Today’s news is powered by Levon Helm:

• Ticket prices for 2010:

. . . prices for more than 80 percent of the stadium will remain the same.

Some of the highest price seats will see reductions of up to 40 percent, including those in the Legends area and the Delta Sky 360 Suite. The first level of non-premium suites, which are one level up behind home plate, will be reduced from $325 to $250 or $235 per game per seat, depending on the location. . . .

The only increase will be seen by those who own tickets in a group of 1,700 seats that surround the Delta suite, which currently sell for $100 per game. Those prices will increase to $125 per game next year.

The much publicized $2,500 per game suite tickets, which were not part of the seats whose price was cut in half in April, will cost $1,500 in 2010.

[My take: I guess we should say . . . umm . . . “thanks”?]

• Joel Sherman is confused with by the hubbub over “The Joba Rules”.
• The preliminary schedule for 2010 has been released.  Here’s a review of what they have to look forward to.
• Andy Pettitte will skip his next start to rest a tired shoulder.
• Kevin Goldstein highlights the best Yankee minor league performances this season:

. . . Even though he began the year as the top prospect in the system, catcher Jesus Montero went from best prospect in the Yankee system to one of the best in all of baseball by batting .337/.389/.562 across two levels, and having no problems handling Double-A pitching as a teenager.

A 10^th-round pick last year who signed for nearly half a million, righty D.J. Mitchell cruised through the Sally League, posted a 2.87 ERA at High-A Tampa, and compiled a ground-ball ratio of nearly 3-to-1.

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The Yankees threw Sergio Mitre against Roy Halladay last night and the lost 10-4. No real shock there. The Yanks did well to take an early 2-0 lead on Halladay, touch him up for 11 hits, and bounce him after 112 pitches in six innings, his earliest exit in five starts against the Yankees this year, but it was of little use. Mitre gave up two home runs in both the third and fourth innings, including a pair of monster shots to rookie slugger Travis Snider, giving the Jays a 5-2 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

The real news came came in the eighth inning. With two outs, the bases empty, and the Jays up 8-2, Mark Melacon hit Aaron Hill in the lower back with the first pitch he threw to him. Hill was 0-for-4 prior to that plate appearance and was 0-for-2 against Melcanon entering the game. It seems unlikely that Melancon, who has been wild in the majors, walking 5.4 per 9 innings and hitting three other batters in his first 15 innings, intended to hit Hill. Still, Hill is an important hitter in the Jays lineup, so when Jorge Posada came to bat in the bottom of the inning, Jesse Carlson threw behind him.

Carlson’s pitch went what seemed like ten feet behind Posada, but Jorge was unwilling to shrug it off. Instead he backed out of the batter’s box, took a few steps toward the mound and told Carlson, “Don’t do that again.” The benches cleared to calm Posada down, and Posada ultimately worked a walk and came around to score on a Brett Gardner double (Gardner, by the way, went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI hits).

Carlson was drifting toward home plate to back it up as Posada crossed the dish and Jorge gave Jesse a solid brush with is left shoulder as he went by. Carlson spun around and fired some invective at Posada, who then returned to home plate and touched off a real benches-clearing brawl.

Posada, Carlson, Jays’ catcher Rod Barajas, home plate umpire Jim Joyce, and in-the-hole hitter Johnny Damon were in the initial scrum and soon joined by Joe Girardi, who failed to pull his 38-year-old catcher out of the fray and instead got sucked into the middle of the pack and emerged with a bit of a shiner on his left eye. As one might have expected, Shelley Duncan tore into the heart of the fracas like Michael Phelps going after olympic gold and ultimately had to be pulled off Barajas like Jeff Van Gundy on Alonzo Mourning’s leg as the melee petered out.

Carlson emerged with a nasty welt on his forehead, but he and Posada were the only ejections, and Carlson remained in the dugout, hiding behind his teammates and apparently continuing to plead his innocence. Meanwhile, third base umpire Derryl Cousins was hit in the knee by a full bottle of soda thrown by a fan in the stands determined to make the players look like dignified and civilized adults. Cousins wound up being the only “participant” to suffer an injury (as far as we know).

For proving unable to let his walk and run do the talking (or shoving) for him, Posada will surely incur a suspension. Otherwise it seems the Yankees got away lucky. To his immense credit, Joe Girardi held a closed-door meeting with his team afterwords, admonishing them for doing such a foolish and risky thing this close to a postseason berth.

The Yankees had hundreds of millions of dollars of players in the middle of that fight (Mark Teixeira tried to break things up but was quickly pulled out of the ruckus, on-deck-hitter Derek Jeter was right in the middle of things, and CC Sabathia was the man who finally pulled Posada out of the pack) just three weeks shy of the playoffs. The entire season could have gone the way of Bill Lee’s shoulder Tuesday night. The Yankees are damn lucky it didn’t.

The Yankees have gone 24-10 (.706) against the two non-contenders in their division, the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays, but with this brief, two-game, mid-week series against the Jays in the Bronx, that gravy train is finally pulling into the station.

The Jays and Yankees split a four-game set in Toronto, two weekends ago. Given that Sergio Mitre is taking on Roy Halladay in tonight’s game, the Yankees would probably be happy with a split here as well. Though they beat him in their previous meeting, Halladay dominated the Yankees the last time he faced them, throwing a one-hit shutout against them while striking out nine. In his four starts against the Bombers on the season, Halladay has three complete games and lasted seven full in the exception. In those 34 innings he has compiled a 2.65 ERA and 0.91 WHIP.

Mitre’s last start, also against Toronto, was a disaster. He gave up 11 runs in 4 1/3 innings, though he wasn’t helped by his defense in what was one of the sloppiest games the Yankees have played all year. The Yankees run out their standard lineup behind Mitre tonight save for Brett Gardner starting in center over Melky Cabrera.

The Yankees will start Chad Gaudin against Brian Tallet in Wednesday’s finale, skipping Andy Pettitte until Monday due to a bit of late-season shoulder fatigue. Pettitte said he threw a light bullpen Monday night and “felt great,” so it seems the team is just being cautious in anticipation of the playoffs. Still, there will be some lingering concern given that it was a shoulder problem that undermined Pettitte’s performance in the second half last year.

