On the Yankees beat

More on Joba Chamberlain.

Joe Torre said they may take "certain liberties" in terms of Chamberlain possibly pitching more than an inning, based on pitch count. However, he will not pitch on consecutive days.

Brian Cashman said they have not deviated from the plan they put in place, only that there was "an evolution." Cashman refused to elaborate, but seemed to hint that the plan was that they would try Chamberlain in the bullpen. If he had no problems and responded well, they might relax things in terms of his being able to pitch multiple innings even if he didn't have multiple days off beforehand. He's now been up more than three weeks, long enough to see he's doing OK.
Cashman said the plan is the plan, and he and Joe are on the same page. However, he said he would prefer the plan not be public but that Joe seems to want to talk about it.

Chamberlain said he had absolutely no intent to hit Kevin Youkilis.

Everyone was excited about the sweep.

No more blogging from me until Seattle comes to town. Enjoy the people who are here in my place, as I'm sure they will be great.

The Yankees swept the Red Sox, winning 5-0 today over Curt Schilling and the Sox. Wang allowed one hit in seven innings. The Joba Rules are no more, as he pitched into a second inning before being tossed for twice(!) throwing near/over Kevin Youkilis's head. Edwar Ramirez finished off the win.
On the last out, the fans chanted Sweep! Sweep!

The Yankees now have a 2-0 lead on the Red Sox. Robinson Cano hit another solo home run to leftcenter field off Schilling. Red Sox are still in search of their first hit. It's midway thru the 6th.

The Yankees have a 1-0 lead in the top of the 4th inning. Robinson Cano hit a solo homer to left-center field in the bottom of the third off Curt Schilling.

Pitching lines so far:

Schilling 3.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 SO, 1 HR
Wang 3.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO

I've got the lineup and some pregame notes. Today it will be Chien-Ming Wang on the mound for the Yankees and Curt Schilling for the Red Sox. The Yankees are going for the sweep.

First, the lineup:

Red Sox
Pedroia 2B
Crisp CF
Ortiz DH
Youkilis 1B
Lowell 3B
Drew RF
Varitek C
Hinske LF
Cora SS

Schilling P

Yankees
Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Giambi 1B
Cano 2B
Cabrera CF

Wang P

Mike Mussina spoke. He is disappointed and was initially mad to be taken from the lineup. He seems to understand better now, though.

This is pretty unbelievable -- someone from MLB went to Red Sox manager Terry Francona DURING the game last night in the dugout to tell him he needed to be wearing his uniform jersey. He was wearing a Red Sox pullover, as he often does. But apparently MLB is cracking down on this. They want people to be wearing their proper uniforms.

Francona went off about that this morning. I wasn't there for that, but we'll have a story on it. When asked about it, Joe Torre agreed with Francona. Torre said: "You'd think there would be more important things to do this time of year than think about Mickey Mouse stuff like this. It's a farce, I think."
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://images.easyart.com/i/prints/rw/lg/8/3/Andy-Warhol-Mickey-Mouse-8380.jpg&imgrefurl=http://en.easyart.com/art-prints/Andy-Warhol/Mickey-Mouse-8380.html&h=400&w=400&sz=26&hl=en&start=4&um=1&tbnid=9oPARJCTMK2V-M:&tbnh=124&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmickey%2Bmouse%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX

Roger Clemens's night on the mound is over. David Ortiz broke up Clemens's no-hitter in the top of the sixth with a solo home run. It's 3-1 Yankees with Luis Vizcaino replacing Clemens to begin the seventh. Although Clemens allowed only one run on two hits and five walks, his pitch count was at 98 and he seemed about out of gas.

The Yankees have a 3-0 lead in the top of the third inning. All three runs came in the bottom of the second. Melky Cabrera had an RBI single off Josh Beckett, and Johnny Damon had a two-run single.
Roger Clemens hasn't allowed a hit yet, but he has walked three.

Here's the lineup for tonight's game. Manny Ramirez is out, both today and tomorrow, with back problems. That's a huge boon for the Yankees, even if his home run and RBI numbers are down somewhat this season. And the Angels are beating the Mariners 6-2 after 8 innings. If that holds, the Yanks would be tied for the wild card with a win.

