The LoHud Yankees Blog

I’m leaving for the airport in four hours, so I’m going to try to make this quick.

After 14 innings that left the Yankees oh-so-close to a doubleheader sweep, the biggest postgame news involved a player who had nothing to do with either of today’s games.

Joe Girardi announced that Phil Hughes will be moved immediately to the bullpen, and the plan is to leave him there into the postseason.

That’s what we’re going to load at during the playoffs,” Girardi said. “That’s how we’re going to look at him.”

Hughes was informed of the decision in between today’s games. He admitted being disappointed, but also recognized that, because he hasn’t pitched since September 12, the Yankees couldn’t be completely confident that he could be counted on as a starter.

“I did it to myself,” he said. “I had the back issue coming off a good start in Seattle, so therefore I didn’t have an opportunity to pitch. They had to make a decision… I’ve done it before. Just go down there and look to help out any way I can.”

Here’s Hughes talking very briefly about the move to the pen.

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• One of the looming questions throughout tonight’s game was why veterans Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Andruw Jones were never given a chance to pinch hit in key situations. “To me it’s not the right thing to do,” Girardi said. “Their bodies were shutdown since 4 o’clock.” Girardi said he was worried someone might pull something trying to get ready in a hurry, and it wasn’t worth the risk.

• The Yankees rotation against Tampa Bay:

Monday: Hector Noesi
Tuesday: Bartolo Colon
Wednesday: TBA

• Girardi when asked who he’s considering to start Wednesday: “It might be a bullpen day.”

• Girardi was ejected for arguing with first-base umpire Tim McClelland in the 13th inning. McClelland had clearly blown a call at first base, and Nick Swisher — playing first at the time — had gotten into a short argument. “I thought he went at Swish, and I didn’t think that was right,” Girardi said.

• Francisco Cervelli had another concussion test today and was cleared to travel with the team to Tampa. Girardi said he might catch a bullpen this week.

• Austin Romine was hit in the head by a back swing, but he said he’s fine. “I got smacked around a couple of time,” he said. “My head’s fine. I’ve been hit before.”

• Romine on his tag at the plate when Pedroia tried to fly over him: “I’ve never seen anybody try to jump over me before.”

• Girardi on Ivan Nova: “I was pleased with the way he threw the ball tonight.” He really didn’t get into much more detail than that. Neither did Nova, to tell the truth.

• The Yankees fell to 4-11 in extra-inning games this season.

• Forgot to mention after the first game that Brandon Laird was getting a lot of credit for his work at first base in Game 1. “He saved me a couple runs, for sure,” A.J. Burnett said.

• First time through the order against John Lackey, the Yankees went 4-for-7 with two doubles a walk and a strikeout. The went 1-for-13 with two walks and three strikeouts against Lackey the rest of the game. They had just two hits over their final 45 batters.

• At five hours and 11 minutes, this was the Yankees longest game since September 10, 2010 against Texas.

Associated Press photos

The Yankees nearly had the sweep. After six different relievers combined for seven scoreless innings, Scott Proctor allowed a game-winning, three-run home run in the 14th inning, letting the Red Sox get away with a 7-4 win in the second game of today’s doubleheader. The Yankees managed just six hits, and missed their best chances to win when Austin Romine struck out with the bases loaded in the ninth and Brett Gardner struck out with runners at second and third in the 13th. The homer was Ellsbury’s third of the day. He went deep twice in the first game.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (97-61)
Eduardo Nunez SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Nick Swisher RF
Eric Chavez 3B
Jesus Montero DH
Chris Dickerson LF
Austin Romine C

RHP Ivan Nova (16-4, 3.62)
Nova vs. Red Sox

RED SOX (88-70)
Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Carl Crawford LF
Dustin Pedroia 2B
David Ortiz DH
Adrian Gonzalez 1B
Jed Lowrie 3B
J.D. Drew RF
Marco Scutaro SS
Jason Varitek C

RHP John Lackey (12-12, 6.49)
Lackey vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 6:30., YES Network / MLB Network

WEATHER: Cooling down a little bit, but still very nice out for the last regular season home game of the year.