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Today’s news is powered by vintage Peter Frampton:

• Hal Bodley touts Jeter for MVP:

The MVP Award should go to the player whose leadership and value has contributed to his team’s success more than any other individual. Jeter has been that player for the Yankees as they storm to another AL East title.

There may be teammates who have higher batting averages, hit more homers, driven in more runs, but no one has been more valuable to the Yankees this season.

• Don Zimmer appreciates Jeter:

“He might go down, when it’s all over, as the all-time Yankee,” Zimmer said by phone Sunday of Jeter, who got the lion’s share of his hits after rubbing the crusty old coach’s head and tummy for luck. “He’s right up there with ’em now and anyone who said he was slowing down or losing range or whatever don’t know what kind of man he is. It’s no surprise he’s gotten where he is with the hits. The guy plays. He’s played hurt more days than people will ever know – the kind of hurt other players would be thrilled to take the day off.”

Watching Jeter basking in the adulation of the Yankee Stadium crowds, Zimmer could not help thinking back to that first spring training with Torre in 1996. At the time, there was some debate among the Yankee hierarchy as to whether Jeter was ready to take over as the shortstop. As a hedge, the Yankees had kept their ’95 shortstop, veteran Tony Fernandez, around and were working him in at second base while they evaluated Jeter.

“I remember Clyde King (George Steinbrenner’s longtime special scout) coming into camp and saying Jeter’s not ready to be the shortstop after watching him for just two days,” Zimmer said. “Joe and I just smiled. By then we’d seen plenty to convince us that this kid was gonna be special. He had great hands, a good arm and was a hit machine the way he could ‘inside-out’ the ball. More than that, though, it was the way he carried himself. He was a baby then, but he acted like a seasoned veteran. Nothing fazed him.

• The team makes some personnel moves:

The Yankees can tell from looking at Freddy Guzman’s career statistics that he knows how to run. With an eye toward October, they’d like the chance to see it up close.

New York on Monday promoted the 28-year-old speedster from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, signing him to a big league contract and adding him to the active roster.

“Freddy is another option to pinch-run for us, play outfield defense, play an outfield spot for us,” manager Joe Girardi said. “He’s got great speed and, in some late situations, there’s a chance that you’re going to see him in there.”

In a corresponding move, right-hander Anthony Claggett was designated for assignment to create room for Guzman on the 40-man roster.

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I hate to break it to you, but the American League races are pretty much over. With roughly 20 games left (less for the Yankees and Twins), the closest race remains the Wild Card, where the Red Sox hold a four-game lead over the Rangers. The Yankees lead the Angels by five games for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. The Tigers lead the Twins by 5.5 in the Central. The Angels lead the Rangers by six in the West, and the Yankees’ lead over Boston in the East is a comfortable seven games.

Unless something wild happens (and I’m not saying it won’t), the Yankees will host the Tigers in the ALDS, and the Angels will host the Red Sox. If the Yankees advance, they’ll then have homefield advantage over their ALCS opponent, which given the recent playoff history between the two teams (the Angels have won just one game in three ALDS series against Boston since 2004), is more likely to be the Red Sox than the Angels. It’s thus very possible that tonight’s make-up game, and the three games the Yankees will play in Anaheim next week, are in fact a preview of nothing, and could have no significance for the postseason at all as the Yankees would automatically have home field advantage against the Wild Card Red Sox.

Still, an ALCS matchup with the Angels remains a distinct possibility, and the Angels team that arrives in the Bronx tonight is a much better one than the one that swept the Yankees in the final series before the All-Star break. In that last series, Vlad Guerrero and Torii Hunter were on the DL and Scott Kazmir was a Tampa Bay Ray. All three of those players are on the Angels active roster now, and while the Yankees will face Jered Weaver, not Kazmir tonight, they make the Angels a far more dangerous team. The Angels have been winning at a .661 clip since the break, just four-games behind the Yankees’ remarkable pace.

The Yankees would do well to remember that they took two of three from the Angels in the Bronx in May, and that they’ve had some modest success against Weaver this year, scoring eight runs against him in 12 innings and connecting for three home runs (by Jorge Posada, Alex Rodriguez, and Eric Hinske).

Joba Chamberlain takes the hill for the Yankees tonight. After a rough beginning to his last outing, Chamberlain settled down and retired the last eight men he faced in order. He’ll move up to four innings tonight, hoping to build off that performance.

Yankees added journeyman minor league utility man Freddy Guzman to the 40-man roster. Guzman is on his fourth organization this year and will serve as a pinch-runner, defensive replacement, then vanish back into the ether from whence he came. Standard lineup tonight against the Halos.

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Today’s news is powered by men of constant sorrow (no, not fans of the Pirates):

• Monday’s make-up game with the Angels looms large:

With 18 games to play, the Yankees own a five-game edge over the Angels for the top seed in the AL — a title that comes with more than merely bragging rights. If New York captures it, the club will not only own home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, but it will be able to choose whether or not it wants to proceed with an extra off-day in the AL Division Series — a scenario that would allow erratic righty Joba Chamberlain to be skipped from the first-round rotation.

“We understand what’s at stake here,” Girardi said on Sunday. “That’s an important game tomorrow.”

• Mike Vaccaro has an appreciation of Derek Jeter.
• Here’s some helpful info regarding gameday weather updates.
• Jerry Coleman turns 85 today.  Coleman was a member of four championship teams between ’49 and ’57.  He is currently the well-liked, long-time radio man for the San Diego Padres.
• On this date in 1974, Graig Nettles homers for the Yankees in the first inning, and brother Jim Nettles homers for the Tigers in the 2nd. This is the 2nd time that the two brothers have homered in the same game for different teams, having done it on June 11, 1972, when Graig was on Cleveland and Jim was with Minnesota. Graig’s team wins 10 – 7.
• On this date in 1999, the Yankees rally with a pair of grand slams, just the 3rd time in club history, to beat the Blue Jays, 10 – 6. Bernie Williams ties the game with a slam in the 8th inning, and Paul O’Neill wins it in the 9th with another slam.

