Today’s news is powered by Red Barber and Mel Allen.  We lost Allen on this date in 1996:

• Tyler Kepner wonders if the Yanks pitching hiccups are tied to who is behind the plate:

One unsettling fact for the Yankees is the difference when Jorge Posada catches. With Posada behind the plate, the Yankees’ pitchers have a 6.31 E.R.A. The combined E.R.A. with Francisco Cervelli, Jose Molina and Kevin Cash is 3.81.

Posada has caught four starts by Chien-Ming Wang, whose job status is now evaluated on a game-by-game basis. Even removing those starts, the staff’s E.R.A. with Posada is still high, at 5.47. . . .

. . . Burnett, in particular, seems to struggle with him. In Burnett’s four starts pitching to Posada, opponents have batted .330. In nine starts with the other catchers, the average is .223.

When he lost a six-run lead in Boston in April, Burnett questioned the pitch selection, though he blamed himself, not Posada. Asked Sunday about the difference in pitching to the rookie Cervelli, Burnett gave a careful but revealing answer.

“I think it’s just a matter of — I don’t know if it’s the catcher — but we threw curveballs in fastball counts, we had them looking for something and they had no idea what was coming, I don’t think,” Burnett said. “That’s huge.”

[My take: Hmm . . . come 2010, could Cervelli see 100+ games behind the plate, with Posada at DH?]

• Cervelli serves notice:

Cervelli has provided the Yankees with an unexpected spark, after he was summoned from the Minor Leagues to lend a hand as the club waited for the returns of injured catchers Jorge Posada and Jose Molina.

Posada has since reclaimed his starting role, but Molina suffered a setback while on a rehab assignment and re-injured his left quadriceps, extending Cervelli’s big league stay for the foreseeable future.

“Sometimes, for one person to shine, something has to happen to someone else,” Yankees bench coach Tony Pena said recently. “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.”

The Yankees were always high on Cervelli defensively, believing that he at least would project as a big league backup catcher, capable of spelling a starter for an extended period if absolutely necessary.

But Cervelli has exceeded expectations at the plate, especially considering he was batting just .190 at Double-A Trenton when he was called up. Cervelli’s three hits on Sunday raised his batting average to .298 (17-for-57) with two doubles and six RBIs in 19 games.

[My take: I don’t think the league has a “book” on him yet, but he sure doesn’t seem over-matched at the plate to date.]

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Today’s news is powered by a vintage performance from the incomparable Dave Brubeck Quartet, appearing tonight at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan:

• Today, Will Carroll is offering a conversation with Tommy John, and the doctor responsible for saving John’s career, and thereafter the careers of numerous pitchers, Dr. Frank Jobe.
• Also at Baseball Prospectus, they examine the mortal nature of Mariano Rivera (article from last Friday):

The number in his performance so far this season that immediately jumps out is his home-run rate, which sits at 1.8 HR/9. You may think this is easily explained by his new digs, as Yankee Stadium II hasn’t exactly been on friendly terms with pitchers these past two months, but that’s not the case: Mo has three home runs allowed at home in 16 2/3 innings, and a pair on the road in about half as much work. Four of his five homers allowed have come on fly balls, though he isn’t giving up anymore of those than he usually does. Another source of worry is his BABIP, which sits at a career-high .336. It’s not necessarily the fault of the Yankees‘ defense—they are right around the league average in Defensive Efficiency. The problem might be better found in Rivera’s liner rate, which sits at 25.4 percent, nearly a double-digit increase over his career rate, and much higher than anything we have seen from him since this data was first recorded back in 2002. This also means that his ground-ball rate is at its lowest since that time, which isn’t what you want to see when the ball is leaving the yard this often.

Additional homers and plenty of line drives means that Rivera is throwing pitches that the opposition can hit, whether with his famous cutter or pitches identified as vanilla fastballs. Using published velocity data going back to 2002 up through 2008, courtesy of Fangraphs, Rivera has averaged at least 93 miles per hour on pitches described as pure fastballs and, at its lowest, 92.8 mph on those classified as cutters. However slender the real distinction between the two pitches may be, this year Rivera is at 91.6 and 91.2 mph; while it’s tough to pin an exact run value on that missing velocity, the drop does hint that those extra liners and home runs aren’t from mere luck. This also puts some context behind his falling infield fly rate, which went from last year’s impressive 24.5 percent down to his current 14.3; while many pitchers would love to get that many popups, for Rivera it contributes to why his HR/FB rate has jumped from 7.5 to nearly 24 percent.

Rivera is also throwing fewer first-pitch strikes; while 59.6 percent is still above the average, it’s below his career rate and his recent work by a few percentage points. He’s also generating fewer swings and misses—16 percent overall, and just 14 percent when he’s behind in the count. That’s a significant drop from the past two seasons, when he made opponents swing and miss on nearly one-quarter of his pitches, and even more than that while behind the hitter.

[My take: Nice to see some reasonably hard data behind what we’ve perceived with our eyes.]

• Still going with Baseball Prospectus, some minutia:

The Yankees did not lead at any time in four straight games against the Red Sox, on May 4-5 and on Tuesday and Wednesday, only the fourth time that has happened in the 107-year history of the series, and the first time since 1974.

• Brian Bruney will NOT be on Francisco Rodriguez’s holiday card list:

The friction between the players stems from Bruney’s unsolicited comments about Rodriguez on Saturday. Bruney said that he did not like the way the animated Rodriguez acts on the mound and called Rodriguez “embarrassing.”

When Rodriguez was informed of Bruney’s comments on Saturday, he blasted him and challenged Bruney to speak to him face to face.

“Don’t be sending a message to the media,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t even know who that guy is, somewhere in Double-A and not even pitching one full season. He’s always been on the D.L. That’s all I really know right now. He’d better keep his mouth shut and do his job, and not worry about somebody else.”

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The Yankees should have lost to the Mets on Friday night and did lose to them on Saturday afternoon. With Johan Santana taking the mound for the Metropolitans Sunday against A.J. Burnett, who kicked off the Yankees’ sweep at the hands of the Red Sox with a stinker in Boston on Tuesday, things looked bleak.

Even after the Yankees put up a four-spot on Santana in the bottom of the second, things continued to teeter as Burnett opened the top of the third by loading the bases. With the bags juiced and none out, Burnett started out 2-0 on Mets’ leadoff hitter Alex Cora, but battled back to 2-2 then got a very generous call on what looked to be a sufficiently checked swing by Cora for strike three. Burnett then struck out rookie Fernando Martinez on four pitches, exposing the phenom’s inexperience with a curve that Martinez missed by several feet for strike three. Carlos Beltran then creamed an 0-1 fastball, but hit it directly at Derek Jeter, who squeezed it for the third out, preserving the Yankees’ 4-0 lead.