UMPIRES: HP Ted Barrett, 1B Tim McClelland, 2B Marvin Hudson, 3B Mike Everitt

TAKE TWO: This is the first time since 1996 that the Yankees are playing a doubleheader on the final day of the home schedule… This is the fifth doubleheader of the season, the Yankees most since 2006 (also five)… The Yankees have gone 2-0-2 in doubleheaders so far this season.

DUE FOR A LONG ONE: The Yankees and Red Sox played a three-hour game yesterday, and today’s first game lasted just two hours, 59 minutes. It was the first time since 2008 that these two teams played consecutive games in three hours or less.

UPDATE, 6:33 p.m.: A 1-2-3 first inning for Nova, and we’re off and running in Game 2.

UPDATE, 6:41 p.m.: My gosh, the Red Sox are really playing terrible baseball right now. Teixiera’s two-run double turns into a third run because Tex took third on the throw home and scored on Varitek’s awful throw to third base. It’s a 3-0 Yankees lead in the bottom of the first.

UPDATE, 7:11 p.m.: Nova strikes out Ellsbury to end the third with a runner left at second. He looks as good as ever right now.

UPDATE, 8:05 p.m.: Sorry, been writing during much of this second game. Nova just allowed a run in the fifth and another in the sixth, Austin Romine managed to turn a wild pitch into an out with a diving tag — more of a sliding, lunging tag — at the plate. It’s a 3-2 Yankees lead heading into the bottom of the sixth. Nova’s thrown 88 pitches, and there’s no activity in the Yankees bullpen.

UPDATE, 8:18 p.m.: Obviously Girardi wanted Nova to get through to the lefties at the top of the Boston order, but sticking with Nova until now led to two more runs and a 4-3 Red Sox lead in the seventh. Boone Logan is now in to face at least Ellsbury and Crawford.

UPDATE, 8:25 p.m.: Logan strikes out Ellsbury and picks off Gathright to get out of the seventh.

UPDATE, 8:29 p.m.: Chavez leadoff single. Gardner in to pinch run. Aceves coming out of the bullpen for the Red Sox.

UPDATE, 8:39 p.m.: Dickerson’s sac fly has tied the game at 4 heading into the eighth. Soriano coming in to pitch.

UPDATE, 8:49 p.m.: Austin Romine is this year’s Greg Golson, throwing out Carl Crawford in a key spot in September.

UPDATE, 9:41 p.m.: Pitching change gives me a few seconds to look away from my running game story… Big moment for Romine in the bottom of the ninth, but he’s probably never seen a pitch quite like that one from Papelbon. Girardi gave the kid a chance, and Romine went down swinging.

UPDATE, 10:41 p.m.: Laffey still in for the 13th inning. It’s officially getting late, and the Yankees haven’t had many great chances to score since that bases-loaded opportunity in the ninth. I’m really regretting the decision to book a 6:30 a.m. flight.

UPDATE, 11:30 p.m.: Ellsbury three-run bomb off Scott Proctor. It’s a 7-4 Red Sox lead in the 14th.

Does one good start in an ultimately meaningless game mean anything?

Since joining the Yankees three years ago, A.J. Burnett had never beaten the Red Sox. He had a 7.36 ERA in two previous starts against them this season, and let there be no doubt, they were certainly playing for something this afternoon. It might have been a meaningless game for the Yankees, but it meant something for the Red Sox.

Did it mean anything for Burnett?

“It’s up to (Joe Girardi),” Burnett said. “I just wanted to come out and give him headaches. I’ve been giving him headaches all year, why not give him a good headache, you know? I got runs early the past month or so and haven’t been able to put it all together, so to go deeper in the game and keep the lead — I still made a couple mistakes to Ellsbury — but for the most part I was able to make pitches when I needed to.”

Burnett pitched 7.2 innings. He allowed two runs on five hits — only Jacoby Ellsbury’s home runs hurt him — and he struck out six. He’s 2-0 with a 4.34 ERA in September, but the last time he pitched this many innings with two runs or less was way back on June 13. He walked off the field to a standing ovation.