No one expected the Orioles to blow into the Bronx and take the first two games of this weekend’s three-game set, handing the Yankees just their third series loss of the second half. The O’s have done not just that, but won those two games by a combined score of 17-7. It seems the Yankee bats are in a bit of a mini-slump, with the team averaging just 3.5 runs per game over it’s last four contests, and unlike the final two games of the Rays’ series, the Yankees haven’t gotten the pitching performances they needed to make those paltry seven runs stand up.

Nonetheless, the Yanks are still 12-5 (.706) on the season against the Orioles, and 40-15 (.727) in the second half, and they have CC Sabathia going in today’s finale looking to help avoid an embarrassing sweep at the hands of Jeremy Guthrie. CC is seven starts into a dominant late-season run (5-0, 1.75 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 11.05 K/9, 5.73 K/BB, 7 1/3 IP/GS, all Yankee wins).

Guthrie has had a nice little run of his own over his last five starts (3-1, 1.33 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 3.75 K/BB, 6 2/3+ IP/GS), his one loss in that stretch coming against Andy Pettitte and the Yankees in Baltimore on the final day of August.

Rain delayed the start of Friday night’s Yankees-Orioles schedule-filler by an hour and 27 minutes. Then during a pitching change with two outs in the seventh, the umpires called the tarp back out, leading to another hour-plus delay.

Things started off well for the Yankees during those first seven innings. Alex Rodriguez crushed a three-run homer into the second deck in left field in the first. Derek Jeter got his team-record 2,722nd hit, a single to right, leading off the third. His next time up he extended his new team record with another single to right, this one driving home Robinson Cano with a two-out run that pushed the Yankees’ lead to 4-1 after four.

Then the pitching fell apart. Andy Pettitte wasn’t sharp, needing 103 pitches to get through five innings. After giving up a second run with one out in the fifth, he loaded the bases, then made a great play on a chopper to the third base side for the second out. The ball tipped off Pettitte’s glove and headed toward the foul line, but Andy scrambled after it, picked it up with his bare hand and made a spinning, falling throw around the runner for the force at home. Unfortunately, Pettitte then hit Melvin Mora in the right elbow to force in the third Baltimore run.

Damaso Marte replaced Pettitte in the sixth and coughed up three more runs and the lead, plus a fourth which scored on a sac fly off Jonathan Albaladejo. In the seventh, Edwar Ramirez gave up three more, all with two outs, at which point the mid-game rain delay struck.

When the tarp came back off around 12:45 am, there were just a few hundred fans left. Ronan Tynan, out to sing “God Bless America” for 9/11, sang it to almost no one on 9/12. Down by six runs, Joe Girardi wisely put his bench in the game to protect his starters for the playoffs, leaving only Melky Cabrera, Brett Gardner, and DH Hideki Matsui in the lineup.

Jeter’s hit was a nice moment. The stadium was packed in anticipation of it, and he delivered, bringing about a huge ovation. His teammates came out of the dugout to congratulate him, and he tipped his helmet to the crowd and signaled to his family in their suite. Unfortunately, it was buried in a miserable morass of a rain-soaked 10-4 loss to a bad team. If nothing else, it worked well as a metaphor for all of the hype the hit was buried in. I’m genuinely pleased and impressed by Jeter’s accomplishment, but the Yankee hype machine nearly killed those emotions. The Yankees are an easy team to root for, but they can be a hard organization to like.

The Yankees are 12-3 against the Orioles this year and 12-1 against them since the third day of the season. Last week, the Yanks swept the O’s in a three-game series in Baltimore, outscoring them 24-9. The Yankees now welcome the Orioles to the Bronx having just swept the third-place Rays in four games amid one of the most dominant second-half runs in major league history. The O’s are 12-25 (.324) since the trading deadline and have won just two of their last eight stretching back through that last series against the Yankees.

What makes this series different, other than its location, is that the Yankees get their first look at the O’s two young starting prospects, Chris Tillman and Brian Matusz, who start tonight and tomorrow. Tillman is a tall, skinny, 21-year-old righty who came over in the Erik Bedard trade. Matusz is an equally tall (though not as skinny), 22-year-old lefty who was drafted out of college with the fourth overall pick last year. Neither has had much success in the majors thus far, but they, along with catcher Matt Wieters and outfielders Nick Markakis, Adam Jones (currently on the DL with a bad back), and to a lesser degree Nolan Riemold, should be thorns in the Yankees’ side for years to come. Thus far, Matusz, the polished college product has had more success, though per my man Kevin Goldstein at Baseball Prospectus, Tillman remains the better prospect and a potential ace.

Taking on Tillman tonight (weather permitting, and it don’t look good) is Andy Pettitte, who has been ace-like himself in the second half, going 5-1 with a 2.88 ERA while the Yankees have won his last seven starts. Johnny Damon sits out the bad weather with a stiff back. Melky’s in left with Gardner in center, those two hits 8th and 9th. Swisher hits 2nd.

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I. PROLOGUE

Derek Jeter’s Yankeeography was among the first of the series to air on YES after the network launched in 2002. It seems like the crew at MLB Productions has to scrap something and update it every year for future re-broadcasts. The next addition: he will stand alone as the Yankees’ all-time hits leader and the video to support the feat will be logged and included.

It is an honor that deserves all the respect we as Yankee fans and baseball fans can provide, especially considering the man he’s passing: Henry Louis Gehrig. A question needs to be asked regarding the coverage and the build-up, though: Did someone think to pull the plug on this, or at least trickle the information piecemeal? The fact that there was little else to discuss because the Yankees have practically locked up the AL East is no excuse.

Did anyone else think it was too much? Were you offended or insulted by the fact that there wasn’t anything new to add to the subject, that there was little we didn’t already know just continuously being regurgitated? It was like being force-fed the same meal every day at the same time, with no other alternative food choices.

To wit: Did the same video footage and nearly the same commentary — verbatim — need to be replayed and repeated night after night, day after day, from the beginning of the Toronto series last Friday? By the time Sunday’s finale came around, it was absurd.

