’s played both corners during batting practice.

“The way he’s swung the bat (was a factor),” Girardi said. “And I liked his at-bats against Haren the last time we played. And it might be something we have to do… Sometimes you have to look at it, and if we’re fortunate enough to get a lead, we can always make a switch.”

Here’s Nunez. At the end of the group interview someone wished him luck. “I need luck,” Nunez said.

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• Terrific pitching matchup tonight with CC Sabathia and Dan Haren. “Two guys who really know how to use the strike zone,” Girardi said. “They know how to mix their pitches, they know how to throw offspeed behind in the count. When you look at Danny Haren, he’s going to throw a split, a lot of cutters, he’s going to throw curveballs, he’s going to mix his pitches.

• The Yankees have lost three in a row, all by one run. “It could be fatigue,” Girardi said. “That’s the only thing that I could think of. We have not swung the bats very well lately, and maybe we could turn that around tonight.”

• Girardi is hopeful that he’ll have Rodriguez and Swisher back by the end of the road trip. “We’ve got a long way to go this road trip, so I would sure hope so,” he said. “I would hope to have both of them back before that.”

• Swisher on Nunez taking his spot in right: “He’s an athlete. He can do it.”

ANGELS
Maicer Izturis 3B
Peter Bourjos CF
Howie Kendrick 2B
Torii Hunter DH
Mark Trumbo 1B
Vernon Wells LF
Mike Trout RF
Erick Aybar SS
Jeff Mathis C

Associated Press photos

The hits just keep coming. For the second day in a row, Francisco Cervelli
is a late scratch.

UPDATE: Cervelli’s concussion symptoms are back. He’s going for tests.

Jeter SS
Granderson CF
Teixeira 1B
Cano 2B
Montero DH
Chavez 3B
Martin C
Nunez RF
Gardner LF

Alex Rodriguez continues to be bothered by that sore left thumb. It was hurting him after last night’s game, and the Yankees have decided to give him a full three to four days off in an effort to let it heal.

Nick Swisher has inflammation but no structural damage in his left elbow. He’s going to get treatment all day today, and he expects to continue sitting out until the pain goes away.

Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jesus Montero DH
Eric Chavez 3B
Eduardo Nunez RF
Brett Gardner LF
Francisco Cervelli C

Until last season, CC Sabathia had never been a 20-win pitcher. He’d been a Cy Young winner and a World Series champion, but he’d never reached the 20-win milestone.

Now that he’s one win away from doing it again, Sabathia seems … indifferent.

“I don’t think it’s that big of a deal,” he said. “It’s a cool thing to have and to think about when I’m done playing, but right now I’m in the middle of it so I just want to keep going out and helping us win.”

As I’m sure you’ve been told a hundred times, a win is a fairly meaningless statistic, but getting 20 of them in a season still means something. It’s easy to have a bad game and get one win, but it’s awfully hard to have a bad season and win 20.

“I’m sure it’s important for him,” Joe Girardi said. “It’s a special mark. It’s not something that’s easy to do. It’s important to him and it’s also important to us because of what we’re trying to accomplish.”

Big picture, the significance of No. 20 would be that it’s a win at all.

“Hopefully one day it means something to me,” Sabathia said.

Associated Press photo

On the morning before his first Major League call-up, Dellin Betances went to the street in front of his New Jersey home and played catch with his older brother Anthony. On the day before he became a big leaguer, he was just a kid throwing a baseball in the road.

“Just 10 minutes,” Dellin said. “Just regular catch, and then he squatted down for a little flat ground. After that, just showered and got ready to come here.”

On his first day on the Yankees active roster, Betances had a locker along the back wall in Anaheim, and he seemed to be in full just-happy-to-be-here mode. He’s not sure when he’ll pitch — even Joe Girardi’s not sure when he’ll pitch — but having a place in that clubhouse was obviously an important step.

“I grew up in New York,” Betances said. “Born in New York and raised, and being a Yankee fan to now coming here and wearing the uniform is a great, great feeling… It was just one of those years, an up-and-down year, but I definitely accomplished my goals which was to come here and stay healthy throughout the year. Those two goals were my main focus, and thank God everything has gone well.”

It hasn’t been a perfect year for Betances — he walked a lot of guys, July was a legitimately bad month, his Triple-A stint was uneven — but he believes he’s better because of it. When Jesus Montero was called up, Girardi talked about wanting young players to struggle in the minor leagues. It’s part of the growth process.

“I feel like I learned how to pitch in situations,” Betances said. “Runners on, try to make quality pitches. I think halfway through the year I had a little bump that I kept giving up runs, and I just tried to focus on (when there are) guys in scoring position, just try to make pitches and get those guys out. That’s one of the things, I think I’ve gotten mentally tougher. It’s been a battle, but I’m definitely happy to be here now with these guys. It’s kind of a surreal feeling.

“When they called my name I didn’t believe it, and I still can’t believe I’m here. Maybe when I go out on the field it will hit me.”