I didn’t want the Mets walking wounded to feel lonely, so this past Monday, I apparently broke a bone in the little toe of my left foot (confirmed by x-ray Thursday).  So, powered by Advil, ice packs and one of my favorite all-time cartoons, here’s the news:

• Those sneaky Yankees muck up the BoSox plans:

When the New York Mets and Red Sox worked out a trade for left-handed reliever Billy Wagner earlier this week, Chris Carter, an outfielder-first baseman currently playing for Triple-A Pawtucket, became part of the deal as a player to be named headed to Boston, sources said. In preparation for the deal, the Red Sox placed Carter on waivers, with the intention of moving him on to the Mets.

But the Yankees, sources said, placed a claim on Carter — perhaps to create some 40-man roster discomfort for the Red Sox. In order to complete the Wagner trade, the Red Sox are now pulling Carter back from waivers, and for the rest of the year they must carry him on their 40-man roster.

• Yankees in(terested) for a Penny, in for a pound(ing)?:

The Yankees have an interest in veteran right-hander Brad Penny, who was released by the Red Sox late Wednesday night.

According to a person with knowledge of the Yankees’ plans, the club doesn’t know of an agreement between Penny and the Red Sox that he wouldn’t sign with an AL team if they released him.

Penny, who is expected to clear waivers Monday because he has about $1.5 million left in salary and attainable bonuses, might be considered an upgrade over Sergio Mitre in the fifth starter’s spot. After he clears waivers, Penny would cost the club signing him $100,000.

. . . “He’s got good stuff,” Johnny Damon said of Penny, whose fastball touched 97 mph and averaged 91 to 93. “His secondary stuff might need a little tweak but his fastball was electric, it cut and he hit his spots with it. Bring him here, why not? I love the way the guy competes.”

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My good friend Steven Goldman called Tuesday night’s loss to the Rangers the most annoying game of the year due to Joba Chamberlain’s struggles with two outs and the botched Nick Swisher bunt that appeared to kill the ninth-inning rally. Having held off on assigning that title, I’ll slap it on Wednesday afternoon’s contest.

What do you imagine the final score would be of a game in which A.J. Burnett struck out a season-high 12 Rangers and allowed just two hits, and the Yankees put 14 men on base? Would you believe 7-2 Rangers?

The Yankees staked Burnett to an early 1-0 lead when Johnny Damon walked, stole second, and scored on a Mark Teixeira single in the bottom of the first. Burnett responded by retiring the first 11 men he faced. Then, suddenly, with two outs in the fourth, he walked Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz and gave up a three-run home run to Ian Kinsler on a first-pitch fastball.

That was the game. After Damon scored, Rangers starter Dustin Nippert walked six more men, but the Yankees stranded three in the first, one in the second, two in the third, two in the fourth, two in the seventh, and two in the ninth, scoring just one more run along the way.

All together, the Yankees went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position, both hits coming off the bat of Mark Teixeira, who singled Jeter home in the fourth. The Yankees drew eight walks, but didn’t manage a single extra-base hit, and two of their six singles didn’t leave the infield. They also struck out ten times, three each against Nippert (in 3 2/3 innings), Jason Grilli (in 2 1/3), and lefty C.J. Wilson (in 2), and once against closer Frank Francisco in the ninth.

Burnett left after six innings and 105 pitches, yeilding a 3-2 deficit to Phil Coke. Coke’s first three batters doubled, bunted for a hit, and homered, boosting the Texas lead to 6-2. The home run, by lefty Chris Davis, was the sixth Coke has surrendered to a lefty this year. Coke has otherwise dominated southpaw batters (.196 average, .224 OBP), but the nine home runs he’s allowed this year to batters of all types have given him a Farnsworthy rate of 1.57 HR/9, moving him ahead of the broken Chien-Ming Wang as the most homer-prone pitcher to throw more than 40 innings for the Yankees this year.

The Rangers scored all seven of their runs on homers in this game, with Kinsler rubbing it in with a two-out, 1-2 solo homer off David Robertson in the eighth to set the final score. Meanwhile, over the final five innings, the Yankees managed just a walk and two singles, only one of which left the infield.

With that, the Yankees dropped a series at home for the first time since the Nationals were in town in mid-June. It was just the second series loss for the Yankees since the All-Star break. The other was to the White Sox, who come into town on Thursday having salvaged the final game of a four-game set against Boston on Wednesday to protect the Yankees six-game lead.

The Yankees have scored 47 runs over their last five games. That works out to 9.4 runs per game. They’ve scored a minimum of eight runs in four of those five contests, all of which have come against the top two teams in the Wild Card race. That’s what 28-year-old righty Dustin Nippert has to contend with this afternoon.

Nippert has made just seven previous starts this year. Just one of them was a quality start. This is just his fifth start in regular rotation. In the previous four the Rangers have gone 1-3 despite Nippert’s average 4.50 ERA and strong strikeout rate.

Nippert goes up against A.J. Burnett, who is coming off his miserable outing in Boston. In August, Burnett has sandwiched three quality starts between two total stinkers in which he’s given up 16 runs in 9 2/3 innings.

Jose Molina catches Burnett this afternoon, but not because of the head-butting A.J. and Jorge Posada were doing in Boston. Molina was scheduled to catch today’s day-game-after-night-game regardless of the pitcher, and the foul ball Posada took off his left ring finger last night cinched it. The rest of the lineup is the usual suspects, with Johnny Damon returning to left field.

Today’s news is powered by . . . a baseball-themed Tex Avery cartoon:

• No Peavy this weekend:

The chances of Jake Peavy making his first start for the White Sox on Saturday are remote, team sources said on Wednesday.

Pitching coach Don Cooper said that Peavy was unable to throw his side session on Wednesday due to lingering effects of being hit by a line drive in his last rehab start on Monday. The right-handers is still getting treatment on on his pitching arm, which had some swelling and soreness.

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I’m a bit out of the loop, since I just got back from a week in England – I apologize in advance. No cell phone or laptop, away from the internet, I completely missed all the baseball news… well, okay, I borrowed my friend’s computer a time or two during the Red Sox series, but just for a minute. So I’m still catching up on everything that happened while I was gone (did someone mention a timely bunt Tuesday night?). Ask me anything about England’s recent cricket victory over Australia, though!

