Since the Yankees took three-of-four from the A’s in the Bronx in late July, Oakland has gone 11-9 including a split with the Red Sox and taking three of four from the now-Wild-Card-leading Rangers. Of course, the Yankees have gone 14-6 over the same stretch with half of those losses coming on the south side of Chicago as the calendar turned to August and are 5-1 against the A’s on the season.

Still, the A’s are suddenly doing something they hadn’t done all season: scoring runs. In April, May, and June, the A’s averaged 4.21 runs scored per game. In July and now half of August, they’ve scored 5.22 runs per game. What the heck happened?

The most obvious thing is Mark Ellis, who returned from the disabled list at the end of June and has hit .313/.342/.520 since, pushing Adam Kennedy to third base. Ellis thus replaces the A’s non-Kennedy third basemen, who hit a combined .195/.284/.324 in 292 plate appearances. That’s a huge upgrade at that spot in the lineup, one highlighted by his throwback walkoff in yesterday’s game. The A’s are also getting a ton of production from Rajai Davis. Since taking over in center field after Matt Holliday was traded to St. Louis (with Scott Hairston sliding over to left), Davis has hit .373/.429/.533 and stolen 11 bases in 12 tries. Less dramatically, Cliff Pennington (.296/.333/.407) has thus far been a slight upgrade on Orlando Cabrera (.280/.318/.365). I’m not sure that that adds up to a full run per game, but those are the big upgrades you might not necessarily see when looking at their lineup below.

Again the Yankees have the A’s beat, having scored 5.57 runs per game in July and August, but when you consider the disparity in the two team’s home ballparks, it’s shocking that the A’s offense has come that close to matching the Yankees over a full month and a half of the season.

As you may have noticed, the Yankees have won 12 of their last 14 games and 13 of their last 15 series. Tonight they look to keep that ball rolling by pounding recent bullpen castoff Brett Tomko, who was released just before the trading deadline after posting a 5.23 ERA in 15 relief appearances for the Yankees and has since posted a 7.94 ERA in two starts and one relief outing spanning 5 2/3 innings for the A’s Triple-A team in Sacramento. Said Girardi of Tomko after Sunday’s game, “I think we have an idea of what he’s going to do.”

Opposing Tomko tonight will be A.J. Burnett, who has turned back into A.J. Burnett in August after an awesome run of eight straight quality starts in which he went 7-1 with a 1.68 from mid-June to the end of July. Burnett’s last three starts have been a dud (4 2/3 IP, 7 R, L), a gem that still managed to include a ton of walks (7 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 6 BB), and something in the middle that included a lot of strikeouts, but also a game-tying wild pitch (6 IP, 10 H, 3 R, 7 K, 3 WP, ND).

Matsui’s out after having his knee drained during yesterday’s game. Derek Jeter will get his hits at DH, not shortstop tonight as Ramiro Peña gives him a half-day off on the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum field which has been battered by preseason football.

Update: Aaron Cunningham is the player sent down to make room for Tomko, leaving the A’s with a three-man bench.

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Today’s news is powered by baseball-playing robots:

• Hideki’s knee acting up:

Hideki Matsui was held out of the New York Yankees’ lineup on Sunday, got his swollen knee drained and will likely miss at least one more game.

Manager Joe Girardi said after New York lost for just the second time in 14 games on Sunday, 10-3 to Seattle, that the designated hitter will have his surgically repaired knee reevaluated on Tuesday to see if the 35-year-old can play the second game of a series at Oakland. That’s New York’s next stop on its season-long, 10-game road trip.

“That is why we are careful with him, because he is really important to our lineup,” Girardi said.

Matsui had his second two-homer game of the season and a season-high five RBIs on Friday. He spoke afterward with huge ice packs on both knees, then sat out Saturday.

• Tom Terrific on the Joba Rules/Map:

“Tell me, how does a pitcher get to the next level unless he’s tested under fire?” (Tom) Seaver asked. “Where are you going to find the next Bob Gibson or Nolan Ryan or Steve Carlton unless a young pitcher is pushed? You won’t.”

. . . “[The Yankees] probably have a lot of money invested in Chamberlain, it’s a financial thing and they want to protect him. But he won’t reach his baseball limit this way.”

Seaver’s rejection of the innings limit is based on a single premise: A pitcher builds his arm by throwing, not resting. Seaver cites his own body of work as proof. At 23, the same age as Chamberlain, Seaver threw 277 innings and zoomed up to 290 innings only two years later in 1970.

By contrast, the Yankees are carefully rationing Chamberlain’s final 32 innings before he reaches his cutoff at 160. While Seaver considers such coddling counter-intuitive, if not damaging, the Yankees say the old-schoolers are just plain wrong.

. . . What Seaver probably doesn’t know, say the Yankees, is that Chamberlain threw only 100 innings in 2008. There are numerous examples of young pitchers who’ve been injured after increasing their workload by more than 30 innings the following year.