Then came the bottom of the fourth. Nick Swisher led off with a walk. Hideki Matsui, DHing over Jorge Posada because of strong career numbers against Santana, drilled fastball into the right-field box seats for a two-run homer that made it 6-0. Melky Cabrera huslted a ball cut off in the right field gap into a double. Francisco Cervelli, catching Burnett to try to get him back on track, beat out an infield single when first baseman Dan Murphy ranged too far to his right, cutting off a grounder that should have gone to the second baseman, then lobbed the ball underhand to Santana preventing him from beating Cervelli to the bag. Derek Jeter reached on another infield single that tipped off Cora’s glove in the shortstop hole, plating Melky and making it 7-0.

At that point Jerry Manuel took Santana out of the game . . .

. . . in the fourth inning . . .

. . . with no one out . . .

. . . and the Mets trailing 7-0.

With Brian Stokes on in relief, the Yankees just kept on hitting. Johnny Damon doubled into the left field corner. Mark Teixeira reached on yet another infield single when Stokes slipped making a play to the third base side of the mound. Alex Rodriguez hit into a near triple-play when Damon made a bad read on Alex’s sinking liner to Cora, but beat out the throw at first, thus allowing Robinson Cano to come to the plate and deliver a rain-maker of a two-run homer. Swisher walked for the second time in the inning. Matsui walked on four pitches. Both scored on Cabrera’s second double of the inning, though Melky finally brought the inning to a close by trying to stretch the hit into a triple.

When the dust cleared, the Yankees were up 13-0 and Santana had allowed a career-high nine earned runs in just three official innings of work. After the game, Santana claimed he just couldn’t find his rhythm and that the Yankees agressiveness at the plate helped keep him off balance. Never mind that the average Yankee batter saw 5.4 pitches in Santana’s 38-pitch second inning, that Santana threw less than 60 percent of his pitches for strikes, or that Santana’s fastball was sitting around 90 miles per hour and toping out at 91.

Whatever the reason, the game was over by the time Santana came out. A.J. Burnett shut the Mets down for seven innings, striking out eight. David Robertson struck out two men in a perfect, 12-pitch eighth, and Phil Hughes struck out two more in a scoreless ninth. Meanwhile, the Yankee subs added two runs in the seventh (Angel Berroa was hit by a pitch, Damon walked, Brett Gardner walked, Ramiro Peña reached on still another infield single plating Berroa, and Cano plated Damon with a sac fly of Ken Takahashi) to set the final score at 15-0.

Just like that, the Yankees won the series in perhaps the most improbable manner possible. They’ll spend Monday taking it easy (Burnett implied that he’ll take his kids to the zoo), then welcome the worst team in baseball, the 16-45 Nationals, for a three-game set starting on Tuesday.

Crisis averted.

The Yankees should have lost Friday’s game to the Mets, did lose Saturday’s game, and now look to save face by sending A.J. Burnett to the mound against Johan Santana. This is the same A.J. Burnett who failed to get out of the third inning against the Red Sox in his last start.

If there’s good news, it’s that after posting a 0.78 ERA over his first seven starts, Santana has been human over his last five, posting a 4.64 and giving up eight home runs, including four to the Phillies his last time out.

Nick Swisher’s back in the lineup today. Francisco Cervelli will catch Burnett while Jorge Posada rides pine. Cervelli has never caught Burnett before, but opposing batters have hit .330/.406/.591 off Burnett in the four games Posada has caught him. Hideki Matsui starts at DH against the lefty Santana because Matsui has hit .333/.368/.556  in 19 plate appearances against Santana in his career. The small-sample caveat applies in both cases.

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If there was any fairness in the world, the Yankees would have to throw that win back. Or perhaps baseball should institute a rule whereby, when it’s called for, the umpires could just declare the game a loss for both teams. Pending such an innovation, though, tonight’s score will have to stand: Yankees 8, Mets 7, on a walk-off error.

Yep, that was one fugly baseball game. At the beginning of the night, back when we were young, Joba Chamberlain took the mound for the Yanks. He looked pretty decent the first couple of innings… and then imploded, at least as much as you can implode without giving up more than two runs. His control fled like a teenager in a slasher flick and he walked two batters, hit one, walked another, hit another, and threw more than 40 pitches just in the third. At the end of his abbreviated night he’d tossed 100 pitches in just four innings, while allowing five walks. Yeesh.

If I try to give you a detailed blow-by-blow on all the offense, I’ll be here all night, so here’s the Cliffs Notes: the Yankees went up 1-0, then the Mets took a 2-1 lead, then the Yankees came back and made it 3-2, then Brett Tomko came in — yes, that Livan Hernandez-Brett Tomko marquee matchup New Yorkers have been waiting for! — and the Mets torched him for four earned runs, including a patented Gary Sheffield blast. The Yankees clawed their way back when Jeter hit a New Stadium Special solo shot to right, and Matsui followed the next inning with a big three-run homer to make it 7-6. The Mets came right back in the seventh: 7-7, tie game.

With two outs in the eighth, Girardi brought in Mariano Rivera. Obvious  question: why couldn’t he have done this last night, when I was driving my mom up the NJ Turnpike and cursing extensively at the radio while trying to explain to her about high-leverage situations? Of course, tonight Girardi followed my advice and it didn’t work at all. Ah well. Beltran walked, Wright doubled, and the Mets took a one-run lead, again, some more.

However hapless the Yanks were tonight, though, in the end, the Mets were… uh, haplesser. In the bottom of the ninth Derek Jeter singled off of K-Rod, a nice piece of hitting, and stole second; Teixeira was intentionally walked once the count went to 3-0. The Yankees were down to their final out, though, and naturally it all came down to A-Rod – and he hit a soft little routine pop-up behind second. Game over, you had to assume, as Luis Castillo settled under it… but then Castillo… dropped it. Just like that, for no visible reason. It bounced and fell out of his glove. Huh.

It was exactly what you always hope will happen on the last out of a loss but of course it never, ever does.  Teixeira and Jeter were running hard from the start, and so they both scored, and voila: walk-off E-4.  The Yankees didn’t win this one so much as the Mets lost it, but hey, it all comes out the same in the standings.

Be sure to catch the SNY pregame show tomorrow, when Louis Castillo will be torn apart by an angry mob… that is, if the team hasn’t already sacrificed him on an altar to appease the baseball gods. (I hear the new Stadium has an amazingly luxe visitors’ altar).