“There were lots of (goose bumps), lots of them,” Burnett said. “It means a lot, you know. They’ve been rough, but I’ve given them reason to be rough. That makes up for everything, walking off that mound to that ovation is incredible.”

What does it mean for his spot in the postsaeason?

“We’re going to continue to look at it and talk about it,” Girardi said. “And our opponent has something to do with who we’re going to pitch.”

Burnett hasn’t faced Texas this season, but he made two solid starts against the Tigers, and has pretty good career numbers against the current Detroit roster. Interestingly, Freddy Garcia has much worse career numbers against the current Tigers, and he gave up 10 hits — a season-high — against them earlier this season (Garcia has terrific career numbers against the Rangers and pitched six shutout innings against them this year). Is it possible the Yankees would lean toward Burnett over Garcia if they face Detroit in the first round? Girardi wouldn’t go into specifics.

“I’m just hoping I gave him something to think about, you know,” Burnett said. “He’s been nothing but positive toward me the whole season. He came out and shook my hand on the mound, and it was very professional of him. As many times I’ve gone away mad, he knows I’m not mad at him. He can call Cito (Gaston) and ask him how many times I got mad at Cito. He deals with it well, he deals with me well and when he put his hand out there, it meant a lot.”

Here’s Burnett.

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• Cool pregame ceremony to honor Mariano Rivera’s record-breaking 602nd career save. The Yankees kept it a surprise and announced it to the media pregame with strict orders not to announce it on blogs or Twitter. Rivera was given a fireman’s helmet and a huge picture commemorating the milestone.

• Jorge Posada was out there for the Rivera ceremony, and he got his own moment with a third-inning curtain call after his home run. “The fans have been amazing all through my career, but especially this year,” Posada said. “They’ve been very supportive and for them standing after Andruw gets strike one. I didn’t want to interrupt his at-bat. It’s special to hit a home run and even in the last regular season game.”

• This was the first time that Posada hit cleanup since September 28, 2009. he hit his first cleanup home run since April 10, 2008. Of his 14 home runs this season, 11 have come at Yankee Stadium.

• On the home run, Posada scored his 900th career run. His first-inning walk was No. 934 of his career, moving him past Roy White for sole possession of seventh place on the Yankees all-time franchise list.

• The Yankees scored their first two runs without getting the ball out of the infield thanks to bunt singles by Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter. “It had nothing to do with our game plan,” Jeter said. “I’ve faced Wakefield a bunch and I don’t know if I’ve ever bunted off him before. The opportunity presented itself, and I tried it.”

• Jeter’s batting average is up to .300. “I’m not playing for a batting average,” he said. “I’m playing for trying to stay sharp for the playoffs. (Hitting) .300 obviously is better than .200, but I’ve hit .300 before.”

• This is the first time Jeter’s batting average has been .300 or better at the end of a game since he was hitting .333 after the second game of the season.

• The Yankees are an even 16-16 in Burnett’s starts this season.

• Dave Robertson has allowed one run and 11 hits in his past 26 appearances dating back to July 26. He has a 0.35 ERA in that stretch. According to Elias, Robertson has held opponents hitless in his past 21 at-bats with men on base.

• Robertson leads all American League relievers with 99 strikeouts this season. That’s good news for High Socks for Hope.

• Francisco Cervelli went for further tests today but the Yankees haven’t heard back from the doctors.

• Girardi said he’ll probably announce a Tampa rotation after the second game.

• There’s still no plan in place — or, announced anyway — for Phil Hughes. “We’re going to talk about how we’re going to use him in the next couple of days,” Girardi said.

• The Yankees will finish the season 44-12 in day game, the highest all-time day winning percentage by any team since 1900 according to Elias.

