The LoHud Yankees Blog

Here’s some of Joe Girardi’s post-game press conference:

“(Colon) was able to give us some distance. They got some runs off him. He got the unfortunate break of the ball hitting the bag, the third run he gave up. I thought he used his fastball pretty well today and I thought he had pretty good movement. He got some groundballs.”

“The real rough inning was gthe one when he gave up the two runs. They hit him pretty good that inning, but he seemed to settle down.”

“I knew that I didn’t have Soriano or Mo, either, today. I didn’t even ask. I wasn’t going to pitch them no matter what. I was going to (Robertson) even if was still 4-3 and we were losing. Where they were in the order, I was going to try and keep it close. My thought was, ‘I’ll worry about the ninth when we get there. Let’s just try and control the eighth.’ Then he had a pretty quick eighth inning which allowed us to send him out in the ninth.”

“He probably had one more hitter after the final out. Our thought was somewhere between 35 and 40 pitches that we would let him go. But that was going to be it.”

“He did a great job.”

Took a deep breath when A-Rod dove for the ball in the second. Said he didn’t hear anything negative from Rodriguez about how the thump survived the game.

Cano “just never chased. He made Janssen throw strikes. And Robbie’s dangerous at any point in the count, whether he’s down or not. Throw him a strike and he can get the head to it. And we got to see Alex run, so that was good too. Then you get a big hit by Swish.

“But to see Robbie Cano drive in the go-ahead run yesterday and then the go-ahea run today, it’s big for us.”

“We saw him really step up last year. I thought that was really kind of his breakout year. Which I thought he had as good a chance as anybody to win the MVP because of what he does offensively and defensively. The expectation is he’s going to do that every year. He had to slide into the fourth hole a number of times last year and was very successful. I don’t think it matters where you hit Robbie. He’s going to hit. And he’s not going to mind the stage. This kid loves the stage. Loves the pressure moments. It’s one of the reasons why he’s so successful.”

On whether Cano is an MVP candidate, in his mind, this year (even with Granderson among the favorites):

“I wouldn’t write him off in that MVP race, that’s what I wouldn’t do. Because we know what he’s capable of doing, and carrying a club, and putting up a big month. God knows where his numbers might end up at the end of the year. So, Robbie Cano is a staple of our lineup. It’s a pleasure to pencil his name in there every day. It’s real easy. The hard part is when to pick a day to give him a day off. That’s the hardest part of my job when it comes to Robbie Cano.”

On wheteher Cano steps up when a Rodriguez or a Teixeira is out of the lineup:
“I think it’s just Robbie being Robbe and what he’s capable of doing. There were the concerns about the home run contest. Well, that didn’t seem to bother him. I don’t know if there’s really much that bothers this kid in the situations he’s in. He’s just a dangerous person when he’s at the plate.”

He said he’s leaning toward giving Robertson a day off Sunday. “He was upset that we shut him down (Friday). He said it was normal soreness you have after you pitch.”

“I told him, i said, ‘Robbie (Robertson) I could use you anywhere from the eighth to the ninth inning. Just be prepared.”

“We have 82 RBI from out catchers this year. That’s pretty good.”

YANKEES (83-53)

Brett Gardner LF
Curtis Granderson CF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher 1B
Andruw Jones RF
Jesus Montero DH
Eduardo Nunez SS
Francisco Cervelli C

RHP Bartolo Colon (8-9, 3.63)

BLUE JAYS (69-69)

Yunel Escobar SS
Eric Thames LF
Jose Bautista RF
Adam Lind DH
Edwin Encarnacion 1B
Kelly Johnson 2B
Brett Lawrie 3B
J.P. Arencibia C
Mike McCoy CF
LHP Ricky Romero (13-9, 2.84)

TIME/TV: 1:08 p.m., YES.

WEATHER: Partly sunny, humid, high around 81, chance (30 percent) of a scattered thundershower. Wind blowing lightly toward left.

UMPIRES: HP Phil Cuzzi, 1B Tom Hallion,  2B Bill Miller, 3B James Hoye.