Red Sox
Lugo SS
Pedroia 2B
Ortiz DH
Lowell 3B
Youkilis 1B
Drew RF
Varitek C
Crisp CF
Hinske LF

Beckett P

Yankees
Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Giambi 1B
Cano 2B
Cabrera CF

Clemens P

Jim Baumbach talked to Ian Kennedy in Syracuse. Watch the exclusive video from the interview here:

It's been a while since we saw Roger Clemens face the Red Sox. He hasn't since 2003, in the American League Championship Series. Tonight, his opponent will be Josh Beckett, who happened to be the winner in the clinching game for the Marlins in that year's World Series win over the Yankees.

Predictions, anyone?

Joe Torre said after the game that Ian Kennedy will start in Mike Mussina's spot Saturday. It could be a one-time thing. It could be for the rest of the season. They're going to see how Kennedy looks there.

The Yankees are up 5-3 in the bottom of the 8th. They can thank Johnny Damon, who hit the go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh, if they win. Damon is batting .356 since July 20th, and he played a superb leftfield tonight. Andy Pettitte gave up three runs in seven innings and Joba Chamberlain pitched a scoreless eighth.

The Yankees have a 3-2 lead after five innings. Derek Jeter hit a solo home run off Matsuzaka with two out in the bottom of the fifth. Jeter has been slumping. He entered the game batting only .258 in August.

The Yankees have a 2-1 lead going into the third inning. They scored two off Daisuke Matsuzaka in the first. Damon led off with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Abreu walked and Rodriguez was hit by a pitch. Matsui beat out a fielder's choice to score Damon. Then Posada doubled down the left field line to knock in Abreu.

Manny Ramirez led off the second with a solo homer just over the right field wall off Pettitte.

Here's the lineup for tonight's Yankees-Red Sox game. No decision has been made yet on whether or not Mussina will stay in the rotation. Torre, Guidry and Mussina are expected to sit down and talk, though probably not until tomorrow.
Sean Henn was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He can't pitch for several days after throwing 79 pitches last night, and his wife is to be induced into labor with their first child Sunday morning. So he will join S/W-B for the playoffs. Chris Britton was recalled to take Henn's spot.

Red Sox
Pedroia 2B
Youkilis 1B
Ortiz DH
Ramirez LF
Lowell 3B
Drew RF
Varitek C
Crisp CF
Lugo SS

Matsuzaka P

Yankees
Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Phillips 1B
Cabrera CF

Pettitte P

It’s been a difficult two weeks for Mike Mussina, and therefore, for the Yankees, since he is in their starting rotation. It’s kind of hard to fathom that things could go from good to bad so quickly for Mussina, but that’s the case.

In the 12 starts leading up to these awful three outings, Mussina went 6-4 with a 3.54 ERA. He averaged 6.14 innings per start in that stretch, and allowed more than three earned runs only once. He won his final four starts in that time.
Now, in Mussina’s latest three starts, he is 0-3 with a 17.69 ERA. That includes two starts against the Tigers and one against the Angels. In the last two starts, he hasn’t pitched into the fourth inning. Mussina says he isn’t hurt. Is he done as a successful major league pitcher, at age 38? That may be premature. Right now, one wonders if he is at least done for this season.

Here are a bunch of comments from Mussina from after last night’s start.

“We had a couple great plays the first inning. I thought maybe my luck was changing a little bit.”

“It’s not good. Two weeks ago, I felt really good about the way I was throwing the balll. … Two weeks later, it’s completely at the other end of the spectrum. I really don’t feel as if I can do anything right.”

“Probably the last nine innings are the worst nine innings I’ve pitched in my entire life in a row.”

“Right now, I let go of it, and I don’t feel like anything good is going to happen.”

“We got it handed to us. That’s three times now that I’ve been out there that we’ve had it handed to us.”

“It feels like I’m never going to pitch well enough to get to the sixth or seventh inning.”

“If Joe (Torre) thinks that somebody else can give us a lift or do the job better, then that’s up to him.”

“I can’t believe in three starts, that I forgot how to pitch after 17 years.”

“I want to go out there and pitch. I hope he (Torre) has enough confidence in me to send me out there.”

What should be done with Mussina? If you take him out of the rotation, who would you put in his place?

That's all I've got. This is horrendous. The Yankees are losing 14-0 in the seventh inning.

Mike Mussina is already out of the game. I'd have to surmise that he won't be starting again five days from now after that outing.
Mussina gave up six earned runs in three innings on nine hits, a walk and a sacrifice fly (which was a deep fly ball to center field that Melky Cabrera ran down).
The score's now 7-0 Tigers, as the first player Edwar Ramirez faced, Placido Polanco, homered.