The video from May 30, 1995, his first hit, a groundball through the left side of the infield at the Kingdome, off Tim Belcher, was shown countless times, with Michael Kay’s commentary, “and Derek Jeter standing on first base next to his future teammate and good friend, Tino Martinez.” We got it after the fourth viewing. At that point, I was mouthing Kay’s description of the clip. Then there was the praise for his upbringing with the cutaways to his parents and how anyone associated with the Yankees who scouted him or saw him play in high school “was not surprised at what he’s accomplished.” That fed the discussion of his legend, starting with the first game in Cleveland in 1996 when he homered and made a great over-the-shoulder catch in shallow left field, a play that along with the jump throw from deep in the hole became “Jeterian” (by the way, this is a B.S. adjective that sounds incorrect compared to “Jeteresque.” Can we get a decision on that?), continuing to the Jeffrey Maier home run, the flip play, the Mr. November home run, the dive into the stands against the Red Sox five years ago, and the list goes on.

I know I sound like the guy on the front porch yelling at kids to get off my lawn, which could lead you to the conclusion that I’m a Jeter hater. While I’m not averse to reprimanding people for encroaching my property, nothing could be further from the truth on the Jeter hating. I gained a great appreciation for him while covering him from 2002-06. You have to see how he handles himself amid all the potential distractions on a daily basis to understand how difficult it is to do what he does. He’s a great player, but there was just nothing there beyond his being a baseball player — at least not that he displayed to the people holding pens, pads, recorders and cameras. Jeter was trained well. He doesn’t give too much away, speaks the company line and controls his emotions. Would we as beat writers and reporters try to bait him to give more and show some personality? Sure, but he would never comply. He was too smart. At least he was not phony about it.

The biggest question, based on the personality test above, was, “Would he enjoy the moment?” There was legitimate concern over this in the local media. The best answer came from Jeter himself. He tipped his helmet to the fans, but knew the Yankees were trailing 2-0 and he didn’t want to “disrespect Tampa,” as he told Kim Jones. Only when the Rays all moved to the top step of their bench clapped for Jeter’s achievement did he take a little extra time to bask in the moment. Class act all the way. He does not act bigger than the game, either on the micro or the macro level.

That’s the essence of Derek Jeter. If he doesn’t enjoy the moment himself, we’ll certainly enjoy it for him.

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No video to start the post today.  Just think good thoughts for the widows and orphans of those lost on this day eight years ago.

• We wonder where Wang will wander in 2010:

Chien-Ming Wang, who had shoulder surgery in July, hopes to travel with the Yankees during the postseason even through he cannot play.

 “This is a great team. We can win the World Series,” he said. “I want to see that.”

In his first public comments since the surgery, Wang said he hopes to start playing catch again in January and believes he will pitch in the major leagues at some point in 2010. But he realizes that may not be with the Yankees.

Wang had a $5 million contract this season and is eligible for arbitration. There is virtually no chance the Yankees will offer him arbitration before the December deadline. That would leave Wang a free agent.

“I would like to stay in New York,” he said. “But I don’t know what will happen.”

One possibility is that the Yankees could offer Wang a minor-league contract. Or another team could sign him to a major-league deal and hope that he returns to form.

• Adulation from around the majors for Jeter’s accomplishments:

Rangers third baseman Michael Young, who has represented the American League in six All-Star Games, said he was in awe of Jeter’s career.

“That’s an incredible accomplishment, considering how many great players have played for that organization,” said Young. “Their best players are guys that played their whole careers there.

“It’s an amazing accomplishment. I’ve gotten to know Derek over the years, and as much as he won’t admit it, I think this means a lot to him.”

Veteran reliever Brendan Donnelly, who spent seven seasons in the American League before joining the Marlins this season, was also impressed by Jeter’s work ethic and role as the face of baseball.

“Jeter has been one of the best role models in Major League Baseball in recent history,” said Donnelly before Wednesday’s game. “He’s done it the right way, from start to finish, at the highest level and probably the hardest place to play. He’s been the face of Major League Baseball for years. You just don’t hear guys staying in one spot that long. For him to do everything he’s done, I think he’s earned every bit of his fame.

“To me, it’s not surprising that he’s about to become the Yankees’ all-time hit leader. He’s always healthy. He’s just done it the right way. I think more players in baseball should follow his way.”

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Joba Chamberlain’s third start under the new spring-training-style Joba Rules didn’t start terribly well. Jason Bartlett led off by smacking a 2-1 pitch over the wall in left for a homer. (After the game Joba said it was the pitch he wanted to make and pointed out that Bartlett was having a great year; Joe Girardi said the pitch was “a mistake.”) Carl Crawford followed with a single, moved to second on a wild third-strike to Evan Longoria, stole third while Chamberlain was in the process of walking Ben Zobrist, then scored on a Pat Burrell single.

After that, the Yankee shortstop went to the mound and gave Chamberlain a quick verbal kick in the pants. Chamberlain struck out the next two batters on nine pitches and retired the side in order in the second and third innings. Because Chamberlain’s night ended there (due, I assume, to the 32 pitches he had thrown in the first), it’s difficult to say if that is likely to have been a meaningful turnaround in Joba’s performance going forward, but it was the most encouraging performance Chamberlain has had since his final start in July, which also came against the Rays.

Tampa Bay starter Jeff Niemann, a 6-foot-9 righty who bears a slight resemblance to the actor Jeff Daniels and is having a fine rookie season five years after being drafted fourth overall in the 2004 draft, made those two runs stand up for seven innings, stranding runners in every frame while striking out eight. Meanwhile, the Yankee bullpen matched Niemann by following Chamberlain with six hitless innings, including three from Alfredo Aceves and two from Jonathan Albaladejo.

Alex Rodriguez led off the bottom of the eighth by singling up the middle on Niemann’s 110th pitch, driving the tall 26-year-old from the game. Joe Maddon curiously chose righty Lance Cormier over lefty Brian Shouse to face Hideki Matsui. Matsui singled, sending Rodriguez to third, and Chris Richards threw Nick Swisher’s ensuing grounder into left field while attempting to start a 3-6-3 double play, sending Alex home and pinch-runner Jerry Hairston Jr. to third. Maddon then went to Shouse, who struck out Robinson Cano for the first out of the inning.

