The Bombers get back to their more normal chapeaus, and A-Rod seeks to continue his resurrection . . . consider this the official game thread.

Yankees/Rangers (Chamberlain/Millwood)

Today’s news is powered by birthday boy Lenny Kravitz, who turns 45 today:

• Bruney back on the DL:

Yankees reliever Brian Bruney again experienced discomfort in his right elbow on Monday and will be placed on the 15-day disabled list.

Bruney, who was activated on May 19 after being on the DL since April 25 because of a strained flexor muscle in the elbow, played catch on Monday at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, one day after a 35- to 45-pitch session in New York during which the right-hander experienced elbow pain.

“I’m pretty disappointed,” Bruney said. “Nobody likes to go on the DL. It is what it is. I’ve got to find out what the problem is and at least get it diagnosed. I think there is something that we’re missing. Maybe some different tests will show what I’ve got going on.”

• The manager isn’t quite pleased with the lack of communication from Bruney:

“I just think he wasn’t totally forthright in how he was feeling,” Girardi said. “We’ve had many talks with him over the last couple of weeks about how you have to tell us exactly what’s going on. It could be that by rushing himself back, he’s never given himself the amount of time he’s needed.”

Bruney felt some discomfort in spring training. Then he started the season brilliantly, retiring 22 consecutive hitters in one stretch. On April 21, he felt uncomfortable in a game against Oakland and told Girardi – with whom he has a very good relationship – that he needed a day off.

That day turned into almost a month. Bruney went on the disabled list and continued to feel something in his elbow when he played catch. Gradually, he said, the feeling went away, and he worked a rehab game, then pitched May 19 against the Orioles. Now he is hurting again.

Bruney said he had no regrets about coming back last week. He felt fine in the bullpen and fine in the game, he said, and his first round of tests showed no damage.

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Phil Hughes likes pitching in Arlington, Texas. Hughes made his second major league start in Arlington on May 1, 2007 and threw 6 1/3 hitless innings before tearing his left hamstring and being forced to leave the game. Yesterday, he returned to Arlington to pitch a Memorial Day matinee and once again dominated a powerful Rangers’ lineup.

The Yankees spotted Hughes two runs in the top of the first on doubles by Derek Jeter (taking a half-day off at DH) and Mark Teixeira and infield singles by Johnny Damon and Alex Rodriguez. Hughes responded with a 1-2-3 bottom of the inning. If there was a turning point in the game, which ended in an 11-1 Yankee route, it came in the bottom of the second. Nelson Cruz led off with a first-pitch double, after which Hughes hit Hank Blalock with a 1-1- pitch to put two men on with none out. Hughes then fell behind Marlon Byrd 3-0, but rallied to strike him out on a generous call on a fastball low and away. He followed that by striking out Chris Davis and Taylor Teagarden on curveballs to strand both runners. The Yankees responded in the top of the third by pushing across four more runs against Texas starter Matt Harrison (the key hits being doubles by Damon and Rodriguez and a two-RBI triple by Robinson Cano). That was the ball game.

Hughes got through the bottom of the third on seven pitches, stranded a lead-off double in the fourth, needing just nine tosses in that frame, and pitched around another double in the fifth. The only walk he issued was to Michael Young leading off the sixth, but Young never got past first base. Hughes got through the seventh on just nine pitches, striking out Chris Davis on three of them, and needed just nine more to  work a 1-2-3 eighth.

Hughes had shown considerable improvement in his previous two games, proving he could work out of jams against the Twins, then correcting his problematic strikeout-to-walk ratio against the Orioles. The only things he had left to fix were his inefficiency with his pitches and his tendency to give up home runs. Neither was a problem yesterday, as he held the Rangers scoreless for eight frames needing just 101 pitches to do it. His final line: 8 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K.

Over his last two starts, Hughes has struck out 15 in 13 innings against just two walks, and he’s now been legitimately dominant twice in six starts since being recalled. After featuring his fastball against the Orioles his last time out, he rode the effectiveness of his curveball yesterday. He has done everything the Yankees could ask for in terms of learning on the job and making strides toward being the pitcher the team has long hoped he’d be. Though no official announcement has been made, it now seems that Hughes’ rotation spot is his to lose and Chien-Ming Wang will hang out in the bullpen until a spot opens up or he shows the Yankees that he’s completely over his early-season struggles, which he has yet to do. Hughes will have to continue to build on his success, stay healthy, and eventually may have to deal with innings-limit concerns (his career high was 146 in 2006, he threw just 110 1/3 in 2007 and a mere 69 2/3 last year), but thus far he’s shown himself to be up to the challenge.

After Hughes’ strong eighth-inning yesterday, Joe Girardi extended his hand to the young right-hander to offer him congratulations for a job well done. Hughes looked at his manager’s hand and grimaced. He didn’t want to come out of the game, though he relented after some quick cajoling from the skipper.

Alfredo Aceves pitched the ninth, giving up a solo home run to Nelson Cruz, but nothing more. As for all those Yankee runs, four of them were driven in by Alex Rodriguez, who went 5-for-5 with a pair of doubles, raising his average 70 points in the process. Nick Swisher drove in three on a groundout, a single, and a sac fly. Collectively, the Yankees picked up 19 hits, beating up on both Harrison and long reliever Kris Benson. With the win, the Yankees slipped past the Blue Jays into second place in the AL East, one game behind the Red Sox.

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Texas Rangers

2009 Record: 26-17 (.605)
2009 Pythagorean Record: 24-19 (.558)

2008 Record: 79-83 (.488)
2008 Pythagorean Record: 76-86 (.469)

Manager: Ron Washington
General Manager: Jon Daniels

Home Ballpark: Rangers Ballpark (100/101)

Who’s Replaced Whom:

• Chris Davis and Hank Blalock split up Milton Bradley’s at-bats
• Elvis Andrus replaces Ramon Vazquez
• Omar Vizquel replaces German Duran (minors)
• Nelson Cruz inherits the playing time of Brandon Boggs (minors)
• Andruw Jones replaces Frank Catalanotto
• Jarrod Saltalamacchia inherits Gerald Laird’s playing time
• Taylor Teagarden replaces Saltalamacchia as the backup catcher
• Derek Holland is filling in for Vicente Padilla (DL)
• Matt Harrison takes over Kason Gabbard’s starts
• Brandon McCarthy takes over the starts of Sidney Ponson and Luis Mendoza (minors)
• Darren O’Day replaces Josh Rupe
• Jason Jennings takes over Jamey Wright’s innings
• Kris Benson is filling in for Dustin Nippert (DL)
• Warner Madrigal is filling in for Joaquin Benoit (DL)

25-man Roster:

1B – Chris Davis (L)
2B – Ian Kinsler (R)
SS – Elvis Andrus (R)
3B – Michael Young (R)
C – Jarrod Saltalamacchia (S)
RF – Nelson Cruz (R)
CF – Josh Hamilton (L)
LF – David Murphy (L)
DH – Hank Blalock (L)

