Yanks' rookies surprised by transition

Yanks' rookies surprised by transition

Preparation, coaching, veterans make pitchers feel at home

By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com

NEW YORK -- Sometime on Thursday, Ian Kennedy will board a charter flight bound for Kansas City, where a three-game series at Kauffman Stadium and his second big league assignment await. He won't have to carry his bags.

The 22-year-old rookie, making his first road trip since being summoned from the Minors, has compared life in a Yankees uniform to being treated like royalty. Not that he would cast aspersions on his dizzying path to the Bronx, but the experience has been better than even he thought it would be.

"I didn't expect it any other way, because the Yankees are always in a pennant race," Kennedy said. "It's nice to feel that every game counts. Even though I'm a rookie, I want to win every time I go out there."

Like relief stud Joba Chamberlain, Kennedy opened the year in front of sparse Florida State League crowds. His quick assimilation into the Yankees' fold is already well ahead of schedule, coming on the heels of a seven-inning, one-earned-run performance against the Devil Rays on Saturday.

"I thought I'd be in [Double-A] Trenton," Kennedy admits. "But you get a little greedy, and you want to go to the next level and the next level [after that]. It's not a trend, so I didn't know if I was shooting for the stars or if I was thinking about something that could actually happen."

It has happened more than expected in 2007.

Phil Hughes, just 21 years old, logged his best effort Wednesday after a three-start slide, the backstory to the Alex Rodriguez Show, and the identically aged Chamberlain unknowingly put himself in position to become the ninth Yankees pitcher to log his first victory in 2007 -- an unthinkable achievement, considering the track record of an organization that freely dispensed young talent in favor of veteran presence.

"It's exciting for me to be here as long as I've been here, and then all of a sudden you've got this crop of young arms that have come along," said Yankees manager Joe Torre. "We're accelerating this stuff more and more these days, and giving the kids the experience at this level. It's working out more times than not."

One of Torre's favorite illustrations for the perpetual coming-of-age story that has become a welcome sidebar to the Yankees' highlight reel is his own experience. Torre's big league debut came in 1960 with the Milwaukee Braves, and he recalls looking at a fastball zip by. The baseball came from 60 feet and six inches, and it didn't behave differently just because the pitch had been delivered by a person in a Major League uniform.

"I can hit that," Torre recalls thinking.

In the cases of Hughes, Chamberlain and Kennedy, they can throw that. But maybe the most important figure for all three young pitchers, at least in recent days, has been the figure lurking in the shadows. Triple-A pitching coach Dave Eiland, who pitched parts of four seasons in New York from 1989-91, reassumed his old digs last week to help prepare Kennedy for Tampa Bay.

The 41-year-old Eiland has been kept busy, overseeing Kennedy's first Yankee Stadium mound session in an empty building -- thwack, the ball echoed off 55,000 seats as it met bullpen catcher Roman Rodriguez's glove -- before administering a few key tweaks during Hughes' most recent bullpen performance, resuming a relationship formed last season at Double-A Trenton.

"A lot of times, you don't really feel what you're doing wrong," Hughes said. "That's why it's nice having Dave here. He saw me a lot last year and this year in Trenton and Scranton. He really knows what I need to do."

"This game is set up for you to fail. I understand that's going to happen. ... When it does happen, you have to respond and understand that that's part of the game."

-- Joba Chamberlain

The time investment has been wise, considering the stakes. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre may be involved in a postseason series, but Hughes, Kennedy and Chamberlain -- all Triple-A Yankees at various points this season -- have much more at stake, assigned to figure out Major League life on the fly.

"If any of these young guys can handle it, they can, because of their makeup," Eiland said. "They stay under control of themselves, and they don't seem to get rattled. If they do, they hide it well. They're pros. They're mature beyond 21 and 22 years of age."

Physical gifts aside, the trio's most impressive trait has been their levelheadedness and professionalism, said Eiland.

Chamberlain may well be the most boisterous of the bunch, quickly gaining chutzpah as his 12 1/3 scoreless inning streak extended. Torre joked that the carefully protected Chamberlain shouldn't be allowed to give up a run until 2008, but Chamberlain cautions that this streak won't -- can't -- last forever.