With one out, the tying run on third and the go-ahead run on first, Girardi sent Jorge Posada up to bat for Brett Gardner. Gardner made a spectacular, game-saving play in Monday’s day game, but has been struggling to rediscover his stroke since coming off the disabled list, going a combined 1-for-18 since starting his rehab assignment. Maddon countered with hard-throwing Aussie Grant Balfour, flipping Posada around to the left side. Posada worked the count full, fouling off the two strikes, then launched the next pitch into the seats in right for a game-changing three-run home run.

And that was that. Protecting a two-run lead, Brian Bruney typically walked the first man he faced in the ninth on four pitches, but got the next two out on three more tosses before yielding to Phil Coke, who got the final out and a cheap save. The 4-2 win was the 24th game the Yankees have won in their final at-bat this season, a total which leads the major leagues. On the season, the Yankees are averaging more than two runs scored per game in the final three innings and 1.2 runs score per game in extra innings, when one is usually enough to win it.

The win gave the Yankees an unexpected four-game sweep of the rival Rays, who are now a shocking 18.5 games out in the division, and ran the Yankees’ second-half record to 40-13, good for a .755 winning percentage. If they can keep that up through the final 20 games, it will stand as the third-best post-break mark since the All-Star Game began in 1933.

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Today’s news is powered by U.K. national treasures Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, from season one of  “A Bit of Fry & Laurie” (1987) :

• Brett Gardner returns from the DL.
• Tyler Kepner wonders if the team all-time hits record will be Jeter’s biggest achievement.
• Could Jeter top not only Gehrig, but Rose too?.
• A nice profile of Lou Gehrig, on the eve of his Yankee all-time hits record being surpassed.
• On this date in 1919, Babe Ruth hits HR No. 26 off Jack Quinn in New York, breaking Buck Freeman’s 1899 HR mark of 25.
• On this date in 1978, New York continues its rampage of Boston by scoring two runs in the 1st inning and six more in the 2nd inning. Boston makes seven errors to ease the Yankees to a 13 – 2 romp. Reggie Jackson hits a 3-run homer and Lou Piniella adds a double, triple and homer to back Jim Beattie’s pitching. Dwight Evans and Carlton Fisk both make a pair of errors. New York is now two games in back.
• On this date in 1983, Yankees OF Steve Kemp will miss the rest of the season with a fractured cheekbone after being struck in the face by an Omar Moreno line drive during batting practice in Milwaukee. Kemp hit just .242 with 12 home run and 49 RBI in the first year of his 5-year, $5.45 million contract. New York wins today, 6 – 5.
• On this date in 1992, Yankees OF Danny Tartabull goes 5 – for – 5 with two homers and a double, and drives in nine runs as New York defeats Baltimore, 16 – 4. Scott Sanderson is the winner.
• On this date in 2000, the Yankees beat the Red Sox, 4-0, behind Roger Clemens. A scary moment occurs in the 9th inning when Boston P Bryce Florie is hit in the face with a line drive off the bat of Ryan Thompson. The Red Sox hurler never loses consciousness and leaves the field with blood streaming down his face. Florie suffers a fractured cheekbone and a fracture of the orbital socket, the bone that surrounds the eye, and retinal damage. He will undergo surgery.
• On this date in 2007, Alex Rodríguez homers twice off of Brian Bannister. The first of the homers is his 49th of the year and breaks the record for homers by a third baseman. Previously, Mike Schmidt (48 in 1980) and Rodriguez (2005) had shared the record.  Rodriguez had already held the single-season record for shortstops, giving him the highwater mark at two positions.

I’m back on Friday (at Yankee game Tuesday night, and Met game the next night).

The Rays arrive in the Bronx today for a Labor Day doubleheader and resultant four-game series trailing the Red Sox by seven games in the Wild Card standings. The Yankees, meanwhile, hold a 7.5-game lead over Boston in the division. It’s thus fair to say that, as secure as the Yankees’ division lead feels, that’s how unlikely it is that the Rays are going to return to the post season.

Put more simply: the Rays are out of the race.

That doesn’t make the remaining seven games between the two teams meaningless (though the three in Tampa in October most likely will be by then), and it doesn’t make the Rays any less competitive. It does, however, deflate the excitement most had expected this September series between division rivals to bring.

Make no mistake, the Rays are rivals. They won the division last year and the two teams are roughly split in their season series to this point, the Yankees taking 6 of 11,but the Rays having scored one more run (60 to 59). Home field hasn’t been much advantage thus far, as the two teams have split six games in Tampa with the Yanks taking three of five in the Bronx. That said, the series has slowly tilted the Yankees way as the season has progressed, with the Rays taking three of the first five and the Yankees four of the last six.

Some accused the Rays of giving up on the season when the traded Scott Kazmir. I’m not entirely sure that’s the case, but the trade was clearly a hedge; Andrew Friedman didn’t want to get stuck without a playoff berth and the remainder of Kazmir’s contract ($20 million the next two years plus an option with a $2.5 million buyout) given the arrival of young, talented, team-controlled arms such as Jeff Niemann (12-5, 3.67 in his first full season), and 23-year-olds David Price and Wade Davis (7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 9 K in his major league debut last night).

The Rays proved they were going for it when they benched Dioner Navarro and his .221/.252/.331 line and replace him via trade with Gregg Zaun, who has since hit .311/.333/.508. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. Look at the lineup at the end of this post for a clue as to why.

The last time the Yankees saw the Rays, B.J. Upton was leading off and Evan Longoria was hitting third. Now they’re hitting sixth (Longoria) and ninth (Upton). Save for a hot June, Upton has been punchless all year, and has hit just .225/.276/.335 with 2 homers and 12 walks since July 1. Longoria, meanwhile, got out to a big start, then did very little in June, July, and August, though he has turned it on of late, hitting .441 and slugging .853 during an active eight-game hitting streak.