. . . “What really galls me is seeing a pitcher taken out of game that he’s dominating the opposing team,” Seaver said. “These people today don’t understand what it means to walk off the mound after holding the other team down for nine innings, the feeling of triumph for your own team — and the effect it has on the players in the other dugout.

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I’m not sure why, but I’ve given in to the trend and opened a twitter account. I have no idea what will become of it, but I hope to keep it regularly updated with random thoughts, random stats, links to my non-Banter articles, and perhaps the occasional bit of news (though surely someone in comments will beat me to the last). I have a few posts up there already on Sean Black, Alex Rodriguez, and Amani Toomer. If you’re so inclined, follow along.

Today’s news is powered by the memory of a music legend, Mr. Les Paul:

• The “Joba Rules” have some quirks:

Joe Girardi announced Joba Chamberlain will start on Wednesday in Oakland, which will be on seven days’ rest and prevent him from pitching against Boston in next weekend’s series. Girardi also said that come playoff time, the Joba Rules may be waived as it will be “all hands on deck.”

“This is part of the plan, and this is what we have to do because this is not just about the next two months,” Girardi said of the varying degrees of rest between starts. “This is about years and years to come.”

• A couple of choice Q&As from Thursday’s online chat with Steven Goldman at Baseball Prospectus:

Pete (Bronx): If you were Brian Cashman, what would you offer Johnny Damon to re-sign? 2 years for ?? million?

Steven Goldman: It seems like the assumption now is that Damon should be brought back. Given that the Yankees don’t have great alternatives (Austin Jackson’s MLE doesn’t inspire confidence)and the free agent class is not bursting with possibilities, maybe it’s a reasonable assumption. I do worry about Damon being a product of Friendly YS II (or III, really), with only .273/.346/.459 rates on the road and declining defense. Two years would be my upper limit… I really wonder if Damon is going to last long enough to get 3,000 hits and wind up as a totally unexpected HOFer. It could happen.

Jeff P (NYC): Hi Steve, thanks for the chat. What are your thoughts on how Girardi handles the Yanks’ pen? He seems to be excellent strategically (players know and are comfortable with their roles, no one’s overworked, flexible in who has what role) but mediocre tactically (who to bring in to face which batters).

Steven Goldman: I think you’ve nailed it exactly. As I said earlier, in both of his seasons in New York, he’s started with one bullpen and finished with another, and after more than a decade of Joe Torre’s obsessive focus on one or two relievers, as well as blind loyalty to anyone who had been on the roster for more than 15 minutes, it’s been quite refreshing. If Torre were here, we’d still be watching balls hit off of Edwar Ramirez fly over the moon… It’s been so long since I’ve seen a manager who excelled at pen matchups on a regular basis. Who would you rate as tops at that? Scioscia? LaRussa?

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Despite not having Alex Rodriguez (elbow) or Jorge Posada (finger) in the lineup, everything went right for the Yankees Thursday night. The offense dropped some early runs on Ian Snell, ran up the score as the game progressed, and CC Sabathia held the M’s to three hits over eight innings, allowing just one run on a solo shot inside the left-field foul pole by replacement shortstop Josh Wilson, and striking out ten.

The Yanks got a pair of two-out runs off Snell in the top of the second, but the key sequence of the game came in the top of the third, when they added three more runs over the course of just five pitches. Derek Jeter, who showed no ill-effects of being hit in the right foot by a pitch on Wednesday night, led off with a first-pitch home run over the home bullpen in the left-center gap. Johnny Damon followed by doubling on a 1-0 pitch, and after Mark Teixeira pushed him to third on a first-pitch groundout, Hideki Matsui hit Snell’s next offering into the seats in right-center for a two-run jack, his first of two in the game.

With subs in for Jeter and Damon, Brian Bruney mopped up with a 1-2-3 ninth, sealing the 11-1 win for the Yanks.

The Yankees avoided a post-Red Sox let-down by taking two of three from the Blue Jays, but they needed eleven innings to take the rubber game and a late-game comeback to win Game 2. Now they’re coming off a cross-country flight with Derek Jeter (foot), Alex Rodriguez (elbow), and Jorge Posada (middle finger on throwing hand) all smarting from being hit by the ball in Wednesday afternoon’s nearly-four-hour marathon.

The good news is they’re playing the Mariners. The Yankees took two of three from the M’s in the Bronx as June turned into July and the M’s are 9-10 over their last six series. Like the Yankees, the Mariners are also coming off a nearly-four-hour extra-inning win (1-0 in 14 frames over the White Sox) that saw their shortstop, the newly acquired Jack Wilson, leave with an injury (hamstring).

The Mariners are also a bad team that is wildly outperforming its Pythagorean record thanks to the league’s best defense and correspondingly strong pitching. Felix Hernandez, Erik Bedard, and Jarrod Washburn have combined to pitch 374 1/3 innings with a 2.76 ERA for the Mariners. Fortunately for the Yankees, Washburn is now a Detroit Tiger, Bedard is about on the disabled list headed for season-ending shoulder surgery, and Hernandez pitched yesterday and will miss this four-game set.

