The LoHud Yankees Blog

Ten starts in a row, Freddy Garcia didn’t allow a single home run. When he finally coughed one up on August 29, it was the only run he allowed all game. Since then, Garcia has allowed multiple home runs in three straight starts, including two tonight to Adam Lind.

“I try to make good pitches, and sometimes I’m not able to do it,” Garcia said. “That’s why I’ve been giving home runs… Last three starts, I don’t be doing my job. I’m really frustrated about it, but that’s part of the game. Sometimes you pitch good. Sometimes you pitch bad. You just have to go continue to try to do the best that you can do, and hopefully everything goes well for you.”

This weekend did little to clarify the Yankees rotation situation. Bartolo Colon couldn’t pitch beyond the fourth inning on Saturday, and Garcia couldn’t get out of the fifth today. At times, one of those two has been the Yankees second-best starter, but they’ve struggled recently.

“Bart had a good start on this road trip and had one that wasn’t so good,” Joe Girardi said. “Freddy’s kept us in the games. We talked at the beginning of the season how we worried about innings for both these guys. There’s some concern there, but they’ve just got to find a way to get it done.”

Garcia said tonight’s home run was a good pitch, a splitter that Lind put a good swing on. The second was a slider that “didn’t do much.”

As good as Garcia has been this season, there is some risk with him. He’s never been an overwhelming or overpowering pitcher. His value is in his experience and savvy, and sometimes that leaves little margin for error.

“He’s just missing some spots, that’s all,” Girardi said. “That’s going to happen. Freddy’s not going to be a huge strikeout guy and they’re going to put the ball in play. If you miss some spots, that’s the chance you’re going to take.”

Here’s Garcia.

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• The Yankees won only four of 10 on this road trip, but they still managed to gain two games in the standings. After today’s game, the team just seemed relieved to be finally going home. “From now on every game is important,” Alex Rodriguez said. “Every game is meaningful. We’re looking forward to playing at home, playing well, start cleaning up some of the small mistakes that we’ve been making. We understand we’ve got to get better.”

• After Monday’s makeup game against the Twins, the Yankees play their final 10 games against the Red Sox and Rays. With seven games at home against those two teams, the Yankees home stand could either put the division away or make it a race to the finish. “It will be a great opportunity to do that there,” Mariano Rivera said. “We still have to perform good and take care of business at home, get this thing over.”

• The Yankees magic number to clinch a playoff spot is five, to clinch the division is seven.

• Obviously Brandon Morrow completely shutdown the Yankees offense today. “He had us baffled all day with his slide,” Rodriguez said. “He probably threw 70 to 75 percent sliders, which is a very high percentage for him. He’s usually the opposite, 70 to 77 percent fastball guy.”

• Of the Yankees five hits, three were by Eduardo Nunez, and Nunez was the only Yankee to advance beyond first base.

• Of course, Nunez also made the second Yankees base-running mistake of the weekend. “He’s just making an aggressive turn,” Girardi said. “In that situation, you’ve got to know the score. You’re not going to get to second unless it really bounces off himn, so you’ve got to be cautious there. He was just overaggressive.”

• Why not pinch hit for Ramiro Pena in the eighth? “Pena’s had some success off him,” Girardi said. “Grandy is 1 for his last 15 with 10 strikeouts. If we had a couple guys on, I might have pinch-hit Grandy and taken a chance.”

• Impressive Yankees debut by Raul Valdes, who retired four of the five batters he faced, including all three left-handers. The Yankees have been giving Aaron Laffey a lot of chances to emerge as a legitimate second lefty candidate, but that Valdes appearance might earn a few more looks. I still don’t think the Yankees will actually carry a second left-hander in the postseason, but I’m sure they’d like to have a backup option in mind.

• Random fact about tonight’s game: The phone from the dugout to the bullpen stopped working for a while. “The phones haven’t worked real good here the last couple days,” Girardi said. “Danny (Iassogna) handled it and we used the policeman’s walkie-talkie for a few minutes, then they got the phones working again.”

• Girardi’s assessment of going 4-6 on the road and still gaining two games in the standings: “I think we are fortunate,” he said. “We’ve got to go home and play better, there’s no doubt about it. At times, we didn’t swing the bats on this trip. Is it good pitching? Is it fatigue? I don’t know, but I know our guys are pretty worn down. Now they’ll get to sleep in their own beds and hopefully catch up a little bit.”

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.

—

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

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.