Bench:

R – Andruw Jones (OF)
R – Marlon Byrd (OF)
R – Taylor Teagarden (C)
S – Omar Vizquel (SS)

Rotation:

R – Kevin Millwood
L – Derek Holland
R – Scott Feldman
R – Brandon McCarthy
L – Matt Harrison

Bullpen:

R – Frank Francisco
L – C.J. Wilson
L – Eddie Guardado
R – Darren O’Day
R – Jason Jennings
R – Kris Benson
R – Warner Madrigal

15-day DL: RHP – Vicente Padilla (strained shoulder); RHP – Willie Eyre (groin); RHP – Dustin Nippert (strained back/side)

60-day DL: RHP – Joaquin Benoit (torn rotator cuff); RHP – Eric Hurley (torn rotator cuff)

Typical Lineup:

R – Ian Kinsler (2B)
R – Michael Young (3B)
L – Josh Hamilton (CF)
L – Hank Blalock (3B)
R – Nelson Cruz (RF)
L – David Murphy (LF)
L – Chris Davis (1B)
S – Jarrod Saltalamacchia (C)
R – Elvis Andrus (SS)

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Today’s news is powered by a classic scene from “A League of Their Own”

• Bench coach Tony Pena, on his stable of catchers, especially the new kid Francisco Cervelli:

“Sometimes, for one person to shine, something has to happen to someone else,” said Pena, who has four Gold Gloves to his name. “Defensively, Francisco Cervelli is as good as any other catcher. There are very few catchers who can move behind the plate the way Francisco Cervelli moves.”

“He has not allowed a passed ball yet, and that is something we catchers take pride in — the command of the game,” added Pena. “The energy he brings is an extraordinary energy.”

Pena also highlighted his strong working relationship with the team’s veteran catchers.

“I am honored that [Jose] Molina and Jorge Posada have the confidence to come to me and talk to me and listen to the advice that I can give them,” said Pena. “It’s not easy finding a catcher who has played 10 years in the big leagues and still wants to learn.”

• Yankee hitting coach Kevin Long, on Melky Cabrera:

“He’s hitting the ball hard and seeing a lot of pitches, taking great at-bats,” Long said.

Long said he based that on both personal observation and statistics not quantified in box scores. After every game, Long evaluates each at-bat, like a hitting-coach version of Roger Ebert: thumbs up or thumbs down.

Cabrera, he said, has had 61 percent “good at-bats” this season, the highest percentage of any player on the Yankees. To Long, a good at-bat is defined as any hit, walk or hit-by-pitch, or any at-bat that consumes a lot of pitches or ends in an especially hard-hit ball.

As for those hard-hit balls, Long keeps track of those, too. He said Cabrera has hit the ball hard in 51 percent of his at-bats, also tops on the team. Fifty-one percent is an extremely high figure, he said. By Long’s calculations, a very good hitter will hit the ball on the sweet spot only about 40 percent of the time.

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Jimmy Rollins deposited the first pitch of tonight’s game between the Phillies and Yankees in the right field seats. That pretty much summed up the game right there as the Phillies snapped the Yankees’ nine-game winning streak with a 7-3 victory.

Seven home runs were hit in the game, four by the Phillies and three by the Yankees, but Philadelphia starter Brett Myers otherwise kept the Yankees off base, walking no one and allowing just five other hits. As a result, the Yankee taters—by Alex Rodriguez in the sixth and Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira in the eighth, the last reaching the suit level just under the upper deck in right field—were all solo shots. The Phils, meanwhile, added two-run jacks from Carlos Ruiz in the second and Jayson Werth in the fifth to build a 5-0 lead on A.J. Burnett, who otherwise struck out seven against just two walks in his six innings.

Chien-Ming Wang pitched the final three innings for the Yanks, but struggled to throw strikes or keep his pitches down. He started his first three batters off 2-0. The second man he faced, major league home run leader Raul Ibañez, crushed a letter-high pitch into the right-center-field bleachers, after which Wang put runners on the corners before getting Matt Stairs to ground out to strand them.

In the eighth, Wang gave up another run on singles by Pedro Feliz (on a 2-0 pitch), Jimmy Rollins, and Chase Utley (on 1-0), finally beginning to show some of his old form by getting Ibañez to ground into an inning-ending double play. Of the seven pitches Wang threw in the ninth that reached catcher Kevin Cash, six were balls (four of them walking Jayson Werth) and just one was a strike. His other three pitches that inning were put in play in the air, albeit for outs.

Wang showed good velocity, hitting 94 and even 95 on the YES gun, but he wasn’t locating or getting his pitches down in the zone. He gave the rest of the pen some much-needed rest, but he didn’t do anything that would threaten Phil Hughes’ place in the rotation for now.

After the game, Joe Girardi said Wang showed “definite progress,” noting his velocity and the few good sinkers he did throw, which makes you wonder how poor he looked in Scranton. Girardi added that Wang wouldn’t be available again until Tuesday, which is Joba Chamberlain’s next scheduled start, though Chamberlain insists his knee is already fine.

I picked the Phillies to repeat as National League champions this year because of their devastating lineup, the presence of Cole Hamels, and the weakness of their competition in the NL. Despite slow starts from Hamels and Rollins, the Phillies enter this weekend’s series against the Yankees in first place in the NL East, in large part thanks to the strength of their offense and the weakness of their competition.

The Phillies have scored 5.74 runs per game this season, tops in the majors and comfortably ahead of the second-place Yankees (5.66 R/G). They’ve done that despite the fact that Rollins was hitting just .195/.231/.268 with one stolen base on May 11. Since then, Rollins has hit .341/396/.500 and stolen four bases, and the Phillies have gone 7-3 while scoring an even six runs per game.

With Rollins having returned to form, the top two-thirds of the Phillies lineup is indeed devastating. Behind Rollins lurks Chase Utley (.295/.432/.597), Raul Ibañez (free from pitcher-friendly Safeco, he’s leading the majors in homers, total bases and slugging, and the NL in RBIs and OPS), and Ryan Howard. Behind them is my preseason breakout pick Jayson Werth, who is living up to my expectations by hitting .272/.371/.500 and leading the team with eight stolen bases in nine attempts (including a recent successful steal of home). Only then do you get to switch-hitter Shane Victorino.

Yes the bottom third is weak, it is a National League lineup after all, but playing in an American League park, as the Phils will be doing this weekend in the Bronx, they can slot in ace lefty pinch-hitter Matt Stairs (.304/.515/.609) as the designated hitter behind Victorino.

No NL team can rival that firepower, which is why the league has to be thankful that the Phillies’ pitching has been so bad in the early going. Only four teams, the Yankees among them, have allowed more runs per game than the Phillies this year, and no team has a worse starters’ ERA than the Phillies 6.31. Forty-six-year-old Jamie Moyer has had just two quality starts in eight tries; last year’s deadline pickup, Joe Blanton, has just three in eight tries and has allowed ten runs in 13 innings over his last two starts; and fifth-starter Chan Ho Park just got booted from the rotation altogether.