All-Star Ben Zobrist replaces Longoria in the three-hole, but he seems to have run out of pixie dust. Since snapping a 12-game hitting streak on July 23, he’s hit a very ordinary .243/.357/.407, and with Akinori Iwamura back from an ACL injury, Zobrist is now a corner outfielder again, making that production all the less useful (though it’s a smidge more than the Rays were getting from Gabe Gross). New leadoff man Jason Bartlett seemed to be out of magic as well in July, but silenced doubters with a .357/.443/.577 August, though he’s cooled off again over his last ten games.

As for today’s double header, the Yankees have stacked the deck, throwing CC Sabathia in Game 1 and A.J. Burnett in the nightcap. Sabathia’s numbers over his last six starts are eyepopping: 5-0, 1.83 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, 10.76 K/9, 7.57 K/BB. The Yankees have won his last seven starts, his last loss coming against the Rays on July 28.

CC goes against Matt Garza, who has spiked his strikeout rate this year and leads the league in fewest hits per nine innings (7.8), but the latter is due to an abnormally low .268 BABIP (though he was at .271 last year), and his home run rate has also spiked, giving him a higher ERA than he had a year ago. Garza’s allowed just 3 runs in 12 innings against the Yanks this year, but has posted a 6.00 ERA over his last five starts.

As for Burnett, everyone keeps talking about the fact that he hasn’t won a game since July 27, a stretch of seven starts, but the Yankees have won three of those starts and A.J. has four quality starts in that stretch, which includes his dominant outing against the Red Sox in that 15-inning scoreless affair on August 7. Still, two of his last three have been awful. With his first playoff start looming roughly a month away, he needs to use his remaining starts to rediscover that groove he had in July lest he become what I’d always feared he’d be, the 2009 version of Randy Johnson, who blew a pair of crucial ALDS Game 3s in his only two Yankee playoff appearances.

Facing Burnett will be Andy Sonnanstine, who initially looked like Kazmir’s replacement down the stretch until Davis announced his presence with authority last night. Not that it really matters. Though Sonnanstine spent all of July and August in the minors, the Yankees have already seen him thrice this year. Sonnanstine got the better of the Yanks the first two times (though without earning a decision either time), but the Yanks touched him up for four homers (by Tex, Swisher, Damon, and Jeter) on June 8, marking his career high for a single game.

Brett Gardner returns for today’s action. He’s playing center and batting ninth in the opener, with Melky in left, Hinske at DH, and Damon and Matsui on the bench. Nick Swisher bats second, Robinson Cano moves up to fifth, and Hinske, Melky, and Gardner, in that order, make up the bottom three.

I’m going to be car shopping today (my 12-year-old Saturn was totaled by a tree branch a month ago and I’ve been too busy in the interim to get to the dealers), so this post will have to serve game threads for both games. I’ll be back late tonight to wrap it all up.

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Those of you who chose to do something other than watch the Yankees’ series finale in Toronto on a beautiful Labor Day weekend Sunday made the right choice as the Yankees lost perhaps the ugliest game they’ve played all year by a score of 14-8. The four errors in the Yankees’ line doesn’t even begin to capture how poorly they played. Sergio Mitre gave up 11 runs (nine earned) in 4 1/3 innings, but after the game, Joe Girardi said Mitre had really gotten 21 outs out there. He wasn’t far off.

After the Yankees stranded two in the top of the first, the very first batter Mitre faced hit a grounder to third, where Jerry Hairston Jr. was giving Alex Rodriguez a day off. Hairston let the ball play him, fielding it back on his heels and firing high to first base, inducing a collision between Mark Teixeira and the runner (neither was hurt). That set the tone.

Aaron Hill doubled home the run on the next pitch as the Jays went on to score three in the first. The first batter in the bottom of the second hit a soft grounder to Robinson Cano, but Cano dropped the ball on the transfer for the second Yankee error in as many innings. Amazingly, the Jays failed to score in that frame.

The Yankees tied the game in the third, then with one out in the bottom of the third, Nick Swisher lost a fly ball in the sun on a cloudless day in Toronto, turning an out into a double. Mark Teixeira then got eaten up by a grounder that scored the run on what was ruled an error. Mitre worked a 1-2-3 fourth, and the Yankees took a brief lead on a two-run Swisher homer in the fifth, but then everything fell apart.

With one on and one out in the bottom of the fifth, Mitre struck out Edwin Encarnacion on a nasty pitch that dove down and away from the righty, hit off Jose Molina’s glove, and ricocheted back the other way, allowing Encarnacion to reach base. That opened the door for an eight-run inning. After the next two batters singled, putting the Jays up 6-5 and leaving men on the corners with still just one out, Mitre induced a chopper to third, but Hairston couldn’t make up his mind whether to throw home or first and, after finally choosing first, threw too late to get the runner on what was ruled an infield hit (the run scored from third anyway). After another single, Mitre walked in a run and got the hook.

Mark Melancon came on and walked in another run on four pitches. After getting the second out, he then let two more in on an infield single and another walk, passing the ball to ex-Jay Josh Towers. Towers got ahead of Bronx native Randy Ruiz 0-2, then hit Ruiz in the face with a 90 mph fastball, bloodying his lip and forcing in another run. (Ruiz came out of the game, but suffered no serious injury.)

At this point it was 12-5, Jays, but the Yankees weren’t done. In the sixth, Ramiro Peña, in as a sub for Derek Jeter, bounced a throw past Mark Teixeira to let in another run in the sixth. Immediately following, Johnny Damon and Melky Cabrera collided while chasing a fly in left-center, though neither was hurt and Melky held on for the third out. The next inning, the Yankee infield consisted of Eric Hinske at third base, Hairston at shorstop, Peña at second, Molina at first, and Francisco Cervelli behind the plate, but that combination fielded it’s only two chances (a pop up to Peña and a grounder to Molina) cleanly.

So to wrap that all up: four errors (Hairston, Cano, Teixeira, Peña), two outs played into hits (Swisher & Hairston), two collisions (at first base and in left field), a bloodied opponent (Ruiz), a rally started by a strikeout, three runs forced in by walks (one by Mitre, two by Melancon), and another forced in by a hit-by-pitch (Towers).

