The LoHud Yankees Blog

Last night, Russell Martin saw something familiar in Bartolo Colon. He saw the same fastball that made Colon and reliable and occasionally dominant starter in the first half of the season.

“He had really good late movement on his fastball,” Martin said. “And when he was really good, he was locating that pitch really well. He looked as good as he has all year.”

For a while, the Yankees seemed to have caught lightning in a bottle with Colon. He spent the first couple months of the season pitching like a legitimate No. 2 starter. He didn’t look washed up. Didn’t seem past his prime. Didn’t need to worry about his spot in the rotation.

Then the lightning was gone.

From July 7 through August 23, Colon had a 5.21 ERA. Opponents were hitting .311 against him, and there was legitimate reason to worry whether the workload was finally catching up to him.

In his past three starts, though, Colon’s been much better. He’s pitched into the seventh inning in each of those three outings, and his fastball has regained some of that early season control and movement.

“He’s looked better as of late,” Joe Girardi said. “Sometimes guys are going to go through little hiccups during the season, but he’s started to pitch better. Physically he looks pretty good again, so that’s important.”

As the Yankees sort out their rotation, Colon is his own sort of wild card. He hasn’t dealt with Phil Hughes’ injury problems or A.J. Burnett’s steady disappointment, but he’s dealt with more innings than he’s thrown in six years. There’s always that looming threat of an expiration date. If nothing else, last night Colon proved he’s not finished just yet.

“I feel like in the beginning of the season,” he said. “The location of the pitch was the same thing. My command was really good today… What I did today is the location of my sinker was really, really good. Every time I command that way, I will pitch the same way I was pitching the first half.”

Associated Press photo

Jered Weaver was positively dominant tonight. The Yankees scattered two singles and a handful of walks and never got a runner past first base.

Except Jesus Montero.

On a night when the Yankees failed to pickup a game in the standings, it was still hard to ignore the impact of the Yankees young designated hitter. Against one of the best pitchers in the game, Montero went deep for his third home run in as many days. It was his first time starting a big league game against a right-handed starter, and in his first at-bat he lifted a ball over both bullpens.

“He’s not afraid to be here,” Mark Teixeira said. “He’s not afraid to let it fly and if he’s going to be as good as everyone thinks he is, he’s going to have to face a lot of these guys. And he’s showing right away that he’s not afraid of them.”

The pitch was a 1-2 fastball inside, and Montero was looking for it.

“At the beginning of the at-bat, I was looking fastball,” Montero said. “He threw me two good curveballs and then I was thinking in, because I’m a catcher, too. I was thinking fastball in at that moment, and I got the right pitch.”

Joe Girardi said before the game that he wants to see more and more of the Yankees top hitting prospect, and tonight did little to change that opinion. “You continue to look at him,” is the way Girardi phrased it after the game. Bottom line, Montero’s going to keep getting at-bats. He’s going to have a real chance to earn a spot in the postseason.

“I just put that away and try to do my job whenever they give me the opportunity,” Montero said. “Keep doing my routine every single day. When I’m playing, when I’m DHing, I’m in the cage with Kevin Long. That’s been helping me, keeping my routine every single day… It’s been good, thank God. Tomorrow, I might play again and strike out four times, but it’s been good.”

Here’s Montero.

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• Montero and Bartolo Colon were the bright spots, but ultimately the game was decided by this fact: The Yankees bullpen was terribly thin. Rafael Soriano, Cory Wade and Boone Logan were unavailable, Dave Robertson had been used in the eighth and Mariano Rivera was being saved for a save. That meant Aaron Laffey and Luis Ayala got the call in a tied ninth inning. “Playing all these days in a row and all these tight ballgames, you get into this,” Girardi said.

• Girardi said he’s actually planning to give Logan another full day off tomorrow. Logan said he’s not hurt, just going through a “little case of dead arm” and a couple days of rest might help. “My body is great and everything is fine,” he said. “But a couple days off, flushing out the body and letting it rest, it will give me a chance to get my velocity back.”

• Nick Swisher went for an MRI. The results won’t be available until tomorrow.

• Turns out, Bartolo Colon gave the Yankees seven strong innings on an upset stomach. He said he wasn’t feeling well all day, but he still delivered a performance reminiscent of his first half. “What I did today is the location of my sinker was really, really good,” Colon said. “Every time I command that way, I will pitch the same way I was pitching the first half.”

• The only Angels run off Colon came after Derek Jeter’s throwing error in the fifth. “He wasn’t in trouble the entire day until I put him in trouble,” Jeter said. “… It’s a play that has to be made. It’s not a difficult play.”

• Girardi said the Angels simply guessed right on Eduardo Nunez’s stolen base attempt in the top of the ninth. Nunez was brought in to steal the bag, and the Angels pitched out at the right time. “That’s going to happen,” Girardi said. “He was pretty close to being safe, too.”