Here's the lineup for tonight's game in the finale of the four-game series against the Tigers. Derek Jeter is playing. He says he's "fine."

Yankees
Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Giambi 1B
Cano 2B
Cabrera CF

Mussina P

Tigers
Granderson CF
Polanco 2B
Thames LF
Ordonez LF
Guillen SS
Rodriguez C
Casey 1B
Raburn RF
Inge 3B

Verlander P

Other notables from this afternoon:

*The Tigers have placed Gary Sheffield on the disabled list, retroactive to Aug. 22, with a sore right shoulder. They recalled Timo Perrez from Triple-A Toledo.
*Hideki Matsui's right knee is bothering him. That's been a problem off and on recently. He is at DH.
*Joe Torre said they aren't concerned about Phil Hughes's velocity, which has been down somewhat, as a couple of you have noted in emails. The radar showing was a couple miles lower than what the Yankees had it at. He hit 93-94 some yesterday.
*Teams have been announced for the Arizona Fall League. The Yankees' representatives, who will play for the Peoria Javelinas, are right-handed pitchers Steven Jackson, Ross Ohlendorf, Kevin Whelan and Steven White; shortstop Reegie Corona, infielder Juan Miranda and outfielder Brett Gardner.

Do you want to know why the Yankees aren't in position to make the playoffs if the season ended right now. Simply look at their starting pitching of late. Take Andy Pettitte out of the equation. He's been outstanding this month, going 5-0 with a 2.06 ERA in five starts, and has pitched seven innings per start.

Here are the numbers for the other four starters:

Chien-Ming Wang, 5.46 ERA in five starts, 29 2/3 IP
Phil Hughes, 6.11 ERA in five starts, 28.0 IP
Mike Mussina, 7.52 ERA in four starts, 20 1/3 IP
Roger Clemens, 5.79 ERA in four starts, 18 2/3 IP

The offense has been tremendous, averaging a league-best 6.79 runs per game in August.

Mussina's up tonight, as the Yankees attempt to salvage a split in the four-game series against the Tigers. They then return home to take on the Red Sox.

Another tough loss for the Yankees, this one a 5-4 defeat by the Tigers at Comerica Park. Phil Hughes gave up five earned runs in six innings. Neither team scored after the fourth inning.

It may have been a rush to judgment to anoint Phil Hughes the second coming, as some have seemed to do. He's given up five earned runs in 2 2/3 innings today. He allowed homers to Curtis Granderson, Carlos Guillen and Marcus Thames.
Tigers starter Jair Jurrgens left the game with posterior right shoulder soreness.
The score is 5-1 Tigers.

Derek Jeter's not playing today. He hurt his knee in Anaheim trying to get out of the box, and first admitted something was bothering him Friday. Last night, Joe Torre told Derek he thought a day off was in order. Derek didn't argue, which is a sign it must be hurting pretty badly. So he's day-to-day.

Here's the lineup:

Yankees
Damon DH
Cabrera CF
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui LF
Giambi 1B
Cano 2B
Betemit SS
Molina C

Hughes P

Tigers
Granderson CF
Polanco 2B
Thames DH
Ordonez RF
Guillen SS
Rodriguez C
Casey 1B
Inge 3B
Maybin LF

Jurrjens P

This is the first morning-night doubleheader I've ever been to, ha. It was a late-arriving crew by both sides today. The clubhouses were basically empty for most of the time. And neither team was having batting practice.

Here's the lineup:

Yankees
Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Betemit 1B
Cabrera CF

Wang P

Tigers
Granderson CF
Polanco 2B
Thames LF
Ordonez RF
Guillen 1B
Rabelo C
Casey DH
Inge 3B
Santiago SS

Bonderman P

The Yankees lost a torturously long and delayed game 9-6 in 11 innings. Read below for more info.

So for the 2 or 3 people who may be up to follow this game, I'll do a game update if anyone's interested. Let me know if you want it or I won't do it.
We aren't going to make any papers with the game's outcome given the late start. In about 2 minutes.

The Tigers lead 2-0 after an inning. Magglio Ordonez hit a two-run homer off Roger Clemens. Ordonez is having an amazing season.

It's 4-3 Tigers after three innings. Andy Phillips had an RBI single to put the Yankees on the board in the second. Alex Rodriguez hit a two-run homer off Tigers starter Andrew Miller in the third.
Then Clemens gave up two runs in the third. He walked leadoff hitter Cameron Maybin, then gave up a triple to Curtis Granderson. Granderson scored on a fielder's choice by Placido Polanco.

