River Avenue Blues

Update: Yanks hope to have Teixeira back by next week

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Tuesday: Via Mike Mazzeo, Brian Cashman said Teixeira’s recovery has been “slow,” but they hope to get him back sometime next week. “I don’t think he’s close to getting back here,” said the GM. “I think we’ll have a chance to get him back before the season’s over … maybe the Toronto series on the road, which is a little ways down the line here in that last week of the season.”

Sunday: It’s been six days since Mark Teixeira re-injured his left calf and we learned that he’ll be out another 10-14 days, but he is still not yet ready to resume baseball activities. “He’s still sore,” said Joe Girardi prior to yesterday’s game. “I don’t have a timetable when he’ll go hit in the cage.”

Yankees’ first basemen have hit just .190/.319/.293 with one homer in the 18 games since Teixeira originally injured his calf in late-August, not counting this afternoon. So yeah, even though his offensive production has declined for a fourth straight year, his switch-hitting bat has been sorely missed, then there’s the defensive downgrade on top of it. The sooner Teixeira can rejoin the club, the better.

Teixeira named Yankees nominee 2012 Roberto Clemente Award

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Mark Teixeira has been named the Yankees nominee for the 2012 Roberto Clemente Award, the team announced. The award is given annually to the player who most helps his community through charity work and his club on the field. Derek Jeter won the award back in 2009. Each team has a nominee for the award, and you can vote here to help decide the winner. The Clemente Award is a pretty big deal, so congrats to Teixeira for being nominated.

Tuesday Night Open Thread

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(Photo via CookAndSonBats.MLBlogs.com)

Well … Andy Pettitte’s return will have to wait one more day. Such is life. The Yankees are now going to close out their season with 16 games in 15 days thanks to tonight’s rain out, which is unfortunate. Winning the AL East and securing a playoff spot wasn’t going to be easy anyway, but now it’s going to be just a tiny bit tougher.

Here is your open thread. The Mets were rained out as well, but MLB Network will air a game tonight. Who you see depends on where you live as well as the weather, which is creating problems all over the Northeast. Feel free to use this thread to talk about anything except politics. I know it’s election season and all that, but politics discussions are never pretty. Thanks in advance.

Brett Gardner begins hitting program, could have been activated tonight

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Via David Waldstein, outfielder Brett Gardner has started a hitting program and could have been activated in time for tonight’s game had it not been rained out. He is still a ways off from hitting in a game and would have been limited to pinch-running and late-game defense only. It sounds like Gardner will be activated one way or the other very soon, which will require a 40-man roster move.

Tonight’s game rained out, doubleheader tomorrow

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Unsurprisingly, the ugly weather in New York has forced tonight’s series opener against the Blue Jays to be postponed. The two clubs will play a day-night doubleheader tomorrow, with the first game starting at 1pm ET. Andy Pettitte starts the day game and David Phelps the night game, with everyone else getting pushed back a day.

The most significant impact of the rain-out is that is pushes Pettitte’s return from the DL back a day, so he’ll only make three regular season starts instead of four now. Oh well, at least the bullpen gets another night off.

A-Rod not missing a beat since return from DL

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(Jim McIsaac/Getty)

The Yankees have dealt with a ton of injuries this season, an inordinate amount even when you consider the average age of the roster. Some of those injuries have been short-term bumps-and-bruises, others long-term issues that could be career-altering. Alex Rodriguez hit the DL for the fifth time in five years in late-July, after Felix Hernandez hit him with a pitch that broke a bone in his left hand. It was an unfortunate and fluke injury, but an injury nonetheless.

A-Rod had been on a bit of a tear prior to the injury, going 22-for-66 (.333) with five doubles, a triple, and two homers in 17 games (16 starts) before getting hit in the hand. Half of those 16 starts featured multiple hits. Even though he is no longer the 30+ homer, .900+ OPS hitter he was even just three or four years ago, the Yankees missed their regular cleanup hitter. The lineup suddenly lacked middle of the order depth and became very left-handed. The offense definitely lacked some balance while Alex was on the shelf.

After six weeks on the shelf, A-Rod returned to the lineup earlier this month and picked up right where he left off before the injury. He’s gone 15-for-50 (.300) with two doubles and three homers in his 13 games back, reaching base in all 13 and picking up at least one hit in 12. It’s unfortunate that Rodriguez’s return coincided with Mark Teixeira’s calf injury — remember they brought him back after just two minor league rehab games because the lineup was going to be really short without Tex — because the Yankees are still short a power bat, but that just seems to be the way things have gone this season.

The important thing now is keeping A-Rod on the field, which is easier said than done. The Yankees had their final scheduled off-day of the season yesterday, and will wrap up the schedule with 16 games in 16 days. Derek Jeter is still nursing a left ankle problem and will occupy the DH spot for the foreseeable future, meaning Alex is going to have to play third base whenever he’s in the lineup. Joe Girardi has gone to great lengths to give his big right-handed bat regular rest, starting him in four straight games at the hot corner only twice this season: once during the NL park portion of interleague play in June, and these last four games while Jeter was the DH.

There is still no firm timetable for Teixeira to return to the lineup or the Cap’n to return to the field, so A-Rod is going to see a ton of time at third base these next two weeks simply because the team is going to need him. The race for a playoff spot (nevermind the division) is too tight to take his bat out of the lineup, especially when so many of the platoon bats near the bottom of the order have been so unproductive. Rodriguez has been an important player for the Yankees since the day they acquired him, and that will be no different in these next 16 days.

Jeter may not be ready to return to the field just yet

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Via Pat Leonard, Derek Jeter’s bone-bruised left ankle may not yet be where it needs to be for him to return to the field. “(The ankle is) not re-injured,” said Joe Girardi on Sunday. “I think it still hurts. I don’t think he is a shortstop yet, right now as we speak. We’re going to have to see how he feels on Tuesday.”

Jeter has been nursing the injury for weeks and has spent the last four games at DH, though he was noticeably favoring the ankle while running the bases on Sunday. The Yankees (theoretically) have a capable shortstop replacement in Eduardo Nunez — who should be getting more at-bats anyway — as well as Jayson Nix behind him, though I guess the concern is that if Jeter is unable to return to the field anytime soon, how will Alex Rodriguez hold up playing third base everyday?