• Girardi on using Ramiro Pena instead of Nunez to play third base in the bottom of the ninth: “I was probably going to hit Chavy the next inning and put Chavy at third, so that’s what I decided to do. Nino’s played a little more third than Nuney over his career, so I just decided to do it that way.”

• To be clear, Alex Rodriguez is not hurt. He came out strictly to have Nunez run.

• Russell Martin seemed to have a runner picked off at first base in the ninth, but he didn’t throw. “I didn’t get a good grip on the ball,” he said. “If I get a better grip I’ll make an attempt, but a couple of times this year I’ve tried to throw with a mediocre grip and I’ve thrown the ball into right field. In that situation, you don’t want that to happen.”

Associated Press photos

The Yankees thin bullpen couldn’t carry tonight’s game into extra-innings, and the Angels walked off with a 2-1 win on a sac fly off Luis Ayala. Jesus Montero’s solo home run — his third in as many games — was the Yankees only run against Angels ace Jered Weaver. They stayed in the game because Bartolo Colon was nearly as good. He scattered six hits through seven innings, allowing the Angels only run on Howie Kendrick’s two-out single in the fifth.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (87-55)
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Russell Martin C
Andruw Jones RF
Jesus Montero DH
Brett Gardner LF

RHP Bartolo Colon (8-9, 3.72)
Colon vs. Angels

ANGELS (78-65)
Erick Aybar SS
Howie Kendrick 2B
Bobby Abreu DH
Torii Hunter RF
Mark Trumbo 1B
Alberto Callaspo 3B
Vernon Wells LF
Peter Bourjos CF
Jeff Mathis C

RHP Jered Weaver (16-7, 2.49)
Weaver vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 10:05 p.m., YES Network

WEATHER: It’s L.A. Even the slightly cloudy days are gorgeous. The sky has pretty much cleared at this point, and there’s just a little bit of wind blowing from left to right.

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

EXTRA, EXTRA: According to Elias, the Yankees are the second team in Major League history to lose extra-inning games on consecutive days against the same team in different ballparks. It also happened in 1900 when the Boston Beaneaters — now the Atlanta Braves — lost to the Phillies in Boston and then in Philadelphia.

ADD IT TO THE MVP RESUME: With two assists yesterday, Curtis Granderson now has a career-high 11 assists this season. That’s tied for the third-most among Major League center fielders this season, and it’s the most by a Yankees center fielder since Melky Cabrera had 14 in 2007… The last Yankees center fielder with two assists in a game was Omar Moreno in 1984, but you probably knew that off the top of your head.

KEEP IT CLOSE: The Yankees have had three of their last four games — and four of their past seven — decided by one run. They are 18-20 in one-run games this season, including 6-11 in such games on the road.

UPDATE, 10:35 p.m.: The Angels just put a “congrats on 3,000″ message on the board. Turns out, the Angels gave Jeter a gift pregame — some sort of painting it looked like — and the crowd gave him a big ovation.

UPDATE, 10:37 p.m.: Probably should mention that it’s still scoreless heading into the third.

UPDATE, 10:38 p.m.: The kid’s still got it. Montero just went deep to left field and it’s a 1-0 Yankees lead. That’s a bomb of Weaver, by the way. Not a bad pitcher.

UPDATE, 10:59 p.m.: Yowza! That’s a heckuva play by Howie Kendrick. Martin smoked that ball, and Kendrick absolutely robbed a single.

UPDATE, 11:32 p.m.: Now Kendrick has the big hit for the Angels. His two-out single has tied the game in the fifth. Colon came right back to strikeout Bobby Abreu and keep the game tied with runners stranded at the corners. It’s a 1-1 game.

UPDATE, 11:44 p.m.: Looked like Rodriguez had zero chance of making that play. That’s a big-time throw to end the sixth. Still tied at 1.

UPDATE, 12:12 a.m.: Weaver is through the top of the eighth, and now the Yankees have turned the game to Robertson in the bottom of the inning. Colon gave them enough, they’ve just got to score at some point.

UPDATE, 12:28 p.m.: Nunez pinch runs for Rodriguez and gets thrown out on a pitch out. Never had a shot.

UPDATE, 12:35 p.m.: Laffey couldn’t get Callaspo, and now Ayala is in to face Vernon Wells with one out and a runner at first

Nick Swisher’s left elbow has bothered him from time to time, but not quite like it did on his first throw from the outfield yesterday.

“I threw it and said, ‘Wow, that didn’t’ feel right,’” Swisher said. “… I know what feels right, I know what doesn’t feel right. After yesterday’s game, I was like man, I’ve got to check this thing out. I don’t like going to the training room man, it’s not my thing. But there are some times. You can’t be a hard head all the time, man, and you actually have to go in there. We’ll just see what they say and figure it out from there.”