New York Mets

2009 Record: 31-27 (.534)
2009 Pythagorean Record: 31-27 (.534)

2008 Record: 89-73 (.549)
2008 Pythagorean Record: 89-73 (.549)

Manager: Jerry Manuel
General Manager: Omar Minaya

Home Ballpark (Park Factors): CitiField (100/99)

Who’s Replacing Whom:

• Fernando Martinez is filling in for Carlos Delgado (DL)
• Alex Cora is filling in for Jose Reyes (DL)
• Wilson Valdez is filling in for Alex Cora, who actually replaces Damion Easley
• Omir Santos replaces Ramon Castro
• Dan Murphy replaces Endy Chavez
• Gary Sheffield replaces Marlon Anderson
• Jeremy Reed replaces Nick Evans (minors)
• Tim Redding is filling in for Oliver Perez (DL)
• Fernando Nieve is filling in for John Maine (DL)
• Livan Hernandez replaces Pedro Martinez
• Francisco Rodriguez replaces Billy Wagner (DL)
• Robert Parnell replaces Joe Smith
• Sean Green replaces Duaner Sanchez
• Ken Takashi replaces Scott Schoeneweis
• Jon Switzer is filling in for J.J. Putz, who replaces Aaron Heilman

25-man Roster:

1B – Dan Murphy (L)
2B – Luis Castilla (S)
SS – Alex Cora (L)
3B – David Wright (R)
C – Omir Santos (R)
RF – Ryan Church (L)
CF – Carlos Beltran (S)
RF – Fernando Martinez (L)

Bench:

R – Gary Sheffield (OF)
R – Fernando Tatis (UT)
L – Brian Schneider (C)
L – Jeremy Reed (OF)
L – Wilson Valdez (IF)

Rotation:

L – Johan Santana
R – Mike Pelfrey
R – Tim Redding
R – Livan Hernandez
R – Fernando Nieve

Bullpen:

R – Francisco Rodriguez
L – Pedro Feliciano
R – Robert Parnell
R – Sean Green
R – Brian Stokes
L – Ken Takahashi
L – Jon Switzer

15-day DL:

SS – Jose Reyes (hamstring)
OF – Angel Pagan (groin)
IF – Ramon Martinez (dislocated finger)
RHP – John Maine (shoulder fatigue)
LHP – Oliver Perez (patellar tendonitis)
RHP – J.J. Putz (bone spur in elbow)

60-day DL:

1B – Carlos Delgado (torn hip labrum)
LHP – Billy Wagner (TJ)

Typical Lineup:

L – Alex Cora (SS)
S – Luis Castillo (2B)
S – Carlos Beltran (CF)
R – David Wright (3B)
L – Dan Murphy (1B)
L – Ryan Church (RF)
L – Fernando Martinez (LF)
R – Omir Santos (C)

Notes: Fernando Tatis is platooning with Murphy at first base. Santos and Brian Schneider are splitting the catching duties. Gary Sheffield has been spelling Martinez and Church in the outfield corners, but will more likely DH for all three games at Yankee Stadium.

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In just over a week, nearly 30 retired major leaguers will come to Cooperstown to participate in the inaugural Hall of Fame Classic. The group will feature several former Yankees, including a fairly prominent and well-traveled pitcher from the mid-1980s.

One of my favorite old ballplayers, the late Pat Dobson, liked to invent new baseball jargon and give out quirky nicknames. He labeled former Yankee Dennis Rasmussen as “Count Full Count,” a reference to the tall left-hander’s tendency to throw too many pitches to each batter. The words “three and two” often accompanied Rasmussen’s struggles with opposing hitters.

Like many of those full counts, Rasmussen took a twisted career path to the Bronx. At one time a top prospect in the California Angels’ organization, Rasmussen came to the Yankees as the player to be named later in the deal that sent Tommy John to the West Coast. The deal, which took place after a dismal 1982 season, made good sense for the Yankees. Firmly in rebuilding mode, the Yankees had unloaded an aging John in exchange for a young left-hander of considerable promise. In the 1980s, however, the Yankees often turned their back on rebuilding at a moment’s notice, reverting back to a win-now philosophy whenever possible. So less than a year later, the Yankees sent Rasmussen to the Padres as the player to be named later for veteran right-hander John “The Count” Montefusco. In other words, they acquired “The Count” for “Count Full Count.”

Wait, there’s more. In the spring of 1984, the Yankees once again reversed course on Rasmussen. Graig Nettles infuriated George Steinbrenner with revelations in his new book, Balls, which angered The Boss so much that he traded his veteran third baseman during spring training. Steinbrenner sent Nettles to the Padres for a package of two prospects: the infamous player to be named later and, you guessed it, Dennis Rasmussen.

Now firmly ensconced in New York, Rasmussen finally made his Yankee debut later that season. Rasmussen brought an amply supply of natural talent to the Bronx, including an above-average fastball, a full repertoire of four pitches, and a dandy pickoff move that foreshadowed Andy Pettitte. He showed some of that promise as a rookie, despite an elevated ERA, by striking out 110 batters in 147 innings and winning nine of 16 decisions. After an up-and-down sophomore season, Rasmussen broke through the fence completely in 1986. Emerging as the ace on a mediocre Yankee staff, Rasmussen went 18-6, logged 202 innings, and kept his ERA a respectable 3.88. At 27, he appeared to be solidifying himself as a legitimate front-of-the-rotation starter.

Rasmussen also made people take notice because of his height. At six-feet, seven inches, Rasmussen was one of the game’s tallest pitchers in the years before Randy Johnson’s arrival. He looked even taller to me, like he was about six-foot-nine, perhaps because he had a bit of awkwardness in his delivery to the plate. His height was either a blessing or a curse, depending on your perspective. Scouts love tall pitchers, especially southpaws. Yet, some scouts believe that pitchers taller than six feet, five inches can have inherent problems. With long limbs and multiple moving parts, tall pitchers sometimes have difficulty keeping their mechanics in order. Rasmussen was not immune to that concern.

Perhaps the Yankees factored his height into the equation the following season, when they decided to trade him. Rasmussen pitched poorly throughout the summer, with an ERA approaching five, causing the Yankees to wonder whether his awkward mechanics and lack of an overpowering fastball would doom him to mediocrity. Whatever the reason, the Yankees traded Rasmussen to the Reds for Bill Gullickson in late August, losing four inches of height in the transaction.

In spite of my seeming obsession with his height, that’s not necessarily the first thing to come to mind when I recall the onetime Yankee. Instead, I’ll always remember an incident from the 1980s, when Rasmussen hit Jorge Bell of the Blue Jays with a pitch. Bell was furious with Rasmussen over what he considered an intentional infraction. After the game, Bell unleashed a tirade against Rasmussen, repeatedly referring to him as “she.” Bell’s intent was clear; he was questioning Rasmussen’s manhood. Whether Rasmussen had meant to hit Bell or not, it was a stupid and chauvinistic reference to make, especially when he made it over and over. Then again, those were the kind of comments that Bell made during a career of mouthing off with the Jays and the White Sox.