The Yankees, as is their wont these days, bounced back from last night’s loss with a 9-2 win over the Texas Rangers. New York scored three in the second, then blew the game open with five more in the seventh, and every starter had at least one hit except Melky Cabrera (even he had a lovely bunt). The Yanks also got some reassuringly solid pitching after their recent rough-ish patch; Andy Pettitte went seven innings and allowed just two earned runs, with seven strikeouts and three walks.

Rangers starter Derek Holland actually pitched pretty well for someone who was charged with six earned runs, but he paid for just about all of his mistakes. The Yanks’ big blows were Jorge Posada’s three-run homer in the second, Jerry Hairston Jr.’s solo shot in the fourth, and the seventh-inning onslaught that began with a poor defensive play and a Robinson Cano double, and ended some time later with a Mark Teixeira single off of Jason Jennings. Brian Bruney’s eighth inning outing was good enough under the circumstances, and Phil Coke tied the bow around the night.

I found myself thinking today, reading about Oliver Perez’s season-ending trip to the DL, that I need to start writing more about the Mets, because their season has been so fascinating (in a horrific way, but still), while the Yankees right now are extremely pleasant to watch but just don’t give you a ton of juicy material. Don’t worry – as soon as the thought flickered across my brain I spat three times and knocked on all the wood in my apartment.

—

Side Note: I had always previously assumed that cricket was at least somewhat related to baseball – since, after all, it involves a pitcher and a batter and fielders – and that I would therefore be able to follow it a little bit, even just vaguely. This turns out not to be the case at all. For example, this is what the scoreboard looked like at last Thursday’s club game at Lords:

The six in “308 for 6” refers to six wickets, in case you were wondering – I sure was. It took three or four different British friends and acquaintances explaining the rules to me before I began to get the idea, and I’m still fuzzy on a number of details. Also, the big England vs Australia game was a “test match”, which usually last five days, although this one only went four; can you imagine watching five straight days, nearly eight hours per day, of one Red Sox-Yankees game? Some of my favorite Banter commenters would have to be hospitalized.

Today’s news is powered by some vintage Neil Young:

• The veteran Yankees are producing in the field:

. . . Jorge Posada, 37, Johnny Damon, 35, Hideki Matsui, 35, and Derek Jeter, 35, all have better OPS marks this year than last. (Alex Rodriguez, 35, has only a slight decline). Andy Pettitte, 37, and Mariano Rivera, 39, are almost as good as ever. . . .

Perhaps least surprisingly, Jeter, whose body and game have changed almost not at all over the years, is having a prime Jeter season, including a .332 batting average.

“He’s always been good at getting those [bloop] hits here and there,” hitting coach Kevin Long said, “but this is a hard .330. It seems everything he has hit has been hit hard. All year long. And that’s because he’s swinging at a lot of strikes. Everything he’s swinging at is a good pitch. To me, it’s been about his strike zone recognition.

“He’s been much better at deciding which pitches to swing at. He’s more disciplined than I’ve ever seen him at waiting for pitches to be in the zone. And when you wait for good pitches to hit, you’re going to hit better.”

Jeter is striking out at a career-low rate. He said his improved plate discipline is due more to consistent good health than to a change in his approach.

• Gardner making progress:

Injured Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner tested his left thumb for the first time in nearly a month on Tuesday afternoon, and if all goes well, he could be activated in the next week.

Gardner took swings and threw at what he estimated to be 50-60 percent prior to the Yankees game against the Rangers.

“Everything felt pretty good,” said Gardner, who is confident he can at least serve as a pinch-runner in the coming weeks.

The key in determining whether Gardner will be used for more than his legs is how his thumb holds up at the plate.

“He needs to get some at-bats,” manager Joe Girardi said. “How many at-bats he needs, I can’t tell you. But I think a lot of [his timetable] depends on how these first few days go.”

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When the Yankees first played the Rangers in late May, I took a look at Texas and saw Toronto, at hot team with a strong defense that had yet to be tested by its schedule and thus seemed headed for a fall. The Blue Jays fulfilled that prophecy by going 10-24 (.294) against the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays and playing at a .429 overall clip after going 15-9 in April. The Rangers, however, have proven me wrong.

Against the Red Sox, Angels, Rays, and White Sox this season, the Rangers have gone 24-9 (.727), and they nearly matched their 20-9 May with a 17-8 July. As a result, Texas enters this week’s three-game series in the Bronx just 1.5 games behind Boston in the Wild Card race, and 11.5 games ahead of the seventh-place Blue Jays.

How have they done it? That great defense, led by rookie shortstop Elvis Andrus and break-out right-field slugger Nelson Cruz, has played a large part, as it has helped the Texas pitching staff (brace yourself) allow the fewest runs per game in the American League. Yes, the Texas Rangers‘ pitching staff.

The Rangers have needed pitching since they arrived from Washington. Even two of their three playoff entries allowed more than the league average of runs per game. This year, however, that’s all changed. Leading the charge has been veteran Kevin Millwood, who starts tonight. Millwood has benefited tremendously from the improved defense behind him. In his first three seasons as a Ranger, Millwood’s BABIPs were .310, .340, and .358. This year, opposing batters are hitting just .274 on balls in play, and Millwood’s ERA has dropped a full run and a half as a result.

Behind Millwood, 26-year-old sophomore starter Scott Feldman has paired a similarly low BABIP with improved peripherals to shave a run and a half off of his own ERA. Toss aside his three ugly relief outings in April and he has gone 13-4 with a 3.46 ERA in his 23 starts. More recently, 22-year-old rookie Tommy Hunter has gone 6-2 with a 2.66 ERA in ten starts since joining the rotation at the end of June, thanks in part to a still-lower BABIP.

One Ranger starter who is not just a product of his team’s defense is 22-year-old rookie Derek Holland. Holland, who starts tomorrow night, has thrived since his mid-July return to the rotation, going 4-2 with a 2.95 ERA over seven starts and 4-1 with a 1.85 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, and 3.5 K/BB over his last five. He’s a legitimate prospect who could pair with recently promoted 21-year-old Neftali Feliz (part of the Mark Teixeira booty) to give the Rangers a legitimate rotation in the years to come. Feliz is working out of the major league pen for now and has struck out 19 men in 14 2/3 innings against just one walk and four hits. Be afraid.