Fortunately for the Phils, Cole Hamels is emerging from his early season struggles. After starting the season nursing an inflamed pitching elbow, which pushed back his first start, Hamels was rocked in his first two outings (12 runs in 9 2/3 innings), then took a comebacker off his pitching shoulder in his third, and rolled over his ankle trying to field a ball in his fourth. He had to leave both of those latter games following those injuries, but over his last five starts, including those two, he has posted a 2.70 ERA and struck out 33 men in 26 2/3 innings, and he’s lasted at least six full innings in each of his last three.

With Hamels and Rollins rounding into form, it’s no surprise that the Phillies are on a hot streak. They’re 6-1 on their current road trip, which has fare more to do with how they’re playing than where. It’s not outlandish to treat this weekend’s series between the Yankees and the defending World Champions as a potential World Series preview, but it’s enough for me that they’re two of the best and hottest teams in baseball.

The Yankees will send CC Sabathia to the mound to take on fellow lefty Hamels in a rematch of Game One of last year’s NDLS on Sunday. Tomorrow they’ll face another lefty in 26-year-old J.A. Happ, Park’s replacement  in the rotation. Tonight, they’ll face the pitcher who has been keeping the Phils afloat through Hamels struggles, Brett Myers.

Myers hasn’t been pitching like a proper ace, he isn’t one, but he’s been consistently solid for the Phils, turning in a quality start in five of his last six outings. His last two have been his best, as he’s allowed just three runs in his last 13 innings and struck out eight Nationals in seven innings his last time out. Myers one bugaboo has been his major league leading 12 home runs allowed. That’s a bad weakness to have coming into the Bronx as the Yankees lead the majors in home runs (the Phillies lead the NL), and the new Yankee Stadium has been host to more home runs than any other park this year.

The Yankees counter with A.J. Burnett, who will look to push the Yankees’ winning streak into double digits. Burnett held the Twins to two runs in 6 2/3 innings his last time out while striking out seven, but he also walked six men. The Yankees have won just two of Burnett’s last four starts over which he’s posted a 4.61 ERA and walked 4.28 per nine innings. Those are his four starts since giving up eight runs in Fenway. Burnett is giving the Yankees length, but he’s thus far looked like little more than the league-average innings eater he was when not facing the Yankees last year, which means it will be up to the Yankee offense to take advantage of Myers’ gopheritis tonight.

In other news, Brian Bruney’s elbow is hurting. He was unavailable last night and is unavailable again today. Given the hit the bullpen took last night after Joba Chamberlain’s first inning exit, the team has decided to activate Chien-Ming Wang to reinforce the pen. Jonathan Albaladejo, who gave up four runs in 2 1/3 innings last night, has been optioned to Scranton to make room for Wang.

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Today’s news is powered by . . . The Gas Face . . .:

• Hughes (in)corporation:

For now, Hughes is scheduled to pitch Monday at Texas. But if he is back in the minors instead, he will take lessons with him.

“Just be aggressive,” Hughes said. “Sometimes, because of the stage you’re on, you try to do too much or you’re afraid to make a mistake. That’s not the way I pitch. That’s not my plan going in. Really, there’s no difference at this level. You’ve still got to go off your strengths.”

For Hughes on Wednesday, that was a lively 94-mile-an-hour fastball he used to strike out Adam Jones and Nick Markakis in the first inning. Seven of his strikeouts came against those two hitters — both batting well over .300— or Aubrey Huff.

“He can be successful at this level with the stuff that he’s got,” Girardi said. “It’s attacking the strike zone and wiggling your way out of some innings like other pitchers are able to do.”

• Scenes from a looser clubhouse:

Togetherness was what Girardi made a point of in spring training when he arranged that surprise “Day at the Pool Parlor.” Say this for Girardi, he recognized what guys like Damon are only now willing to talk openly about: The Yankee clubhouse was a joyless place in the latter years of the Joe Torre regime. Part of it was the personnel – how could anyone find any fun being around Kevin Brown? – but a big part of it was the generation gap that existed between Torre and his players. Aside from his small coterie of veterans from the championship years, Torre kept his distance from his players and when each new high profile free agent came over from another organization, like Jason Giambi, Hideki Matsui or Damon, they were never able to blend in with the championship core as it gradually diminished. It was apparently the consummate “25 players, 25 taxi cabs” team.

“Rarely in the last three years I’ve been here would there be four-five guys hanging out playing video games in the hotel room,” Brian Bruney said. “Now, guys are having fun and they want to hang out together. The shaving cream, the music, people need to realize you can do those things and still win. You can’t win with just All-Stars all around. We’ve done that the past three years and we haven’t done anything.”

“The rules here are much more family oriented now,” said Damon,”and that’s why you have free agents wanting to come to New York instead of a low-key place.”

Funny, I thought it was the money. But there is no question that CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, for all the moolah it took to get them to come here, have had a major influence in changing both the personality of the team and the atmosphere in the clubhouse. Same with Nick Swisher, who was grateful to escape Ozzie Guillen’s dog house in Chicago and get traded to the Yankees.

• Tyler Kepner doesn’t know what to make of Melky Cabrera:

I’ll admit it: I’ve seen his whole career and I don’t know what to make of Melky Cabrera. I see him on a roll like this, and I think he’s a legitimate major league outfielder. He homered on Wednesday and went 2 for 4, raising his average to .321 and helping the Yankees to their eighth victory in a row, 11-4 over Baltimore. And he’s a reliable defender.

But it’s weird. Do you know he’s gone 43 plate appearances since his last walk? That’s kind of startling, since he’s hitting in front of the third- or fourth-string catcher. But what does it really matter? The Yankees are winning and his on-base percentage is .374.

History says this won’t last. Remember, Cabrera was hot at the start of last season, too. Through the games of last May 4, Cabrera was batting .291 with six homers. . . .

“He’s a different player is the way I see it,” Manager Joe Girardi said. “He’s consistent from both sides of the plate, he’s having good at-bats all the time, he’s not trying to do too much, he’s hitting a lot of line drives, some of his line drives have gone out of the ballpark. He’s been aggressive. We’re very pleased with what we’re getting from him.”

• Wang to make one more start in minors:

Wang has thrown 13 scoreless innings over his previous two starts in the Minors, though the Yankees have been looking to see more consistency from his sinker. He showed flashes of regaining that command in a bullpen session on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium.

“We want to see what we saw in the bullpen,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “We want to see him take that into the game. That will tell us a lot.”. . .

“We all know that he wants to be here, and we want him to,” Girardi said. “But he understood where we’re coming from. We want to see that stuff he had in the bullpen in the game.”

[My take: Will Chamberlain taking a liner off his knee last night change the plan for CMW?]