With Rasmussen scheduled to come to Cooperstown in just over a week, I’m debating whether to bring up the incident with Bell and find out Rasmussen’s reaction to it. Rasmussen might look at the episode nostalgically, emphasizing the comedic nature of the often volatile Bell. Then again, Rasmussen might think I’m as big a jerk as Bell often was during his career. Perhaps I should stick to the safe side on this one.

Bruce Markusen writes “Cooperstown Confidential” for The Hardball Times and can be reached at bmarkusen@stny.rr.com.

We made it to Friday!

• Wang stays in the rotation . . . for now:

Despite having a 21.61 ERA as a starter, Yankees right-hander Chien-Ming Wang is expected to remain in the rotation, a source told ESPN The Magazine’s Buster Olney.

He is scheduled to start Wednesday against the Washington Nationals, a source told ESPN.

Manager Joe Girardi suggested Thursday that Wang would lose his place in the rotation if he did not pitch well on Wednesday.

“As I told him, it’s important that he has a real good start,” Girardi said to The New York Times. “He needs to show us that he’s back and he’s fully back, because at some point, production is important.”

• Wang has been consistently inconsistent:

In the bullpen and before games, Eiland said he likes what he sees. Then the game starts and Wang loses his consistent arm slot.

“I can’t go stand behind the mound with him during the game,” Eiland said. “He’s got to go out there.”

The Yankees could do worse than call on the former pitching coach Ron Guidry as a troubleshooter, as Peter Abraham suggested on his blog during the game. It’s hard to argue with the results from Wang during Guidry’s tenure: consecutive 19-win seasons and a strong working relationship with the pitching coach, which seems to be missing now. Maybe another set of eyes and a familiar, friendly face could help. At this point, it couldn’t hurt.

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Today’s news is powered by … a flight attendant with a beat!

• Sutcliffe leaves a big tip:

Hours before they were to do battle with the Red Sox Tuesday night, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez were involved in different type of confrontation, this one inside the Yankees’ clubhouse.

Upset with an accusation made by ESPN’s Rick Sutcliffe two weeks ago, the two players approached the former Cy Young winner to discuss the situation.

Sutcliffe said on the air that A-Rod had been feeding Teixeira verbal signs from the on-deck circle, giving his teammate a heads-up on the catcher’s location before the pitch was delivered. Teixeira and A-Rod pulled Sutcliffe aside when they saw him in the clubhouse last night, expressing their displeasure with his charges.

“Me, Alex and him talked about it,” Teixeira told the Daily News, confirming that the conversation took place. “No doubt it’s disappointing when someone makes an accusation like that. Whatever. I can’t control what they say.”

[My take: Has Rick been hitting the sauce again?  Doesn’t he have better things to do, like ogle Erin Andrews or something?  Sigh …]

• Ken Davidoff is NOT a fan of A.J. Burnett:

If you’re going to invest $82.5 million in a guy in part because he pitches well against the Red Sox – rather than, you know, his larger body of work – then what choice do we have but to crush him when said guy doesn’t deliver on his alleged skill set?

The blame must fall on the $82.5-million man Burnett, who has pitched horribly in his two starts against the Red Sox as a Yankee, last night’s worst than his first. . . .

In two starts against the Sawx this season, both at Fenway, Burnett is 0-1 with a 12.91 ERA.

That doesn’t quite live up to the career numbers versus Boston – 5-0 with a 2.56 ERA, in eight starts – that he brought to last winter’s negotiations.

• Johnny Damon is on a mission . . . :

Johnny Damon wants the Yankees to get back to the postseason for many reasons. One is to prove Joe Torre wrong.

Damon said Torre’s book, “The Yankee Years,” has “fired” him up to have a big season. The ex-Red Sox star went into last night’s Battle for First at Fenway batting .299 with 12 home runs, 34 RBIs and five stolen bases.

“It really did,” Damon, 35, told The Post, “because it was a private matter. This game is a team game. Me and Jason [Giambi] weren’t the reason we were losing. If [Torre] feels that way, then, oh well, but I’ll tell you one thing, me and Jason were the reason why we made the playoffs [in 2007]. We made that push. As soon as I got healthy, this team got going.”

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Chien-Ming Wang’s start in Boston Wednesday night was a set-back for both the pitcher and the team. Wang had velocity, frequently hitting 95 miles per hour on the YES gun, and movement, but much like A.J. Burnett the night before, he had no control. It was almost as if the Red Sox had ball-repelling magnets installed under home plate.

Wang look good striking out Kevin Youkilis and Jason Bay to end the second inning, but by then he’d already given up three runs on three hits and three walks and thrown 58 pitches. He tried to start the third with a gimme strike to Mike Lowell, but Lowell parked it on top of the Green Monster to give the Red Sox a 4-1 lead (the Yankee run came on a Jorge Posada homer off Tim Wakefield leading off the second). David Ortiz followed by lifting a 400-foot fly out to center, and Mark Kotsay hit a hard single up the middle on Wang’s next pitch. A batter later, Wang was out of the game having thrown just 57 percent of his 69 pitches for strikes.

Phil Hughes pitched admirably over 3 2/3 innings in relief of Wang, striking out five men along the way, but he got into some bad counts in the fourth and wound up throwing two very hittable fastballs to J.D. Drew and Kevin Youkilis, resulting in a triple and an opposite-field homer, giving the Sox two crucial insurance runs.

The Yankee offense chipped away. A pair of walks set up a Melky Cabrera RBI single in the fourth. Mark Teixeira hit right-handed against Wakefield and went 3-for-3 against the knuckleballer with a single and a double off the Monster and another double down the left field line. That last came leading off the fifth and two groundouts plated Tex with the third Yankee run. Switched back to the left side against Ramon Ramirez in the seventh, Teixeira followed a Johnny Damon lead-off homer with a solo shot of his own to bring the Yankees within 6-5.

Unfortunately, that’s as close as they’d get. Nick Swisher worked a walk off Hideki Okajima to start the eighth, Brett Gardner ran for him, and Melky Cabrera bunted Gardner to second, but Derek Jeter (an ugly 0-for-5) struck out, as did Damon, stranding Gardner, who never attempted a steal.

In the ninth, Alex Rodriguez ignored the Fenway crowd’s “You Did Ste-Roids!” chant to work a one-out walk against Jonathan Papelbon, and pinch-runner Ramiro Peña stole second in his place, but Robinson Cano struck out and Jorge Posada flied out to the warning track in left to end the game.

