ST. PETERSBURG – The rookies’ hazing didn’t end when the Yankees arrived at the team hotel Monday night. Jason Giambi invited the rookies who were dressed in Wizard of Oz garb for the flight from New York to the Capitol Grille in Tampa for dinner. The only requirement was they stayed in their costumes.
“They had the time of their lives,” said Giambi, who transported the rookies from the team hotel to the restaurant and back to the team hotel with the same bus that carried the Yankees from the airport to the hotel.
The night out cost Giambi roughly $5,000 and was appreciated by the guests.
“I will remember that forever,” Tyler Clippard said. “That shows what kind of a nice guy he is.”
Asked what the other patrons of the restaurant thought of seeing the cast of Oz, Ian (Dorothy) Kennedy said, “It was closing, they kept it open for us. It was real nice for him to do that.”
Giambi last night whiffed as a pinch-hitter with runners on first and third and no outs in the eighth.
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Robinson Cano had a bad night on the bases. With the hit-and-run sign on in the sixth after a leadoff single, he got picked off trying to swipe second.
With two outs in the eighth and Cano on second, he stopped between second and third on Johnny Damon‘s ground single to left and cost himself a chance to score on the erratic arm of left fielder Jonny Gomes. Cano was stranded at third when Derek Jeter was called out on a 3-2 pitch.
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Joe Torre doesn’t have a meeting with George Steinbrenner on today’s docket but he will be meeting with GM Brian Cashman at the Yankees’ minor league complex in Tampa and didn’t rule out talking with The Boss.
“I have a meeting with Cash, not George,” Torre said. “We will be over there.”
Torre, who is in the final year of a contract, hasn’t spoken to Steinbrenner since Sept. 14.
Torre was told that Steinbrenner was expected to watch last night’s game, but The Boss was a no-show.
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Jeter reached 200 hits for the sixth time. Only Lou Gehrig (eight_ has more 200-hit seasons than Jeter. The six 200-hit seasons are the most by a shortstop in MLB history.
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According to Torre, Luis Vizcaino‘s arm isn’t barking like it was recently when the right-handed reliever was shut down. However, the Yankees are taking it easy with a very valuable piece of their late-game bullpen.
“It’s not hurting like the last time, it’s more of a dead arm,” said Torre, who explained Vizcaino wasn’t available last night.
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Chien-Ming Wang (18-7; 3.72 ERA) draws LHP J.P. Howell (1-5; 6.80) tonight and Phil Hughes (4-3; 4.80) faces LHP Scott Kazmir (13-9; 3.54) tomorrow night.