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The Yanks got a scare last night when an Adam Jones line drive caught Joba Chamberlain on the outside of his right knee in the top of the first inning. Chamberlain picked up the ball and retired Jones at first base for the second out of the game, but was in obvious pain. He initially convinced his manager and trainer to leave him in the game, but after giving up singles to the next two batters and hobbling a bit on his way to back up third base after the latter, he was pulled.

Fortunately, X-rays on the knee were negative. Chamberlain was diagnosed with nothing more than a bruise and, while Joe Girardi labeled him day-to-day, Joba is confident that he’ll be able to make his next start on Tuesday.

Alfredo Aceves relieved Chamberlain, stranding both runners in the first. The Yankees then jumped all over Adam Eaton, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first on doubles by Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano (hitting second in place of an achy Johnny Damon), Mark Teixeira, and Melky Cabrera (who was then caught between second and third for the final out of the inning). After Aceves worked a scoreless second, the Yanks added two more on a two-run homer by Cano.

Aceves, who had pitched two scoreless innings on Wednesday night, pitched two more scoreless frames before yielding to Jonathan Albaladejo. Albaladejo gave up a solo homer to Brian Roberts on his very first pitch in the fifth inning, but Hideki Matsui got that run right back with a solo homer off Eaton in the bottom of the inning.

That made it 7-1 Yankees after five. The Orioles chipped away a bit, putting up two more runs on Albaladejo in the sixth and driving him from the game with a Nick Markakis solo homer in the seventh, but Jose Veras pitched out of a two-out jam of his own making in the eighth, and Mariano Rivera sealed the deal in the ninth, giving the Yankees a 7-4 win and extending their winning streak to nine games. Alfredo Aceves, who extended his scoreless streak to 9 1/3 innings, picked up his third, and most deserved, win of the current winning streak. Meanwhile, the Red Sox completed a sweep of the Blue Jays, putting the Yankees just 1.5 games out in the AL East with what is now the fourth-best record in the league.

As for Damon, he tweaked his neck leaping for Adam Jones’ homer on Wednesday night but isn’t expected to miss more than last night’s game. Meanwhile, Girardi did the right thing by pulling Joba last night. Even if all he had was a bruise, had Chamberlain altered his delivery to compensate for the pain in his knee, even unconsciously, he could have caused a more serious injury to his arm. As it was, the Yankees won the game anyway, and should now have a fully healthy Joba ready to take his next turn. Special bonus: the early exit saved him six innings or so toward his allotted regular season total.

Finally, the Yankees announced before the game that Chien-Ming Wang will start for Scranton today and Phil Hughes will make his next scheduled start in the majors on Monday. Said Girardi of Wang, “We just want him to have the stuff [in a game] that he had in the bullpen.” Remember, when Wang was struggling in early April, he would look good in the pen, then have nothing on the mound. Given Hughes’ continued improvement, this is very much the right decision, as well.

This week’s briefing begins with a note from WFAN’s Richard Neer. As I drove home from the golf course Sunday, Neer was entertaining a call from a Mets fan, who in typical Mets fan form – actually, he was calm – ranted about Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran and how the Mets’ core players don’t play smart, and they don’t play hard.

Neer poo-pooed the call, saying – and I paraphrase – that Mets fans are looking for things to get upset about while the team is in first place. Mets fans can’t exist unless there’s something to kvetch about. Well, those calls are even more heated now, since the team from Queens changed its logo from “METS” to “BEARS,” and replaced their names with the “Chico’s Bail Bonds” sponsorship patch.

It got me thinking, though, about the legitimacy of the recent Mariano Rivera arguments that have pervaded local and national Yankee telecasts. Are fans and media alike looking for a negative amidst the best positive streak the Yankees have had this season? Or is it valid that due to his age, Rivera 1) should not pitch more than one inning when called upon, and 2) should not pitch on consecutive days?

My answer to both questions is no. I’m actually surprised the Rivera argument is the focus, when he remains the most consistent pitcher on the Yankees’ staff. From a relief pitching standpoint, who is more reliable? Who has been able to consistently throw Strike One? Phil Coke has, sometimes. So has Alfredo Aceves. Jose Veras? Edwar “Leave off the ‘d’ for ‘Don’t you know I’m throwing a changeup with two strikes’ Ramirez? Brett “I gave up Mark McGwire’s 62nd home run in ’98 and now I’m a Yankee” Tomko? Not so much.

Yes, Joe Girardi has to be mindful of Rivera’s age and use him wisely. Take Monday night, for example. Rivera had logged three innings and thrown 44 pitches over the previous two games. He had not pitched three consecutive days all season and was given the night off. A wise move by Girardi, and with a big lead, his decision seemed validated. That was, of course, until the ninth inning, when the ESPN team of Chris Berman and Orel Hershiser strained as Coke struggled to a “save” to complete the series sweep of the Twins. Intermittently, ESPN cameras cut away to Rivera sitting in the bullpen with his jacket on, looking like he wanted to warm up and get in there if necessary. Poor Phil Coke. At least he didn’t have to endure Berman’s incessant references to “Coke Classic,” “New Coke,” and anything other beverage jokes he could come up with. And he did secure the victory, much to the chagrin of the headline writers of the Post and Daily News, who were probably salivating at the chance of plastering “PHIL CHOKE” on the back page.

Wednesday night, Michael Kay lamented Rivera’s eighth-inning entrance both during the game and in the post-game analysis. Kay’s main beef was that someone else should have pitched the ninth inning, especially after the Yankees blew the game open with six runs in the bottom of the eighth. Rivera threw four pitches in the eighth and needed 10 to get three outs in the ninth. He also yielded his fifth home run of the season.

Kay used those last two points to validate his argument, which upon reading over again, still seems weak, and here’s why: Recent history has shown that the guys who were available – Veras, Ramirez, Tomko, and Jonathan Albaladejo – could not be counted on to get three outs and hold an eight-run lead. Kim Jones didn’t ask why Rivera pitched the ninth on Wednesday, and if it was asked later on, Girardi’s answers will be column fodder for Thursday’s rags.

My opinion: Girardi made the right move. As I’ve written in this space before, and reviewed many times when Steven Goldman’s columns passed my edits, sometimes a save occurs in the eighth inning. This game against the Orioles was one of those times. Leaving him in to pitch the ninth: why not? Isn’t that partly why he’s getting paid upwards of $15 million? What about the possibility that Rivera asked to pitch the ninth? Having been his former catcher, isn’t it possible that Girardi believes that Rivera knows his body better than anyone and that maybe he left the decision to the future Hall of Famer?

Looking at Rivera’s profile, his 2009 workload is being carefully planned, primarily based on pitch count. Wednesday was only the third time all season River was asked to get more than three outs in an appearance – it just so happened that it was the second time in his last three games. And he was pitching on two days’ rest, so he was fresh. Rivera averaged 30 pitches in the two four-out or more appearances. He threw just 14 on Wednesday.

