Nice story on Phil Coke’s less than glamorous rise to the top by Jonah Keri over at Grantland.

[Photo Via: A Continuous Lean]

Sabathia and Pavano both pitched, but not against each other. Sabathia faced his No. 2 two years ago, Fausto Carmona, on Saturday, while Pavano squared off against Phil Hughes, which may have been a more intriguing matchup considering Pavano’s history with the Yankees and his five victories in May, and Hughes’ stellar outing in Texas and continued effort to stay in the rotation.

As I was listening to the game on the radio (another Sunday spent driving), I got to thinking about the myriad options the local editors and writers had for the game. Would Pavano be the lead? Would I make Phil Hughes’ mediocre start coupled by Chien-Ming Wang’s three scoreless innings of relief the lead, playing up the intrigue of Wang’s possible return to the rotation? Poor umpiring was a theme of the day. Where would that fit in? Are all these topics combined into one or do you do take one story as your base and go with the others as supplemental pieces?

I probably would have made Pavano the focus of the game story and made Hughes/Wang a featured supplement, tying in the early note that Andy Pettitte expects to be ready to start on Wednesday. How would you have presented Sunday’s game? Thinking of the broadest audience possible, how would you have set up your Yankees section as an editor? How would you have attacked the game if you were on-site? It’s two different thought processes. I’m curious to get your thoughts.

An examination of the eight local papers covering the Yankees revealed the following:

NY TIMES: Jack Curry had Pavano leading but alluded to the Hughes/Wang situation, melding everything into a tidy recap with analysis and historical context. Typical goods from Mr. Curry.

NEWSDAY: Three individual stories from Erik Boland, who’s now off the Jets beat and has replaced Kat O’Brien: Hughes/Wang leading, a Pavano piece tied with notes, and a short piece on Gardner’s failure to steal.

NY POST: As of this writing, only George King’s recap had been posted. Interesting to see that he focused on the bullpen, specifically Coke and David Robertson. (Had I been reporting, that would have been the angle I took with the game recap.)

NY DAILY NEWS: Mark Feinsand tied everything together, but it looked and read strangely like an AP wire story.

JOURNAL NEWS: No full game recap posted, but Pete Abe gives more in about 200 words on a blog than most other scribes do in 800.

STAR LEDGER: Marc Carig copied off Erik Boland’s paper in that he had individual stories on Gardner and Wang/Hughes, But he had a couple of other tidbits: 1) His recap was short and had additional bulletpointed notes. I thought this was an interesting format. It reminded me of an anchor calling highlights and then reading key notes off the scoreboard graphic. 2) He had a full feature on Phil Coke and his blaming the umpire’s call on the 3-2 pitch to Trevor Crowe. Check out the last paragraph. Looks like he copied off Pete Abe’s paper, too.

BERGEN RECORD: Only one story on the game from Pete Caldera, but boy does he know how to write a lead paragraph.

HARTFORD COURANT: Associated Press recap. Not much to say except this paper is an example of what’s happening in the industry. Dom Amore’s words are missed.

And this just in … on the “Inside Pitch” segment of the midnight ET edition of Baseball Tonight, Karl Ravech and Peter Gammons said the Yankees were the best team in baseball. This revelation comes hours after the ESPN ticker read “Pavano dominates Yankees” in the first half of its description of the game. I’m not sure what to make of this. I know Ravech, my fellow Ithaca College alum, is as good as it gets, but when Gammons agrees, I get concerned.

I’d say the best team is the team with the best record, and the team that’s playing most consistently on a daily basis. That team is being managed by Joe Torre.

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 …

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.

Phil Coke’s postgame comments, delivered through a sort of delerious, almost punchy smile. Coke’s only other professional save came in the Sally League in 2006:

Kim Jones: What’s it like to get your first save?

Oh, man, that’s hard! No wonder Mo’s really good. I mean, man, he’s really good. [chuckles] I don’t know. You’ll have to ask me again tomorrow, ‘cuz I’m completely and totally gassed right now. My brain shut off . . .

Jones: It was that much different than a normal inning . . .

It felt like it. It really did. It was . . . you know, go out there with a two-run lead, it’s like, “okay, I’ve been out there with a two-run lead before.” [affects look of concern] It’s a little different.

Jones: What were you telling yourself and what were your teammates and manager telling you?

Joe came out and told me that, “right now, you’re the only guy I want out here. You’re the guy that we need out here right now.” And Cervelli told me that, he’s like, “man, it’s cool. Relax, dude. It’s alright. C’mon, play catch with me.” It’s like, “okay.” Then Peña came up to me, he’s like, [affects slight Mexican accent] “hey, reelax, dood, what are you doing?” I wasn’t to sure myself. It was fun. It was really fun. I’m glad to have gotten it out of the way, and if I get put in that position again at least I’ll know how to do it. So, that was pretty cool.

Reporter:What did you think of the play by Tex?