Which leaves what exactly? A team with the worst offense in baseball, a negative run differential, a replacement-level rotation, and a few spectacular glove men (Beltre, Gutierrez, Suzuki, and Wilson, who, like Jeter, is back in the lineup tonight).

Tonight, the M’s offer Ian Snell, a 27-year-old righty who has fallen hard from his breakout 2006 season and was toiling away in Triple-A for the Pirates, who were all too happy to unload him on the M’s in the Jack Wilson trade. The Mariners are banking on the moody Snell, who had fallen out with Pirates management, benefiting from a change of scenery that involves a pitchers park and a strong defense. It worked for one start, ironically in the Rangers’ launching pad. In his second Mariner outing, and first at Safeco, he walked six men in 1 1/3 innings before getting the hook.

I ridiculed the Wilson-Snell deal on SI.com. True, I took the short-view, analyzing the trade as the M’s attempt to thrust themselves into the Wild Card race (this was before they traded Washburn), but even looking at Wilson as a multi-year solution at shortstop on a defense-first team (a sketchy premise given the 31-year-old’s fragility and below-average bat, even for a shortstop), I find the trade uninspiring at best.

Snell faces CC Sabathia, who is coming off his biggest Yankee start (7 2/3 scoreless frames of two-hit ball in which he struck out nine Red Sox). CC actually struggled against the Mariners in July, allowing six runs on ten hits in 5 2/3 innings, and he’s been up and down since, often battling through a lack of command. Still, he’s 5-2 since that loss to the M’s, and that last start was a a beauty.

Alex Rodriguez, as previously scheduled, and Jorge Posada get the night off. Derek Jeter is in the lineup, of course. Jerry Hairston Jr. plays third and bats eighth. Jose Molina catches and bats ninth. The rest of the regulars are above them.

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Two comments from local sports talk radio that were uttered this week absolutely need to be addressed:

First, on Monday, Michael Kay, reveling in the Yankees’ sweep of the Red Sox, commented on his afternoon show that the Red Sox — and I paraphrase here — “finally misplayed their hand at the trade deadline by not getting Roy Halladay. They made the move for Victor Martinez, who doesn’t have a position. They tried to get Felix Hernandez from the Mariners. They should have given Toronto whatever it wanted to get Roy Halladay. They’re holding on to Clay Buchholz, who’s 25 years old. Getting Halladay would have put them in position to make a run this year and next year. The Red Sox finally misplayed their hand.”

To my former colleague, I say, “Huh? Did they really?” I don’t know about you but when I saw the news that the Sox got Victor Martinez and the Yankees’ big move was Jerry Hairston, Jr., the fan in me was sulking for a few hours. Then I got to thinking, “This puts Terry Francona in a bind as far as maneuvering Martinez, Kevin Youkilis and Mike Lowell. But that’s a decent problem to have.” Plus, who’s to say that the Red Sox didn’t offer everything the Blue Jays wanted? It’s entirely possible that Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi had no intention of trading Halladay to a division rival at this stage of the season.

(My guess, and this is just a hunch with no inside information at all: Halladay goes to some team flush with money like the Red Sox, Yankees, Mets, Phillies or Dodgers, in a deal similar to the one struck between the Sox and Marlins that sent Hanley Ramirez to Florida and brought Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell to Boston. Halladay would obviously be the centerpiece, and I imagine Vernon Wells and his bloated contract would be an add-on, much like Lowell was in the aforementioned deal, in exchange for a name major leaguer and some major-league ready prospects.)

Back to Theo Epstein and the Red Sox “misplaying their hand” … Kay went on to say that having Beckett, Lester and Halladay 1-2-3, with Matsuzaka and Wakefield bringing up the back of the rotation when they come off the DL was a risk the Red Sox had to take, and they didn’t. I still believe they’re a playoff team without Halladay, provided their bullpen can hold up and Francona pushes the right lineup buttons.

Moreover, and Kay of all people knows this from being around the Yankees and Red Sox for so long, it would have been inconsistent with Epstein’s pattern to make a deal for someone like Halladay at the deadline. He’s more apt to jump on it in the offseason, like he did with Curt Schilling, arrange the trade and sign Halladay to an extension right away.

Your thoughts on this are welcome.

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Today’s news is powered by the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughan:

• Key Yankees bruised and ailing:

Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, both hit by pitches, are questionable for Thursday’s series opener against the Mariners — Rodriguez more uncertain than Jeter. Catcher Jorge Posada, who took a foul ball off his right hand and a series of other pitches off his body during Wednesday’s 4-3 win over the Blue Jays, is also unsure whether he will play. And closer Mariano Rivera, who woke up Wednesday with a sore right shoulder, is similarly in question.