The Rangers’ bullpen has been a large part of their success this year. First-year closer Frank Francisco has been on and off the DL, but has struck out 41 in 35 innings against just 8 walks (10.5 K/9, 5.13 K/BB). Deposed closer and current lefty set-up man C.J. Wilson has done admirably both setting up and closing for Francisco, striking out 61 in 56 innings and allowing just three home runs. Righty Darren O’Day, a mid-season waiver claim from the Mets, has posted a 1.87 ERA with similarly sharp peripherals in 50 games since arriving in Texas and leads the team in the win-expectancy-based WXRL.

The Rangers have pitched so well, in fact, that it’s easy to overlook the fact that they’re not hitting as much as they used to. Josh Hamilton has been hurt and only recently found his stroke (.373/.425/.513 since August 3, .657 OPS before that). Chris Davis struck out 114 times in 77 games and was demoted in early July. Hank Blalock has taken Davis’s place by getting on base at a .274 clip and doing little other than hitting homers. Andrus is hitting (and running) just enough to make his glove valuable, but no more. Prior to his current arm injury, fellow Teixeira-trade product Jarrod Saltalamacchia wasn’t doing that. Ian Kinsler is not repeating his production from last year and was hurt for a while himself. All of that has counteracted Cruz’s breakout, Andruw Jones ultimately half-hearted comeback, and Michael Young’s MVP-quality performance (if not for his stone glove and that Joe Mauer guy, of course). As a result the Rangers are actually a tick below league average in runs scored per game at 4.85. As usual, that gets worse on the road, where they’ve scored just 4.2 runs per game on the season.

Could this Yankees-Rangers series in the hitting-friendly Yankee Stadium yield a series of pitchers’ duels? Don’t be surprised if it does.

Joba Chamberlain goes against Millwood tonight on eight-day’s rest. He had nine days off around the All-Star break and came back looking like and ace, allowing two runs on eight hits over his next three starts. He then had seven days off before facing the Red Sox at the beginning of the month and came back looking like the nibbler we saw in the first half of the season, walking seven in five innings. Which Joba takes the mound tonight is anyone’s guess. It was the nibbler who faced Texas in Arlington back in late May (4 IP, 4 BB).

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The word “value” has numerous definitions and interpretations. The noun form, per dictionary.com, has 15 listed meanings. The first several apply to some kind of monetary distinction.

But if we’re looking at value in terms of a baseball player and a certain annual regular season award that’s handed out in November, we need to looking at the adjective, or maybe even the verb. The best definition of the three verb lines that apply here: “to consider with respect to worth, excellence, usefulness, or importance.”

Because of the way the MVP vote is constructed, the discussion surrounding the debate comes down to a subjective analysis of who should be considered the most worthy, excellent, useful, and/or important player in the league. The miracle of modern technology has made taken the level of debate to new heights. Please to enjoy, for example, Tyler Kepner’s tweet on August 14, moments after Mark Teixeira’s tiebreaking home run at Safeco Field:

“By the way, this is probably obvious by now, but Teixeira’s the AL MVP. ‘No question,’ as Joe Torre would say.”

The statements themselves seemed innocuous. They were an impulse reaction to a great moment among many that Tex, ye of the 8-year, $180 million contract, has provided in Year 1 of the megadeal. That was until you followed the thread to catch the jibes about Tex’s negative Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) and the running joke it’s become, and scoured the Net to read criticisms from Rob Neyer, Joe Posnanski, and my esteemed former colleague Steven Goldman – although Goldman’s retort wasn’t immediately directed at Kepner.

The criticisms of Kepner, save for broader strokes from Goldman and JoePos in SI, read like they traded in the horses that were driving the Joe Mauer Bandwagon for rocket fuel.

Put bluntly, it was an all-out Internet war with Neyer wielding a sabermetric sword (yes, pun intended), Pos casting spells with his wizarding words, and Kepner responding with a gun that instead of bullets, fired the stick with the flag that reads, “BANG!”

From Neyer:

What inspired this particular post? An essentially meaningless home run, hit well after midnight (back in New York). I mean, I’m sorry, but the Yankees aren’t exactly in the middle of a pennant race anymore. They’ve got a huge lead over the second-place Red Sox. And if the Red Sox should somehow mount a late charge, the Yankees have a huger lead over the Rangers for that other postseason berth. … Joe Mauer currently leads the American League in batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. I don’t suppose anyone’s forgotten this yet, but he’s a catcher. Teixeira’s a first baseman. Are we really supposed to go for a power-hitting first baseman again, even when there’s a better-hitting catcher playing for a competitive team?” Neyer went on to say that he’s worried the writers are conspiring to rob Mauer of what should be a third MVP award for him.

He continued his fact-based rant 48 hours later, saying, “You know what? Let’s just be honest. The argument for Teixeira is an argument for doing it the way it’s always been done. Teixeira is just another big RBI guy on a team with a great record. If he were a Twin and Mauer were a Yankee, Teixeira would hardly be an afterthought. Some of you are OK with that. I’m not.”

Six days later, Neyer felt compelled to write about convincing Pete Abe on Super Joe. The goal, apparently, is to not only campaign for Mauer for MVP, but to have him win unanimously.

OK … now to Mr. Pos:

Look, could you make a case for Mark Teixeira over Joe Mauer? Well, you could make a case for anything. You could say that Mauer missed the first month of the season — so Teixeira has about 120 more plate appearances. You could say that the Yankees are going to the playoffs and the Twins are not unless they make a late season rush that looks more and more unlikely. But it sure seems to me that we need to start jabbing holes in this Teixeira MVP thing before it becomes a fait accompli.

Joe Mauer is having a much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much better season than Mark Teixeira. I’m not sure I put enough muches in there. Mauer is on pace to win his THIRD batting title as a catcher — and no other American League catcher has ever won even one. He leads the league in on-base percentage AND slugging percentage, the two most important stats going, and the only catcher to ever do that in baseball history was … oh, wait, nobody. He throws out base runners and hits .395 with runners in scoring position (hits .457 with runners in scoring position and two outs) and even runs the bases well.