They have just announced a first pitch time of 11 p.m. Yes, really.

I just saw the heaviest rain I may have ever seen in my life. It's back to a normal level of rain now, but for the last 20 minutes, the downpour was absolutely torrential. On the news, they showed some flooded highways. Supposedly the storm is supposed to pass, but I'll let you know when/if they make a decision on starting this game.

There's a decent chance this game won't start on time. They put the tarp on the field and although it's not raining at the moment, they told the fans to go up in the concourse area where there is covering, as there is a severe thunderstorm warning in effect and hail expected.

Also, Ron Villone was placed on the disabled list with a slight lower back strain. He said he tweaked it while covering first base on Tuesday night and that it got really bad Wednesday/Thursday. Brian Bruney was called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre

Here's the lineup for the scheduled game:

Yankees
Damon DH
Cabrera CF
Jeter SS
Rodriguez 3B
Posada C
Matsui LF
Cano 2B
Phillips 1B
Duncan RF

Clemens P

Tigers
Granderson CF
Polanco 2B
Thames 1B
Ordonez DH
Guillen SS
Rodriguez C
Raburn RF
Inge 3B
Maybin LF

Miller P

The Yankees are about to begin their second four-game series against the Tigers in just more than a week. They won three of four at Yankee Stadium last weekend. Now they're playing at the Tigers' home, Comerica Park. Negating some of the home-field advantage, if not all, is the fact that Gary Sheffield is not expected to play until Monday at the earliest. Sheffield is day-to-day with a sore right shoulder. He has 24 homers, 71 RBIs, 97 runs scored and 20 steals (surprising, right?).
Up tonight it's Roger Clemens vs. Andrew Miller.

I had a player (non-Yankee) ask me this week for my playoff predictions for the AL. His were: Angels (West), Red Sox (East), Indians (Central) and I'm not sure if he said Tigers or Yankees for the wild card. The Mariners have been hanging around pretty well in the West, though I still think the Yankees will pass them.
My predictions are Angels (W), Red Sox (E), Indians (C, though I'm not totally sold on this pick), and Yankees (WC). Anyone else want to throw their predictions out there?

I'm in the midst of a long travel day from SNA to DFW to DTW, so you'll have to keep the blog going by yourselves. Here are some numbers on Andy Pettitte that you might be interested in:

Chart – Andy Pettitte at his best

Situation/W/L/ERA/Winning pct./Notable
in Aug. 2007/5/0/2.06/1.000/best month this season
in Aug. in career/44/16/3.32/.733/second-best winning percentage in Aug. by a pitcher since 1900
post-All-Star break 2007/7/1/2.67/.875/has led Yankees in resurgence
post-All-Star break in career/104/42/3.46/.712/fourth-best winning pct. among active pitchers

And here's a little tidbit from a story on Joe Torre passing Casey Stengel in wins:

Casey Stengel is revered by Yankees fans. He was the manager who led the Yankees to 10 World Series and seven World Series Championship titles in 12 years as the manager from 1949 to 1960.
Stengel was the Yankees’ manager when current manager Joe Torre, 67, was growing up in Brooklyn. That added even greater significance for Torre when he passed Stengel Wednesday night for second place on the Yankees’ all-time win list as a manager. Torre, who is in his 12th season as the Yankees’ skipper, now has 1,150 wins in that capacity to Stengel’s 1,149.
“That’s the biggest one for me,” Torre said of all the people he could or has passed in managerial history. “This was my life, growing up in New York.”

Earlier in the season, it didn’t look as if Torre would pass Stengel. There was talk his job might be on the line, with the team underachieving.
Torre has helped the team return to playoff contention, though. Since bottoming out at 21-29 on May 29th, their 50-27 record is the best in the major leagues. The Yankees also have the best record since the All-Star break at 28-13.
As for the milestone win, Jorge Posada said: “That says a lot. It says a lot about this guy. He’s going to be a Hall of Famer. He’s a great manager and a great person. There’s nobody better to play for.”

The Yankees beat the Angels 8-2 with big nights for Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Joe Torre.

Count on Andy Pettitte to help the Yankees get back in the win column. Pettitte gave up one run in seven innings as the Yankees beat the Angels 8-2 to avoid a sweep. Pettitte improved his August record to 5-0 with a 2.07 ERA.