After the game, Posada seemed more fed up with Wang’s struggles than frustrated by them, Wang said he would understand if the Yankees wanted to move him back into the bullpen, and Joe Girardi uncharacteristically refused to say that Wang would make his next start, or even to say “he’s in the rotation right now” (his typical code for “but won’t be five days from now”). Given how well Hughes pitched by comparison, I’d expect the two to swap roles next time around.

Barring injury, last night’s series opener couldn’t have gone much worse for the Yankees. Now their remaining hopes of winning this series rest on tonight’s starter, Chien-Ming Wang, who hasn’t thrown more than 4 2/3 innings in a major league game this year and hasn’t been good for more than three frames in a single outing.

Wang returned to the rotation on Thursday and looked great for two innings, showing the velocity and drop on his sinker the Yankees had been waiting to see, but things flattened out after that, and he left with two outs in the fifth having surrendered five runs to the Rangers. Still, he got all but one of his 14 outs via groundball or strikeout, which was encouraging. Wang will be on a 90-pitch limit tonight, which could mean another short outing even if he pitches well (though Wang at his best could make those 90 pitches last into the eighth).

Also encouraging is that, after a strong April, Tim Wakefield, who starts tonight for Boston, has posted a 6.37 ERA over his last seven starts with opponents hitting .307/.393/.452 against him. Wakefield is 5-2 over that stretch as the Sox have scored an average of 7.14 runs per game for him. As much as I’m thinking good thoughts for Wang, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a slugfest like that break out again tonight.  At the very least, the Yankees should do better than the two measly singles they managed last night.

The lineup returns to normal tonight (Damon in left, Swisher in right, Matsui to DH, though Matsui has hit just .170/.264/.319 lifetime against Wakefield), while rookie George Kottaras catches Wakefield for Boston.

Today’s (brief) news is powered by a dog-tired day-after-birthday girl who has a sore throat (too much rain, and insomnia).

• Teixeira takes over lead at 1B in the All Star balloting.
• Nady may be able to return late next week?
• Why all the homers? Its not the wind, but the height and curvature of the walls.
• A fan planted Yankee grass seed in Fenway Park last month.
• Mo gets a judge’s robe for his next Kangaroo Court.
• OF Slade Heathcott is Yanks’ 1st round amateur draft pick.
• A father and son are trying to see the Yankees win in all 30 parks.
• Tyler Hepner wonders what the Yankees should do with Hughes.

Back with a more-normal report tomorrow.

The Yankees look to reboot their season series with the Red Sox with three games in Boston starting tonight. They’re 0-5 against the Bosox entering the series, but hold a one-game lead over Boston in the American League East and have played their best baseball in the month since the two team’s last met. Dig:

April 6 to May 7

Red Sox 18-11 (.621)
Yankees 13-15 (.464)

May 8 to June 8

Yankees 21-8 (.724)
Red Sox 15-13 (.536)

Take out their five head-to-head games, and the Yankees outplayed the Sox against neutral opponents during the season’s first month as well (13-10 to 13-11). Having taken series from all of the league’s other winning teams (the Rays, Jays, Rangers, Tigers, and Angels), all the Yankees have left to prove in the first half of this season is that they can beat the Red Sox head-to-head.

Not that it is likely to matter in the short run. As I wrote in my initial Red Sox preview in April, since the implementation of the unbalanced schedule in 2001, the season series between these two teams hasn’t put one team in the playoffs while keeping the other out, and all signs point to both making it to the postseason again this year. Still, bragging rights are fun, and despite the Yankees’ dominance of the league over the past month, the Red Sox still hold them.

The big news in Boston is that David Ortiz seems to have gone from hero to zero for realsies, forcing Terry Francona to drop him to sixth in the order. Ortiz actually enters this series on a six-game hitting streak and hit his second homer of the year on Saturday, but he’s still hitting just .197/.288/.308 on the season. I had figured Ortiz for a quick decline following his wrist injury last year, but I never thought he’d just vanish like this, which probably means he’ll pull out of it. Just look at Jason Varitek. The Red Sox’s catcher looked washed up last year when he hit .220/.313/.359 at age 36, but he has rebounded this year, hitting a solid .247/.337/.519 with ten homers.

Despite Ortiz’s vanishing act, what the Sox have done well this season is hit (fourth in the majors in runs scored per game) and pitch out of the bullpen (major league best 2.76 pen ERA). What they have not done well is field (second-worst defensive efficiency in the AL) and start games (fifth-worst starters ERA in baseball at 5.02).

Tonight’s starter, Josh Beckett, leads the Sox rotation with a 4.09 ERA and is the only Boston start to have an ERA below league average. Beckett had a terrible April, including allowing eight runs in five innings to the Yankees at Fenway on April 25, but he’s been awesome in May, going 4-0 with a 1.94 ERA in six starts and posting a 0.40 ERA across 22 2/3 innings over his last three starts.

A.J. Burnett, who helped turned that April Beckett blow-up into a Red Sox win by also allowing eight runs in five innings, again starts against his former Marlins rotationmate. In his six starts from that first match-up against Beckett through his return to Toronto on May 12, Burnett went 0-2 with a 6.34 ERA, but he rebounded nicely in his last two starts, both wins over Texas. In those two games, he posted a combined line of 13 IP, 11 H, 3 R, 1 HR, 5 BB, 15 K. Some more of that would help get the Yankees’ reboot off this series off on the right foot.

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Bronx Banter Interview

By Hank Waddles

For Yankee fans, Roger Clemens is a difficult case — even before all his recent steroid trouble. If you’re of my generation, you grew up despising him. Even though he pitched for Boston during an era when we all knew the Red Sox would never win anything, he was still a fearsome enemy. He was the gunslinger who stole your girlfriend before shooting the sheriff right between the eyes on his way out of town. There was some pleasure to be had when his skills began to decline during his twilight years in Boston, but it wasn’t too much of a surprise when he became great again — if irrelevant — during his time in Toronto. And when he came to New York in 1999, if all wasn’t forgotten, at least it was put aside. First of all, the Yanks were adding the best pitcher in the game; second, they were twisting the knife in the heart of Red Sox Nation. It was a win-win.

Roger helped the Yankees to a couple more championships, won his 300th game, endeared himself to the Boss and legions of fans, and said all the right things about wearing a Yankee cap into the Hall of Fame. But then came the defection to Houston, the self-serving Stadium announcement of his return to New York, and, finally, the steroid allegations. There was an embarrassment that we had once embraced him, and the ashes in our mouths were there to remind us that we had gotten exactly what we deserved.

