Yankees pregame: Waiting on Tex and a lineup

Brian Heyman here for Chad today. No Yankees lineup yet. Joe Girardi was waiting for an update on the state of Mark Teixeira’s left wrist from a doctor and whether he could take batting practice. And Teixeira is indeed giving batting practice a try right now at a little before 5.

Tonight’s starter is CC Sabathia, and he has owned the Mariners, winning seven straight starts with a 0.88 ERA dating to 2009. But Sabathia wasn’t so great his last time out, allowing six runs and eight hits in six innings against the Red Sox. His weight gain was something that came up after he was allowing a lot of hits the final two months of last season and had a 6.23 ERA vs. Detroit in the ALDS. But his fitness is a non-factor right now, according to Girardi.

“His conditioning is great,” Girardi said. “I’m very pleased with where he’s at there. And I’ve never seen it as a huge issue for me. This is a guy who’s won 60 games in three years. It’s pretty hard to complain. But obviously you worry about long-term health and long-term health of a pitcher’s body. But that has not been an issue.

“This guy works hard. He’s a true professional. He’s prepared every time he goes out there. For me, it’s just like any other pitcher you have. If he locates, he’s going to pitch well.”

Joba Chamberlain struggled in his first Yankees outing of the season, allowing two runs and four hits in 1 2/3 innings Wednesday against the Orioles. He had been away from major-league mounds for 14 months or so.

“I think it could take a little for him to get on track and be what we expect him to be because he’s been out so long,” Girardi said. “Just like any starter or reliever starting a season, or position player, you’re not sure how they’re going to start, if they’re going to have a great start or if they’re going to have a slow start. So I think you’re going to have to have some patience.”

A-Rod is here. “Just working out,” Girardi said, “doing as much as he can basically not using the one hand, conditioning, trying to work his legs. But that’s about it. He’ll throw and do things like that. But as far as using his left hand, he can’t do much there.”

Ichiro Suzuki spoke to some of his former teammates on the field, but he indicated his emotions aren’t as high facing them as they were in Seattle right after the trade went down.

Yankees pregame: The injured come into focus

The injured Yankees were dressed in their pinstripes again this morning to say hello, pose for pictures and bump fists with season-ticket holders filling the warning track. Those players included Alex Rodriguez, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Brett Gardner.

Joe Girardi said Andy Pettitte has been frustrated with the healing rate of his fractured fibula. There was talk of a setback recently. The Yankees are still thinking September for him.

“That’s our hope,” Girardi said. “I think Andy thought with his broken leg that he was going to be on the mound in two weeks. That’s just Andy. I think you have to hold players back and they have to understand that it’s a process. But as players, we get anxious to come back. That’s the bottom line. I think that’s what happened with Andy.

“It takes time. When you miss as much time as he has, you have to build a guy up. You can’t rush him and make him come back too soon when he’s not ready. We’ll just take it day by day.”

As for Rivera and his mending ACL, is it 100 percent that he isn’t coming back this season as Brian Cashman has said?

“Nothing is ever 100 percent, but I would say it’s 99 percent, 99.9,” Girardi said. “But nothing is ever 100 percent in life. There have been a lot of people that have said that they’re done playing and they find a way back. We will die, though. I can tell you that for sure.”

As for Gardner possibly returning in September from his elbow surgery, Girardi said, “If there’s a way he can help us, we’ll definitely use him, especially in the month of September when you can expand rosters. If there’s certain things that he can’t do and it’s during the month of August, then you’re kind of limited and you limit your roster. But with an expanded roster, if he can help us, we’ll definitely use him, if it doesn’t jeopardize him getting back next year.”

So it’s the homestand finale and Curtis Granderson is leading off again, breaking up two righty batters, Chris Stewart in the nine hole and Derek Jeter in the two hole.

“Grandy falls in the category of he’s one of our higher (on-base) guys, so that’s why he goes there,” Girardi said. “Well, you could say, ‘Grandy is a power hitter.’ Well, so is Cano. So is Tex. So is Swish. So is Ibanez. So you say, ‘Why don’t you move him back?’ Well, then who do I move up to the front with speed? You might say, ‘OK, why don’t you move Ichiro up?’ Well, his on-base is not as high as it’s been in the past. So then you try to break up your left-handers with your switch-hitters and your right-handers, so it’s not easy for them to get through the lineup.

“If we had all of our hitters present, Granderson wouldn’t lead off. But with the injury to Alex, you have to make some adjustments.”

Derek Jeter comes in leading the AL in hits with 138.

Monday morning...whew!, it certainly got here in a hurry...don't you think?...the Yankees won their series with the Mariners...that's a very good thing...now off to Detroit for four games...should be very exciting...our area received some long overdue gentle, soaking rains Sunday afternoon...the grass is starting to green up already and isn't nearly as crunchy to walk on...things are looking up, thank you, Lord...I'll be sending smoke singles the remainder of the day, but wanted to get this morning greeting off to you as soon as I could...say, I've been thinking...where in the world would the New York Yankees be right about now without the likes of Rual Ibanez and Eric "sanchez" Chavez...remarkable acquisitions...I understand they are working diligently with their fitness trainers and simply refuse to "break down"...what a thrill this must be for both of them...and of course, let's not forget the huge contributions from Jason Nix...hope everyone enjoys the day and te game tonight

Aug 4, 2012 -- 6:47PM, 115by7and9in61 wrote:

10 BC - Claudius, Roman Emperor – Emperor at the time of Jesus of Nazareth’s crucifixion...honestly,would not have known this... that's because it's not true.  This guy was Tiberius Claudius Drusus, who followed Tiberius Claudius Nero (the emperor during the crucixion).  As emperor he was known as Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus...now that you have made this crystal clear and have done so, by the way, in such a logical and intelligent manner ...let me ask you something, any chance at all you might know the number of the Dalai Lama who was in office at the time?... Dalai Parton

1889 - John F Mahoney, developed penicillin treatment of syphilis – uhhhh, no comment...thank goodness he developed it, otherwise the human race would have followed the way of the dinosaurs a long, long time ago...sad, isn't it? one day we will have to discuss dinosaurs at length...you have definitely piqued my interest...anytime you are ready...I have no idea where the discussion may lead...should I be nervous... no need to be nervous, I believe they may have existed, it is how long ago that I have issues with

1966 - Darryl Hall, NFL cornerback (SF 49ers) – and Oates?...played tailback for the 9'ers...same time, same era...what's a tailback?... do they call them that anymore?...well...aah, with my limited football knowledge I know I  have heard the term sometime before?... now they usually just refer to them as halfbacks