"This game is set up for you to fail," Chamberlain said. "I understand that's going to happen. You've just got to go out and keep attacking the zone. When it does happen, you have to respond and understand that that's part of the game. That's going to be the big test."

So while Chamberlain still gets the oohs and ahhs as he wanders New York, unmistakable with his thick build and swagger, Hughes and Kennedy both own a quieter confidence.

Not that any of the three demand to be acknowledged or looked at. As Kennedy said, that makes him the lucky one: "Everybody knows Joba, but they don't know who I am. I don't mind that at all."

"Just being around them for a period of time, you see how they handle themselves," Eiland said. "It's not only on the mound, but in the clubhouse. They're not guys that are loud talking. They're always willing to learn and always asking questions."

Of course, it helps that there are voices willing to answer those queries. Kennedy -- who feared that the clubhouse would be an "off-to-yourself type of feeling" before he actually experienced it -- said that he hoped to spend some time picking the brains of Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina, particularly on the topics of how to deal with a young, scrappy Royals club.

Chamberlain's first Major League locker was issued a thin wall away from Roger Clemens' belongings, no chance assignment. And Hughes has benefited all season long from veteran presence, dating back to Legends Field, when he was deposited into Derek Jeter's clubhouse neighborhood.

Having that kind of support system has eased the transition for all involved -- for the Yankees, suddenly placing their trusts in a foreign youth movement, and for the players, who understand that the way things work now aren't necessarily the way they were just a few years ago.

"It's been positive," Hughes said. "When I got here [in August], Shelley [Duncan] was here, and then Joba and Ian. It's good to have that young blend in a locker room [with other] guys coming up. You don't feel like the one sole guy in the group. You can share the good and bad that come with being up here."

A-Rod smacks two homers in Yanks' win

A-Rod smacks two homers in Yanks' win

Taters highlight Bombers' eight-run seventh inning

By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com

NEW YORK -- Alex Rodriguez insisted that he could play, even as his sprained and bruised right ankle had him limping through the Yankee Stadium clubhouse corridors.

And as manager Joe Torre searched into the All-Star's intense stare, looking for hints of uncertainty floating about the trainer's room, he listened. Good thing.

Rodriguez jumped out of an MRI tube and onto a pair of pitches in the Yankees' eight-run seventh inning on Wednesday, as his Major League-leading 47th and 48th blasts of the season comfortably helped the Yankees to a 10-2 victory over the Mariners.

"There's not much time left," Rodriguez said. "I guarantee you that if it was April or May, I probably would have taken a day, no question. Every game is so important."

Habitually one of the earliest reportees to the stadium for games, Rodriguez arrived on Wednesday ready to go through rigorous regimen paces, despite having injured his right ankle in a headfirst slide on Tuesday.

The Yankees, as cautious as would be expected with the probable American League MVP, had different plans. Instead of running sprints in the outfield and taking dozens of cuts in the underground batting cages, Rodriguez found himself grumbling his way to a Manhattan hospital, where tests revealed injuries that left him at an estimated 60 percent.

"You've got to be smart about it," Rodriguez said. "Going to the hospital at 5:15 [p.m.] is something that you're not very excited about. You want to play, you know your body, and you certainly don't want to get into an MRI machine."

While Rodriguez was in transit, Torre ripped up his original lineup card, on which he had optimistically filled in Rodriguez as New York's third baseman and cleanup hitter.

Another version briefly filtered through Torre's mind, showcasing Jorge Posada as the designated hitter and Wilson Betemit at third base, but Rodriguez wouldn't have it -- going through an abbreviated pregame workout at the stadium, he charged past reporters and into the trainers' room, where Torre asked him to prove that a third revision was necessary.

"I know you want to play, but are you going to be able to apply yourself and not be tentative?" Torre recalled asking Rodriguez.

"He wanted to look me in the eyes and make sure I wasn't lying to him," Rodriguez said.

The truth came through in the seventh, as Rodriguez -- the DH, batting fourth -- erased a one-run deficit by turning on a full-count Jarrod Washburn fastball, instantly spoiling six innings of work in which the Seattle left-hander had limited the Yankees to little but Jose Molina's solo homer.