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• 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

Let me preface this by saying the Yankees are clearly a better team with Alex Rodriguez. The intention here is not spark that sort of ridiculous argument. That said…

Rodriguez last played on July 7.

Through July 7: The Yankees went 51-35 (.593 winning percentage) and averaged 5.22 runs per game.

Since July 7: The Yankees have gone 18-9 (.667 winning percentage) and average 5.70 runs per game.

Again, the point here is not to suggest that the Yankees are better without their third baseman, only to point out that their hitters have done a remarkable job making up for his absence.

“It’s been a lot of fun, that’s for sure,” Eric Chavez said. “It’s been a lot of fun to watch. I’ve played on some pretty good offensive teams early with the A’s, and I’ve never seen anything like it. If you look at the three guys in the middle – Robbie, Granderson and Teixeira – they do so much damage, the rest of us just have to pitch in. What those three guys are doing, it’s pretty miraculous.”

The return of Chavez has helped. It’s also helped that Mark Teixeira has found a little consistency. And that Nick Swisher has been outstanding for two months now. And that Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter have been getting on base. And that Curtis Granderson’s production hasn’t fallen off. And that Eduardo Nunez is becoming productive again.

Of the Yankees 27 games without Rodriguez, only eight were played against teams below league average in team ERA (Toronto and Baltimore). Twelve were played against teams that top five in team ERA (Tampa Bay, Oakland and Seattle).

“It’s been really good, because guys have stepped up,” Joe Girardi said. “As I’ve said, one of the things I’m most proud about this team is how guys have slid in when we’ve had key people go down. Whether it was Derek, Alex, Soriano, Joba or Feliciano, guys have stepped in and done the job. It’s been extremely impressive.”

Associated Press photo

The Yankees had Mariano Rivera on the mound with a one-run lead, three outs away from capping a wildly successful road trip that would put the Yankees back in first place in the American League East.

Had Rivera gotten those three outs, all we’d be talking about this morning would be a gritty series at Fenway and a Yankees team playing incredibly well for a week and a half. Without those three outs, we’re left with this.

“I don’t call it disappointment or frustration, it just happens,” Rivera said. “That’s baseball. We just have to continue playing the baseball we’ve been playing. We’ve been doing great. Yeah, we lost the series, but we’re going home and we’ll play our ball.”

There was something stunning in the finality of it all. Marco Scutaro doubled and scored. Then David Ortiz doubled, the Yankees setup the double play, and Josh Reddick lined a first-pitch curveball into the left-field corner. It was past midnight, and it was over. In the last few minutes of Sunday night, the Yankees were winning a great game. In the early minutes of Monday morning, they were losing a heartbreaker.

Phil Hughes said he had no problem getting loose. In fact, he was ready for it. He started throwing his bullpen — in preparation for Tuesday’s start — as soon as Rivera came into the game. When the Red Sox tied it, he stopped throwing and treated it as a warmup because he figured he would be the next guy in the game. Sure enough, Girardi went to his starter, and Hughes threw all of 13 pitches, four of them intentional balls to Carl Crawford.

“I’ve got to do a better job in that situation,” Hughes said. “We pitched so well all game, and then I’ve got to give us as many innings as we need to score runs, and I just couldn’t do it.”

Here’s Hughes.

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• Joe Girardi said he wasn’t ready to announce a rotation for the upcoming series, but Hughes won’t be available to start Tuesday or Wednesday. Ivan Nova said he’s gone through his regular between-starts routine, so he might be the best bet for Tuesday.

• Hughes said he could start Tuesday if necessary because he threw so few pitches. The fact Girardi didn’t rule him out for Thursday makes me wonder — just a guess — whether that will ultimately be his day. “I felt like I made some good progress in my last start, so if I have to wait around, it won’t be something that’s fun to deal with,” Hughes said. “But I don’t really make these calls.”

• Hughes on his pitch to Reddick: “It was sort of an 0-0 get-me-over curveball, and I kind of saw him think take — everything kind of slows down — and then it seemed like at the last second he was like (swing). He stayed back real well on it and shot it into left. I wasn’t exactly sure where Gardy was playing, but when I saw it tailing away from him, I pretty much figured that was it.”

• Hughes on the Ortiz double: “I haven’t even looked at it on video yet. I made a decent pitch on a 2-1, it was a changeup. I figured we could go in again, that’s usually where we like to go on him. I’m not sure if it was in or not, or in enough, and he put a good swing on it.”

