Cano and Mo Steal the Show: Yankees Comeback to Beat the Dodgers in 10 Innings

The Yankees looked down and out when the Dodgers brought in Jonathan Broxton with a four run lead in the ninth inning, but the Bombers soon changed that.

Broxton struck out Teixeira to start the inning, but the wheels fell off the wagon shortly after.

A-Rod singled to left, Robinson Cano followed with an RBI double to right field, cutting the lead to three runs.

After a very lengthy at-bat, Jorge Posada ripped a single to right field, putting runners at the corners with one out, followed by Granderson’s walk to load the bases.

The rookie, Chad Huffman, after a long at-bat, hit a two-run single to right field, bringing the Yankees to within a run of the lead, with Granderson standing on third.

Fellow rookie Colin Curtis grounded out to first base, James Loney’s throw back to the plate was not in time, as Granderson scored to tie the game at six runs a piece.

With Huffman at second and first base open, Broxton intentionally walked Derek Jeter, bringing up pinch hitter Francisco Cervelli, who grounded out to end the inning.

Broxton ended up throwing 48 pitches and allowing four runs in one inning, certainly his worst outing of the year.

Mariano Rivera sent the game to extra innings after a controversial one-two-three inning in the bottom of the ninth, in which Garret Anderson was ejected and Joe Torre voiced his opinions to home plate umpire Chris Guccione and his strike zone.

Teixeira led off the top of the tenth with a base hit to right, A-Rod grounded into a force out, leading Joe Torre to bring in George Sherrill to replace Ramon Troncoso, with Robinson Cano coming up.

At first it looked like a smart move by Torre, since Cano had been 0-11 against Sherrill coming into the game. Apparently, Torre and Sherrill hadn’t received the memo that Cano is the best hitter in the Majors.

After swinging at a slider for strike one, Cano launched his 15th home run to center field, giving the Yankees an 8-6 lead heading to the bottom of the 10th.

Rivera allowed a lead-off single by James Loney, but after Russell Martin was called out on strikes and was ejected for slamming and breaking his bat, Reed Johnson struck out and Jamey Carroll grounded out to Jeter to end the game.

Rivera won the game after pitching two innings for the second time in the past week, each of the last two series have ended in extra innings with Rivera going two innings both times.

The Yankees won their first series against a Joe Torre managed team since his departure from New York, and also managed to keep Manny Ramirez in the park over the three games.

Next up, the Yankees welcome the Seattle Mariners to town on Tuesday, after the travel day on Monday. Phil Hughes will be opposite Cliff Lee, marking Lee’s first game at Yankee Stadium since his dominant performance in game one of last years World Series.

Yankees Call Colin Curtis Up from Minors, Send Moeller Down

The Yankees have announced that they have called minor league outfielder Colin Curtis up from Triple-A Scranton. There is no word yet on exactly whom Curtis will be replacing on the roster.

Curtis, 25, has played 35 games at the Triple-A level this season. In those games he has 125 at bats, a .280 average, .357 OBP, .368 SLG, and a .725 OPS. He split 2009 between Double-A and Triple-A. In 132 games last season he had a combined .250 average, .321 OBP, and a .686 OPS.

He’s always been considered a solid, but unspectacular prospect because he is a very average player in many respects. He’s got a bat that has played at every level, but was not outstanding anywhere and he has never displayed much pop. He plays defense at all three outfield spots, but has both an average arm and range. He doesn’t steal bases, but isn’t station to station.

He’s really very average so it will be interesting to see if he sticks at the major league level. He isn’t likely to be a starting outfielder even on weak teams, but it is certainly possible that he could be a serviceable fourth outfielder.

There is no corresponding move yet. The most likely move will be to demote outfielder Chad Huffman or catcher Chad Moeller. Curtis doesn’t have a spot on the 40-man roster though and that might mean that Moeller is the one who is getting DFA’d to make room on the roster. That’s just speculation right now, we’ll update you when the Yankees make an official move.

Updated: Chad Moeller will be the one sent down. Since he doesn’t have options left he’s going to have to clear waivers to stay within the Yankees organization.

Yankees Notes: 1st Place, Hughes Rules, A-Rod, Aceves, Thames

The Yankees are back in 1st place after they beat the Astros 9-5 yesterday behind a mostly strong performance by Phil Hughes, another Jorge Posada grand slam.

Here are some notes:

• The Yankees record is now 40-23, tied for the best in baseball.
• Posada is the first Yankee to hit Grannies in back-to-back games since Bill Dickey in 1937.
• Hughes improved to 9-1, but his ERA is now a season high 3.11 after a rough 6th inning.
• The Hughes Rules are on their way, but the Yankees aren’t revealing the plan yet.
• Former 2nd round draft pick Chad Huffman made his major league debut going 1-for-4 with a walk.
• The Yankees hope Alex Rodriguez is back in the lineup by Tuesday when they take on the Phillies.
• Alfredo Aceves threw on flat ground yesterday at about 60 percent effort. He said everything went well.
• Marcus Thames is on the 15-day DL and is expected to miss about two weeks.

In the box score yesterday’s game looked like one of Hughes’ worst, but in reality it was much better than that. He was absolutely dominating for most of the start after he allowed one run in the top of the 1st, but he had trouble getting the final batter out in the 6th and the Astros scored four runs that inning.

Posada looks like he’s back in shape and it’s great news that Aceves is throwing again. He might have another throwing session today, but chances are the Yankees are going to go slow with his return after rumors of back surgery.