But there is more to Roger Clemens. Sure, he cut corners, but he also worked harder than any of his teammates. Yes, he is hopelessly selfish and egotistical, but he’d be the first player to volunteer for visits to children’s hospitals. Whether you loved him once or never at all, whether you think he deserves a plaque in Cooperstown or a spot in Dante’s Ninth Circle of Hell, you have to admit that Roger Clemens matters. In Jeff Pearlman’s latest book, The Rocket That Fell to Earth: Roger Clemens and the Rage for Baseball Immortality, he does his typically thorough job of cutting through the Roger Clemens mythology and getting to the heart of the man who was once considered one of the five greatest pitchers of all time. A few weeks ago Jeff was generous enough to spend part of his morning talking with me about the book, the steroid era, and a few other topics. Enjoy…

BronxBanter:  You’ve said that you love writing books, but when I spoke to you a while back while you were deep in this one, you described it as hell. How do those two things go together?

Pearlman:  The only thing I can really compare it to is running marathons. I run a lot of marathons. When I first start running a marathon, I’m really excited, and I love the first thirteen miles, and then the next four miles I sort of start feeling it, and then once you hit the twenties you start thinking, “I’m never gonna do this again. I’m neeeever doing this again.” And when you cross the finish line your first thought is, “Thank god this is over so I never have to do it again.” And then ten minutes later you’re thinking about the next marathon. And that’s how I feel about writing books. It’s nightmarish. It’s hellish. You’re solely focused — usually for a year and a half or two years — on one person, one subject, for all that time. You’re looking for these little details that seem insignificant to someone who doesn’t do it for a living, I would guess, but they become these gold nuggets for you. Finding out what someone used to drink for breakfast in the morning, silly little things like that that you think mean nothing, but they mean everything when you’re working on a book. Detail is what counts. When I was a kid I read every book imaginable, every sports book I could find, and I didn’t really differentiate between the good ones and the bad ones and the mediocre ones because I didn’t know any better. But now, when I’m reading someone else’s book, I really am looking for the details. If you’re writing a book about Reggie Jackson, everybody knows all there is to know about his three home run game in the World Series, but when you learn what sort of glasses he was wearing or where he got his hair cut or what he was saying to Mickey Rivers right before the game, that’s interesting.

BB:  How does that compare to writing feature articles? You used the marathon analogy; are these just sprints if you’re writing a piece for SI or some other magazine?

JP:  One of the best pieces of advice I got for writing a book was when I was doing my first book, which was about the Mets. Jon Wertheim, who is a friend of mine and writes for SI, said to me, the best thing you can do is think of each chapter as an article, as a lengthy article. So I would compare an article, if it’s long, to writing a chapter. And a book is just like a big monsoon.

BB:  I heard David Maraniss say once that it was much easier to write about dead people. If he was writing a biography about a living subject – and I think he was referring to his Clinton book – he would just pretend that the person was dead. Did you seek out Clemens at all, or did you pretend he was dead?

JP:  Well, I did reach out, and it was made clear he wouldn’t talk. Hence, it really was as if he was dead to me. I didn’t think of it in Maraniss’s terms, but he’s 100% right. And it’s definitely easier to write about a deceased person, because:
A. He won’t come back and say, “That’s not right.”
B. You don’t waste all that time trying to get him to talk.
C. People are more open when they know the person won’t get mad.
D. He can’t sue you for anything.

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On a warm Monday night at the Stadium, the first inning foreshadowed the rest of the series finale between the Yankees and Rays. Three Yankees hit long fly balls against Rays starter Andy Sonnanstine in that initial frame, including Mark Teixeira’s towering home run into the second deck of the right-field stands. The Yankees would hit several more long drives against Sonnanstine in later innings, including home runs by Nick Swisher (a two-run homer), Johnny Damon (a solo shot), and Derek Jeter (also a solo blast), all big parts of a 5-3 win over Sonnanstine and the Rays. The four home runs accounted for all of the Yankee scoring against Sonnanstine, who entered the game with an ERA of over seven.

Damon’s sixth-inning home run provided the winning margin. With the score tied at 3-3 and one man out in the bottom of the sixth, Damon launched his 12th home run of the season, easily reaching the right field seats. Two innings later, Jeter padded the lead with a leadoff home run, again hit to the familiar bull’s-eye region in right field.

Andy Pettitte’s first inning also provided a glimpse into his overall performance against the Rays. After loading the bases, Pettitte escaped on Joe Dillon’s slow roller to shortstop, handled deftly by Derek Jeter. Pettitte managed to escape from every jam he faced except for the third inning, when he permitted all three Tampa Bay runs. Though Pettitte struck out a season-high seven batters, he allowed five hits and three walks in what turned out to be a workmanlike effort at the Stadium. For his career, Pettitte has now won 16 of 20 decisions against the Tampa Bay franchise.

The two Phils, as I’m sure they’ve already been dubbed, then turned in standout relief efforts in the seventh and eighth innings. Phil Hughes, showing increased velocity with a 95 mile-an-hour fastball in his 2009 relief debut, pitched a 1-2-3 seventh. (The successful appearance will surely fuel speculation that Hughes will be used in Joba Chamberlain’s old role as the primary bridge to Mariano Rivera.) Phil Coke then followed with a scoreless eighth, setting the table for another masterful ninth inning by Mariano. More than 48 hours removed from his Saturday afternoon horror show, Rivera logged his second straight 1-2-3 appearance, capped off by a 93 mile-per-hour fastball thrown past the elevated swing of B.J. Upton.

The Yankees, now equipped with a full game lead in the American League East, will prepare for the start of a three-game series against the reviled Red Sox. It remains to be seen whether Rivera will be available for the first game at Fenway Park on Tuesday night, given that he has pitched three straight days. Joe Girardi says he’s inclined to give Rivera the night off, but the future Hall of Famer may attempt to talk his manager out of that plan, especially after throwing only 11 pitches in Monday night’s finale against the Rays.

Yankee Doodles: Nick Swisher was the only Yankee to pick up more than one hit against Rays pitching. With his 2-for-3 against Sonnanstine, Swisher lifted his batting average to a more respectable .257… Former Yankee left-hander Randy “The Snake” Choate made his second appearance of the series. The journeyman sidewinder, who was once part of the package sent to the Montreal Expos for Javier Vazquez, struck out Johnny Damon and walked Mark Teixeira in the eighth inning before being lifted in favor of former Met Jason Isringhausen. Isringhausen induced an inning-end double play from Alex Rodriguez, who heard a smattering of boos after going 0-for-3 with an error at third base… Former Red Sox outfielder Gabe Kapler hit a two-run homer for the Rays, his first of the season.

Today’s news is powered by quite possibly my FAVORITE scene in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” . . . (It helps if you imagine Lonn Trost as the fellow on top of the castle, and any generic dad wanting to take his kids to the game as King Arthur) 🙂

• Bruney elbowing his way back towards the bullpen:

Yankees reliever Brian Bruney took what he called a “huge positive step” on Sunday after completing a 30-pitch bullpen session. Bruney pronounced himself pain-free (yes, we’ve heard that one before, and no, I didn’t check to see if his nose was growing).