• Rivera was asked whether his inning was a matter of bad pitches or good hitting. I assume his response was about the Scutaro double, but he could also have been talking about the Pedroia sac fly. “It wasn’t the pitch that I wanted it to be,” he said. “It was a little bit down and it should have been a little bit up. I can’t blame nothing but myself. I didn’t get it done.”

• On the sac bunt, Rivera said he didn’t think the Yankees had time to make the play because it wasn’t a force. “It’s a hard play,” he said. “If there’s two guys on base and it’s a force, it’s a little different. You have to tag the guy, so you have to be in position to be there. Even though he bunted it right back at me, I didn’t think we had a chance to get all the way back there and get him out.”

• Carl Crawford is 2-for-15 in his career against Hughes, but Hughes said he was fine with the decision to walk him. “In that situation you want a double play,” Hughes said. “The manager made the call, and that’s what you’ve got to live with. I was fine with it.”

• The Yankees are now 63-3 when leading after eight innings this season.

• Freddy Garcia walked his usual tightrope and regularly got out of trouble. He wasn’t great, but he gave the Yankees enough to get the win. He still hasn’t allowed a home run in 64.2 innings, the longest streak of his career.

• Random historic stat of the night: Eduardo Nunez, at 24 years and 53 days old, became the youngest Yankees third baseman to homer at Fenway Park since Clete Boyer did it at 23 years and 191 days old back in 1960. But you probably already knew that.

• Nunez hadn’t homered in 22 games. He’d gone 75 at-bats since his home run against the Mets.

• This was Brett Gardner’s first career game that included a home run and multiple stolen bases. He was 3-for-5 and is now 30-for-34 on stolen base attempts since May 20. He’s swiped 21 in a row without being caught, the longest such streak by a Yankee sing Derek Jeter stole 22 in a row from July 20, 2001 to June 2, 2002.

• Dave Robertson hasn’t allowed a run in 23.2 road innings this season. That’s a span of 23 outings.

• Rivera has blown 14 saves against the Red Sox, his most against any team (Baltimore and Anaheim are second with eight). This was his fifth blown save of the season, matching last year’s total.

• The Yankees were 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Those numbers pretty much speak for themselves.

Associated Press photos

Here’s the short version of Jorge Posada’s pregeame conversation with Joe Girardi.

“He said he was going to put the best lineup on the field, and he doesn’t know when I’m going to DH again,” Posada said. “So right now I’m sitting on the bench… I’m not happy about it, but right now I can’t do nothing about it. I put myself in this situation.”

That’s the current status of Posada’s steadily diminishing role with the Yankees. He lost the catching job this winter, became a bottom-of-the-order hitter by May, became a platoon player by mid-season, and now he’s on the bench with a .230/.309/.372 slash line. For four months, Girardi stuck with Posada in some regular capacity.

“Chavy came back,” Girardi said. “And Chavy started swinging the bat well. And Nuney’s been playing well. It’s just a chance to get them both in there was kind of the determining factor.”

Girardi kept saying that the Yankees are going to “try some different things,” but asked flat out if Posada is no longer in the mix to be a regular designed hitter, Girardi said, “correct.” At-bats could be even harder to find when Alex Rodriguez comes back, but Girardi said Posada’s roster spot is safe. He doesn’t anticipate losing Posada to open a spot for Rodriguez, and he believes the team can afford to carry a limited DH-type on an already thin bench.

“Jorge has a lot of pride and respect for what he’s done,” Girardi said. “You could see the disappointment and understand that, but at this time I felt we had to do what I did today.”

Here’s Girardi speaking a lot about the Posada situation.

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• Girardi it’s “very feasible” that Rodriguez could begin a rehab assignment on Friday, and should line him up for a return to the team during the next road trip. “Today, he did his tee and toss, he took regular BP and he took ground balls where he moved a little bit,” Girardi said. “He’s starting to do things that would get you to the point where he’s getting closer to a game. The last thing to come would be the sprinting and running the bases, and he’s still going to have to do that before he gets into a game.”

• Girardi did not dismiss the idea of calling up Jesus Montero to get some DH at-bats, but it sounds like he would be hesitant to carry Montero as the team’s backup catcher. “Bringing up someone who’s 21 and trying to learn a new staff in the middle of a season is not easy to do,” Girardi said. “That’s more of a concern about bringing in a new catcher than necessarily, is he ready to catch at this level? And I don’t care if he’s a veteran. This is the time of year you want your pitchers familiar with your catchers, and vice versa.”