And three days later, JoePos had this to offer: “Not to slam this MVP thing again, but we do realize that even forgetting all those kooky ‘advanced stats’ that seem to annoy people, even with Mauer missing a month of the season with injury — Mauer has now scored as many runs at Teixeira and he’s only 13 RBIs behind, and his batting average is 95 points higher. We do realize that the last seven days, while the Twins have been in desperate need of victories (and not getting many), Mauer is hitting .552 with three home runs and a .931 slugging percentage. And he’s probably the Gold Glove catcher.”

And finally, Goldman:

Unless Teixeira leads the league in home runs by a significant margin, or Mauer cools dramatically, it’s hard to see him emerging from the pack when his season is unremarkable by the standards of his position. Of the last 60 awards (both leagues), first basemen won only 11 times. No first baseman won without hitting .300 (I am treating the 1979 Keith Hernandez/Willie Stargell split like an honorary Academy Award for Pops). All but one, Mo Vaughn in 1995, were well over the .300 mark. An average of those 11 seasons comes to roughly .333/.428/.624, and many of them, like Don Mattingly and Keith Hernandez, both included in the 11, were fine defenders as well. Teixeira’s not having that kind of season.

Some harsh words in there. Kepner, following Posnanski’s initial commentary, issued a rebuttal at Bats, noting that “obvious” was a poor choice of words in his Tweet. In a way, he invited the storm and I thought he handled himself admirably among some respected, admired and talented industry heavyweights. I thought the degree to which he was made to be the piñata for “traditional baseball opinions” was a bit extreme. He’s entitled to his opinion, and opinions are subjective, just like the MVP vote.

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Today’s news is powered by…The Doobie Brothers:

• Joba will definitely be ready for his start Tuesday:

The lasting effect of eight days off should charge through Joba Chamberlain when he takes the mound on Tuesday against the Rangers. At least, the hard-throwing right-hander expects it will.

“Strong like bull,” Chamberlain said, grinning.

. . . “It still feels like it’s about a month in between each start, but that’s just because you’re used to going out every five days and doing it. This one felt a lot better than the last one did.”

• Girardi opines on the Posada/Burnett troubles:

“This (Jorge Posada) is a guy who’s played in [five] World Series — he’s doing something right,” said Girardi, a former big league backstop himself. “The true onus falls on the pitcher, what they’re going to throw.

“I would never want a pitcher to throw what I want if he didn’t believe in it, ever. Conviction, for me, is extremely important for pitchers. We’re suggestion boxes.”

(A.J.) Burnett gave new life to one of the Yankees’ most recent hot-button issues on Saturday, when he threw a fastball to David Ortiz that he admitted he did not completely want to throw.

• Where will Hideki Matsui be in 2010?

The Yankees admire Matsui’s professionalism and are thrilled that he has overcome two knee surgeries in the last two seasons to remain productive. But as reliable as Matsui has been while hitting 23 homers and driving in 68 runs as a designated hitter, the Yankees may not offer him a contract for 2010.

The Yankees have high-priced veterans like Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada and Mark Teixeira who need rest from playing defense, so they would rather use the D.H. as a flexible spot. General Manager Brian Cashman, who considers Matsui, 35, a full-time D.H., said there were too many unknown variables to speculate about Matsui’s future.

“Obviously, he’s a pro,” Cashman said. “He can swing the bat, there’s no doubt about that. Where it goes from here, who knows?”

. . . Matsui was noncommittal about his future, saying that he was “not looking at anything beyond the season right now.”

When pressed on whether he would rather stay with the Yankees, Matsui eventually said: “I like New York, I like being with the Yankees, I like the New York fans. So it’s a place that I feel very comfortable.”

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Today’s news is powered by . . . rockin’ ukes!:

• Buster Olney defends the Captain against Jim Rice:

According to The Associated Press, Jim Rice told Little Leaguers, “You see a Manny Ramirez, you see an A-Rod, you see Jeter. Guys that I played against and with, these guys you’re talking about cannot compare.

“We didn’t have the baggy uniforms. We didn’t have the dreadlocks. It was a clean game, and now they’re setting a bad example for the young guys.”

I cast a vote for Jim Rice to enter the Hall of Fame because he was one of the best players of his time. I don’t know, however, whether he’s the wisest judge of the players of this era or even his own. It’s not entirely clear whether Rice was talking about the differences between the generations in their respective standards of play, or in collective character, or in style, or maybe all of the above.

. . .  Rice owes Jeter a public apology for the way he spoke about him, because after 15 years of playing in the majors, there are three indisputable truths about Jeter.

1. He plays hard.
2. He plays well.
3. He represents the sport well.

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Andy Pettitte had his worst start of the second half on Friday night. Not that it mattered. By the time he got the hook with two on and none out in the bottom of the sixth, the Yankees had scored 15 runs and were well on their way to a 20-11 win. The Yankees scored six runs in four innings off Boston starter Brad Penny without the benefit of a home run, added six more in the fifth off Penny and just-recalled rookie Michael Bowden, and boasted a 12-1 lead before the Red Sox picked up their second hit of the game in the bottom of the fifth.

Pettitte struggled from there on out, giving up three in the fifth (all of which the Yanks got back off Bowden in the top of the sixth), and one more in the sixth before getting pulled with men on first and second and none out. Brian Bruney came on and walked in a run and let another in on a double-play before finally getting out of the inning. The Yankees got one of those runs back off Manny Delcarmen in the top of the seventh. Bruney worked into another jam in seventh, loading the bases on two walks and a hit batter, but Damaso Marte, fresh of the disabled list, emerged from the bullpen and got David Ortiz to fly out and struck out Mike Lowell, hitting 94 on the radar gun in the process. Marte started a string of eight straight outs that was snapped when the two teams combined for eight more runs in the ninth, with Ramon Ramirez and Sergio Mitre, who had pitched a perfect eighth, taking the beating.