[My take: Hughes should be the closer for the next week.  Give the Mo Man a full rest.]

• A very interesting quote from the manager on bullpen usage, courtesy of Baseball Prospectus:

. . . Girardi is being lauded for turning a bullpen that, beyond closer Mariano Rivera, was perceived to be a weakness to many mainstream observers coming into the season into a strong point. Girardi has pieced together a quality bullpen without having any of his pitchers ranking in the top 10 in the AL in relief innings pitched.

“The bullpen, to me, is something you really have to watch,” Girardi said. “You have to be careful that you don’t fall in love with one guy because then you wear him down and he no longer can be effective. The key is to be effective for the whole year, not just two weeks or a month.”

Girardi’s approach is not lost on his relievers. “Phillip Hughes is the eighth-inning guy but it’s not like he’s going to pitch every day,” right-hander Brian Bruney told the New York Post’s Larry Brooks. “Everybody responds to pressure situations because we’re rested and ready. Girardi is careful with the way he uses us. He communicates directly with us more than any manager I ever played for.”

[My take: So Aceves is NOT Scott Proctor?  And Phil Hughes REALLY DOES understand his role?]

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The Yankees had a scary day on Wednesday. In an afternoon rubber game against the Blue Jays, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, and Alex Rodriguez all got hit hard by baseballs, Jeter in the foot, Posada in the hand, and Rodriguez in the elbow. As fits how well things have been going for this team, however, the Yankees turned what what looked like a series of season-altering injuries into a pair of runs and yet another walk-off win.

Jeter got hit in the right foot by a 1-2 curveball from Jays lefty Ricky Romero leading off the bottom of the first. He crumpled to the ground like one of those old toys, but got back up, limped to first, hobbled to third on Johnny Damon’s ensuing double, made a slick baserunning play by drawing a throw home from Edwin Encarnacion on a potential inning-ending around-the-horn double play, then diving back to third ahead of catcher Raul Chavez’s throw, and finally scored on a Jorge Posada groundout.

Jeter didn’t get a fielding chance in the top of the second and in his next at-bat in the bottom of the inning, he ground to an inning-ending fielder’s choice and headed straight for the trainer’s room after hobbling to first. Fortunately, his x-rays were negative.

Randy Ruiz–a Bronx native, former Trenton Thunder teammate of Phil Hughes, and now a 31-year-old rookie with a career .304/.378/.531 line and 192 homers in the minor leagues–deposited an A.J. Burnett fastball in the visiting bullpen in the top of the second to tie the game at 1-1. Johnny Damon and Robinson Cano added solo shots in the third and fourth to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead.

Burnett gave that up in the top of the sixth when Ruiz and Encarnacion singled with one out and moved to second and third on a wild pitch. Chavez singled home Ruiz, then with two outs and a 2-2 count on Marco Scutaro, Burnett uncorked another wild pitch that bounced between Posada’s legs and brought Encarnacion home with the tying run. Burnett led the majors with 14 wild pitches entering the game, added three more to his total and also hit home plate umpire Joe West in the chest on the fly with a fastball that crossed up Posada, but refused to discuss his wildness after the game.

In addition to having to chase all of those wild pitches, Posada was hit in the throwing hand (specifically the knuckle of his middle finger) by a foul tip in the top of the eighth. He stayed in the game and said afterwords that his hand will be fine.

Meanwhile the game remained tied at 3-3. Romero left after a 1-2-3 sixth and 109 pitches. Brandon League followed by allowing just one baserunner in three scoreless innings. Burnett also left after coughing up the lead in the sixth, having thrown 107 pitches. Phil Coke, David Robertson, Phil Hughes, and Chad Gaudin, making his Yankee debut, combined for five scoreless frames in relief with Gaudin pitching around a single and a walk and striking out three in his two innings of work.

Gaudin, incidentally, looks like a converted position player, though he’s not. He’s short, but athletic in build, and effectively mixes a slider and changeup with low-90s fastballs. His stuff isn’t electric, but it’s legitimate, and the hitters will let us all know when it is and isn’t working. Perhaps because he’s spent most of the year starting, he worked from a full windup with the bases empty, something you rarely see from a relief pitcher these days.

Shawn Camp replaced league and pitched a 1-2-3 tenth, but he fell behind 2-0 on all three hitters, throwing just six of 14 pitches for strikes. In the eleventh, he threw ball one to Hideki Matsui but rallied to strike him out looking. He then got ahead of Alex Rodriguez 0-2 before hitting Rodriguez flush on the left elbow. Rodriguez wears a pad on that elbow, but he, too, crumpled to the ground, then walked into the grass toward the visiting on-deck circle, and knelt down in pain, holding his arm. He was behaving as if his arm was broken, but as Paul O’Neill explained on the YEScast, he was most likely just hit in the funnybone, which when it’s done by a major league pitch (in this case an 89 mph fastball), can render a hitter’s arm completely numb.