I was really happy that he knocked that down, ‘cuz that would have really not been very cool if he didn’t, and . . . man, I love that guy.

Reporter 2: What is so different about standing there in the ninth inning as opposed to the seventh inning?

I have no idea. I really don’t know what the actual difference is other than a nine versus, six, seven, or eight, but it just seemed like everything was way more amplified.

Kim Jones: It could have been the ballgame in the eighth, though. How did you get that strikeout of Morneau? You know dangerous he can be.

Uhm, I was a little mad at him. [smiles] Yeah, I was a little mad at him, so I wanted to make sure I went out there and did everything I could to get him out because that was a big out in that situation. I was really just focused on staying with Cervelli behind the plate and hitting my spots, and then the ninth inning rolled around and I don’t know what happened. [smiles and shakes head]

Jones: Did you know after the eighth, though, that you were going back out for sure.

Yes I did. Yes I did. And I was just trying to stay as relaxed as possible and not think about it. It was like, “okay going back out there for the eighth inning.” You know, trying to play mind games with myself rather than think, “oh God, where’s ‘Enter Sandman?’ Where’s that guy? Because he’s way better at this than I am.”

Jones: Did you say anything to Mo or will you say anything to him tomorrow about all this?

I actually walked up to him in the back and was like, “hey, you’re way better at that than me.” And he was like, “hey, good job, man. It doesn’t matter. You got the job done.” I was like, “yeah, but you’re still way better than I am at that job. So, you can have it right now. Thank you.”

Record: 5-4
Record in Series: 2-1
Runs scored per game: 5.67 (7th best in MLB)
Runs allowed per game: 5.22 (8th worst in MLB)
Runs allowed per game minus Monday’s blowout: 4.00

AL East Standings:

TOR -
BAL .5
NYY 1.5
TBR 2.5
BOS 3.5

• The Yankees were without Alex Rodriguez. Mark Teixeira missed three games due to a wrist injury. Hideki Matsui and Cody Ransom went a combined 6-for-49 (.122) with five walks. Yet the Yankees scored four or more runs in every game and averaged 5 2/3 runs per game on the trip.
• A great deal of the credit for that goes to Nick Swisher, who drove in or scored 18 of the Yankees’ 51 runs (35 percent) on the trip.
• The trip ended with the news that Xavier Nady will likely miss most or all of the season with a tear in his right elbow, but Nady was hitting a very Nady-like .286/.310/.429 and will be replaced in right field by Swisher. That’s an upgrade. Swisher will surely cool off, but he should have been the starting right fielder over Nady anyway. Where the Yankees will miss Nady is on the bench, as Matsui and Johnny Damon will need days off. Nady might be a very ordinary hitter, he’s still more productive than Melky Cabrera.
• In the comeback department, Matsui and Chien-Ming Wang have been awful, but Robinson Cano has been terrific, hitting .382/.447/.618 with four unintentional walks, and Jorge Posada has looked good both at the plate, driving in nine runs (second on the team to Swisher’s 11) with five of his seven hits going for extra bases, and behind the plate.
• Despite the solid offensive attack, the Yankees come home just a game over .500 at 5-4. Three of those losses were directly attributable to poor staring pitching performances (by CC Sabathia on Opening Day and by Chien-Ming Wang in both of his starts).
• Sabathia was not only better, but dominant in his second start. A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte both pitched well twice, and Joba Chamberlain turned in a solid outing in his only start thus far. That leaves only Wang as an issue in the rotation. Dave Eiland is on the case and working hard to get Wang back on track.
• Since the duds by Sabathia and Wang to open the season, the Yankees have gone 5-2. After dropping the opening series in Baltimore, they won their next two series, most significantly taking two of three from the Rays at the Trop.
• In their five wins, the Yankees have allowed just nine runs, or 1.8 per victory.

• The one loss not attributable to a poor starting pitching performance was the result of a bad outing by rookie reliever Phil Coke. Chamberlain started that game off with a quality start. Over six innings, he struck out five Royals and held them to three runs, two of them unearned following a groundball that skipped under the gloves of both Nick Swisher (at first base for the ailing Teixeira) and Robinson Cano. With the Yankees up 4-3, Brian Bruney, who has since struck out the last five men he’s faced, pitched a scoreless seventh. Lefty Damaso Marte followed by getting the first two men out in the eighth. Trey Hillman then sent up lefty-killer Billy Butler (.329/.391/.567 career vs. LHP with 12 homers in 252 at-bats) to pinch-hit. Joe Girardi countered with righty Jose Veras.

  To that point, all was going according to plan, but Veras walked Butler on five pitches, and Girardi responded to the tying run reaching base with two outs in the eighth by bringing in not Mariano Rivera, but Coke. Being a lefty, Coke to spun weak-hitting third-string catcher Brayan Peña around to what historically has been his stronger side (.509 OPS vs. RHP; .669 OPS vs. LHP). Not that the split mattered much. Coke had nothing. He gave up a game-tying double to Peña on an 1-0 count, an RBI single to Alberto Callaspo on another 1-0 count, and an RBI double to John Buck on a 1-1 count before finally getting the last out of the inning with the Royals leading 6-4. Joakim Soria struck out the side in the ninth to make that score the final.