As for Mitre, he officially recorded 13 outs, but if you give him credit for inducing outs on the three errors and two misplays behind him and the strikeout Molina couldn’t corral (ruled a wild pitch), he really got 19 outs, the equivalent of 6 1/3 innings. I’m not saying he pitched well, or that I think he should be a candidate for the postseason roster (he shouldn’t), but he didn’t pitch as poorly as his line suggests (note his five Ks, and that the walk that forced in a run and got him pulled was just his second of the game). Given all that went wrong and his tenuous hold on his job, Mitre did a good job of not showing up his teammates on the field or to the press afterwords.

Me, I spent the day at a local park with my wife, three-month-old daughter, and dog. We had a nice picnic and a walk, played some frisbee with the dog, and took a collective nap (dog and cat included) on the couch after we got home. I then zipped through the game on fast-forward on the DVR. I’m hoping most of you saw as little or less of it and have an equally pleasant Labour Day tomorrow.

It’s thus far been a beautiful Labor Day weekend in the tri-state area, and with a double-header against the third-place Rays coming tomorrow, watching Sergio Mitre and Brian Tallet face off on artificial turf in Toronto’s half-empty concrete behemoth of a ballpark might not seem like the best way to spend your Sunday afternoon. Still, there’s a bit of intrigue as the Yankees are looking to win the series. If they do, they’ll have won 14 of 16 second-half sets. As it stands, the Yanks have won eight of their last nine games and should have Mariano Rivera available to close again today.

There’s also the fact that, since Chien-Ming Wang went back on the disabled list, the Yankees are 8-2 in games started by their fifth starter (be it Mitre, Chad Gaudin, or Alfredo Aceves). Mitre is coming off a legitimately dominant outing against the White Sox (0 R, 1 H, 1 BB, 11 of 19 outs on the ground) that was ended after 6 1/3 innings when he was hit on the pitching elbow by a comebacker. Mitre pitched that game on seven-day’s rest and is pitching today having had another seven day’s off.

Tallet has made two starts since July 25 and has a 10.07 ERA over his last four starts. He does, however, have two quality starts against the Yankees this year, both of them Blue Jays loses.

Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada get the day off. Jerry Hairston Jr. plays third and bats seventh ahead of Melky and Jose Molina.

Let’s file this in the category of “taking nothing for granted.” Even with a sizeable lead over the Red Sox, I’m happy to see that the Yankees haven’t waited for Scranton’s Triple-A playoff season to end before bringing some reinforcements to New York. Francisco Cervelli, Ramiro Pena, Mark Melancon, Edwar Ramirez, Mike Dunn, and Jon Albaladejo represent the first wave of call-ups, giving Joe Girardi additional options for the final month of the regular season. As painful as it is for fans of the minor league affiliates to hear, the priorities and needs of the major league team should always come first. Given the frequent rest needed by Jorge Posada and the semi-ludicrous pitching limitations being placed on Joba Chamberlain, the Yankees can use some bolstering in the areas of pitching and catching depth.

Once Scranton’s postseason run is complete, the Yankees should then promote their two best everyday players at Triple-A: Austin “Ajax” Jackson and Shelley “Slam” Duncan. If nothing else, both players deserve to be rewarded for fine seasons in Triple-A; minor league players need to know that they will be promoted if they produce at lower levels. Jackson still has flaws in his game (including a surprising lack of power and too many strikeouts), but did well enough to be named the International League’s Rookie of the Year. Duncan has had nothing less than a terrific season for Scranton-Wilkes Barre, leading the league in home runs, RBIs, and slugging percentage. Hopefully, the Yankees will be able to put an early clinch on the AL East and give Duncan some at-bats in which to impress opposing scouts. He could help any one of a number of teams, including the Indians, A’s, Diamondbacks, and Pirates. Heck, he’d be a good fit for the cross-town Mets, who probably won’t be re-signing Carlos Delgado and desperately need an infusion of power and enthusiasm. If someone gives Duncan a chance, they might just get some Dave Kingman-type numbers in return, with slightly better defense and significantly better attitude…

In pioneering the oversized S100 helmet made by Rawlings, David Wright has started me thinking about the history of batting helmets. Former Yankee great Phil Rizzuto is generally acknowledged as the first major leaguer to wear a full batting helmet in a game. “The Scooter” made the move from cap to hard hat in 1951, one year before the Pirates outfitted all of their players with helmets and a full 20 years before helmets became mandatory throughout the major leagues. Rizzuto wasn’t just a great shortstop and a funny broadcaster; he was a smart guy who realized the value of protecting oneself in an era when most pitchers felt comfortable pitching high and tight.

As much of a pioneer as Rizzuto was, he was not the first professional ballplayer to don a helmet in a game. That honor belongs to another Hall of Fame shortstop—longtime Negro Leagues great Willie “El Diablo” Wells. After being beaned and knocked unconscious in a 1942 game, the Newark Eagles’ legend returned to action wearing a workman’s helmet, which he found at a New Jersey construction site. Deciding that the construction helmet would work at bat, Wells donned the hard hat in his next game. El Diablo might have looked a little odd, but who could have blamed him?

Speaking of Wright, his use of the S100 helmet has conjured images of two of Hollywood’s beloved characters: The Great Gazoo from “The Flintstones” and the laughable Dark Helmet from Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs. So whom do you think Wright more closely resembles? It’s a close call, but I’ll place my vote with Gazoo, as portrayed by the brilliant Harvey Korman. In the immortal words of Gazoo, “Goodbye dum-dums.”…

Finally, has anyone else noticed how much Alfredo Aceves looks like former Yankee Jim Leyritz? Every time I see Aceves take the mound, I have to remind myself that “The King” is no longer playing. I had similar flashbacks when Bobby Abreu played for the Yankees; he always reminded me of former Yankee outfielder Matty Alou, at least in terms of their facial resemblance. Then again, maybe I’ve just been looking at too many old Topps baseball cards.