Rodriguez eventually took his base, but looked like he was going to hurl from the pain. Fortunately, he didn’t get the opportunity. In the space of the next three pitches, Posada singled him to second and Robinson Cano shot a gapper to the wall in right-center that brought Rodriguez home with the winning run.

Yankees win, 4-3 in eleven innings, thanks in part to the feeble Blue Jay offense leaving 14 men on base.

So now the walking wounded head out to Seattle. Jeter and Posada are both questionable for Thursday’s game. Rodriguez was going to get the day off anyway. Meanwhile, Gaudin will start on Sunday allowing the Yankees to push Joba Chamberlain back to Wednesday to keep his innings down. Word from Brian Cashman is that Joba will remain in the rotation throughout the regular and postseasons. These large gaps between starts are their plan for keeping his innings down, and his limit is now said to be higher than the 150 we’ve been assuming all season.

Oh, and Mariano Rivera was unavailable on Wednesday because of a “cranky” shoulder and the 25 pitches he threw Tuesday night, but should be available on Thursday as well. The Yanks just went 6-1 on a homestand that included a four-game sweep of the Red Sox, are 8-1 over their last nine games, all against division rivals, and are 9-1 over their last ten including wins in games started by Mark Buehrle, Roy Halladay, Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and Rookie of the Year candidate Ricky Romero, and four of their last five wins were either extra-inning walkoffs or late-game comebacks. They’re feeling no pain right now.

Long time readers may recall my April 2005 post about when I took my then-67-year-old boss, Ray, to his first Yankee game. Ray Roberts passed away this morning after succumbing to a respiratory illness. Ray and I had done a poor job of staying in touch following his retirement. We had standing plans to get together which never panned out, and I failed to call him in hospice because I was afraid to face the reality of his illness.

So do me a favor. In memory of Ray, call your grandfather/grandmother/mother/father/sister/brother or old friend who you’ve been meaning to call. Better yet, take them to a ballgame.

Today’s news is powered by some live Pretenders:

• No Joba this Sunday:

For some time now, Yankees manager Joe Girardi has alluded to the fact that Joba Chamberlain’s schedule for the rest of the season is “mapped out,” without revealing the details of that map.

Girardi did not do so Tuesday, either. But he did offer a crumb.

Asked if Chamberlain will take his regular turn in the rotation Sunday in Seattle, Girardi would not answer. Asked if Chad Gaudin would start Sunday instead, he rolled his head from one side to the other before finally nodding. He had not yet told Chamberlain of his plans, and had no intention to do so until after his start Tuesday night against the Jays.

But, barring a change, Gaudin seems likely to start in Chamberlain’s place Sunday.

• Cont(r)acting Jeter:

Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman said the Yankees had no immediate plans to renegotiate the contract of Derek Jeter, which expires after the 2010 season. He said they would likely handle future negotiations with Jeter the same way they handled them with Jorge Posada and Alex Rodriguez.

• Ian Kennedy is on the road to recovery:

New York Yankees pitcher Ian Kennedy has thrown off a mound for the first time since undergoing surgery May 12 to remove an aneurysm from beneath his right biceps.

Kennedy threw 25 pitches during a bullpen session Tuesday. The right-hander says everything was fine and he would work off a mound again Friday.

As we all know, 1979 marked the final season of Thurman Munson’s career as a Yankee—the end result of one of the game’s worst tragedies. A number of other Yankee also played their final games in pinstripes that summer, though for far less heartbreaking reasons. Dick Tidrow left in May, traded to the Cubs in an ill-fated deal for Ray Burris. Mickey Rivers left in August, traded to the Rangers for Oscar Gamble and prospects. After the season, longtime Yankee mainstay Roy White moved on, opting to continue his career by playing in the Japanese Leagues.

A future Hall of Famer also left the team that winter. Jim “Catfish” Hunter decided to call it quits, his right arm having buckled under the stress of so many innings and far too many sliders.

Like most great pitchers, the 33-year-old Hunter owned great inner pride. He had no interest in hanging on as a mop-up man wallowing in long relief. The refusal to accept life as a fringe pitcher probably came as no surprise to people who had followed Hunter since his early days with the Oakland A’s. Prior to the 1971 season, A’s owner Charlie Finley had angered the pitcher when he offered him a mere $5,000 raise, which Hunter considered inadequate after winning a career-high 18 games in 1970. Finley preferred emphasizing Hunter’s 14 losses and his extreme reliance on closer Jim “Mudcat” Grant, who had rescued eight of Catfish’s wins with late-inning relief work. (Yes, it was a different baseball world back then.) Hunter didn’t appreciate the suggestion that he had depended so heavily on Grant to enjoy a successful season. “Mudcat was a good relief pitcher last year,” Catfish told The Sporting News, “one of the best I’ve ever seen. But I didn’t like it when some sportswriters suggested that he get half my salary this year. He did his job and I did mine.” Without minimizing the efforts of one of his teammates, Hunter had provided a thoughtful defense of his own contributions to the team.