UPDATE, 1:17 p.m.: EARLY EXIT: Eric Thames was tossed from the game in the top of the first after taking a called third strike from Bartolo Colon, who struck out the side.

UPDATE, 1:27 p.m.: A-Rod got to test that thumb with a diving stop on Encarnacion’s infield hit. Seemed to be OK.

UPDATE, 1:36 p.m.: Colon, after striking out side in first, got roughed up a bit in second: two runs, four hits, a long homer by Lind, a sac fly from Arencibia. One of the hits was a bloop, one was an infield grounder. Andruw Jones made a nice attempt at a foul pop, diving into the stands and doing a hand-stand in the first row.

CORRECTION: Thames did not get ejected from the game, as it appeared. Sorry. He left the game with dizzy symptons, according to the team.

UPDATE, 1:49 p.m.: Yankees answer. Jones a two-out double, Nunez (after Montero struck out) an RBI single, Cervelli a first-pitch homer into the seats in left for a 3-2 lead. Cervelli’s celebration was very, very low-key this time. Also, a foul ball into the pressbox put a nice big dent in the wall between the seating rows. Writers scattered, of course. The Ledger twit-pic’d the dent.

UPDATE, 1:57 p.m.: Not going to be an easy day for Colon. Wise (in for Thames, who was not ejected), tripled to lead off the third, and Bautista hit a rocket in front of Gardner for an RBI single. 3-3. Encarnacion also hit a hard line drive that sent Gardner back for a leaping catch, before Colon whiffed Johnson.

UPDATE, 2:13 p.m.: OK, this one was an ejection. Toronto third-base coach Brian Butterfield was ejected arguing Johnson’s strikeout in the third. And Colon strikes out the side again in the fourth.

UPDATE, 2:30 p.m.: This wise guy Wise just hit a big homer, following up on his triple, after coming in for Thames in the first. He’s like one of those sixth-man ignitor guys in basketball. The homer was his first. 4-3, Jays.

UPDATE, 2:40 p.m.: Escobar left the game with a jammed left wrist. He also was not ejected.

UPDATE, 3:01 p.m.: There it is — Jesus Montero’s first major-league hit, a hard shot into the hole between third and short.

UPDATE, 3:10 p.m.: Logan in to relieve Colon after 6.1 innings, seven hits, four runs, seven Ks, two HRs. He threw 110 pitches.

UPDATE, 3:26 p.m.: Janssen in to relieve Romero, who fired the resin bag onto the mound after hitting Granderson with a curve with two out, and walking A-Rod.

UPDATE, 3:33 p.m.: Robinson Cano with his 40th double, and 100th and 101st RBIs of the season … the second time he’s gone over 100. Yankees up 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh. Swisher tacks on another run with an RBI single to left. 6-4.

UPDATE, 3:47 p.m.: Posada batting for Montero. Nobody up in Yankees bullpen yet.

UPDATE, 3:51 p.m.: Robertson coming out to start the ninth, with nobody up in the pen, ahead 6-4.

UPDATE, 4:04 p.m.: Robertson finishes it off after a one-out double by Lawrie. Yankees win, 6-4. Time of game: 2:56

No Jeter. A-Rod’s in:

Brett Gardner LF
Curtis Granderson CF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher 1B
Andruw Jones RF
Jesus Montero DH
Eduardo Nunez SS
Francisco Cervelli C

Bartolo Colon P

Joe Girardi still hasn’t posted a lineup, but he said he’s waiting on Alex Rodriguez to hit and take ground balls and see if he’s ready to play. Girardi said he expects A-Rod to play third if he plays. Called him the “wild card” that will decide what the lineup looks like.

Girardi also said that Mark Teixeira will not be in the lineup and that Jesus Montero could make his Yankee Stadium debut.

————-

Girardi added that Nick Swisher will play first, that Francisco Cervelli will catch, that both Gardner and Granderson will play. Andruw Jones is in right.

And that he still has not made a decision on the five-man rotation, but that both Phil Hughes and A.J. Burnett are preparing as if they will make the start Wednesday. “The decision doesn’t have to be permanent,” Girardi said. He also said “You have to look at it as how it effects the whole team” in regards to the part of the equation surrounding which starter would be better in the bullpen. “I want to think about it a little more,” Girardi said.