Associated Press photos

The lineup for Game 2

Eduardo Nunez SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Nick Swisher RF
Eric Chavez 3B
Jesus Montero DH
Chris Dickerson LF
Austin Romine C

As a team, the Yankees have nothing left to play for — they simply seem to enjoy beating up on the Red Sox. Individually, A.J. Burnett and Jorge Posada are still trying for strong finishes to bad seasons, and in today’s 6-2 win against the Red Sox, Burnett pitched 7.2 terrific innings and Posada went 2-for-3 with a home run. Burnett left to a standing ovation, and Posada was brought out of the dugout for a curtain call. Derek Jeter had three hits in the win, which cut the Red Sox wild card lead to just one game over Tampa Bay, which is currently beating the Blue Jays in the eighth inning.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (96-61)
Brett Gardner CF
Derek Jeter SS
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jorge Posada DH
Andruw Jones LF
Russell Martin C
Chris Dickerson RF
Brandon Laird 1B
Ramiro Pena 2B

RHP A.J. Burnett (10-11, 5.28)
Burnett vs. Red Sox

RED SOX (88-69)
Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Carl Crawford LF
Dustin Pedroia 2B
David Ortiz DH
Adrian Gonzalez 1B
Conor Jackson RF
Marco Scutaro SS
Jarrod Saltalamacchia C
Mike Aviles 3B

RHP Tim Wakefield (7-7, 5.08)
Wakefield vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 1:05., YES Network / TBS

WEATHER: Sunny and warm here in the Bronx. Little bit of wind blowing from left to right.

UMPIRES: HP Brian Runge, 1B Ted Barrett, 2B Tim McClelland, 3B Marvin Hudson

SHOWING UP: The Yankees lead the American League in home attendance (3,555,067) and average home attendance (45,001). This is the ninth straight season the franchise has led the AL in attendance. Their 18 home sellouts are the most in the three-year history of the current Yankee Stadium.

WRAPPING UP: The Yankees are 34-16 in the second game of a series thus far in 2011. They are 33-19 in series finales, but have lost four of their past five in series of three-or-more games. The Yankees are 18-8 in finales at home this season.

THE FULL MONTY: Jesus Montero has recorded back-to-back 3H, multiple-RBI games. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the only other Yankees rookies to accomplish that feat since RBIs became an official statistic in 1920 were Bob Meusel in 1920 and Robinson Cano in 2005.

MAGIC NUMBER: The Yankees have clinched a playoff spot, a division title and home-field advantage. The magic number is, I guess, zero.

UPDATE, 1:37 p.m.: Kind of amazing to watch how poorly this Boston team is playing. Ellsbury picked off. Two mistakes by Saltalamacchia. It’s a 2-0 Yankees lead, and they haven’t hit the ball out of the infield.

UPDATE, 1:56 p.m.: Nice play by Pena to get the last out of the third. Burnett looks good so far. Still a 2-0 game heading into the bottom of the third.

UPDATE, 2:01 p.m.: Posada goes deep and the Yankees are up 4-0 in the third. Curtain call for Jorge.

UPDATE, 2:32 p.m.: Burnett is through five innings with a 4-1 Yankees lead. Ellsbury took him deep in the third, but otherwise he’s been pretty impressive against a Red Sox team that just keeps limping to the finish line.

UDPATE, 2:56 p.m.: Ellsbury’s second homer is his 30th of the year. Say what you will about the Red Sox, their leadoff man has had an incredible year.

UPDATE, 3:00 p.m.: Fans have booed him a couple of times today, but Burnett is through six innings having allowed just three hits (two of them solo homers by Ellsbury). He’s pitched pretty well today.

UPDATE, 3:11 p.m.: The captain doubles in a run and it’s 6-2 Yankees in the sixth. Jeter’s hitting .300 with four games to play.

UPDATE, 3:18 p.m.: That’s a nice play by Laird to start a 3-6-1 double play in the seventh. Burnett is still out there with Soriano getting loose in the bullpen.

UPDATE, 3:35 p.m.: Burnett’s final start of the year is going to be one of his best. He’s still out there in the eighth, the first time he’s pitched this far into a game since June 13.

UPDATE, 3:36 p.m.: Scratch that. Forgot about the eight innings on July 29. So this is the second time he’s gotten an out in the eighth inning since June 13.

UPDATE, 3:39 p.m.: Huge ovation for Burnett, who’s pulled after 7.2 innings and back-to-back strikeouts. Robertson is in to face Ellsbury — Girardi talked pregame about wanting to use relievers in situations that might come up in the postseason — and Burnett has his finest start since early June.