Yet, Hunter didn’t take himself too seriously. He enjoyed playing practical jokes, which served to loosen up a clubhouse that was sometimes sidetracked by tension and mistrust. He never really liked being the center of attention, which was exactly where he found himself in 1964, when a horde of scouts had initiated an all-out raid on his home in Hertford, North Carolina, and its population of 2,012 residents. Scouts considered the young Jim Hunter one of the best high school pitchers in the country. Finley, at the time the owner of the Kansas City A’s, succeeded in signing Hunter to his first professional contract. The following spring, the A’s wanted to send the 19-year-old Hunter to the minor leagues, but his surprising maturity convinced management that he should remain with Kansas City.

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Today’s news is powered by Blue Jays . . . and the Fab Four:

• Joe Sheehan wonders about Sunday night’s late game  pitching choices:

Joe Girardi committed himself to Phil Coke in the eighth inning despite having six right-handed relievers on his roster, meaning Coke would have to face four straight right-handed batters after Jacoby Ellsbury. With Philip Hughes apparently unavailable after pitching Friday and Saturday—but for just one out each day—Girardi reacted by making none of his other righties available. It mattered less in the important matchup—letting Coke face Victor Martinez, batting right-handed, would have been the play in any case—but had Coke retired Martinez, he would have been asked to get Kevin Youkilis and Jason Bay with the tying run on base, and that would have been a huge risk. It was yet another odd decision by a man for whom running a bullpen is a daily challenge.

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Normally, coming off a crucial, possibly season-defining series win like the Yankees’ just-completed four-game sweep of the Red Sox, I’d be worried about the team suffering a let-down. The pieces are in place for a stumble. Their current seven-game winning streak seems likely to end soon. Fifth-starter Sergio Mitre will take the hill tonight against the Blue Jays and rookie Marc Rzepczynsky, who pitched well against the Yankees last week. Jerry Hairston Jr. and Jose Molina round out tonight’s lineup with Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui (via a DHing Jorge Posada) on the bench. Wednesday’s game brings Ricky Romero, who is one of two Blue Jay starters to have beaten the Yankees this year (do I even have to tell you who the other is?). Despite all that, I don’t see this year’s Yankees falling victim to a let-down.

The Yanks current seven-game winning streak is their fourth of that length or longer this season (they had three all of last year). They enter this series 7-2 against the Blue Jays on the season, including a two-game sweep last week as part of their current winning streak in which they beat Roy Halladay. Halladay won’t pitch in this series (Scott Richmond will pitch the middle game), and there was no off-day or plane trip today to interrupt the Yankees’ momentum.

There’s also the Blue Jays, who despite still having a positive run-differential on the season, have gone 26-43 (.377) since peaking at 27-14 on May 18. Since July 1, they’re 12-19 (.375), and most of that came before they traded their cleanup hitter.

The Blue Jays arrive in the Bronx tonight with the same 25-man roster they had last week in Toronto. Chad Gaudin and a rested Alfredo Aceves lurk in the Yankee bullpen to work long relief that could turn into a start when Mitre’s turn next comes around. Mitre’s struggles thus far can be summed up by his opponents’ .423 average on balls in play.

Rzepczynsky against Mitre and the Yanks last week: 6 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 7 K. Nick Swisher homered off Zep in that game, tying it at 3-3 in the seventh. The Jays’ bullpen caved, and Aceves got the win. Swisher moves up to the two-hole tonight with Damon sitting. Hairston bats seventh followed by Melky and Molina.

Hey there hi there ho there . . . I’m baaaaaack!

Today’s news is powered by the one and only Roy Orbison:

• Mr. October buys some portions of the old Stadium:

Jackson has purchased the letters that spelled “YANKEE STADIUM” on the upper ring of the old ballpark and the concrete from the blacked out part of center field, where his third Game 6 World Series homer in 1977 landed.

“I might build a Stadium at home [Carmel], light it up and make it with 100-foot fences so that when I am 75 I can hit a home run at Yankee Stadium,” Jackson said.

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A lot was made in the last national election of the Democrats’ ultimately successful pursuit of a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. In a way, what the Yankees are in pursuit of tonight is similar. Having taken the first three games of this weekend’s series against the Red Sox, the Yanks are 5 1/2 games up in the AL East, but they have more to play for tonight than just a spirit-crushing sweep of their rivals. The Yanks and Sox have just six more head-to-head games left this season. If the Yankees win tonight, they’ll be up 6 1/2 games in the division, meaning if they simply match the Red Sox against third-party opponents, the Sox could sweep those last six head-to-head games and still finish behind the Yanks in the division.