No lineups yet. Mark Teixeira just came through the clubhouse with his knee wrapped and said he has no news or update on his situation. Said it feels better as he headed into the trainer’s room. No idea if he will play, but it didn’t sound like it.

Just a few quick Ivan Nova numbers while we wait for today’s Yankees lineup.

8 • Consecutive starts won by Nova. According to Elias, he’s the first Yankees rookie with a streak that long since Marius Russo in 1939.

12 • Consecutive Nova starts won by the Yankees. According to Elias, it’s the Yankees second-longest winning streak of games started by one pitcher in the past 30 years. Only Roger Clemens streak of 20 in 2001 is longer.

15 • Nova’s number of wins, the most among all Major League rookies. It’s also the most wins by a Yankees rookie since Stan Bahnsen won 17 in 1968. Bob Grim’s 20 wins in 1954 is the Yankees rookie record.

25 • Career starts in which Nova has been given a lead. He’s lost none of them, going 16-0 in those games.

Ivan Nova spent almost a month in Triple-A this season. He missed three or four starts because the Yankees rotation was overcrowded, and since he’s been back, Nova’s won seven starts in a row. He hasn’t lost since June 3, and his 15 wins this season are the most by a Yankees rookie since 1968.

Two questions: If he’d never been sent to the minors, would Nova have a shot at 20 wins this season? Or, to look at it a different way, if he’d never been sent to the minors, would Nova be nearly this good right now?

“I think when he went to the minor leagues, when he came back his mission was to be here, be a part of the rotation, and he’s been doing an outstanding job,” Andruw Jones said. “A lot of guys on this team talk with him every time he gives a run or something like that. We try and tell him, that’s it. Don’t give no more and we will give you this game. He’s been doing that, so we’re really proud of him, the way he goes about his business.”

The Yankees love the improvement of Nova’s slider, and that’s something he focused on during his stint in Triple-A. They also love his confidence and his ability to make adjustments, something that also seems to have improved since that brief demotion.

“I’m not surprised,” Nova said. “Because I know what I can do. It doesn’t stop here. I have four more starts, so I have to stay hungry… I know I’ve got tremendous stuff, I just have to put everything right and work.”

Tonight, Nova allowed only one hit after the first inning, but that’s not to say he wasn’t hit hard. The Yankees defense was outstanding, and that made a huge difference, but Nova certainly settled in. The Yankees rotation is once again overcrowded, but these days, it’s hard to imagine Nova being the odd man out. After CC Sabathia and Freddy Garcia, the pitcher with the greatest claim to a rotation spot might be the tall rookie who just keeps winning.

“He learned a lot last year and he learned a lot in the first month this year,” Girardi said. “And I think he’s taken that and used it, and used it to learn how to relax in situations. He’s around the guys, and understands what he needs to do. He’s learned fairly quickly.”

—

The Yankees didn’t have Mark Teixeira or Alex Rodriguez tonight, and they had only four hits, but it wasn’t only the pitching that stepped up to fill the void. The Yankees defense was outstanding, quite possibly the best it’s been all season.

“You can look back and we probably had seven outstanding defensive plays tonight,” Girardi said. “And to win games like that, you’re going to have to have that.”

Eduardo Nunez went deep into the outfield grass to get the last out of the eighth. Curtis Granderson might have saved two runs with his running catch on the warning track in the sixth. Andruw Jones might have robbed Jose Bautista of home run No. 40 with his leaping catch in the fourth. Russell Martin threw out a runner trying to steal in the third.

But the defensive focus was on Brett Gardner, the same guy who hit the pivotal two-run homer. He showed good range to catch a sacrifice fly in the first inning, then showed even better range to make a tumbling catch that became an inning-ending double play in the first.

“Gardy really saved the game in the first inning, because it very well could have been four runs and a runner on second and still one out,” Girardi said. “… Gardy had a huge night tonight. Gardy drove in two, scored one and probably saved two or three himself. You look at the game, and that’s probably the difference.”

