OAKLAND, Calif. — Andy Pettitte was named to the AL All-Star team yesterday when Red Sox right-hander Clay Buchholz went on the disabled list.
Because Buchholz was a player choice pick and Pettitte was the next player choice behind Buchholz, he automatically was replaced by Pettitte.
“My kids are excited and looking forward to it,” Pettitte said of his third All-Star gig and first since 2001.
Even though Pettitte is lined up rest-wise to start the game in Anaheim next Tuesday, it’s not likely to happen.
Pettitte was originally slated to replace CC Sabathia, who starts Sunday. But Joe Girardi, the AL skipper, needs to find a replacement for Sabathia and Oakland’s Trevor Cahill since they are pitching Sunday. Pitchers who work that day aren’t eligible to pitch in the All-Star Game but can participate in the festivities.
The addition of Pettitte gives the Yankees’ four pitchers on Girardi’s staff, joining Mariano Rivera, Phil Hughes and Sabathia. Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez are on the team and Nick Swisher is the leading vote getter in an on-line voting process to name the final player. That balloting ends Thursday.
* Swisher hasn’t hidden his desire to be an All-Star and is participating in a club sponsored promotion called “Send Swish.”
“I think Swish is the perfect guy to campaign for himself,” said Girardi, who didn’t believe it would be a distraction. “He loves to have fun.”
* When Alex Rodriguez returned to the Yankees’ clubhouse last night after a 3-1 victory, he found a few items from Dallas Braden, the A’s lefty who criticized Rodriguez for running across the pitching mound earlier this season.
Braden sent a signed “Get Off My Mound” T-Shirt, a poster and a ball.
According to a person with knowledge of Rodriguez’s thinking, an impressed Rodriguez was planning on returning the favor and is interested in having Braden and himself sign some T-shirts for charity.
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Jorge Posada said he will be able to catch tonight, one night after sitting out a game due to a sprained ring finger on the left hand he suffered Sunday.
“It felt a lot better today than I thought it would,” he said.
Since Posada was an “emergency catcher” last night, there was an anxious moment when Francisco Cervelli took a foul tip off the left rib cage in the fourth inning.
But Cervelli stayed in the game and vowed “I am 100 percent” afterward.
Posada missed three games last August with the same problem. This year has been a tough one for the veteran catcher. He suffered a bruised right knee, a right calf injury that sidelined him for four games in early May and fractured a bone in the right foot on May 16. That landed him on the DL until June 2.
* It looks like the Yankees are a long shot to get reliever Alfredo Aceves back this season. For the second time since going on the disabled list in early May, Aceves suffered a setback in his rehab program in Tampa and is slated to see team physician Chris Ahmad in New York.
“How bad it is, I don’t know until he sees the doctor,” Girardi said of the valuable right-hander who has been sidelined with a disc problem in the lower back.
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Derek Jeter hit second for the fist time this year when Girardi inserted Brett Gardner into the leadoff spot.
“It’s more to do with Posada being out but we will look at it,” said Girardi, who used Swisher at DH and Colin Curtis in right field. “To me it’s not that big of a change.”
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Sergio Mitre‘s scheduled two-inning rehab stint for Tampa (Single-A) was rained out yesterday.
* With the trade deadline at the end of the month the Yankees need bench help. However, it could come from within.
Triple-A Scranton /Wilkes-Barre shortstop Eduardo Nunez has been playing third and has played second in an effort to possibly get him prepared for a promotion after the All-Star Game.
“He has been playing so well and so good that maybe in the second half he could be a better choice than Ramiro Pena or Kevin Russo,” GM Brian Cashman said.
Going into last night’s action, Nunez was batting .306 with three homers and 39 RBIs in 83 games. He had 17 steals in 20 attempts and after committing 33 errors at Trenton (Double-A) last year, had made 10 this season.
With Rodriguez, Jeter and Cano set at third, short and second, Nunez’ future could be in the outfield.
“Internally, we have talked about that,” Cashman said of moving the 6-foot, 160-pound, 23-year-old Nunez to the outfield. “He knows he can play the outfield.”
* Questions about age and the fact that there are no Jesus Monteros or Gary Sanchezes available have the Yankees hanging back when it comes to signing 16-year-old players from Latin America. The signing period started July 2.
“We are not going to be crazy about it,” Cashman said. “The price tags being thrown around, we don’t see the talent level of a Montero or Sanchez.”
That doesn’t mean the Yankees won’t sign players from Venezuela or the Dominican Republic but the $3 million they gave Sanchez last July isn’t in play.
* Cano and Mark Teixeira are the only two Yankees who have played in all 82 games. Cano started 81 games at second and one at DH. Teixeira started 77 at first and was the DH five times.
“I do talk to them. We’ve been able to DH Tex some games, which has helped. Robbie is extremely strong. I talk to him. There are some games that I would like to get him out early. But there’s a situation on the left-hand side too that you have to monitor,” Girardi said. “It’s really a good thing that we have two guys that are so durable like that and can still be productive.”