Of course, they have to win tonight first. The Sunday night ESPN game brings a battle of lefties on the opposite ends of their careers. Twenty-five-year-old Jon Lester goes for the Sox. He’s 3-0 with a 3.43 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, and 10.3 K/9 in six career starts against the Yankees and has two quality starts against them already this year (13 IP, 13 H, 5 R, 2 HR, 5 BB, 17 K). In his last dozen starts, Lester is 6-2 with a 2.12 ERA and a 10.7 K/9. The Sox are 9-3 in those games.

Pettitte, 37, has a 2.36 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, and 9.8 K/9 and 4.14 K/BB in his four starts since the All-Star break. His one start against Boston this year came on April 26 and saw the Yankees loose 4-1 with the Sox scoring three runs in the fifth off Pettitte, all by runners who reached base on walks, and one on Jacoby Ellsbury’s straight steal of home.

Sounds like a great way to wrap up what’s been a typically compelling showdown between these two teams.

Friday night, the Yankees and Red Sox did something they’d never done before: open a game with 14 1/2 scoreless innings. Jacoby Ellsbury led off the game with a bloop hit of A.J. Burnett that fell between Melky Cabrera and Nick Swisher in shallow right center. The next Boston hit came with two outs in the top of the ninth inning when David Ortiz singled off Mariano Rivera. Burnett walked six men in between those two hits, and another man reached base on catchers interference, but none of those runners got past second base. The only Boston runner to get to third base in the entire 15-inning game was Ellsbury in the top of the first, who stole second and moved to third on a 4-6-3 double-play only to be stranded there.

The Yankees fared no better against Josh Beckett. Robinson Cano doubled to lead off the third and was followed by a Nick Swisher walk, but like the Sox in the top of the first, a double play and a groundout stranded Cano at third. In the fifth, the Yankees loaded the bases on singles by Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada and a two-out walk to Melky Cabrera, but Derek Jeter grounded to third on the first pitch he saw to end the threat. The only other baserunner off Beckett came on a leadoff Hideki Matsui single in the seventh, but he was erased when a one-out hit-and-run turned into a strike-em-out/throw-em-out double play.

Both bullpens came into play in the eighth. After Burnett walked Jacoby Ellsbury on four pitches, the last his 118th of the night, Joe Girardi brought in Phil Hughes to get the last out of the top of the eighth. With Beckett already at 115 pitches, Terry Francona went straight to his pen and Hideki Okajima in the bottom of the inning.

Hughes, Rivera, Alfredo Aceves, Brian Bruney, and Phil Coke combined to keep the Red Sox from scoring for 7 1/3 innings after Burnett left the game. Comined, they allowed just three singles and two walks while striking out eight. Aceves did the bulk of the work, striking out three in three scoreless innings and throwing 73 percent of his 37 pitches for strikes.

The Boston pen was nearly as good. Okajima, Daniel Bard, Ramon Ramirez, Jonathan Papelbon, Manny Delcarmen, and Takashi Saito combined for six scoreless innings allowing just one hit, but walking five against just four strikeouts. In the bottom of the 14th, Francona turned to the last man in his pen, 23-year-old Japanese rookie Junichi Tazawa, who thus made his major league debut. The Yankees sandwiched singles by Jorge Posada and Cano between a pair of hard outs, but Tazawa won an eight-pitch battle with Cabrera (which included a ball that was roughly an inch foul down the right-field line) to strikeout Melky swinging and push the game into the 15th.

After Coke’s ten-pitch top of the 15th, Tazawa returned to the mound and was greeted by another single, this one by Jeter. Johnny Damon failed to bunt Jeter over, fouling out to Victor Martinez on his second attempt, and Mark Teixeira struck out on four pitches. That brought Alex Rodriguez to the plate with two outs. Rodriguez had already come to the plate thrice in the game with two outs and a chance to end the game on one swing. The first time he reached on an infield single and stole second, but was stranded. The next time he struck out. The last he flied out to left. Facing Tazawa, Rodriguez took three pitches to get ahead 2-1 then broke his not-quite-career-long homerless streak by crushing the 2-1 pitch into the visiting bullpen, ending five and a half hours of scoreless baseball.

Welcome to the big leagues, kid. Yankees win, 2-0.

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Last night’s series opener was the most important game the Yankees have played all season. With the pitching match-up firmly in their favor, a loss, which would have pushed them to 0-9 against Boston on the season, could well have set the tone for the remainder of the series, opening up the possibility of yet another Red Sox sweep. With the win, however, they got of the schnide and reinforced their belief that they’re a different and better team than they were during those first eight games. And they didn’t just win, they crushed the Sox, 13-6.

The Red Sox are too good a team to let one lop-sided win get in their heads, but one could just as easily see a Yankee sweep today as one could see a Red Sox sweep yesterday. After all, the Yankees just keep rolling. Last night’s win extended their current winning streak to four games and also put first place out of reach for the Sox in this series (even if the Sox take the last three, they’ll leave town a half game behind the Yankees in the AL East).

