CBSSports.com wire reports
Aug. 17, 2011

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It wasn’t Alex Gordon’s three-run home run that had the New York Yankees chewing their nails.

It was Billy Butler’s solo shot one out later — the one they think should have been a double.

After Gordon and Butler both went deep in Kansas City’s four-run third inning Wednesday night, the Royals survived a harrowing ninth and held on for a 5-4 victory over the AL East leaders.

Butler’s ball appeared to strike the upper railing behind left field before bouncing back onto the field. Umpires ruled it a home run but went in to look at a review after talking to New York manager Joe Girardi.

Girardi argued again briefly when they returned and confirmed the designated hitter’s 15th home run. Replays showed the ball hitting the padding below the railing and bouncing up toward the front row of fans before coming back onto the field.

When Butler met reporters after the game, he had not seen a replay.

“I guess from the angle some guy saw, they didn’t think it was good,” he said. “But [umpires] have the final call. That’s why they make the judgment call.”

The Yankees were sure it was a double.

“We all thought it was a double,” said Girardi. “The umpires thought it was a home run. Billy Butler got his helmet on. He was prepared to go back to second. I didn’t think it was a home run. It’s not going to come back into play like that.”

About an hour after the game, Steve Palermo, the major league supervisor of umpires, was seen talkimg to umpires in the outfield, pointing up toward the fence.

“I was just standing over there at the end of the dugout waiting for the review,” said Butler. “I know they were over there a long time, and it took them a long time to review on that. I was just waiting for the call either way. They reviewed ity multiple times, obviously. It was their call. I didn’t see much of it.”

The Yankees loaded the bases with one out in the ninth and made it 5-4 on Robinson Cano’s sacrifice fly. After a passed ball, Joakim Soria reloaded the bases by walking Nick Swisher. Then Jorge Posada, on his 40th birthday, took a called third strike to end it. The wobbly Soria got his 22nd save in 29 opportunities.

Bruce Chen (8-5) went six innings and beat the Yankees for just the second time in seven career decisions. The Royals have lost 10 of 13 games and the veteran left-hander owns all three wins.

Curtis Granderson homered in the Yankees first, his sixth in eight games. He also doubled, singled and scored twice, raising his majors-leading total to 111 runs scored. Coming into the night, his 33 home runs were two shy of Toronto’s Joe Bautista for the major league lead. Russell Martin hit a solo homer in the sixth for New York.

“They have a very good eye and they don’t swing at bad pitches,” said Chen. “I felt like I was trying to make good pitches every single pitch. It’s very exciting for us to play the Yankees. They’re a very good team.”

Bartolo Colon (8-7) took his first loss in five starts, lasting five innings and allowing five runs on seven hits, with two walks, four strikeouts and the two home runs. He dropped to 15-9 against Kansas City.

Struggling rookie Mike Moustakas had three hits for the Royals, including a leadoff double in the third. After Alcides Escobar singled, Gordon hammered Colon’s 3-2 pitch 418 feet over the fence for a three-run homer, raising his RBI count to a career-high 61.

Derek Jeter was 4 for 5 and 9 for 15 for the three-game series.

Chen went six innings and allowed three runs on seven hits, with three walks and three strikeouts. He also gave up a solo home run in the sixth to Martin.

After hitting a home run in the first and doubling and scoring in the fourth, Granderson was stopped in his third at-bat by second baseman Johnny Giavotella’s outstanding defensive play. The rookie dived to his left to snare Granderson’s hard-hit grounder and threw to Chen covering the bag, ending the inning and possibly saving a run because Jeter was on second with a two-out double.

Melky Cabrera tripled leading off the fifth and made it 5-2 when he scored on Eric Hosmer’s infield out.

Notes

• Tampa Bay’s 4-0 victory over Boston kept New York half a game ahead in the AL East. … The Yankees planned to bring 3B Alex Rodriguez to Minnesota on Thursday, where they will begin a four-game series with the Twins. But the three-time MVP, rehabbing knee surgery, ruled himself out for being activated Thursday after going 1 for 2 with an RBI and two walks for Triple-A Scranton.
• The Royals have been giving outfielder Mitch Maier some groundballs at third base in case they ever need an emergency starter there.
• The Royals will start Luke Hochevar (8-9) against Josh Beckett (9-5) Thursday night in the first of four games against the Boston Red Sox. They split four games in Boston last month.
• CC Sabathia (16-7) gets the start for the Yankees on Thursday against Brian Duensing (8-11). He’s 7-0 in his last eight starts against the Twins
• Posada grounded out as a pinch hitter in the eighth.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi has tweaked his lineup.

Girardi moved Brett Gardner from ninth to leadoff and dropped Derek Jeter from first to second for Thursday night’s game against Tampa Bay.

The change was made in part because regular No. 2 hitter Curtis Granderson, who was plunked in the back by a pitch and fouled a ball off his right calf in Wednesday night’s 4-0 win over the Rays, was being rested. New York is playing without cleanup hitter Alex Rodriguez. He is on the disabled list after undergoing right knee surgery on July 11.

“The lineup is a big topic now,” Girardi said. “I kind of had him (Gardner) in mind if Grandy needed a day off.”

Girardi didn’t rule out using Gardner at the top of the lineup on a regular basis against right-handed starters. Also under consideration is having Granderson batting third at times.

“You might (see it),” Girardi said. “I’ve thought about it. I think about it. It’s definitely something I could do.”

The normal three-hole hitter is Mark Teixeira, who along with Robinson Cano would hit either fourth or fifth in a revised lineup.