If you were the Yankees manager, how would you handle Rivera? I would likely do the same thing Girardi’s doing. Oh, and under no circumstances, ever, would I have Tomko warming when I need to get one batter out in the ninth inning.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“When the misses are in the same spots (up and in to lefties and up and away to righties) and no adjustments are made, you have to wonder if anything’s going on between the ears.”
— Orel Hershiser, during Phil Coke’s ninth-inning struggles Monday

Until next week …

Hi there gang!  I’m back, and thus … today’s news is powered by the return of someone a bit more (in)famous:

• Cervelli with a smile:

With veteran backstops Jorge Posada and Jose Molina both on the disabled list, the Yankees wanted to see (Frankie) Cervelli save runs behind the plate with his strong throwing arm. Whatever else he could provide would be wonderful, but not necessary.

The 23-year-old may be exceeding all expectations. He raised his average to .370 entering Wednesday’s play and his voice has become a trusted one on the bench. It’s becoming a reliable recipe: Cervelli calls the pitches he wants, and the Yankees’ starters succeed.

“I feel very lucky right now to be the everyday catcher with these guys,” Cervelli said. “They give me confidence and let me do the same things I was doing in the Minor Leagues. When I feel something and I want to call one pitch, they let me do that. That’s exciting for me.”. . .

“I like what I see just when you talk to him,” (Andy) Pettitte said. “The look in his eyes is very confident. If he’s confident in what he’s doing, no matter how much experience I have out there or any of these other guys, it helps you. It’s what you want to do. I’ll ask his advice. He’s really paying a lot of attention and doing a great job, that’s for sure.”

Yankees manager Joe Girardi, a former big league backstop himself, has raved about Cervelli’s abilities.

“This young man can catch, throw and block and do a lot of things, and offensively he’s been a big contributor for us,” Girardi said. “He’s played very, very well.”

• Head like a dome:

The whipped cream pie to the face is not the only current fad among the Yankees. The shaved head is also becoming popular, particularly in the bullpen. The most recently shorn dome belongs to Phil Coke.

He showed up bald and proud of it on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. “I’ve shaved my head before, it’s not a big deal,” Coke said. “But nobody around here has seen me with a shaved head. It’s just hair. It grows back. It’s fun, man. We’re having a good time.” . . .

Until Tuesday, Coke had sandy blond hair of moderate length and full sideburns. His locker is next Brian Bruney’s, another reliever with a recently shaved head. The computer monitor in Bruney’s locker shows a skull and crossbones. . . .

When Reggie Jackson, the Hall of Fame slugger, strolled over, Coke hugged him and took off his cap to show his head. Jackson, wearing a beret, kept it on his clean scalp.

“So far, it’s me, Veras, Bruney and Alfredo Aceves,” Coke said of the bullpen baldies. Coke said Jonathan Albaladejo “is thinking about it; he’s on the fence now. He’s not sure.”

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Phil Hughes announced his presence with authority last night, working a 1-2-3 first inning that concluded with strikeouts of Adam Jones and Nick Markakis, both swinging through fastballs. He then stranded two runners in the second and got out of a runners-on-the-corners, no-out jam in the third by striking out Jones and Markakis again, the latter in conjunction with Kevin Cash throwing out Brian Roberts stealing.

Meanwhile, the Yankees built a 5-0 lead against Jeremy Guthrie on a Johnny Damon walk and a Mark Teixeira double in the first, consecutive solo homers by Nick Swisher (his first at the new stadium), Robinson Cano, and Melky Cabrera leading off the second, and a pair of walks and an RBI single by Cano in the third.

Hughes gave two of those runs back in the fourth on a Melvin Mora single and a Ty Wigginton homer and another in the fifth on a solo shot by Jones, but while he didn’t cure his recent gopheritis, he did set a career high with nine strikeouts—eight of them swinging, most of them on fastballs, but three on curveballs—while walking just one.

Hughes threw 89 pitches through five innings and Joe Girardi decided to hand the 5-3 lead to Alfrede Aceves at that point. Ace pitched around a pair of singles for two scoreless frames and Phil Coke and Mariano Rivera combined for a scoreless eighth. Then the Yankees dropped a six-spot on Danys Baez and Jamie Walker, blowing the game open late just as they had the night before. Since he was warm and had thrown just three pitches in the eighth, Girardi left Rivera in to mop up in the ninth, which he did, but not before giving up a solo homer to dead center by rookie Nolan Reimold. Final score: 11-4 Yankees.

That’s eight straight wins by the Yanks, who are now just 2.5 games behind the Blue Jays (who lost another to the Red Sox) in the East.
Girardi said the team would likely make a decision on Wang (and thus Hughes) tomorrow, but the skipper was pleased with the progess Hughes has made in his last two starts, which at least bodes well for Hughes chances at a return engagement should he find himself starting for Scranton in five days.

Your turn, Joba . . .

I called in to “New York Baseball Today” this afternoon to talk about what should become of Phil Hughes upon Chien-Ming Wang’s return to the rotation, which could happen by Monday . . .

As I say at the top there, today’s start is very important for Hughes. Since dominating the Tigers in his first major league start this season (6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K), he’s gone 0-2 with an 11.81 ERA and in his last three. The narrative there is that Hughes, particularly in the opinion of his manager, was squeezed horribly by home plate umpire Jerry Meals in his second start (4 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 94 pitches against Boston), was unable to escape a second-inning jam in his third start (1 2/3 IP, 8 R, 0 K in Baltimore), but proved he could work out of jams in his fourth start (5 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 2 K in a no-decision against the Twins). If Hughes can atone for that one truly awful start in his rematch against the Orioles tonight and build on his ability to work out of jams (or avoid them altogether), he’ll have gone a long way toward affirming his once-again strong standing in the eyes of the organization, regardless of the outcome of the game.

Hughes would also do well to invert his K/BB ratio from those last three games (4:10), and to keep the oposition in the park after allowing four homers in those three starts. Though I do like the idea of putting Hughes in the bullpen for the short term as a possible shadow for Wang, should the returning groundballer continue to struggle, as an occasional spot-starter for Joba Chamberlain, and simply to increase his exposure to major league hitting (and umpiring), Hughes would have to earn such a move by showing progress tonight. Otherwise, the seemingly inevitable option back to Triple-A will be as appropriate as it is obvoius.

Hughes also has the pressure of keeping the Yankees’ seven-game winning streak alive. I was watching something on Game 6 of the 1986 World Series recently (perhaps the MLB Network’s “Seasons” show on 1986). The show told of how every hitter that got to first base in the bottom of the tenth inning of that game told first-base coach Bill Robinson, “I wasn’t going to be the guy to make the last out of the World Series.” I feel as though the Yankee starters are doing something similar, each taking the mound thinking “I’m not going to be the guy who stops this winning-streak.”

Hughes will throw to Kevin Cash for the second straight start. Opposing starter Jeremy Guthrie has twice allowed three runs in six innings to the Yankees this year, doing so in a winning effort on Opening Day and a losing effort in Alex Rodriguez’s first game back from the DL, both starts coming against CC Sabathia.