And thanks to the Elias Sports Bureau for this nugget. Pettitte is now 68-33 as a Yankee when pitching following a Yankees loss.

Suddenly, an 18-9 loss doesn't look so bad. Not when the Rangers just beat the Orioles 30-3. I seriously looked up at the scoreboard and assumed (not thought, was certain) it was a mistake and the score was actually 3-3. I found out I was wrong.

Back in Yankees news, Joe Torre and Mike Mussina had a chat today. They don't believe anything is physically wrong, though his two terrible outings in a row are a cause for real concern.
The plan to give Alex Rodriguez a game off this week, which likely would have been today, went by the wayside after he homered three times in two games. Torre said they had a playful game going, in which Alex asked Monday what he had to do to play Monday. Torre's response was that he just needed to hit some balls hard to the middle of the field (the concern was that Rodriguez was dragging a bit). Three homers in two days worked.

Here's the lineup:

Yankees
Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Betemit 1B
Cabrera CF

Pettitte P

Angels
Willits LF
Cabrera SS
Guerrero RF
Anderson DH
Kendrick 2B
Matthews CF
Izturis 3B
Quinlan 1B
Mathis C

Lackey P

Here are your top-performing Yankees this month:

Alex Rodriguez leads the team in batting average at .361. He has seven homers and 18 RBIs in 19 games.
Bobby Abreu is second in avg. at .352 and leads the team in RBIs this month with 22, alson in 19 games.
No player is hitting below .273 (Giambi) this month.

Pitching-wise, Joba Chamberlain has not allowed a run in seven innings pitched. He has 11 strikeouts. Luis Vizcaino's ERA is next-lowest this month at 1.80, while Andy Pettitte's is 2.25. He is 4-0 this month.
On the other end of the spectrum, Sean Henn has a 9.00 ERA this month, Ron Villone a 7.59 ERA, Mike Mussina a 7.52 ERA and Chien-Ming Wang a 7.06 ERA.

The Yankees lost 18-9 in an ugly game.

What a debacle for the Yankees. They are now losing 18-5 after six innings. Angels left fielder Garret Anderson has a 10-spot in the RBI column. Yes, a 10-spot. Anderson has four hits, three runs scored, two homers, two doubles and 10 (!!!!) RBIs.
For the Yankees: Mike Mussina, seven runs allowed. Ron Villone, four runs allowed. Edwar Ramirez, two runs allowed. Sean Henn, five runs allowed.

Mike Mussina is already out of the game. He gave up seven earned runs on seven hits and two walks in 1 2/3 innings. However, the Yankees loaded the bases here in the top of the third before a two-run double by Bobby Abreu. Alex Rodriguez just knocked in a run with a fielder's choice. It's 7-4 Angels with one out and a runner on third in the top of the third.

Here's the lineup for tonight's game against the Angels:

Yankees
Cabrera CF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui LF
Giambi DH
Cano 2B
Phillips 1B
Molina C

Mussina P

Angels
Figgins 3B
Cabrera SS
Guerrero RF
Anderson LF
Matthews CF
Kotchman 1B
Izturis DH
Kendrick 2B
Mathis C

Escobar P

So one of the things that has many people particularly excited about the Yankees' second-half resurgence is the fact that many of the players driving that revival are young players that have come up through the farm system such as Phil Hughes, Shelley Duncan, Joba Chamberlain, Melky Cabrera and Robinson Cano.
Imagine what a big thing that was for Hughes, at 21 years old, making his first major league start at Angel Stadium. He had pitched there before, but he said with about 50 people in the stands. There were more than 44,000 there last night. I was very impressed by how calm Hughes seemed about that, although he admitted it was pretty cool.
His dad, Phil Hughes Sr., was perhaps less calm than his son. I went to find the Hughes family in the stands during the game (while the Yankees were batting, and not while Phil was pitching), and Hughes Sr. said he couldn't talk during the game. I happened to be there when Alex Rodriguez hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the sixth. It didn't stand up, but Hughes Sr.'s reaction was a good indicator of how into the game he was. He stood and twirled his right index finger around with his arm stretched high, making the motion that umpires do to signal a home run.
Clearly the game didn't wind up the way Hughes hoped, but I'm sure he will remember pitching here last night.

On that note, which Yankees rookie that you've seen this season has most impressed you?

The Yankees lost 7-6 in 10 innings. Ryan Budde's walkoff double was his first RBI in the major leagues.