Swisher will see the Angels team doctor at some point, probably today. He’s expecting to play tomorrow, but it’s hard to know anything for certain at this point. Joe Girardi called Swisher day-to-day.

During these past three days — when the Yankees had that long rain delay, followed by the four-hour-plus game, followed by extra innings in Baltimore — Swisher actually played all three days, but that’s only after he’d been off on Monday. Girardi said he didn’t believe playing those three games had a real impact on the elbow.

“I think it’s just one throw, really, more than anything,” Swisher said. “I don’t know what it is, so I’m going to see the doctor and find out. So, we’ll see. I’m not nervous about it but I’d feel a lot better if the doctor said ‘hey man, this is what you’ve got. It’s going to be OK.’ Because I’ve never had something like this before. (This is) more sharp pains. Hopefully, it’s just a day-to-day thing.”

• Jesus Montero is getting a designated hitter start against a right-hander today, and Girardi hinted that he might do that more often. “I think you want to see more,” he said. “You don’t want him to sit too long between games, either. You want to get him back in there. He’s swung the bat very well, showed patience and showed the ability to make adjustments.”

• Aside from Swisher, all of the Yankees regulars are in the lineup, but the bullpen is thin beyond Mariano Rivera and Dave Robertson. It’s possible, in the next couple of days, that the Yankees will have to move a starter to the bullpen. “We might need someone,” Girardi said. “I’m not saying they won’t start again, but we might need someone in the bullpen. Soriano’s went a bunch of days in a row, Ayala’s went a bunch of days, Wade’s went a bunch of days, Logan’s went a bunch of days. I have Robby and Mo available tonight, but after that, I have to see.”

• If the Yankees don’t get distance out of Bartolo Colon, Girardi said he’s not sure Hector Noesi could be used for a truly extended outing (he threw back-to-back games Tuesday and Wednesday, including multiple innings Wednesday). So, if the Yankees need a true long man, Girardi said it would likely be either George Kontos, Andrew Brackman or Dellin Betances. “Could be one of the kids,” Girardi said.

• Speaking of the kids, Betances is here mostly to get his feet wet and get a look at life in the big leagues. He’s active, but unlike Montero, Betances isn’t expected to play a significant role down the stretch. “You never know,” Girardi said. “He might pitch in a game, he might pich great and you might use him more. I don’t have any specific plans for him, in a sense, but we’ll see what happens.”

• Today is Betances’ normal day to pitch, which is why the call-up waited until now. He went to Tampa to throw a regular bullpen after the Triple-A regular season, then spent one day at home in New Jersey before flying to California yesterday afternoon.

• Girardi expected Betances to be the last September call-up. He said there was talk about calling up Manny Banuelos, but the Yankees didn’t think this was the time to do it. “They talked about him and decided not to,” Girardi said. “They looked at his year and said they weren’t going to call him up yet.”

• The Yankees rotation is not set beyond Sunday. “We’ll wait to see how we get through this weekend,” Girardi said. “Larry and I are still talking about it.”

• I’m sure he doesn’t speak for everyone, but Brett Gardner said he actually feels no different today — after those long three days of rain and extra innings — than he would at the start of any other West Coast trip. “No, not really,” he said. “I feel pretty good, especially after that long flight last night. I feel better today than I expected to. It’s obviously not ideal and something everybody has to deal with.”

ANGELS
Erick Aybar SS
Howie Kendrick 2B
Bobby Abreu DH
Torii Hunter RF
Mark Trumbo 1B
Alberto Callaspo 3B
Vernon Wells LF
Peter Bourjos CF
Jeff Mathis C

Associated Press photos

No reason given so far, but Francisco Cervelli has been scratched from the Yankees lineup. Russell Martin is now catching.

Nick Swisher is out with a sore elbow.

Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Andruw Jones RF
Jesus Montero DH
Francisco Cervelli C
Brett Gardner LF

Still no lineup, but Dellin Betances is in the clubhouse.

Designated for assignment earlier this week, reliever Lance Pendleton has been claimed by the Houston Astros.

This will be, essentially, Pendleton’s second stint with the Astros. He was with them in spring training after being selected in the Rule 5 draft, but Houston sent Pendleton back to the Yankees shortly before Opening Day and he was in New York by early April.

Perpetually overshadowed in the Yankees pitching-rich system, Pendleton had a 3.21 ERA as a big league long man. He had a 3.10 in Triple-A this season, and he has a 3.36 in his minor league career.

Tonight
RHP Bartolo Colon (8-9, 3.72)
vs.
RHP Jered Weaver (16-7, 2.49)
10:05 p.m., YES Network

Saturday
LHP CC Sabathia (19-7, 2.97)
vs.
RHP Dan Haren (14-8, 3.20)
9:05 p.m., YES Network / MLB Network

Sunday
RHP Freddy Garcia (11-7, 3.50)
vs.
RHP Ervin Santana (11-10, 3.18)
3:35 p.m., YES Network