The specifics of how the runs scored were unimportant. Nearly every Yankee starter got a hit and both scored and drove in at least one run. The exception was Johnny Damon, who struck out in his first at-bat after fouling a pitch off the inside of his right knee and never took the field in the bottom of the first due to the resulting bruise (it was nothing more). Erik Hinske took Damon’s place and in his first at-bat he hit an RBI ground rule double down the right field line, then came around to score. Hideki Matsui hit the only Yankee home runs, both of them three-run shots, contributing to his seven-RBI night, though one came with the Yanks leading 16-7 in the ninth inning.

So the Yankees finally won a game at Fenway this year, but hidden behind all the scoring was a poorly played game, even by the victors. Pettitte needed 105 pitches to get through five-plus innings and gave up seven runs on seven hits. Just five of those runs were earned because the sixth inning began with a throwing error by Robinson Cano that pulled Mark Teixeira off first base on a ground ball by Casey Kotchman. That wasn’t the worst play of the night however. In the third, Eric Hinske misplayed a ball off the Monster into a would-be triple, only to have Derek Jeter range out to shallow left and gun out Dustin Pedroia at third; Hinske never touched the ball. The “hit” that drove Pettitte from the game was a pop up to the triangle in shallow left center by David Ortiz that Melky Cabrera should have had, but let drop expecting Hinske to move in. That drove in a run. Bruney’s inning and a third was flat-out dreadful. He faced eight batters, walked three of them, hit a fourth, and gave up a single to a fifth. He threw 37 pitches to get four outs (two on a double play), and just 14 of those tosses were strikes. After a 1-2-3 eighth, Sergio Mitre got torched in the ninth, retiring just three of eight batters, hitting one and giving up a pair of homers and four runs, putting him even further behind Chad Guadin in the competition for the fifth spot in the rotation.

Still, it was a good time for Joe Girardi and Dave Eiland to get a look at the inconsistent Bruney, the newly activated Marte, and the relief version of Sergio Mitre. It also kept the Yankee boot on the Red Sox’s neck. The Yankees have now won the last five head-to-head meetings, hold a 7.5-game lead in the AL East, and have A.J. Burnett and CC Sabathia starting the final two games of the series.

In the good old Curse of the Bambino days, it seemed the Red Sox always led the AL East on Memorial Day, and the Yankees always caught and passed them by Labor Day. The Sox broke the Curse in 2004, but the Yankees still won the division that year and the next two, with the Red Sox failing to reach the postseason at all in 2006. It seemed 2004 was a fluke. Then the Sox stormed to both the division title and another world championship in 2007 and it was the Yankees who found themselves watching the postseason on television in 2008.

The Yankees, flush with the new stadium revenue, spent wildly this past winter, but I still thought they’d have to settle for the Wild Card given the strength and depth of the Red Sox’s roster. Indeed, the Red Sox held a slim one-game lead over the Bombers on Memorial Day having already won the first five head-to-head games between the two teams to that point. Two weeks later, the Sox would take three more from the Yankees in Fenway Park, suggesting that, no matter how well the Yankees played against everyone else, the Red Sox were still the better team.

Then came the four-game set in the Bronx two weeks ago, when the Yankees not only got of the schnide against their division rivals, but beat them in every way possible (13-6 laugher; 15-inning scoreless duel; clean, well-pitched 5-0 win; and dramatic late-inning comeback). When the dust cleared, the Yankees held a convincing 6.5 game lead, a lead they’ve maintained heading into this weekend’s three-game set in Boston.

Both teams have gone 7-3 in the interim. The Yankees won series against the second-division Blue Jays and A’s as well as the should-be second-division Mariners. The Red Sox took a four-game set from the AL Central-leading Tigers, but dropped two of three to the Wild Card rival Rangers, only to rebound by sweeping the Jays, outscoring them 14-2 in their last two games.

The Yankees now arrive at Fenway to do the one thing they haven’t managed to do all season: beat the Red Sox in Boston. The Sox are a .679 team at home, where they score 5.66 runs per game and allow just 4.05. The Yankees, however, are no chumps on the road. Coming off a 5-2 west coast swing, they’re playing .565 ball away from home, scoring 5.44 runs and allowing 4.58 away from their homer-happy home park. Only the Angels and Phillies have had more road success than the Yankees in all of baseball.

Once again, the mission for the Yankees is to prove it when it counts. Their four-game sweep of the Red Sox in the Bronx didn’t ice the division, but if they can take two of three from Boston this weekend, doing it to them in their own park and leaving town with a 7.5-game lead with just three head-to-head games in the Bronx remaining, that very well could do the trick.

The pitching matchups favor the Yankees as they’ll have their top three (Andy Pettitte, A.J. Burnett, and CC Sabathia) going while avoiding Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz, the latter of whom has turned in three straight quality starts dating back to his six innings of two-run ball against the Yankees on August 8. If the two teams split the first two games, Sunday night’s ESPN matchup of Josh Beckett and the red-hot CC Sabathia will be must-see TV for baseball fans of all stripes.

Brad Penny goes tonight. Relative to the performance of John Smoltz and the health of Rocco Baldelli, Penny has been a successful gamble. In a rotation that has been surprisingly thin due to Daisuke Matsuzaka’s disaster season, Tim Wakefield’s back injury, Smoltz’s failure, and the departure of Justin Masterson in the Victor Martinez deal, Penny hasn’t missed a turn, delivering 23 starts, 11 of them quality. Sure, his 5.22 ERA is ugly, but he was never supposed to be more than a fifth starter, and he’s been very much that. He’s been a bit too hitable (opponents hitting .291/.345/.482), but he gets out there and battles. He also shut out the Yankees at Fenway for six innings back on June 11.

Penny’s mound opponent tonight is Andy Pettitte, who has been flat awesome since the All-Star break with five quality starts in six tries, posting a 2.04 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 4.3 K/BB, 9.73 K/9, and allowing just one home run in 39 2/3 innings. That run includes seven shutout innings against the Red Sox in the Bronx on August 9.