• The Yankees still don’t have a pitcher lined up for Thursday’s game. Girardi said they’re planning to give CC Sabathia an extra day, meaning he’ll likely start Friday against Tampa Bay. Thursday’s starter would be either Ivan Nova or Bartolo Colon.

• Phil Hughes is available as a reliever tonight, but Girardi said his bullpen is pretty well rested and Hughes would probably be used only in extra-innings or if Freddy Garcia had to be pulled after only an inning or two.

• It’s no longer raining in Boston, but the clouds are rolling in and the sky looks really threatening. The radar’s not great. Could be in for a long night.

RED SOX
Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Dustin Pedroia 2B
Adrian Gonzalez 1B
Kevin Youkilis 3B
David Ortiz DH
Carl Crawford LF
Josh Reddick RF
Jason Varitek C
Marco Scutaro SS

Associated Press photos

Eric Chavez wasn’t surprised to see his name in the lineup today. He still hasn’t been officially activated from the disabled list — the Yankees will wait until after batting practice to complete the transaction — but after six minor league games and an off day Monday, Chavez showed up ready to play.

“The last day actually I fielded about six balls,” he said. “When I had played third, I didn’t have a lot of action until the last day. Once that happened, in my mind I knew I was ready to go.”

Joe Girardi said this isn’t an indication that Chavez will takeover as the Yankees everyday third baseman until Alex Rodriguez returns. In fact, Girardi said he still plans to play Eduardo Nunez, but obviously Chavez is a proven alternative.

“Nuney’s been playing extremely well,” Girardi said. “Nuney has played every day here at third base for us, so I thought he could probably use a day — especially the way he plays, at such a fast pace. His legs could use a day. I’m not of the belief that we would play Chavy six or seven days in a row. We have to make sure we keep him healthy.”

Chavez was hitting .303 before the foot injury that landed him on the DL, but he’s actually hoping for better in his return. He said his minor league at-bats felt good last week, and he’d like to drive the ball a little more than he was back in April and May. He actually felt like he was starting to drive the ball when he broke his foot.

“I’m sure if I play well, then I’ll play,” he said. “If I don’t look too good, I probably won’t play… It was more of filling in for Tex and Al than being an everyday guy (out of spring training), but if this did happen, I was hoping to be physically in shape to do it. And hopefully I can do that.”

• There appears to be a fake Twitter account claiming to be Carlos Pena. Whoever has the account just tweeted that Pena has been traded to the Yankees. It’s not true. A Yankees source just confirmed that no such deal is in place.

• Rafael Soriano felt normal soreness today, and the Yankees expect to activate him in a few days. Could he be activated tomorrow? “Possible,” Girardi said. “But probably not.” That’s because Soriano just pitched back-to-back days and the Yankees prefer to give him two days off. It’s not because of any sort of injury concern.

• Girardi said Soriano will be reevaluated tomorrow before any decision is finalized. An off day Thursday would give Soriano an automatic extra day of rest either right before or right after being activated.

• The Yankees have to open both a 25-man and 40-man roster spot for Chavez because he was on the 60-day. The assumption seems to be that Brandon Laird will be optioned back to Triple-A, but the Yankees won’t announce anything until after BP, which is going on right now. (Actually, maybe they don’t have to open a 40-man spot. Don’t remember when they opened on, but it seems there is one open for Chavez).

• CC Sabathia is going for his 15th win of the season, which would be the Mariners 17th straight loss. “Our job is just to win games,” Girardi said. “That’s the bottom line. You can’t worry about how your opponent has been playing or what’s going on with their club, because on any given night, a club can win a game. Clubs go through tough spells and then they get hot, so you obviously don’t want to be the start of someone getting hot. You go out, play the game, play the right way and hope you get CC another win.”

• A lot of young kids from today’s HOPE Week event around the Yankees today. There were a few roaming through the clubhouse, and a bunch went through stretch with the players. Pretty cool to see how much the Yankees are smiling and laughing with those kids around.

UPDATE, 5:45 p.m.: The Yankees still haven’t sent any sort of official announcement, but MLB.com lists the transaction as Chavez being activated and Laird being option. As expected.