The Yankees and Orioles split their first six head-to-head games this season, all of which were played in Baltimore, but the three Yankee losses were all directly attributable to poor starting pitching performances: CC Sabathia on Opening Day (4 1/3 IP, 6 R), Chien-Ming Wang the next day (3 2/3 IP, 7 R), and Phil Hughes two Saturdays ago (1 2/3 IP, 8 R). The Orioles scored just five runs against the Yankees in the other three games, while the Yankees have scored at least four runs in all six games and are averaging 5.83 R/G on the series.

That’s been par for the course for the O’s this year, as only the Nationals have allowed more runs per game than the O’s 5.92. That’s hardly come as a surprise. The first sentence of my season preview for the O’s back on April 6 attacked the quality of their starting rotation. Now, just shy of the quarterpole, the O’s starting rotation sports a 5.76 ERA, better than only that of the Phillies, who come to town on Friday.

The O’s are optimistic about the return of lefty Rich Hill from the disabled list, and his first start gave them reason to be, but the Yankees won’t see him this week. Nor will they face early-season staff ace Koji Uehara, who has held the Yanks to two runs over 11 innings thus far this season and sports a 4.34 ERA that’s nearly a run better than that of the O’s next best starter. Instead they’ll kick things off tonight against 23-year-old rookie Brad Bergesen, who has lasted six full innings just twice in five starts (and never more than six full) and has allowed at least three runs every time out, though he’s also not done worse than the five runs in four innings he allowed in his second major league start.

Bergesen and tomorrow’s starter, Jeremy Guthrie, who has two nearly identical quality starts against the Yankees this year, have been middling thus far, sporting .500 records and ERAs in the low 5.00s. Thursday’s starter, Adam Eaton, has been awful (2-4, 7.93 ERA). Things don’t look much better in the pen, though Danys Baez has made a nice return from Tommy John surgery and George Sherrill continues to cling to his closer job despite Dave Trembley announcing that the role would be shared.

At the plate, the O’s have lost one of their hottest hitters, DH/left fielder Luke Scott (.303/.384/.515) to the DL, and have been without their hottest, center fielder Adam Jones (.370/.426/.669), since Wednesday due to a tender hamstring.

Jones is expected to return to the lineup tonight, which is bad news for the Yankees, though CC Sabathia could help get him back off on the wrong foot. Sabathia avenged his Opening Day loss with a four-hit shutout of the O’s two turns ago. He then held the league-best Toronto offense to two runs over eight innings his last time out. After struggling with his control in three of his first four starts, Sabathia has walked just six men in his four (1.17 BB/9) and seems to have over come his one-bad-inning syndrome in his last two strong performances.

It’s easy to say that players like Sabathia and Mark Teixeira are starting to click with the Yankees riding a six-game winning streak, but those performances are part of why the Yankees are on a six-game winning streak to begin with. Tonight, CC looks to make it seven. I like his chances.

Hideki Matsui returns to the lineup today as the DH batting fifth, and Brian Bruney is supposed to be activated before game time. No word yet on which reliever is getting shipped out to make room for him, though I suspect Edwar Ramirez, who unlike Jose Veras has options left, could be on his way to Scranton.

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It weren’t pretty, but the Yanks took a broom to the Twins last night, capping off their thrilling “Walkoff Weekend” (TM) with a 7-6 win to complete a four-game sweep of Minnesota and extend their winning streak to six games.

Unlike the previous three games, most of the action in last night’s contest took place in the first inning. The Twins pushed across a pair of first-inning runs against Andy Pettitte, with Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau each delivering an RBI single, the second enabled by Melky Cabrera missing the cutoff man on the first allowing Mauer to go to second.

Unfazed, the Yanks scored four against lefty Glen Perkins before making their first out as Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon singled then Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez each homered to left field. After Nick Swisher flied out to the warning track, a shot that looked like a third-straight homer off the bat, Robinson Cano sliced a ground-rule double into the stands along-side left field and Melky Cabrera singled him home. After a passed ball and a Ramiro Peña fly out, Francisco Cervelli hit a chopper up the middle that somehow missed Perkins’ glove, then hit the side of second base, avoiding both diving middle infielder. On the YES broadcast, Ken Singleton remarked that, “if there ever was a seeing-eye base hit, that was it.” Cervelli’s hit plated Cabrera with the sixth Yankee run and drove Perkins from the game with just two outs in the first.

Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey held things down from there with 4 1/3 scoreless innings, while the Twins tried to chip away. Michael Cuddyer led off the fourth with a solo homer to make it 6-3. Carlos Gomez singled, stole second, and scored on a Denard Span single in the sixth to make it 6-4. Span later hit a solo homer off Edwar Ramirez in the eighth, but that came after Teixeira added a solo shot of his own in the bottom of the seventh, this one from the left side of the plate, the second time he’s switch-hit homers in a game this season.

That extra run proved to be the winning margin. With Mariano Rivera having thrown 44 pitches over three innings the previous two days, Joe Girardi gave his closer the night off. Lefty Phil Coke, who relieved Ramirez and struck out Morneau for the last out of the eighth, was given the ninth in Rivera’s place. It wasn’t pretty. Coke’s first two pitches to leadoff man Joe Crede, who entered the game with a .296 on-base percentage, were balls. He recovered to go 2-2, but Crede fouled off four full-count offerings and ultimately drew a ten-pitch walk. Matt Tolbert then ran for Crede and moved to second on a wild pitch, to third on a groundout that required Teixeira to range far to his right, and home on another groundout. With two outs, Carlos Gomez, who entered the game with a .286 on-base percentage, nearly replicated Crede’s at-bat, getting ahead 2-0, then even at 2-2 and ultimately working a seven-pitch walk. Mike Redmond seemed to be doing the same thing (2-0, then 3-1, then a pair of full-count fouls), but mercifully grounded to Cano for the final out of the game. Coke’s performance made the news of Brian Bruney’s impending activation (expected tonight) all the more welcome, though to the always forthcoming Coke’s credit, he humorously confessed to having been unnerved by the situation.

As for Teixeira, he was hitting .182/.354/.338  with three home runs and 10 RBIs on May 3, but has hit .351/.397/.789 with seven home runs and 18 RBIs in his last 14 games. Though his average will take a while to rebound (he’s still at just .239), he’s on pace for 45 homers and 127 RBIs, even with that slow start factored in. On-pace numbers can be very misleading, and Teixeira’s current single-season best for home runs is “just” 43, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Tex comes very close to those numbers come late September. Teixeira’s career month-by-month splits show steady improvement with each flip of the calendar, and his defense was an important part of the Yankees’ sweep of the Twins. He’s going to be a lot of fun to watch the rest of the way as, by extension, are the Yankees.

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Here’s what a five-game winning streak will do for you. All of a sudden, the Yankees are just a game and a half behind the Red Sox and have the fifth-best record in the American League, a half-game behind fourth-best Detroit. They’re 7-3 over their last ten games, which is second in the AL to only the Rangers (8-2) over that stretch, and have won their last three series.