Girardi said Rodriguez had his stitches removed Thursday and continues to workout in a pool.

New York Yankees guest instructor and Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra, left, Tampa Bay Rays senior advisor Don Zimmer, and New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi watch batting practice before the Yankees faced the Tampa Bay Rays in a spring training baseball game at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla., Thursday, March 17, 2011. Photo: AP / AP

New York Yankees guest instructor and Hall of Fame catcher Yogi…

Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon, right, chats with New York Yankees guest instructor and Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra before the Rays faced the Yankees in a spring training baseball game at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla., Thursday, March 17, 2011. Photo: AP / AP

Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon, right, chats with New York…

New York Yankees guest instructor and Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra, right, chats with Tampa Bay Rays senior adviser Don Zimmer before the Yankees faced the Tampa Bay Rays in a spring training baseball game at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla., Thursday, March 17, 2011. Photo: AP / AP

New York Yankees guest instructor and Hall of Fame catcher Yogi…

TAMPA, Fla. — Joe Girardi likes to say spring training is the time to experiment.

In that spirit, Thursday he is experimenting with his lineup. For the first time all spring, Brett Gardner will be the New York Yankees leadoff hitter. Derek Jeter, who hit leadoff in 137 of the 155 games he started last season, will bat second.

“It’s just a little different look, lead off Gardy and see what that looks like,” Girardi said Thursday. “With Gardy leading off, he gets on base a lot, takes a lot of pitches as well. We’ll see how it works out.”

Thursday’s game against the Rays will be only the second time all spring that Girardi has used all his regulars — with the exception of catcher Russell Martin, who caught Wednesday night against the Orioles — in the same lineup. Jesus Montero will catch Thursday night and hit in Gardner’s customary ninth spot in the batting order.

Girardi cautioned against anticipating that any of his spring training lineups will be the one he sends out on March 29, Opening Day, against the Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium.

“We signed Jeet to be a top of the order hitter,” Girardi said. “That’s what we signed him to do. I think he’s going to get back to what he did [before last season].”

And one way or the other, Gardner and Jeter will likely be linked in the order.

“Jeet and Gardy hit together all the time,” Girardi said. “All but the first time through the lineup. So to them, it really shouldn’t be any different.” Still, the flip-flopping of Gardner and Jeter could have implications for the future of both players and the team.

Last season, one of the worst of Jeter’s Hall of Fame career, Gardner had a better overall on-base percentage — .383 to .340 — and when batting leadoff, as he did in 25 games last season, his OBP was .412.

“It’s a small sample,” Gardner said Thursday afternoon in the clubhouse, where he did not know the batting order until informed by reporters at his locker.

Plus, his superior speed and basestealing abilities — Gardner stole 47 bases to Jeter’s 18 — make him more suited to the leadoff position in the eyes of many.

“It doesn’t make any difference to me where I hit,” said Gardner, who is batting just .259 this spring but with a .412 OBP due to a team-leading seven walks. “My approach isn’t any different. My job is to get on base. If I get on base, I’m gonna score with the guys behind me, whether I’m hitting ninth, first, second, eighth, whatever. As long as I’m in the lineup.”

Jeter was not available for comment before the game, but Girardi said he likes what Gardner brings to the top of the lineup.

“It’s something we’re trying because of what [Gardner] did last year and the problems he causes for other teams,” Girardi said. “He puts pressure on the pitcher. A lot of times, pressure leads to mistakes, and you get to the guys in the middle of the order and those mistakes become bigger mistakes. That’s what we want our hitters to be able to do.”

Wallace Matthews covers the Yankees for ESPNNewYork.com. You can follow him on Twitter. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) – Yogi Berra was released from a hospital Thursday, hours after the 85-year-old Hall of Famer tripped and fell in the New York Yankees’ clubhouse before a spring training game.

The Yankees said Berra went by ambulance to the hospital as a precaution after landing on his backside. He was released around 4 p.m.

Earlier in the day, Berra said he was OK.

“Feeling fine,” Berra said in comments relayed by the team. “Resting comfortably. Hoping to be released later today.”

General manager Brian Cashman said Berra caught one of his sneakers on the carpet and fell at Philadelphia’s complex, where the Yankees played the Phillies.

“Yogi is resting comfortably. Things are going well. They’re running the battery of tests. Things are good right now from we hear,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said after the Phillies beat New York 7-0.

“He landed on his rear end, which is probably the best place you can actually land. He did not want to go to the hospital, but we’ve got to make sure. When he left he was in good spirits, laughing,” he said.

Girardi said paramedics asked Berra questions and took his blood pressure several times.

“He wasn’t really excited about that,” said Girardi, who rode with Berra to the game.

Berra, a former catching great who is an instructor at spring training, did not want to go to the hospital, Cashman said. The GM said Berra spoke to his wife, Carmen, before leaving.

“He’s a special man. He’s as good as they come. He’s one of the game’s greatest. He’s a quality person,” Cashman said.

The Yankees’ clubhouse and the nearby area were closed off just before 11:30 a.m. by Yankees’ security officials. About 25 minutes later, Berra was placed into an ambulance, which soon left for Morton Plant Hospital.

“He looked OK before going to the hospital,” said Yankees star Jorge Posada, often tutored by Berra in spring camp over the years. “It was scary when I heard it. We were in the (batting) cage and heard that he fell down. I just hope he’s OK.”

Said Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher: “That’s scary. That’s nothing to mess with. He’s a living legend. They took care of it. That’s good.”