MARINERS
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Brendan Ryan SS
Dustin Ackley 2B
Miguel Olivo C
Justin Smoak 1B
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Mike Carp DH
Greg Halman LF
Chone Figgins 3B

Associated Press photo

After last night’s game, the picture at the top of these postgame notes was of the Yankees bench in the seventh inning, heads hung low as the game was slipping away. Tonight, the picture is of the Yankees bench in the ninth, heads up high as the game is reaching its inevitable end.

“That’s what good pitchers and good players do,” Freddy Garcia said. “It can be rough the night before, then the next day you can be the hero. That’s the way baseball goes.”

This game seemed to be all about second chances for the Yankees, from their rotation to their bullpen to their very best player this season.

Freddy Garcia’s second chance

Last week, Garcia was pitching on 11 days rest, and it showed. He was rusty, much more sloppy than what he’d been in the first half. Tonight was the Garcia the Yankees were used to seeing. He was sharp, and although the Rays got their hits, they didn’t take a single walk and Garcia got big outs when he needed them. The Rays were 0-for-6 with four strikeouts with runners in scoring position. Three of those strikeouts were inning-enders by Garcia.

“You’re a professional, so you expect to do your job,” Garcia said. “I’m a pitcher. I try to do my job every time I go out there, win some games and help the team.”

This was the third time in his past four starts that Garcia didn’t allow a walk. He hasn’t allowed a home run in his past 46 innings, the longest streak of his career. Opponents are hitting .173 against him with runners in scoring position. That average dips to .163 when there are two outs and runners in scoring position.

“Because (Garcia and Bartolo Colon) are older, people seem to think, ‘Is this the end?’ every time they have a bad start,” Joe Girardi said. “Freddy didn’t start for about 15 days after being skipped by the rain (last time), so I wasn’t sure how sharp he was going to be. I’m not surprised he did what he did.”

Boone Logan’s second chance

Logan’s first two and a half months mean he’ll probably be a punching bag the rest of the season, but he’s been pretty good since the middle of June, and tonight he got a massive strikeout against baseball’s third-leading hitter. One night after Logan’s error cost the Yankees the ball game, he and Casey Kotchman battled through a seven-pitch at-bat that ended with Kotchman swinging through a 94-mph fastball.

“It felt good,” Logan said. “Felt just as good as I did yesterday, luckily he didn’t hit the ball back to me. They’re all big outs, and coming in after what I did yesterday and coming out to get that big strikeout, I got pretty pumped up.”

Curtis Granderson’s second chance

Until the ninth inning, Granderson two-run home run was responsible for the only scoring in the ball game, but that wasn’t his most memorable moment. With two on in the fifth, Evan Longoria drove a ball to deep center field. It was a much more difficult catch than the ball Granderson lost in the roof last night, and this time he made a sprinting grab just before slamming into the center field wall.

“I saw that one all the way,” he said. “I thought I was going to be able to stay and brace myself because I could see (the wall) coming up and I got my hand out. The good thing is, this wall doesn’t have much behind it so there’s a lot of give. It just kind of pushed me off and I fell back off it. It probably looked worse than it actually was… If that would have been in Yankee Stadium it wouldn’t have been pretty by no means.”

Let’s go with the Garcia audio tonight.

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• Granderson has taken a beating these past two days, and he said that hit-by-pitch in the eighth inning knocked the wind of him for a second. There’s no way around it, that one hurt. He’s also been hit in the left foot, fouled a ball off his right calf and slammed into a wall. Girardi said he’ll check with Granderson before playing him tomorrow, but Granderson feels confident that he’ll be good to go. “For the most part, I think I’ll be alright,” he said. “We’ll see how things go waking up in the morning, but it should be fine. Should be ready to go.”

• David Price apologized to Granderson on the field after drilling him between the shoulder blades with a 95-mph fastball. Obviously there’s no chance Price was trying to hit him, but he apparently felt a little bad about that one.

• After 6.2 scoreless from Garcia, Logan got a big out against a lefty, Dave Robertson and Mariano Rivera struck out four through hitless eight and ninth innings. “That’s a perfect scenario,” Logan said. “That’s what we want to do. When the bullpen comes in and shuts it down, you can’t ask for more from it, and it’s always a good feeling when we all go out there and do our job.”

• For Garcia, the biggest difference between this start and the last start was his command, especially with his split. Once again, both Garcia and Girardi praised Russell Martin’s ability to block that pitch when Garcia buries it. “He’s going to bounce it,” Martin said. “You want him to keep it down in the zone, so it’s going to make me work a little bit. I’ll work if it’s getting us outs.”