As for how this winning streak has come about, obviously the walk-off magic of the last three games has been the key feature, but the Yankees were only in position to make those comebacks because of how well they’ve been pitching, and how well they’ve been playing in the field (think Mark Teixeira’s game-saving dive and throw to home in yesterday’s game). Over the last five games, which is once through the starting rotation, the Yankees have allowed just 14 runs, or 2.8 per game. The only Yankee starter to last fewer than six innings or allow more than two runs in that span was Phil Hughes, who gave up three runs in five innings on Friday night. Collectively, the starters’ ERA has been 2.84.

The bullpen, meanwhile, has been even better. In 16 1/3 innings over the last five games, the pen has allowed just three runs for a 1.65 ERA. All three of those runs were charged to Phil Coke, and two of them came on solo home runs by Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau. The only time a reliever has replaced a starter mid-inning during this streak came yesterday, when Jonathan Albaladejo replaced A.J. Burnett with the bases loaded and two outs and struck out Jason Kubel to strand all three runners. The Yankees also haven’t made an error since the first game of this streak.

Andy Pettitte got things kicked off with six innings of two run (one earned) ball in Toronto on Thursday. Now, the streak has wrapped back around is asking him to keep it going as well as to complete a sweep of the Twins, who have to be going slightly batty after losing three straight on Yankee walk-offs.

Alex Rodriguez gets a half-day off at DH today as Ramiro Peña fills in at third and Hideki Matsui rides pine against lefty Glen Perkins. The switch-hitting Peña has had just three plate appearances against lefties this season (one walk, two Ks), so it’s nice to see him getting some exposure from the right-side, though it again begs the question, “why is Angel Berroa still taking up a roster spot.”

As for Perkins, his first three starts of the season were excellent (8 IP each, 4 runs total), but since then he’s posted a 7.25 ERA, going five or six innings and allowing four or five runs in each of his last four outings, three of them Twins losses.

Last night’s contest between the Twins and Yankees felt like a loss for the home nine for most of it’s three hours and 37 minutes. Phil Hughes kept his team in the game by working out of jams in the second and fourth innings, but he used up a lot of pitches in doing so. The Twins took an early lead when Justin Morneau led off the second inning by golfing a curveball that dove well below his knees into the box seats in right. They got another run in the fourth on a sac fly, though that was all they got out of a bases-loaded, one-out situation. Morneau then went deep again in the fifth, on a cutter up in the zone that didn’t cut, to give the Twins a 3-0 lead.

Meanwhile, home plate umpire Wally Bell’s strikezone was ridiculous. He called Johnny Damon out on a pitch that traced the front line of the right-handed batters box in the first inning, then called him out on a pitch that traced the front line of the left-handed batters box in the third. That was too much for Damon to handle. After the second called third strike, Damon wheeled around and told Bell that was twice he had done that to him, holding up two fingers for emphasis. He then pointed to the location of the two pitches with his bat, immediately earning an ejection. As soon as Damon began to gesture with his bat, Joe Girardi sprinted to the plate to try to protect his hottest hitter, but he got there too late. As it turned out, what seemed like a bad break for the Yankees turned out to be one of their keys to victory.

The Yankees got on the board with a Derek Jeter solo homer in the bottom of the fifth, but Hughes had thrown 93 pitches over five innings, and Joe Girardi decided he’d rather take his chances in trying to get four innings out of his bullpen than to run Hughes back out there again. Jonathan Albaladejo pitched a scoreless sixth, but Joe Mauer greeted Phil Coke in the seventh with a lead-off homer into Monument Park. That made it 4-1 Twins with Joe Nathan lurking just a couple of innings away.

Francisco Liriano wasn’t sharp in his six innings of work, but he was effective. He walked six Yankees, but only gave up four hits and stranded two men in the second, three in the third, and two in the sixth. Jesse Crain relieved Liriano and got two quick outs to start the second, then Brett Gardner, who had replaced Damon after the latter’s ejection, came to the plate and shot a would-be double down the left field line. I say would be because in the fourth inning, Nick Swisher hit a ball to the exact same place, down the left field line toward where the stands turn to run parallel withe foul line. On Swisher’s hit, left fielder Denard Span hustled over, scooped up the ball with his back to the infield, and fired a strike to nail Swisher at second base. This time, Span looked ready to try the same trick, but rather than ricocheting off the wall, the ball took a sideways bounce off the grass and rolled past him toward the outfield wall. As soon as the ball got past Span it was clear Gardner had a triple, but third-base coach Rob Thomson kept his windmill going and Gardner came all the way around for an inside-the-park home run, flopping head-first onto the plate easily ahead of Span’s throw.

As exciting as Gardner’s inside-the-parker was, however, it only counted for one run, and the Yankees proceeded to load the bases and strand all three runners after it, then strand another man in the eight. So it was 4-2 Twins heading into the ninth with Joe Nathan coming in to shut the door. The one ray of hope for the Yanks was that they had the heart of the order due up and Nathan was pitching for the fourth night in a row.

Gardner, in Damon’s spot, led off by taking four pitches to run the count even at 2-2. He then fouled off a fifth. Took ball three to run the count full, then laced the seventh pitch of the at-bat deep into the right-center-field gap. Carlos Gomez botched the carom briefly and though Gardner slipped on first base, he was still able to scramble to his feet and pull into third with an easy triple. Mark Teixeira followed by grounding a single just to the center field side of second baseman Matt Tolbert, who playing Teixeira to pull. That plated Gardner to make the score 4-3 and brought Alex Rodriguez to the plate as the winning run. Nathan threw six balls to Rodriguez, who took all six though Bell called two of them, pitches which again traced the front line of the right-handed batters box, strikes. That put the winning run on base for Hideki Matsui. Matsui battled Nathan for six pitches, but ultimately struck out swinging on a full-count slider inside that bounced in front of the plate. Nick Swisher followed with what looked like a game-tying single to right, but Justin Morneau was playing far enough off the bag to make what seemed like a game-saving play, backhanding the ball and flipping to Nathan for the second out.

The runners moved up on Swisher’s out and with two out and the winning run in scoring position, Girardi sent Ramiro Peña in to run for Rodriguez. With first base open, Ron Gardenhire had Nathan walk Robinson Cano to load the bases and bring up Melky Cabrera. Nathan threw one pitch to Cabrera, a fastball right down the middle, and Cabrera served it into the gap in left-center for a single that plated Teixeira and Peña and gave the Yankees both the win and their only lead of the game.

Jose Veras got the win for retiring one batter in the ninth, though Edwar Ramirez pitched a scoreless inning and a third before him, but the win had many authors, not the least of which was Gardner, who didn’t start the game, but went 3-for-3 with eight total bases and two runs scored. You know things are going well when your best hitter gets ejected and the guy who comes in off the bench to replace him winds up as the star of the game. The Yankees have now won three straight and have pulled within 2.5 games of the Red Sox, who lost to the Mariners last night. Joba Chamberlain pitches today hoping to help the Yanks match their season-long win streak of four games.