Here’s Gardner.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

—

• Girardi is at least hopeful that Alex Rodriguez will be able to play tomorrow. “I would love that,” Girardi said. “I really wanted him to go through today and turn it up and notch and take normal BP and see how the thumb feels tomorrow, see if it responds well or there’s a little setback. If he’s a little sore tomorrow we probably won’t play him, but if he feels good, I’ll probably put him in there.”

• Mark Teixeira didn’t seem especially optimistic that he would play tomorrow. He was still hobbling around quite a bit after the game.

• Dave Robertson was not available tonight, which is why Rafael Soriano handled the eighth. “(Robertson) was a little sore tonight, so we decided to give him a day off,” Girardi said. “We should have him tomorrow. My guess is we won’t have Soriano or Mo tomorrow.”

• Jones said he wasn’t sure whether his leaping catch at the wall robbed a home run or a double. It was hard to see on a replay whether that ball was going out or off the top of the wall. “I thought it was a homer,” Nova said. “Once I heard everybody, I knew it was an out, but I wasn’t thinking it was an out.”

• Gardner said his tumbling catch in the first inning — the one that started the double play — was at least partially because of positioning. “Right before the pitch, I moved over a little bit and got a good jump on it,” he said. “I was able to get over there and get it, get it in for the double play and end the inning.”

• Gardner set a career-high with his sixth home run of the season. He hit five last year.

• Nick Swisher made his second start at first base in the past two years. He made 10 starts at first in 2009.

• Mariano Rivera got his 37th save, which is four more than he had all of last year. He’s four away from No. 600 for his career. He has saved each of the Yankees past four wins and nine of the past 15.

• The Yankees moved back into first place tonight. “It’s probably going to be back and forth the next three or four weeks,” Gardner said. “The Red Sox have a good team, so it’s far from over. We haven’t made the playoffs or won the division. There’s a lot of baseball left to play, so we’ll just stay focused on tomorrow and worry about that at the end of the month.”

Associated Press photos

With a depleted lineup, the Yankees won tonight’s game by denying runs as much as scoring them. Pitching and defense carried the day, and the Yankees beat the Blue Jays 3-2 in the first game of this home stand. Brett Gardner’s two-run home run was the biggest offensive blow. The defensive gems belonged to all three outfielders — Gardner, Curtis Granderson and Andruw Jones — each of whom made a key catch. The win went to Nova, who has now won 15 games, the most for a Yankees rookie since 1968. As of right now, the Red Sox are losing in the ninth inning, so this win could move the Yankees back into first place in the American League East.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (82-53)
Brett Gardner LF
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Robinson Cano DH
Nick Swisher 1B
Eric Chavez 3B
Andruw Jones RF
Russell Martin C
Eduardo Nunez 2B

RHP Ivan Nova (14-4, 3.96)
Nova vs. Blue Jays

BLUE JAYS (69-68)
Yunel Escobar SS
Eric Thames LF
Jose Bautista RF
Adam Lind 1B
Edwin Encarnacion DH
Kelly Johnson 2B
Brett Lawrie 3B
J.P. Arencibia C
Mike McCoy CF

RHP Brandon Morrow (9-9, 4.79)
Morrow vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 7:05 p.m., YES Network

WEATHER: Starting to cool down a little bit here in New York. Should dip into the 60s during tonight’s game. Still feels pretty nice out, though. Some wind blowing from right to left.

UMPIRES: HP James Hoye, 1B Phil Cuzzi, 2B Tom Hallion, 3B Bill Miller

#WINNING: Last night, the Yankees guaranteed their 19th consecutive winning seasons. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that broke a tie with Baltimore (1968-85) for the second-longest streak of consecutive winning seasons behind the Yankees run of 39 straight from 1926 to 1964.

MORE CALL-UPS: The Yankees added left-handed reliever Aaron Laffey as a September call-up this afternoon, and they also added minor league catching coordinator Julio Mosquero to the coaching staff. It’s pretty standard for the Yankees to add a minor league coach to the big league staff in September.