UPDATE, 3:43 p.m.: Was that a changeup from Robertson? Brought in to get a lefty, and he’s able to go to that pitch? This is part of the reason the Yankees don’t have to have a second lefty in the bullpen, because in the late innings, they can bring Robertson — or, I guess, Soriano — to get a tough lefty in a tough spot. If Logan can get a key lefty in the fifth or sixth, one of those two setup relievers can handle the key left-handed at-bats in the seventh and eighth. The ninth is spoken for, obviously.

If there were any doubt about Jesus Montero’s roster status, it’s surely gone at this point.

“I can’t envision a scenario where he won’t be on our postseason roster,” Joe Girardi said.

The lingering question has more to do with playing time rather than a spot in the clubhouse. Montero seems to have locked up regular against bats against left-handed starters, Girardi wouldn’t commit to using Montero as his regular designated hitter against right-handers.

If the Yankees play the Tigers in the first round, they won’t see an left-handed starter the entire series.

“It very well could (affect his playing time,” Girardi said. “But every team does have left-handed relievers.”

Montero seemed happy to hear the news. He said he won’t fully believe it until Girardi makes it official — “I don’t want to say, ‘Yes!’” he said — but it’s clear that Montero’s hit enough to feel confident.

“I’ve been doing a good job, thank God,” he said. “Just trying to do my best. I’m helping and doing whatever they want me to do to help the team to win. I don’t decide anything else.”

• CC Sabathia threw four simulated innings this morning, a total of 65 pitches. He didn’t pitch deep enough into his sim game to pick up his 20th win. “Able to work on some things and not be as intense, but get my work in,” he said.

• Sabathia faced Ramiro Pena, Greg Golson and — after an inning — Chris Dickerson. He said he’ll throw a bullpen on Tuesday and be ready for Friday’s postseason opener. He hasn’t started studying scouting reports for either possible opponent. “I faced both teams a bunch of times, so we just have to wait and see,” he said.

• Sabathia on the possibility of pitching Game 4 on short rest: “That’s up to them. I’ve done it before.”

• Girardi said he had not yet talked to Phil Hughes about how he feels a day after yesterday’s bullpen. The Yankees are still hoping to have him pitch in some capacity during these last three games, but they don’t have a game picked for him.

• Girardi said he was not ready to announce any of his Tampa Bay rotation.

• All of the regulars not in the Game 1 lineup will be in the Game 2 lineup. No one is sitting out hurt. “There might be one guy that I use in both games today,” Girardi said. “That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t bring in someone late, but I think you have to be smart about it at this point.”

• On using Jorge Posada as the cleanup hitter: “He has a lot of experience against Wakefield,” Girardi said.

• The Yankees have locked up home field advantage because Detroit lost last night, so these last five games are all about getting ready for the playoffs. “It’s something that we worked very hard for during the course of the season,” Girardi said. “And it’s nice because I’ve always said that our club is built around our ballpark. We’ll still going to go out and play hard. It’s not going to change my approach, in a sense, but we’ll be smart with guys these last four days.”

RED SOX
Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Carl Crawford LF
Dustin Pedroia 2B
David Ortiz DH
Adrian Gonzalez 1B
Conor Jackson RF
Marco Scutaro SS
Jarrod Saltalamacchia C
Mike Aviles 3B

Associated Press photos

Brett Gardner CF
Derek Jeter SS
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jorge Posada DH
Andruw Jones LF
Russell Martin C
Chris Dickerson RF
Brandon Laird 1B
Ramiro Pena 2B

It’s a late report for most of the Yankees this morning. They won’t be here until just a couple of hours before the first game, but CC Sabathia is here early for his sim game tune-up.

He’s pitching to Roman Rodriguez, facing Ramiro Pena and Greg Golson. Pena is batting left-handed. I believe every member of the coaching staff has made an appearance on the field except for Joe Girardi, who I haven’t seen.

That’s an even-worse-than-usual cell phone picture to really capture the scene.