Adding to that disadvantage, the Red Sox are without Jason Varitek tonight for the fifth straight game due to a sore neck and have now resorted to reacquiring Alex Gonzalez to play shortstop. Gonzalez is hitting .214/.258/.298 on the season and has never had another defensive season like he had for the Red Sox in 2006. He’s also just one year removed from knee surgery. The Sox might actually be better off without their captain in the lineup, but Gonzalez represents a hole in the Boston order that just doesn’t exist for the Bombers.

Damaso Marte has been activated and joins the Yankee bullpen tonight, bumping Ramiro Peña back to Triple-A. Marte has been on the disabled list for most of the season with shoulder problems, last appearing for the Yankees on April 25. He pitched 13 innings on his rehab assigment, 11 of them coming in Triple-A. In those 11, he struck out nine against four walks and gave up three runs on ten hits, two of them homers. That all works out to a 2.45 ERA and 1.27 WHIP with solid strikeout and walk rates, but the PawSox (whom he faced twice) and the Red Sox are two different monsters.

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When the Yankee bullpen struggled so badly during the first two months of the season, too many members of the mainstream media called for either Joba Chamberlain to be relieved of his starting duties or for Brian Cashman to pull off a trade that would reel in a veteran reliever. Well, those media members have grown silent over the last two months as the bullpen has achieved lofty status in the American League. Those writers and broadcasters turned out to be dead wrong in their assessments, largely for two reasons. First off, they forgot that the Yankees boasted one of the league’s most efficient bullpens just last year. And second, they didn’t stop to consider the depth of pitching in the organization, specifically the wealth of talent waiting at Triple-A in the form of Phil Hughes, Alfredo “Ace” Aceves, and David Robertson.

I had already counted myself as a believer in the talents of Hughes and Aceves, but I have to confess to knowing little about Robertson prior to 2009. Kudos should go to the Banter’s own Cliff Corcoran, who was one of the first analysts to sing the praises of Robertson. Cliff turned out to be absolutely right about the 24-year-old right-hander. With a consistent 93 to 94 mile-per-hour fastball and a terrific overhand curveball (reminiscent of Neil Allen in his hey day), Robertson has the stuff to be a reliable reliever for the foreseeable future. If he can improve his control sufficiently, he could be the much-celebrated eighth-inning bridge by 2010. For now, the Yankees have four different relievers (Robertson, Hughes, Aceves, and lefty Phil Coke) that they can feel good about in the seventh and eighth innings…

The Yankees have assembled one of their best benches in years, and it figures to get better whenever Brett “The Jet” Gardner returns from the broken hand that landed him on the disabled list. Gardner will not only give Melky Cabrera the competition that he seems to thrive on, but also one of the most explosive pinch-runners in the game. So here’s the question: whose roster spot will Gardner take? I’d vote for sinkerballing Sergio Mitre, who is still building arm strength after major surgery, but the Yankees have become as married to the 12-man pitching staff as they once were to left-handed hitting DHs. So that means that Ramiro Pena will become the odd man out once Brett the Jet returns. Pena has done well in spot duty this year, but he lacks the experience and versatility of Jerry Hairston, Jr., the power of Eric Hinske, and the ability to catch (the role filled by Jose Molina). When and if the Yankees send Pena down, they should give him as many at-bats as possible during the Triple-A postseason, with the idea of letting him compete for the utility role in 2010. Pena might not hit enough to play everyday at shortstop, but his glove, speed, and ability to work the count should merit consideration for a backup job…

Speaking of Gardner, I’m trying to figure out if he’s the fastest Yankee I’ve ever seen. Prior to Gardner’s arrival last year, I would have voted for Mickey Rivers, followed by Rickey Henderson and Alfonso Soriano. (Rickey was obviously the best basestealer of the three, but at his peak “Mick the Quick” was slightly faster.) Perhaps I’m missing someone else from the last 40 years, but I believe Gardner has to at least move into the top three of this list, bumping Soriano to honorable mention…

The staying power of the late Thurman Munson is eye-opening. Thirty years after his death, the story of the tragic Yankee captain remains a compelling and popular read. Marty Appel’s new book, Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain, has been the nation’s best-selling sports book for the last four weeks. That’s quite an achievement, considering that Munson is not a Hall of Famer and is generally not considered an all-time great. Furthermore, most Yankee fans 35 and under don’t remember seeing him play, except for the occasional replay of the Bucky Dent Game and the 1978 World Series. In an era when the Yankee dynasty of the 1996 to 2001 has overshadowed the accomplishments of the Bronx Zoo years, Thurman Munson’s story still manages to capture the sincere interest of so many lifelong Yankee fans.

Bruce Markusen, a resident of Cooperstown, writes “Cooperstown Confidential” for The Hardball Times.

Today’s news is powered by the (Yankees’) quest for the Holy Grail:

• More of Jeter’s own perception of his future:

Jeter joked to Joe Girardi the other day that he could see himself being a designated hitter for five more years after he stops playing short, saying that DH duties are “easier” because “you only have to worry about one thing.” A handful of reporters were talking with Jeter on Wednesday when one asked him if he could see himself being a DH at age 41 – six years from now.

“You’ll see me at short still,” Jeter said without a hint of humor in his voice.

After riding Jeter’s defensive ability for years, the stat-heads have decided this season that he’s actually a pretty good shortstop. I asked Jeter if he felt like he was playing any better in the field this year than he ever has, and his answer was typical Jeter: “I don’t know. It’s not over yet.”

Then, he added, “I just try to be consistent. I don’t sit around and rate my seasons. That’s your job, right? I feel good. That’s pretty much all I can say.”

• Six bullets left in the Chamberlain:

Because (Joba) Chamberlain threw only 100 innings last season, the Yankees intend to limit his innings to guard against injury. Chamberlain has thrown 126 innings so far. Six more starts would likely put him around 165.

“We sat down and figured out a plan that works for both of us as far as keeping it as regular as possible,” Chamberlain said. “It gives my arm the rest that this whole thing is for, so it all worked out great. Mentally, for me to know that this is the plan for the rest of the year, it’s definitely calming.”

. . . Come the postseason, Chamberlain will be used as a starter with no limitations.