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Minnesota Twins

2009 Record: 18-17 (.514)
2009 Pythagorean Record: 16-19 (.457)

2008 Record: 88-75 (.540)
2008 Pythagorean Record: 89-74 (.546)

Manager: Ron Gardenhire
General Manager: Bill Smith

Home Ballpark (multi-year Park Factors): Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (93/93)

Who’s Replaced Whom:

25-man Roster:

1B – Justin Morneau (L)
2B – Matt Tolbert (S)
SS – Nick Punto (S)
3B – Joe Crede (R)
L – Joe Mauer (L)
RF – Michael Cuddyer (R)
CF – Carlos Gomez (R)
LF – Denard Span (L)
DH – Jason Kubel (L)

Bench:

R – Mike Redmond (C)
L – Brian Buscher (3B)
R – Brendan Harris (IF)
S – Jose Morales (C)

Rotation:

L – Francisco Liriano
R – Nick Blackburn
R – Kevin Slowey
L – Glen Perkins
R – Scott Baker

Bullpen:

R – Joe Nathan
R – Jesse Crain
R – Matt Guerrier
L – Craig Breslow
R – Luis Ayala
R – R.A. Dickey
L – Jose Mijares

Family Leave List: OF – Delmon Young (R)

15-day DL: RHP – Boof Bonser (labrum and rotator cuff surgery)

60-day DL: RHP – Pat Neshek (TJ)

Typical Lineup:

L – Denard Span (LF)
S – Matt Tolbert (2B)
L – Joe Mauer (C)
L – Justin Morneau (1B)
L – Jason Kubel (DH)
R – Joe Crede (3B)
R – Michael Cuddyer (RF)
R – Carlos Gomez (CF)
S – Nick Punto (SS)

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Francisco Cervelli, who was struggling to maintain sea level against Double-A pitching, has looked competent as a major league hitter, but it is his catching skills that draw the majority of my praise. After watching Cervelli catch two games against the Orioles last weekend, I came away thoroughly convinced that he’s a keeper. From a defensive standpoint, Cervelli does everything you want a catcher to do. He squarely sets his target, and as he receives the pitch, he frames the ball skillfully, holding his glove in place in order to give the home plate umpire a longer look. (In contrast, some Yankee fans might remember the way that Matt Nokes jerked his glove back toward home plate, which is just about the worst way to frame pitches.) Cervelli moves smoothly and quickly behind the plate, allowing him to backhand wide pitches and block those thrown in the dirt. On stolen base attempts, Cervelli comes out of his squat quickly and follows through with strong and accurate throws to second base.

On the offensive side, Cervelli will probably never hit with much power, but he is patient at the plate and willing to take pitches to the opposite field. If Cervelli can mature enough offensively to become a .consistent 270 hitter who continues to draws walks, he will become a very good backup catcher. That might sound like an example of damning with faint praise, but solid No. 2 receivers have become like gold in today’s game. There are only a handful of standout backup catchers in either league: Chris Coste in Philadelphia, Henry Blanco in San Diego, Kelly Shoppach in Cleveland, and Mike Redmond in Minnesota. Cervelli has a chance to become the Yankees’ best backup catcher since a fellow named Joe Girardi, who last played a game in pinstripes in 1999. Yes, it’s been that long…

As uneven as the Yankees’ play has been through six weeks, they haven’t experienced the same kind of schizophrenia displayed by their Triple-A affiliate, the Scranton Yankees. The Scrantonians began the International League season by winning 23 of first 28 games, and they did so by clubbing the opposition with a powerhouse offense. Then came Scranton’s recent four-game stretch. Through Wednesday night, Scranton’s offense had failed to score a run in 44 consecutive innings—a simply remarkable run of futility. The Triple-A Yankees have suffered four consecutive shutouts, in addition to six scoreless innings left over during a previous loss last Saturday. Suddenly, Scranton’s record is a more earthly 23-10.

So what happened? As with the major league Yankees, injuries have hit Dave Miley’s team hard. Second baseman Kevin Russo and outfielders Shelley “Slam” Duncan and John Rodriguez, representing a third of Scranton’s starting nine, are all hurt. And the healthy players are slumping, none worse than third baseman and former No. 1 pick Eric Duncan. Duncan was wallowing in an oh-for-33 hammerlock before finally breaking out with a double on Wednesday. The slump, which dropped Duncan’s average from .309 to .206, probably cost Duncan what little chance he had of a promotion to the Bronx.

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In his previous start, Blue Jays’ starter Scott Richmond gave up five runs in the second inning in Oakland, but stayed in the game and pitched six subsequent scoreless innings. Wednesday night, Richmond gave up five runs in the second inning again, but didn’t survive that inning.

The Jays got an early unearned run against Andy Pettitte in the first inning of last night’s game, but that lead didn’t last long. The first three Yankee batters in the second—Melky Cabrera, Brett Gardner, and Ramiro Peña, the last two starting in place of Hideki Matsui (hamstring) and Derek Jeter (oblique)—doubled, homered, and tripled. After a Francisco Cervelli groundout, Johnny Damon tripled, driving in Peña. After a Nick Swisher groundout later, Mark Teixeira doubled, driving in Damon. Richmond then walked Alex Rodriguez on five pitches and battled Robinson Cano for ten more before Cano singled in Teixeira with the fifth run and drove Richmond from the game. The Yankees batted around in the inning, connected for five extra-base hits worth a total of 14 bases, and spent a half an hour at the plate.

That was all the Yankees needed, though they tacked on a run in the fourth (Damon double, Swisher groundout, Teixeira sac fly) off reliever Brian Wolfe and two in the fifth off lefty Bill Murphy (Cano double, Gardner triple, Cervelli RBI infield single). Altogether the fifth-through-eighth men in the Yankee order (Cano, Cabrera, Gardner, and Peña) went 6-for-17 with a walk, five runs scored, four RBIs, and 15 total bases (two doubles, two triples, and a homer). The home run was Brett Gardner’s first in the major leagues, a 330-foot wall scraper that tucked just inside the right-field foul pole. With that homer, a triple, and a walk, Gardner was the hitting star of the game, going 2-for-3 with three RBIs, two runs scored, and seven total bases.

Pettitte gave up a second run in the fourth on two singles, one of which didn’t leave the infield, and a walk. Pettitte wasn’t especially sharp; he walked four men and used up 106 pitches in six innings, but he didn’t need to be and kept the Jays’ league-best offense at bay. Alfredo Aceves pitched around a Vernon Wells double for two innings of scoreless relief, and Jonathan Albaladejo pitched into and out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth to secure the 8-2 win, smacking himself upside the head after inducing a game-ending double play for walking two men with a six-run lead.

Tomorrow night, the Yankees send CC Sabathia to the mound looking for the series win against the Jays and their second straight series win of their current road trip.

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