• Coke has had a rough start to his season. In his first outing he gave up a two-run home run to the punchless Cesar Izturis. In his second he struck out the only two men he faced. His third was the loss described above. In his only appearance since then he was forced to get an extra out after Cody Ransom lost a pop up in the Tropicana Field roof, but nonetheless issued two two-out walks and then gave up a bases-clearing double to lefty Akinori Iwamura. That’s one good, three bad for Coke thus far. David Robertson, who has struck out ten men in five scoreless innings thus far for Scranton, lurks.

Summary: If you take out the losses attributed to Wang and Coke, the Yanks are 5-1. Even still, they just took a series from the defending AL Champions in the latter’s home ballpark. If Wang gets straightened out, Coke gets straightened out or replaced, and Alex Rodriguez returns on schedule, the Yanks will be in great shape.

The ball was ruled a home run, but Rays catcher Dioner Navarro animatedly disagreed, and his manager, Joe Maddon, convinced the umpires to use instant replay for the first time in major league history. Three of the four umpires, including crew chief Charlie Reliford retreated through the visitor’s dugout to the replay area and emerged two minutes and 15 seconds later to uphold their call. Reliford emerged first from the dugout and twirled his left index finger over his head to affirm third-base umpire Brian Runge’s original call on the field.

Watching the replays shown on YES, the ball appeared to sail over the left-field foul pole, then hook foul behind hit, clanging off a catwalk near the back wall of the stadium. Still, there remained some confusion due to the fact that there was a yellow foul pole extension attached to that catwalk, despite the fact that it was set significantly back beyond the outfield wall. The ball clearly hit the catwalk to the left (foul) of that yellow indicator, but only after sailing over the actual foul pole when leaving the field of play, which is exactly how all four umpires saw it both live and in the replays.

Said Reliford after the game, “We all believed it was a home run, but since the technology is in place we made the decision to use the technology and go look at the replays. . . . If there had been no argument, obviously we wouldn’t have because all four of us believed the call was correct on the field. Because [Maddon] disputed it, and it was very close, and now the technology is in place, we used it.”

Rodriguez’s double-checked homer gave the Yankees an 8-3 lead, bounced Percival from the game, and pushed Rodriguez past Mike Schmidt on the career home runs list. The Rays picked up run in the bottom of the inning off Jose Veras to set the final score at 8-4 Yanks.

Carl Pavano lasted just four innings, but Edwar Ramirez, Phil Coke, and Brian Bruney combined for four scoreless innings in relief. Ramirez replaced Pavano with men on first and second and none out in the fourth. The first two batters he faced hit line drives toward second base. The first skipped off the tip of Robinson Cano’s glove and sailed into right field for a bases-loading single. Cano caught the second and turned it into an unassisted double play by doubling Carlos Peña off second base. Ramirez then got Erik Hinske to pop out to end the inning and was given the win for his efforts. Coke pitched two perfect frames, but only because Johnny Damon made a perfectly timed catch at the wall on a drive by Peña to end the seventh.

Talking to the media after the game, Coke came across as humble and determined, a fresh-faced 26-year-old kid who, after being drafted 786th overall and spending six seasons in the minor leagues, five of them in rookie or A-ball, is finally living the dream and determined to make the most of the opportunity he’s being given. Coke let out a few Joba-like fist-pumping screams when Damon made that catch to end the seventh, then spent the rest of the game in the dugout rather than going back to the clubhouse to shower. Asked about staying in the dougout, Coke told the YES Network’s Kim Jones:

“I couldn’t leave. I couldn’t leave. I wanted to see it through to the end, regardless if I had threw or not. It didn’t matter. I just wanted to be out there with everybody and assure them as much as I can to let them know that I’m not going anywhere if I can help it. I’m gonna stick around as long as I can. . . . I’m just trying to follow along with Pudge and stay with him and not doubt anything that he put down. There was one point where I shook, but it was more of a, ‘I can’t believe I’m standing here on this mound in this game right now.’ And he went to put something else down and I was like [anxiously] ‘no no no no!’ I stepped back off and was like, “okay, okay, I’m good.’”

Discussing his repertoire (fastball, slider, changeup), Coke said that it was erroneously reported that he threw a curveball (he dropped the pitch earlier in his career). When Jones replied that it didn’t look like he needed one, Coke looked genuinely surprised and pleased by the compliment, smiling and shaking his head again in disbelief, replying, “well, thank you, I appreciate that a lot.”

Coke appears to have already earned his manager’s confidence (which comes a lot easier than that of the last Yankee skipper), and with his mix of confidence on the mound and humility in the clubhouse, he’s going to become a very popular member of this team very quickly.