Bruce Markusen writes “Cooperstown Confidential” for The Hardball Times.

So much for Cito Gaston’s brilliance. Yeah, the Blue Jays traded Scott Rolen, let Alex Rios go via waivers, lost Rolen’s replacement, the disastrous Edwin Encarnacion, to a hamstring injury, and have been forced to play musical closers due to injury and poor performance, and have had to similarly improvise their starting rotation for similar reasons. Despite all that they have outscored their opponents only to find themselves with an actual record eight games worse than their Pythagorean.

The Jays have been in free fall since the end of June, playing .340 baseball (18-35) over that stretch. Since eking out a one-run victory over Sergio Mitre and the Yankees on August 10, they’re 5-16 (.238!). They haven’t won a series, or even had consecutive victories since they faced the Orioles the series before that. Even, Roy Halladay, who pitches tomorrow, has gone 0-3 with a 7.94 ERA over his last three starts. Top prospect Travis Snider has come back from the minors to replace Rios and has hit .167 in 16 games. Things really can’t get much worse for the Jays.

Well, I suppose there’s the Yankees coming to town. The Yanks, like they were against the Orioles prior to their just-completed sweep, are 9-3 against the Jays this year, and two of those losses came in May. The Yankees are 7-1 against Toronto since then. No wonder the Yanks figured they could bounce A.J. Burnett to Monday’s double-header against the Rays and throw Chad Gaudin (tonight), Sergio Mitre (Sunday), and the innings-challenged Joba Chamberlain (tomorrow) in this series. At least they’re giving the Jays a sporting chance.

Rookie of the Year candidate Ricky Romero starts for the Jays tonight. He has two quality starts in as many tries against the Yankees on the season, though the Yankees won the later contest via one of their many extra-inning walkoffs (Cano single). Gaudin was been alternately great and awful in August, striking out 12 in nine scoreless innings in his three “great” appearances (including his one start, in Oakland, all three as a Yankee) and giving up 11 runs in 8 1/3 innings in his three “awful” appearances (two in relief for the Yankees plus one start for the Padres). If he makes like Saberhagen, he’s due for “awful” tonight. Hopefully the Yankees can out-hit whatever it is he gives them.

With Mariano Rivera nursing a tender groin, Phil Hughes will close this weekend. Jonathan Albaladejo has been called up to add innings to the pen. Yanks run out the standard lineup tonight.

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Today’s news is powered by Woody Woodpecker:

• Swisher is at home on the road:

While the rest of the Yankees seem to have fallen in love with hitting for power at the new Yankee Stadium, Swisher has gone in the completely opposite direction. He now owns 23 homers in his first season with the Bombers, 20 of which have come away from the Bronx.

“I’m just trying to prove to everybody that hitting home runs in Yankee Stadium is not that easy,” Swisher said, laughing.

• Did Dellin Betances really have a true TJ procedure?:

Betances’ procedure was an “overlay TJ,” a variant of the Tommy John procedure where the damaged ligament isn’t removed, but instead left in place and the ligament is buttressed by the new tendon. Originally, it was thought that this would reduce the issue with proprioception that many TJ surgeries involve for patients, but the procedure is seldom used currently.

• The Times analyzes the “true” price of post-season tickets.
• Fangraphs examines the Angels replacement for Teixeira, Kendry Morales.

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Today’s news is powered by an orchestra-accompanied version of a Dire Straits classic:

• No 2nd surgery for A-Rod?:

When Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees picked Dr. Marc Philippon to operate on the superstar’s right hip in March, they did so because they believed the Vail-based surgeon was the best in the business.

. . . When Philippon was done with the March 9 surgery, which repaired a torn labrum, removed an impingement and drained a cyst, the doctor said Rodriguez was looking at another operation after the season was finished. Now, there is a chance Rodriguez can avoid the second operation.

“Eighty percent no; 20 percent yes,” Rodriguez told The Post before sitting out last night’s game against the Orioles at Camden Yards. “But you got to call him.”

. . . Though Philippon deserves credit, so does Mark Lindsay, the chiropractor Rodriguez has worked with since the surgery.

• “S-Dunc” and “A-Jax” get it done:

The league leader in home runs, RBIs and runs scored, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees right fielder Shelley Duncan has been named the International League MVP. He’s the second Scranton/Wilkes-Barre player to win the award, following Phillies center fielder Shane Victorino, who won it in 2005.

Duncan has eclipsed his own franchsie record by hitting 29 home runs this season, and he’s eight away from becoming the second player in franchise history to amass 100 RBIs in a season. After a breakout 2007, Duncan had a bizarre and unsteady 2008 that saw him shuttled to and from New York before landing on the disabled list. This season, though, he was back in a big way.

Yankees center fielder Austin Jackson has won the league’s Rookie of the Year award, becoming the third player in franchise history to do so. Long time major league second baseman Marlon Anderson won it in 1998 and right-handed pitcher Brandon Duckworth won it in 2001, when he was also the league’s Pitcher of the Year.

At 22 years old, playing in a league usually dominated by veterans, Jackson is third in the league in hits and leads the league in triples. He’s top 20 in runs, stolen bases and batting average. Earlier this season, Baseball America conducted a poll of International League managers who named Jackson the league’s top hitting prospect.

• Tyler Kepner compares this year’s model to the 2006 squad:

The Yankees are certainly an excellent regular-season team again. And with September upon us, it’s a good time to look ahead to October. If the season ended today, the Yankees would see those Tigers in the division series again.

That means Justin Verlander, Edwin Jackson, Jarrod Washburn and Rick Porcello – a more formidable on paper than the 2006 group of Nate Robertson, Verlander, Kenny Rogers and Jeremy Bonderman.

 

By October 2006 the Yankees were a jumble of mismatched offensive and defensive parts. (Remember Gary Sheffield playing first base?) This Yankees offense functions well together, with power, discipline, speed, and a knack for success in the late innings.

As for the theory that the Yankees rely too much on homers, consider last fall. The 2008 Phillies also played in a cozy ballpark and led their league in homers. They won the World Series and did it with clutch home runs in every postseason series.

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