• Garcia’s been through his own health problems in the recent past, and tonight he was asked whether he’s feeling stronger as he gets further removed from surgery. “It doesn’t matter,” Garcia said. “That surgery happened three years ago. I don’t think about it. I have to go out there and pitch my game. It doesn’t matter how hard I throw, I find a way to get people out. That’s the most important thing. A lot of people throw hard and don’t get anybody out. You gotta make your pitch and try to survive.”

• Girardi on the decision to face Longoria instead of giving him the open base in the fifth inning: “We thought if Freddy made his pitches, he had a good chance of getting him out. He had to make his pitches. Matt Joyce is a dangerous hitter, too, an all-star in the first half. Freddy had gotten him out the time before, had gotten him to chase some splits and his split was good, so we decided to go after him.”

• Girardi on Granderson’s catch to end that at-bat: “Outstanding. To be able to go back on that ball, and Grandy plays fairly shallow, he showed tremendous range. It was a big out… He’s good at going back. There are center fielders who have different ideas about how to play; he plays shallow and it’s worked for him.”

• Brett Gardner reached base two more times tonight, and he’s hitting .346 since June 4, raising his batting average from .244 to .291. He’s now stolen 16 bases in a row, including at least one in five straight games.

• Gardner is the first Yankee with consecutive 30-steal seasons since Alfonso Soriano did it in three straight, from 2001 to 2003.

• Granderson now has 26 home runs for the season, 10 of them off left-handed pitchers. He has two homers in 24 career at-bats against Price. All other left-handed hitters have two homers in 399 at-bats against him.

Associated Press photos

I believe I’ve officially run out of things to say about CC Sabathia. He’s won seven starts in a row, and he hasn’t allowed more than one run in a start since mid-June. He was outstanding this afternoon, but then again, that’s nothing new. I’m out of things to say about him, so let’s try this:

What Joe Girardi said: “His slider was good today. I thought all his stuff was good. His velocity was great. His changeup was very good. He just knows how to pitch, and he gets outs, and he throws quality strikes… He doesn’t put too much pressure on himself and realizes it’s just one start, and he can only go out and do what he’s going to do. He can’t do anything for anyone else. And he’s just able to relax.”

What Mark Teixeira said: “When you expect a guy to throw a shutout every time out there, that’s pretty impressive. They scratched that one run across early, but after that, he was absolutely dominant. The last three months, there hasn’t been a guy better in baseball… There’s not many aces out there that can do that. Every good team needs one. We haven’t played well; the first two games after the break, we got our butts kicked. You need a guy like CC to step up and stop that momentum. This is a good team across the way and CC really stopped their momentum.”

What Brett Gardner said: “I’m in a good spot. I’ve got a good view of what’s going on. Watching him for eight innings and watching Mariano for one inning, it’s pretty special. He just hits his spots. Wherever Cervy is setup, he pretty much hits the glove every time. Doesn’t matter if it’s his fastball or slider or changeup, he does a good job of keeping guys off balance. He’s great. He is every time. You guys keep asking me how he is, and it seems like every time I tell you the same thing. He’s just dominant.”

What the numbers say: A first-inning run snapped his scoreless innings streak at 24, a career-long for Sabathia and the longest such streak for a Yankees starter since Tom Underwood in May of 1980… Has won seven straight starts, one shy of the longest such winning streak of his career… Beyond the seven straight wins, Sabathia has also won 11 of his past 12 starts. He leads the Majors with 14 wins, and his ERA is down to 2.64.

What Sabathia said: “The fastball command got better. I had runners on early because I didn’t have it, but I throw everything off of that. I stuck with it and it ended up being a good start… I always look forward to getting the ball, but things have been going pretty good. The guys have been scoring a lot of runs, Cervy and Russ have been catching great games, so I’m just looking forward to the next one.”

Let’s go with Teixeira’s audio for today. He talked about Sabathia’s hot streak and his own cold streak.

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• Big game from Gardner, who now has the second-highest batting average of all the players in the Yankees everyday lineup. He’s up to .279 after going 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles this afternoon. He’s had three hits in two of his past three games, and both of those three-hit games came against left-handed starters. “Lefty, righty, it’s all the same to me,” Gardner said.

• Gardner almost single-handedly generated a run by hustling to second on that bloop to center field in the fourth inning. “Really out of the box I was running hard and probably halfway up first base once I figured the second baseman wasn’t going to catch it,” Gardner said. “With that turf, it’s going to take a big hop. You see it all throughout the game. Jeet made a great play in maybe the eighth inning on Rajai Davis. Even balls on the infield, ground balls take big hops and you try to take advantage of it.”