To simulate a game, Bruney threw 15 pitches, rested four minutes, then threw 15 more. In his second round, bullpen coach Mike Harkey stood in the batters’ box for several pitches. Bruney expects to throw a similar session again during the team’s trip to Boston.

“I think we’re definitely going in the right direction,” said Bruney, who this season has fibbed about his achy elbow. “I feel good.”

• Steve Serby Q&A’s Johnny Damon:

Q: I thought you were washed up.

A: (Smiles) Sometimes when you hear it enough, you start questioning yourself, and then you find something, you reach down, and you go out and start proving people wrong again.

Q: So that lit a fire under you?

A: When they started saying I was washed up, well, I had a pulled calf muscle. So what helped me start my playing days in baseball was now wrecking it — my legs have always been my most important asset. . . . So as soon as my legs got healthy, I was able to turn it back around

• Rivera battled more than the Rays on Saturday:

For several hours before Rivera took the ball Saturday afternoon in that tie game, he’d suffered with a stomach ailment that brought aches and repeated vomiting, according to one Yankee. Rivera had rolled off the trainer’s table, where he’d hoped to sleep it off, and into the bullpen in the eighth inning, when he began to warm up.

So, no, he didn’t have his best command. And, no, he didn’t have his best fastball.

But, he didn’t sprinkle the Yankee Stadium mound with breakfast, which, in itself, was a small victory, even in defeat.

“He was so upset afterward,” the teammate said.

And yet, Rivera did not mention it after the game, and he did not reveal it late Sunday afternoon, when it would have played less like an excuse than, in victory, the simple retelling of a trying 30 hours. He did not hang those hittable fastballs or that loss on his illness. He did not blame manager Joe Girardi for asking him to pitch in a tie game when a healthier body might have – and probably should have – done.

[My take: A tummy-troubled Rivera was the best option the Yanks had in a tie game in the ninth inning?]

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Man, it’s gorgeous out there today. I’ve gotta say, once it gets hot and sunny out, I can’t summon any real sense of urgency for day games. Not that I enjoy watching any less… but I get pretty laid-back about it.

Today’s game was appropriate, then, as the Yankees beat the Rays 4-3 with one of the least exciting three-run eighth inning comebacks you’ll ever see. It was still a nice win (and the Yanks’ 20th come-from-behinder of the season), it’s just that a few walks, an error, and a couple of dinky shoulda-been DP balls is hardly the stuff of legend. For an inning there it was like playing the old Devil Rays of a few years ago. Still, whatever works, and the Yanks, for now, have regained their .5-game division lead.

For the first five innings, the game was mostly a Matt Garza-Joba Chamberlain pitching duel. They both allowed a single run in the third – Joba on a B.J. Upton RBI double, Garza on a Nick Swisher homer – but that was it. Then in the sixth Joba, who’d been cruising along pretty efficiently, lost his fastball control and got himself into a mess. With the bases loaded, Gabe Gross hit a single up the middle and the Rays took a 3-1 lead. Chamberlain recovered to K Dioner Navarro, though, and that combined with Alfredo Aceves’s impressive six outs meant New York’s deficit never got too daunting.

The Yankees launched their passive-resistance-style comeback in the eighth. Damon and Teixeira singled, A-Rod walked, and then Cano walked – and if I were a manager and my reliever managed to walk Robinson Cano with the bases loaded, I’d be out of the dugout so fast the cameras would only pick up a Superman-like blur. Anyway, then Posada reached, and the game was tied, thanks to a painful error on a likely DP ball by Willy Aybar at third. Matsui hit another likely DP but beat the throw to first (yeah, you heard me) and got away with a force out. And with that, the offensive fireworks were complete. The Yanks’ one-run lead was all they needed, since Mariano Rivera returned to his customary awesomeness and made short work of the Rays, including final out Evan Longoria.

Meanwhile, I’m really liking David Cone as an announcer these days. He seems to enjoy himself, he throws around obscure player slang, and he always seems to be just moments away from forgetting where he is and telling some great, wildly inappropriate story about his playing days that will traumatize young children and gpossibly get him canned. Fun.

Despite the 9-7 final score, Saturday afternoon’s game between the Rays and Yankees actually started out as the pitchers’ duel everyone expected given the starting matchup of lefties CC Sabathia and David Price.

Through four innings, each starter had allowed just one hit, and the Yankees held a slim 2-0 lead. The Bombers’ one hit was an Alex Rodriguez home run that bounced off the top of the right-center field wall and into the waiting hands of bullpen coach Mike Harkey. Their other run came when Rodriguez led off the bottom of the fourth with a walk, stole second, moved to third on catcher Dioner Navaro’s throwing error on the steal attempt, and scored by taking a chance on a grounder in on the grass at third off the bat of Robinson Cano.

Ben Zobrist tied the game in the fifth by parking a 1-2 cutter in the left field box seats. Joe Dillon then hit a shot down the left field line that Johnny Damon collected in time to hold Dillon to a single only to airmail his throw over the entire infield, allowing Dillon to reach third base with no outs. A subsequent sac fly by Navarro tied the game.

The Yankees took the lead back in the bottom of the inning when Melky Cabrera led off with a double, was bunted to third by Francisco Cervelli, and scored when Navarro tried to pick him off and threw the ball past third baseman Willy Aybar. The error was Navarro’s third of the game, and the second that led to a Yankee run.

So it was 3-2 heading into the sixth. The Rays had three hits, the Yankees two. Then Sabathia walked B.J. Upton to start the sixth, and gave up a well-placed single to left by Carl Crawford on his next pitch. His very next pitch was a changeup to Willy Aybar, that Aybar deposited in the visiting bullpen for what appeared to be a game-breaking three-run homer.

Of course, these are the Comeback Kids. No game is ever over ’til it’s over, not even with David Price on the mound. The Yankees ran Price’s pitch count up quickly, working five walks and bouncing him after 107 pitches in 5 2/3 innings. With Grant Balfour on the mound in the eighth, Mark Teixeira led off with a booming home run that grazed the suite level in deep right field to bring the Yankees within one run. After an Alex Rodriguez fly out, Jorge Posada walked and Joe Maddon brought in lefty J.P. Howell to face Robinson Cano. Cano singled, Nick Swisher walked, and that man again, Melky Cabrera, tied the game by beating out a double-play ball to plate Posada.

Of course, it wasn’t quite that clear cut. Ball four from Balfour to Posada came on a full count and could have rightly been called a strike as it was at most a pitch off the inside corner, and a frame-by-frame replay on Melky showed that he was actually out by a few inches at first base. In other words, the Rays wuz robbed. Really.

