MLB

Girardi keeps mum on Sunday starter

Joe Girardi is keeping the identity of his starting pitcher for Sunday’s Game 4 from the public until Game 3 on Saturday night is completed.

“We are going to wait until after Game 3,” the Yankees manager said before his team beat the Phillies, 3-1, in Game 2 last night.

Barring a physical problem with CC Sabathia, Girardi likely will go with his ace, who was the Game 1 loser.

Late yesterday afternoon, Girardi hadn’t spoken to Sabathia to find out how the veteran lefty came through his 113-pitch, seven-inning outing in Game 1.

Girardi said he wouldn’t use Chad Gaudin, the only other option for a Game 4 starter, before Game 3 unless it was an emergency.

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The Yankees took extra steps to make sure nobody saw George Steinbrenner get into a vehicle last night. Media was stalled in a stairwell while The Boss moved from an elevator into the car.

Earlier, Girardi got to talk to The Boss when he was moving from a vehicle to the elevator.

“When he was going up I got to see him,” Girardi said. “He wished us good luck. It was great to see him.”

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Derek Jeter went 1-for-3 with a double and two strikeouts against long-time rival Pedro Martinez. And though Jeter and the Yankees didn’t see 96-mph heat from Martinez, he didn’t look that much different.

“Same as always,” Jeter said of Martinez, who fanned him swinging on a 3-2 pitch in the first and caught him looking at a 2-2 offering in the third. “Pedro is as smart a pitcher I have faced, he has a good sense of knowing what’s working.”

Before the game, Jeter the Roberto Clemente Award, presented by MLB to recognize a player who is dedicated to giving back to the community and shows outstanding skills on the field. Clemente, a Pirates outfielder, died Dec. 31, 1972, in a plane crash while on a humanitarian mission to assist earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

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Girardi has been consistent when asked about using Jorge Posada as the designated hitter in games, like last night’s, when Jose Molina caught A.J. Burnett.

“[Hideki] Matsui is more used to the DH than Jorge,” Girardi said.

Last night was the fourth time Molina and Burnett were paired in the postseason. If there ever was a game not to shoe-horn the switch-hitting Posada into the lineup, last night’s was it. That’s because Posada came into the day 11-for-60 (.183) with 33 strikeouts in his career against Phillies starter Pedro Martinez — though he had four home runs and 10 RBIs. Matsui wasn’t much better, at .143 (4-for-28).

Posada didn’t get the chance to hit against Martinez, coming in as a pinch-hitter for Molina with two on and no out in the seventh as the first batter after Pedro was lifted. Posada hit an RBI single off Chan Ho Park to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead.

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Jimmy Rollins led off Game 1 with a bunt, knowing he was taking a risk of infuriating his good friend, Yankees starter CC Sabathia.

“I was like, you know what, I’m going to make something happen on the first pitch,” Rollins said. “I’ve bunted on [Sabathia] before and he told me if I did it again, he’s going to hit me. I thought, well, if I bunt and he hits me, that’s another free base.”

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Even before Raul Ibanez drove in two runs with a single off right-hander David Robertson in the eighth inning of Game 1 to extend the Phillies’ lead to 4-0, there were questions as to why lefty Phil Coke was not in the game.

“His numbers against left-handers and right-handers were pretty even,” Girardi said of the left-handed hitting Ibanez, who batted .285 (41-for-144) against lefties in the regular season and .267 (95-for-356) versus righties. “I liked Robertson in that situation. His stuff matched up well.”

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Phillies manager Charlie Manuel chose Matt Stairs as his designated hitter for Game 2 over Gregg Dobbs because Dobbs is sick. Stairs went 1-for-4, singling home Ibanez in the second inning for the Phillies’ only run, but striking out against Mariano Rivera as the tying run to end the game.