Yankees Notes: Thames, Huffman, Posada, and Vazquez

The Yankees are going for the sweep today against the Houston Astros after beating them 9-3 yesterday behind a strong performance by Javier Vazquez and a grand slam by Jorge Posada.

Here are some notes:

• Vazquez is 5-2 in his last seven appearances. He has a 2.93 ERA in 40 IP during that time.
• Posada has struggled since he returned from injury. He was batting .133 with a .431 OPS going into yesterday. Hopefully yesterday’s grand slam was a sign he’s coming around.
• Posada is also expected to catch today for the first time this year.
• Marcus Thames is going on the DL with a strained hamstring. An MRI was negative.
• The Yankees haven’t made an official announcement yet, but they are expecting to call up OF Chad Huffman in his place.
• Huffman is batting .279 with a .760 OPS and five homers in 53 games.

The Yankees claimed Huffman off of waivers earlier in this season from the San Diego Padres. It is likely that former Padres GM and current Yankees scout Kevin Towers had a lot of input in that move.

Phil Hughes is on the mound for the Yankees today as they go for the sweep against the Astros.

Granderson Leaves with Groin Strain

Yankees center fielder Curtis Granderson left today’s game during the 6th inning after he injured his groin while going first to third on a single.

The last we heard Granderson was on his way to the hospital for an MRI to assess the extent of the damage. Until we get that news it is impossible to say how long he will be out, but a DL stint should be expected. The question now is if this is a two-week stay on the DL or something more significant. For a player with Granderson’s speed an injury like this could potentially take a while to fully recover from.

This means that for the time being Brett Gardner will play center field and Randy Winn and Marcus Thames will probably take turns playing left field. The Yankees will probably call somebody up from the minor leagues too. With Colin Curtis also on the DL that means that either Greg Golson or Chad Huffman will get called up if Granderson does indeed go on the DL.

Normally I would have guessed that Huffman would be the one to get the call, but he has struggled since joining the Yankee organization, he’s batting .204 with a .658 OPS in 14 games this year. The Yankees are also going to want to replace Granderson’s defense and Golson is the better defender so he may be the one to get the call instead.

Padres GM Discussing Loss of Huffman to Yankees

On Wednesday, the Yankees claimed outfielder Chad Huffman on waivers from the San Diego Padres after he was DFA’d to make room on their 40-man roster.

Moves like this are typically very minor as teams don’t usually put talented minors that they don’t want to lose through waivers for obvious reasons. This particular move seems to be one with a decent amount of potential upside. At least it seems to have upset Padres GM Paul DePodesta who ranted about losing Huffman on his blog yesterday:

We lost the player. And, he’s a pretty good one. Chad was a 2nd round pick in 2006 out of TCU and has been a successful minor league hitter throughout his pro career, posting an OPS over .800 in each season. While crushing lefties early in his career, Chad had his most successful year yet against RHP during his first season in AAA in 2009. He always controlled the strike zone and also hit for some power – a combination we like. We think he’ll be a good Major League hitter.

This wasn’t an easy decision, as we feel good about our 40-man roster at this point. We talked about a number of different guys and worked through various scenarios – who had the best chance to clear waivers, what depth did we have, what depth did we anticipate needing during the year, etc.

We hate to lose good players. Additionally, we hate to lose good people, and Chad is a tremendous clubhouse guy. Getting beyond the selfish aspect, we’re excited for Chad. We truly wish him the best with the Yankees and will be rooting for him to make it to New York and contribute to the big league team.

Thoughts: This was a move the Yankees made because they don’t have much outfield depth in the minor leagues and Huffman is a pretty good outfielder. Jon Weber made noise this spring by hitting nearly .500 in March, but that’s not the type of depth the Yankees need. Weber is 32 and outside of possibly catching lightning-in-a-bottle for a couple of weeks a guy like Weber really brings nothing to this organization.

A guy like Huffman is only 24 and could potentially become a bench player in the Bronx. There is a big difference in having a 32-year-old prospect and a 24-year-old prospect. The biggest difference is that there is no such thing as a 32-year-old prospect. By that time you’re never going to catch on to a major league team for any extended period of time. The Yankees need to sign more players that inspire the players former GM to rant on the internet about losing him.

This is a good move for the Yankees organization and it hows because it got DePodesta’s attention.

Thoughts?

Yankees Claim Outfielder Chad Huffman

It’s likely that we are already seeing Kevin Towers influence on the Yankees as they have claimed former Padre outfielder Chad Huffman on waivers according to Buster Olney of ESPN.

Huffman, 24, is expected to start the season in Triple-A. He spent the entire 2009 season in Triple-A in the Padres organization last season. In 135 games there he hit 20 home runs while hitting .269/.361/.469/.830. He’s not particularly fast, he stole just 11 bases, caught 11 times, in 426 career minor league games. He’s also not generally regarded as a particularly strong defensive left fielder either.

He’s also a right handed hitter who doesn’t hit lefties particularly well, a .639 OPS against lefties in ’09 vs. a .903 OPS against righties in ’09. So while Huffman automatically becomes one of the Yankees better outfield prospects, although his ceiling is no where near Slade Heathcott’s, he probably won’t see much action in the Bronx. Expect him only to be called up in an emergency or late September. He’s pretty much minor league depth.

Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reported that he beat former Yankee Shelley Duncan in the Triple-A All-Star Home Run Derby.