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Today’s news is powered by The Thin White (not Zach) Duke:

• Joe Posnanski: Jeter . . . UNDERrated?:

. . . I think that in many ways Derek Jeter this year has added a third title. He has, against all odds, become UNDERRATED. And that is a wicked turn. I think Jeter at 35 is having one of his greatest seasons. I think he’s playing defense better than he ever has, he’s getting on base and slugging like he did in his prime, and in my view he has been the Yankees most valuable player in 2009. And, for once, it’s funny, I don’t hear too many other people talking about it.

Now, let me be clear — there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the American League MVP this year is Minnesota’s Joe Mauer, and nobody else is even close, and I feel so strongly about this that I am doing daily updates about it on my blog. But the Twins are probably not going to make the playoffs, and there are many people who feel that the most valuable player must come from a playoff team. And if that’s the case then … well, I think at this moment Jeter might be my MVP, non-Mauer division.

Look: He’s hitting .330 through Tuesday and has a .394 on-base percentage — tied with A-Rod for best on the Yankees. He’s on pace for 218 hits, 109 runs, 21 homers. 27 stolen bases. He’s having a great offensive season, quite similar to the season last year’s MVP, Boston’s Dustin Pedroia, had.

And — this is weird — those advanced statistics that have so universally mocked his defense now show him to be, well, darned good defensively.

• Ian Kennedy update:

New York Yankees pitcher Ian Kennedy likely will pitch next month in the instructional league, his first game action since having surgery May 12 to remove an aneurysm from beneath his right biceps.

Kennedy said Wednesday it’s doubtful he will return for a minor league game this season. The right-hander is throwing fastballs and changeups during bullpen sessions and could be ready for a simulated game early next month.

• Spare the A-Rod:

Alex Rodriguez winced as he made his way down the first-base line on Tuesday, having been drilled on the left elbow for the second time in the Yankees’ past five games.

While Rodriguez certainly wouldn’t claim the repeated bruising is helping his performance at the plate, he also isn’t about to use it as an excuse. For the time being, Rodriguez is prepared to keep moving forward.

“I’m not really concerned,” Rodriguez said prior to Wednesday’s series finale with the A’s. “I’m probably just dealing with a little bit of a back [issue] and my elbow. It’s all part of it. I feel pretty good up there. I felt really good up there last night. I had five quality at-bats.”

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Today’s news is powered by . . . a sneakerphone!

• How’s the knee, Hideki?:

(Hideki) Matsui had not played in New York’s past three games after having his troublesome knee drained on Sunday during the club’s series in Seattle, but he said that the stiffness and lack of motion has subsided.

“There never was any pain,” Matsui said through an interpreter. “That’s not really an issue. There’s the difficulty of movement when there’s fluid in there, and it’s harder to move the knee. It just feels like there’s all this pressure there. Right now it feels very light and easy to move.”

Knee difficulties have become a fact of life for Matsui, part of the price he has had to pay for a lengthy consecutive games streak that spanned 1,250 contests in Japan before setting a big league record with 518 straight games played to open his Yankees career.

• No Haranguing with the Reds:

The Yankees inquired about Reds right-handers Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo, but backed off when the Reds said they would not include any money in a deal. While the Yankees remain active in their pursuit of a starter, they likely will stand pat and await the benefit of the roster expansions on Sept. 1.

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The A’s played a horrendously sloppy game Tuesday night, committing four errors, hitting two batters, setting up a run with a wild pitch, setting up another with a cross-up passed ball that hit the home plate ump, and generally booting away the game on their way to a 7-0 loss. That’s the story of the game, but lost in all that slop was a third-straight dominant performance from CC Sabathia.

Near the start of the game, MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch tweeted that prior to Sabathia’s last two starts, the last Yankee to win consecutive starts with a minimum of 7 2/3 innings pitched and a maximum of three hits in each was Dwight Gooden in May of 1996 (the second being his no-hitter). CC, who had allowed one run on five hits over 15 2/3 innings over his previous two starts, allowed a whopping five hits Tuesday night in the course of pitching another eight impressive innings. Over his last three starts, Sabathia has pitched 23 2/3 innings and allowed just three runs, all on solo homers.

Sabathia pitched with runners on base in just two of his eight innings last night. In the latter case, he pitched around a harmless, two-out single by Ryan Sweeney in the seventh. His only real jam came in the fourth when Scott Hairston singled with one out and both he and Nomar Garciaparra capitalized on a Johnny Damon bobble on what was ruled a double for Garciaparra. After the hot-hitting Mark Ellis lined out to shallow right, holding Hairston at third, Joe Girardi had Sabathia intentionally walk righty Tommy Everidge to pitch to the lefty Sweeney, who grounded out to end the threat.

That intentional walk might have seemed like a bit of overmanaging, but Everidge, who looks like a right-handed Erik Hinske but even thicker, had homered off Sabathia in his previous at-bat and, with two-outs, the walk set up the force at every base. With some pitchers you wouldn’t want to walk the bases loaded for fear of a hit-by-pitch or unintentional walk driving in a run, but as River Avenue Blues pointed out after the game on twitter, Sabathia threw just 28 balls all night, four of them in the free pass to Everidge.

The other solo homer off Sabathia came in the bottom of the first. A’s starter Vin Mazzaro hit Alex Rodriguez in his tender left elbow in the top of the first, and Sabathia retaliated by throwing behind catcher Kurt Suzuki with two outs in the bottom of the first. Suzuki dodged the pitch, then hit the next one into the left field seats, thus earning the Bad-Ass of the Game award (not recognized by the YES Network). Both benches were warned, but despite the fact that Melky Cabrera was hit later in the game by a clearly wild Jay Marshall, there were no further incidents.

As for all of those Yankee runs, Derek Jeter plated a Cabrera double in the second by hitting a ball through Adam Kennedy’s legs for the A’s second error in as many innings. The first A’s error was a throwing error by Suzuki on a Johnny Damon steal, but Damon was stranded when Jorge Posada struck out with the bases loaded trying to check his swing on a curve ball that almost hit his back foot). Posada made up for that strikeout in the third by doubling home Alex Rodriguez, who had singled, moved to second on a wild pitch, and to third on a groundout.