The catch is A.J. Burnett, who has exceeded my (admittedly low) expectations thus far this year with one glaring exception: he’s been awful in his two starts against Boston. One of the selling points for Burnett over the winter was the fact that he’d dominated the Red Sox in four starts last year (2-0, 2.60 ERA). This year has been a different story. Staked to a 6-0 lead at Fenway Park on April 25, he coughed up eight runs. Then, on June 9, he failed to get out of the third inning, allowing five runs on five hits and five walks in just 2 2/3 innings. The Red Sox hit .382/.512/.765 against Burnett in those two starts, and though he followed the last with a string of eight quality starts (6-1, 1.68 ERA), he seems to have run out of magic just in time to rematch with Boston, having allowed seven runs in 4 2/3 innings to the White Sox in his last start.

Curiously, both of Burnett’s starts against Boston matched him up against his former Marlins’ teammate Josh Beckett, who is once again his mound opponent tonight. Beckett was equally awful on April 24, but pitched well in his two starts against the Yankees since, combining for this line: 12 IP, 11 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 13 K, 1 HR. Beckett had a rough April, but since then has gone 11-2 with a 2.28 ERA and a 4.39 K/BB over his last 16 starts.

The Yanks have their work cut out for them tonight, but thanks to last night’s win, a loss today would only mean the battle’s on, not that the battle’s over.

Ramiro Peña replaces Anthony Claggett on the Yankee roster while the Yankees run out their standard lineup. The Red Sox have designated Billy Traber and, get this, John Smoltz for assignment. They’ve been replaced by 23-year-old Japanese rookie right-hander Junichi Tazawa and former Yankee camper Chris Woodward, the latter claimed off waivers from the Mariners. Josh Reddick, who was recalled yesterday when Rocco Baldelli hit the DL, is in left tonight with Victor Martinez at first base, Kevin Youkilis at third, and Mike Lowell on the bench.

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The great Yankee mystery of the month finally came to an end this week. I must confess that I’m as clueless as everyone else as to why Cody Ransom occupied space on the 25-man roster for as long as he did before finally being thrown into the baseball limbo known as being “designated-for-assignment.” Ransom has never hit curve balls, now struggles to hit waist-high fastballs, and has shaky hands on the infield. So what else is there? Even the explanation that the Yankees simply wanted a second utility infielder (to go along with the newly acquired Jerry Hairston, Jr.) fell short of justifying Ransom’s presence on the roster. If the Yankee high command believed that another utility guy was required, Ransom should have given way to rookie Ramiro Pena, currently playing a jack-of-all-trades role at Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre. Pena is a better defender than Ransom, has a touch more speed, and now has the same level of versatility, considering that he’s been learning to play the outfield at Scranton. When a team is involved in a dogfight for a division title, every roster spot counts; it’s about time the Yankees either sent Ransom back to Triple-A or perhaps let him loose to try his wares with one of the weak sisters in the National League…

Speaking of Hairston, the reaction to his acquisition from Cincinnati has drawn a tepid reaction in these parts, but I’m slightly more enthusiastic. At the very least, he’s a major upgrade on Ransom, who had become the 2009 version of Mike Fischlin. Looking deeper, Hairston provides six-position versatility, can steal a base in the pinch, and has a modicum of power. He’s also highly regarded as one of the game’s most intelligent players, which is not so surprising considering his family’s baseball heritage. With grandfather Sam Hairston (a former Negro Leagues catcher and longtime coach and scout) and father Jerry, Sr. (a longtime backup outfielder and accomplished pinch-hitter with the White Sox), Hairston has received a good baseball education. And on a team that doesn’t always play the game smart (see Jorge Posada tagging a baserunner with an empty glove or failing to slide into home plate), that’s a nice attribute to have coming off the bench…

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Okay, here we go. Let’s set the scene.

The Yankees and Red Sox have ten head-to-head games remaining this season. Four of them will be played at the new Yankee Stadium tonight through Sunday. The remaining six are split between the Bronx and Boston. Coming into this series, the Yankees hold a 2.5-game lead over Boston in the AL East while Boston holds a three-game lead over Texas and Tampa Bay in the Wild Card race. The Yankees have played one more game than the Red Sox and have two fewer losses.

Of course, the story of the season for both teams thus far has been that the Red Sox have won all eight previous head-to-head games between the two teams this season. Take away those eight games and here’s how the two have done against against the rest of the majors:

NYY 65-34 (.657) –
BOS 54-44 (.551) 9.5

Since their last meeting, a three-game Red Sox sweep at Fenway Park in early June, the Yankees have gone 31-16 (.660) while the Red Sox have gone 26-20 (.565).

Given the Yankees’ dominance of third-party competition, it’s tempting to contemplate all sorts of “if only” scenarios (“if only they had split those eight games with Boston . . . if only they’d just won two of them . . .”), but those eight games count, and they just might reveal something about the relative strengths of the two teams and whether or not we can expect a different result this weekend.

With that in mind, here’s a quick look back at the first eight games of the season series:

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