• Gardner is hot. Teixeira is cold. His batting average is down to .240 with four hits in his past seven games. “Before the break, I didn’t feel good at all,” he said. “I think a little fatigue set in, but those three days really helped. It’s just a matter of me getting my timing back,.”

• Of course, the low batting average comes with team-highs in home runs and RBIs. He’s second in walks and still has a .345 on-base percentage. “I feel like I’m hitting the ball hard a lot,” Teixeira said. “I’m hitting a lot of home runs — that’s what I do. I feel good when I hit those home runs, but those extra hits just aren’t coming. I’ve said it all year long, I’m really just hoping for those extra hits to come. They haven’t so far.”

• After that rocky first inning, Larry Rothschild told Sabathia to make sure he stayed over the rubber a little longer. He was rushing through the little pause in his mechanics. “It’s easier to do the older you get,” Sabathia said. “If I was a younger guy, sometimes it’s tough. But I’ve been there; this is my 11th or 12th year, so I’m able to go out and correct things as the game goes on.”

• Sabathia on precautions to keep the Blue Jays from stealing signs: “Me and Cervy talked about it before the game just used a different set than we normally use with a runner on second. I don’t think it’s something you can really do anything about. We don’t know what’s going on, if they are or if they aren’t, so just go out and try to pitch.”

• Girardi said Sabathia would have gone out for the eighth inning regardless of his bullpen situation. The fact the pen was used a lot the previous two days had no impact on his decision to keep Sabathia out there.

• Mariano Rivera got his 23rd save… Gardner stole his 24th base… Nick Swisher had his 18th double… Eduardo Nunez made his 12th error… Nunez also had his 16th RBI, half of which have either tied a game or given the Yankees a lead.

• Derek Jeter had two hits and moved into a tie with Al Kaline for 26th place on baseball’s all-time hits list with 3,007.

• Gardner in his career against Ricky Romero: 7-for-14 with three doubles, one home run, four RBI and four walks.

• For the third time this season, the Yankees have gone four straight games without allowing a home run. Their longest such stretch of the season is six games.

• Swisher got into a brief discussion with home plate umpire Todd Tichenor, and Girardi wound up coming out of the dugout to have a conversation of his own. Girardi said he came out to cool down the situation because guys on the bench were barking as well. “I wanted to make sure, let’s worry about the game and not throw anyone out,” Girardi said. “I’ll take care of it.”

• A final word goes to Girardi: “To not win for a week, that’s what it felt like because we didn’t play for three days. You need a win, so CC went out and got it for us.”

Associated Press photos

Eduardo Nunez remembers that CC Sabathia was on the mound when he made two errors in one game in New York in April, and he remembers that it was A.J. Burnett on the mound when he made two errors in Detroit in May. He remembers these things, because those early season mistakes affected him.

“Early in the season I lost a little of my confidence,” he said. “In the first month, I think, when I made like six errors in two games, with Burnett in Detroit and CC at home. Now I feel great. I feel ready. I have my confidence back. Making errors is part of the game, you know? If you’re not making errors, you’re not playing.”

Although Nunez battled errors throughout the minor leagues — he had more than 30 three times in four years — his cleanest season was last year in Triple-A (14 errors in 452 chances). He has the range for shortstop, and he has plenty of arm for either short or third, but he’s made mistakes regularly this year. In part-time duty, he leads the Yankees in errors. By a lot.

It was suggested last night that the pressure of replacing Alex Rodriguez or Derek Jeter might get to him.

“No,” Nunez said, sounding as if he’d never even considered the possibility. “I feel it’s another opportunity for me to show I can play third base too, not just short. I’ll be fine. I feel OK. I feel good. Keep working.”

For now, the Yankees have no plans to change. Joe Girardi said he’s planning to stick with Nunez at third base, and the fact the Yankees didn’t call up Brandon Laird or Kevin Russo or Jorge Vazquez on Thursday tells you that they’re expecting Nunez to do the job.

“Let’s not make too much of one of his starts,” Girardi said. “He played great third base the other day, but that goes unnoticed when you do it the right way. He made an error today. This is a little different for all of us, playing on this AstroTurf. We haven’t been on it for a while, and we didn’t play great defense on it.”

Associated Press photo