Veteran crew chief Tim McClelland must have noticed this, because with the go-ahead run on third and two outs, he called pinch-hitter Hideki Matusi out on a checked swing that was clearly checked. Nonetheless, the Yankees had tied the game and, after a 29-pitch inning that included a pitching change, Joe Girardi decided to relieve CC Sabathia, who had thrown 101 pitches over the first eight frames, and give the ball to Mariano Rivera in the ninth.

Being the huge Sabathia fan that I am, and given his 112-pitch average over his last six starts, I wanted to see CC throw the ninth, but I never expected what followed: Rivera blew it, big time.

Ben Zobrist led off the ninth by splitting the left-field gap for a triple. Rivera then fell behind 2-0 on Joe Dillon before giving up a single that gave the Rays the lead once again. After that, Rivera got a groundout and a fly out, but with two out and major league RBI leader Evan Longoria pinch-hitting, Joe Girardi ordered Rivera to put Longoria on and pitch to B.J. Upton instead. Upton singled home Dillon to make it 7-5, and Rivera was out of the game after 21 pitches, just ten of them strikes.

Phil Coke came on and gave up two more runs, both charged to Rivera, one of which scored on a ball that skipped off the heal of Alex Rodriguez’s glove and was ruled an error. It was those last two runs that would be the difference in the game.

Facing Dan Wheeler, Derek Jeter led off the bottom of the ninth with a single. Johnny Damon followed with a double over B.J. Upton’s head in center that pushed Jeter to third. Mark Teixeira then hit an 0-2 pitch for a double to right that scored both men and brought Alex Rodriguez to the plate as the potential tying run with no outs, but despite working a seven-pitch at-bat, Rodriguez grounded out to third, freezing Teixeira. Jorge Posada followed with an eight-pitch at-bat that culminated in a fly out right at Upton, who was by then playing very deep. Maddon then called sidewinding lefty and former Yankee Randy Choate to pitch to Robinson Cano. Cano got ahead 3-1, fouled off a pitch, then drove one to the warning track in center, but Upton was again playing deep after being caught short on Damon’s double, and made a leaping catch at the wall to end the game.

I’ll do this one Alex-style and end with a song:

Coming off their World Series appearance last year, the Rays were expected to be one of the best teams in baseball yet again in 2009, but two months into the season, they have yet to be a factor in the AL East race. It’s not for lack of trying. The Rays have the second-best Pythagorean record in all of baseball (behind the Dodgers). They are second only to the Yankees with 5.57 runs scored per game, and have been better than average at keeping runs off the board, ranking sixth in the AL in least runs allowed per game.

What’s gone wrong is some bad luck in one-run games (they’re 6-11 in such contests), and some bad luck in April. Since the beginning of May, the Rays gone 19-14, winning at a .576 clip. That despite the litany of other things that have gone wrong for them.

Expected to be a boon to the offense, designated hitter Pat Burrell landed on the DL in early May with a neck problem having hit just one home run and slugged .315 to that point. Second baseman Akinori Iwamura was lost for the season two weeks ago after tearing his anterior and medial collateral ligaments on a collision at the keystone. Slick-fielding shortstop Jason Bartlett was off to a fluky start, hitting .373/.418/.596, but he sprained his ankle in the same game, landing on the DL.

The Rays new and improved right-field platoon of lefty Matt Joyce, acquired from the Tigers in the offseason, and righty Fernando Perez never got off the ground when Perez dislocated his wrist in spring training, ending his season. The Rays then inexplicably kept Joyce in Triple-A for most of the first two months of the season while persisting with the unexceptional Gabe Gross (.256/.362/.400) as the strong side of that platoon.

The Rays have finally called up Joyce, who hit .315/.408/.530 for Durham, as well as his Triple-A teammate David Price, who was supposed to fill the rotation spot vacated by the man the Rays traded for Joyce, Edwin Jackson. Price was kept down because of arbitration and innings limit concerns, but now that he’s here, he’s replacing the injured Scott Kazmir (quad), not Jackson or Jackson’s early-season replacement, rookie Jeff Niemann. Then again, maybe that’s just as well. Kazmir posted a 7.69 ERA before hitting the DL, and Andy Sonnanstine, who will start Monday, has posted a 7.07 mark.

As for Price, after a shaky, abbreviated first outing, he dominated the Twins for 5 2/3 innings his last time out, striking out 11 against just two walks while allowing just one run on five hits. He takes on CC Sabathia this afternoon in what should be a thrilling pitchers duel. Over his last five starts, Sabathia has gone 4-0 with a 2.08 ERA. In those five starts he’s averaged nearly eight innings per start, and held opponents to a .187/.242/.259 line.

Francisco Cervelli will continue to catch Sabathia this afternoon. Jorge Posada will DH. Evan Longoria, who leads the majors with 55 RBIs, is expected to return to the Rays lineup after missing a couple of games with a tight left hamstring.

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When a team plays well for an extended stretch of games, the intensity of the rumor mill tends to lessen. That’s certainly been the case for the Yankees, who have played well for the last month in taking a share of the top spot in the American League East. The only prominent name that I’ve heard linked to the Yankees in recent weeks is Cleveland’s Mark DeRosa, a player that the Cubs foolishly traded over the winter for three middle-of-the-road pitching prospects. Ravaged by injuries, the Indians are going nowhere in the AL Central. DeRosa is 34 years old and just a few months away from free agency; he is almost certain to be traded sometime between now and July 31.

So should the Yankees make a play for DeRosa? I’d say yes, but within reasonable limits. Let’s begin with DeRosa’s potential contribution. As well as the Yankees have played since Johnny Damon hit that three-run homer on a Sunday afternoon against the Orioles, their bench remains mediocre at best. Francisco Cervelli and Brett Gardner have been assets, but the Yankees have received precious little offense from their backup infielders and have virtually no power in reserve—at least until (or if) Xavier Nady returns. DeRosa would solve the latter two concerns. He can play third, second, or first, along with the outfield corners. He has above-average power, along with a team-first grittiness that would play well in New York.

Yet, the Yankees should be conservative in what they offer for DeRosa. After a career year for the Cubs in 2008, DeRosa brought back only three mid-level prospects on the trade market. In the midst of a mediocre campaign with the Indians, DeRosa’s value has decreased further. I might be willing to give up two young pitchers—pick two from a group that includes Anthony Claggett, Jonathan Albaladejo, Edwar Ramirez, and Christian Garcia—but no more. I’m not giving up Mark Melancon, or Alfredo Aceves, or even an injured Ian Kennedy. DeRosa would help, but he’s not currently worth a price tag involving any of those right-handers. If the Indians insist on any of the three, I’d suggest that Brian Cashman hang up the phone…

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