BETTER THAN I WOULD HAVE DONE: The Yankees have committed an error in just one of their past 10 games (that was, of course, a four-error game on August 26 in Baltimore). Their .990 fielding percentage since August 1 is the third-best mark in the Majors during that stretch.

UPDATE, 7:16 p.m.: That’s a really nice play by Gardner in left. Obviously Bautista never thought he had a shot, and the Yankees turned that into a double play to end the first. Nova’s getting knocked around so far, and the Blue Jays are up 2-0.

UPDATE, 8:01 p.m.: Gardner goes yard, a two-run shot to tie the game in the bottom of the third.

UPDATE, 8:14 p.m.: Hard to say for certain that ball would have been gone, but it was at least a double before Jones made the leaping catch at the wall. Another big play by a Yankees corner outfielder.

UPDATE, 8:27 p.m.: The memory challenge, where young fans have to remember which two numbers are hiding a certain Yankees player on the video board, just featured Jesus Montero as the hidden Yankee. Very timely bit of between-inning entertainment.

UPDATE, 8:52 p.m.: Little two-out rally has the Yankees in front. Robinson Cano had the go-ahead single, scoring Jeter from second for a 3-2 lead. Nova’s still out there for the sixth. He’s been hit hard a few times, but he’s ultimately allowed just two hits and two runs.

UPDATE, 9:31 p.m.: Missed opportunity to pull away in the seventh inning, now Soriano is in to handle the eighth. Have to wonder whether Rivera is available after last night. Could be that Dave Robertson is the closer tonight.

UPDATE, 9:41 p.m.: For several seconds, I forgot that was Nunez playing second. That was a Cano-quality play to end the eighth.

By the way, Rivera is warming up, so maybe Robertson wasn’t available for some reason.

Alex Rodriguez just talked to the media a few minutes before the clubhouse closed, so I’ll make these brief.

After hitting in the cage yesterday, Rodriguez took full batting practice on the field today. He said he still feels some discomfort in his thumb, but he doesn’t expect that to completely go away any time soon. Whenever he’s cleared to play, he’s going to have to deal with a little bit of pain. The key is that the Yankees medical staff has told him he can’t aggravate the injury through normal game activity.

“We’re just going to take maybe, at least one more day,” Rodriguez said. “This is probably the most conservative approach we’ve taken. I think we realize the next two months are the most important ones. Once we see the green light, we don’t want to come back and have any more setbacks.”

Rodriguez said that he could play if this were a playoff game. Since it’s not, the Yankees will stay extra cautious.

Here’s Alex.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

• Joe Girardi said Mark Teixeira will more or less make the decision about when he gets back in the lineup. “Tex is real good about when he can go, he can go,” Girardi said. “He’s honest. I told him he’s not going to play today, and we’ll just go day-by-day.”

• Girardi still has not made a decision about who to drop out of the rotation. “We’ll talk about it the next couple days,” he said. “Most of us got to our places about four in the morning last night, so we didn’t talk about it much today. We’ll sit down and talk about it; we’ll have some time here.”

• The Yankees have decided that CC Sabathia will start Sunday and Freddy Garcia will start Monday. That means Sabathia is not getting an extra day of rest after his 128-pitch outing. “He said he felt fine,” Girardi said.

• Boone Logan has pitched three days in a row, so it’s safe to assume he’s not available tonight. Girardi said he needed to check with most of his other relievers to decide how deep or thin his bullpen will be tonight. “I’m not sure what I’ll have in my bullpen or on the field, but we’ll have something by 7:07,” Girardi said.

• Jesus Montero is not in the lineup today, but Girardi said it’s not out of the question that he’ll get some starts against right-handers. “There are times that he’s probably going to DH against some right-handers,” Girardi said. “With playing every day, there might have been some DH days that he would have gotten if we didn’t play every day. There might be a day where I rest Cano and DH him, where I rest Jeet and DH him, and that might cost him some at-bats. But we want to see what this kid can do.”

• Word from my friend Mike Ashmore is that Ramiro Pena’s rehab assignment has been moved from Double-A Trenton to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.