That tied the game at 2-2, but the Yankees made Mazzaro throw 103 pitches in five innings, then jumped all over the A’s extremely shaky middle relievers in the sixth. If Joe Girardi had brought a sidearming lefty with a 6.43 ERA and four more walks than strikeouts in to face a lefty and two switch hitters in the sixth inning of a tie game the readers of this blog may well have burned the Bronx to the ground. Fellow former Yankee catcher Bob Geren did just that and got what he paid for.

After getting the lefty (Robinson Cano) to ground out, Marshall gave up a double to the wall in left center to Nick Swisher (a switch-hitter batting right), moved him to left by crossing up Suzuki immediately after a mound conference with a pitch that somehow hit the home plate umpire on the left elbow after hitting Suzuki’s glove, hit Cabrera, then gave up RBI hits to Derek Jeter (single) and Johnny Damon (double). With that, Geren handed the ball to righty Santiago Casilla, who walked Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez on eight pitches (the last to Teixeira intentional), forcing in another run, then gave up an RBI single to Hideki Matsui and a sac fly to Posada before Cano came back around to groundout and put the A’s out of their misery.

In the middle of that action came the absurd scene pictured to the right. When Marshall hit Melky in the rump, Melky jumped back to try to avoid the pitch, but Suzuki also shifted to his left to try to block the pitch, resulting in Cabrera tumbling over the A’s catcher, much to the delight of his Yankee teammates and coaches (Tony Peña was in hysterics and both Joba Chamberlain and Jorge Posada mimicked Cabrera’s duck-winged attempt to keep his balance). The ball, meanwhile, deflected off Melky and headed toward first base.

That was this game in a nutshell. Yanks win a laugher 7-2.

The Yankees enter tonight’s game having lost consecutive games for the first time in August. Last night they were shut out for the first time since June 23 (though honorable mention goes to that 15-inning scoreless tie on August 7). This is what qualifies as a slump in a second-half that has seen the Yankees go a staggering 23-8 (.742).

Vallejo, California native CC Sabathia takes the mound to try to keep Yankees from playing like a normal team comprised of humans rather than ass-kicking baseball-playing robots. He has his own battle to fight as well, as he’s struggled at the Coliseum over the course of his career (0-4 with an 8.54 ERA in his last five starts there). CC has been flat awesome in his last two starts (15 2/3 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 HR, 4 BB, 19 K, 0.57 WHIP, 0.57 ERA, 2-0).

Facing CC will be Hackensack, NJ native Vin Mazzaro, who gave up six runs in 4 1/3 innings against the Yankees in the Bronx on July 23. Mazzaro started his major league career in June with four quality starts, but hasn’t had one since. He did pick up wins his last two times out by holding his opponents to three runs across five innings, but those opponents were the Royals and Orioles.

The Yankees run out their standard lineup tonight against the righty Mazzaro. That means Hideki Matsui is back in at DH having missing just one game after having his knee drained during Sunday’s contest. Last night the lineup behind Derek Jeter went 4-for-28 with a pair of walks against Brett Tomko and company. They’re almost guaranteed do better tonight.

Four prominent members of the 1979 Yankees have passed away over the years. I’ve written extensively about three of them—Thurman Munson, Bobby Murcer, and Jim “Catfish” Hunter— in this space. All three were beloved players, though for very different reasons. I have hardly written anything about the fourth player. It’s about time to end that practice.

Jim Spencer has become a forgotten link to the late 1970s. When he died in 2002 from a heart attack, there was barely a mention in the New York newspapers, like the Daily News and the Post. There might even be a few longtime Yankee fans who are surprised to hear that Spencer is deceased. His passing created little fanfare, even for those who grew up with the Yankees during the Bronx Zoo years.

No one ever remembers Spencer fondly as part of the late seventies run of pennants and world championships, just like no one remembers Jay Johnstone or Gary Thomasson. I guess that’s the fate that befalls old platoon players or bench guys; the more time that goes by, the less and less they seem to become pertinent. That natural human tendency to forget overshadows the fact that Spencer could provide decent production in a part-time role. Did you know that he led the 1979 Yankees in OPS with a mark of .970? I certainly didn’t. In just 295 at-bats, Spencer clubbed a career-high 23 home runs. It’s too bad that Spencer couldn’t have timed that performance to occur in 1978, when it would have felt far more relevant as part of a world championship contribution. Limited by injuries in 1978, Spencer came to bat only 166 times, rendering him a footnote during that memorable summer and fall.

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Today’s news is powered by a tour of the current home of the Oakland A’s:

• Heathcott, what you got?:

The Yankees have signed first-round pick Slade Heathcott for $2.2 million. He was drafted 27th overall, and the MLB recommendation for his slot was $1,107,000.

• Not only Heathcott, but Murphy and Cotham too:

The Yankees have also agreed to terms with their second-round pick, catcher J.R. Murphy, and a fifth-round pick, right-hander Caleb Cotham.

A catcher with power and good arm strength from the Pendleton School in Bradenton, Fla., Murphy’s signing bonus was for $1.25 million, Baseball America reported. A Vanderbilt sophomore, Cotham signed for $675,000.

• The fight to save Gate 2 rages on:

Despite the opposition of baseball romantics and some Bronx residents, the city plans to dismantle the classic Gate 2 from the old Yankee Stadium.

“I think saving it is a good idea,” Sandra Mullen, 33, of the Bronx, said of the majestic entrance opposite the new Yankee Stadium.

“I like the old stadium from when I was a child. The new one is beautiful, but the old one was a classic.”

Boosters of the effort to save Gate 2 want it incorporated as the front door to the new Heritage Park, a 10-acre park slated to fill the footprint of the House That Ruth Built.

• Tyler Kepner opines on the defense of Derek Jeter:

I’ve always contended Jeter’ defense has not hurt the team as much as some people think. Now, has he been better in the field this season? Sure, but look at the reasons, none of which have anything to do with Jeter himself.

He has a new infield coach, Mick Kelleher, whom he trusts and has known for many years. He has a better first baseman in Teixeira. And he plays behind pitchers more capable of hitting their spots than their predecessors, meaning, in theory, that hitters more often hit the ball where the fielders expect it to go.

Jeter is also playing on a new home field and might have made a change in his workout habits, though he never talks about that. I don’t know how those factors might have impacted him.

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