After an error, the Mariners turned Washburn's game over to their September-swelled bullpen, and from there the Yankees took control, sending 12 men to the plate in the inning. After Rodriguez's homer, George Sherrill offered two walks before pinch-hitter Posada looked at a 3-1 Sean Green pitch to force home the go-ahead run. Johnny Damon bounced into a RBI fielder's choice, and Melky Cabrera singled through the right side with Damon in motion. Derek Jeter's two-run double off the wall in right-center preceded Rodriguez's second homer of the inning, a blast to left field that earned him a curtain call from the crowd of 52,538.

"I can't relate to it. It's unbelievable," said Jeter, who stood at home plate applauding Rodriguez's memorable feat. "I haven't seen anything like it in all my years playing. It's not that easy."

The home runs gave Rodriguez 512 for his career, moving him past Mel Ott and tying Ernie Banks and Eddie Mathews for 17th place on the all-time list.

Even though Rodriguez said this is no time to ponder his place in history, Torre didn't hesitate to marvel once more.

"His whole career is something special -- the numbers he's put up at his age, and how he takes care of himself," Torre said. "Sometimes how important this game is to him gets in the way, because he needs to do so much. This year he's been a gamer."

The big inning left 21-year-old Joba Chamberlain in line to earn his first Major League victory, having pitched a scoreless seventh in relief of starter Phil Hughes. Chamberlain said that he didn't realize how the official scoring worked until Mariano Rivera congratulated him after the game; crediting Rodriguez with helping him get win No. 1 would be no problem.

"The man's incredible," Chamberlain said. "He's one of the best in the game, and he still works every day to become better. That's a tribute to him and his workout. He understands that it takes hard work. You can't get at the top and stay there. You have to work even harder."

Raul Ibanez reached Hughes for a two-run homer in the fourth, but otherwise the right-hander appeared in command, tying a career high with six strikeouts, and scattering five hits and walking two in a 97-pitch effort.

"Especially coming off three not very good starts, it's definitely one that I can work off of," Hughes said. "And it also feels good to know that I didn't just go out there and [not] know what I did differently. I know where I need to be right now, and that's a good feeling."

The outburst helped the Yankees bookend their nine-game homestand with high notes. A sweep of the Red Sox was followed by the doldrums of dropping two of three to the Devil Rays, a luxury the Yankees can ill afford. But picking up two wins against the AL Wild Card-contending Mariners provides a springboard to an important trip to Kansas City, Toronto and Boston.

"We have a lot of work to do here," Rodriguez said. "We've talked about how, from July on, every game for us is a postseason game. We just need to take small bites."

Minor injury scares for A-Rod, Wang

Minor injury scares for A-Rod, Wang

Slugger may sit out Wednesday; righty's stiffness 'not an issue'

By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com

NEW YORK -- The Yankees would prefer not to imagine what their roster would look like if they simultaneously lost the services of both their winningest pitcher and most prolific slugger.

And yet, in the span of one inning, they nearly found out.

Alex Rodriguez twisted his right ankle sliding headfirst into third base in the Yankees' seven-run seventh inning on Tuesday, en route to a 12-3 victory over the Mariners. A half-inning later, Chien-Ming Wang took the mound for the eighth inning but was pulled with lower-back stiffness.

Now for the exhale. Though he complained that his ankle -- rolled over by Mariners third baseman Adrian Beltre -- was "a little sore," Rodriguez underwent X-rays that came back negative, taken on the premises of Yankee Stadium following the game.

Rodriguez left open the possibility that he may need to rest on Wednesday, as the Yankees wrap up their Wild Card-tinged series with the Mariners.

"A little scary," said Rodriguez, who hit his Major League-leading 46th homer in the victory. "But we'll see how it feels in the morning."

"I knew it was going to take me a long time to get to third base, and I didn't want bad news when I got there," manager Joe Torre said. "Then, when I saw him get up on his knees, it made me feel better. But that was scary, the way he went down. There's so many things that can happen."

The Yankees explained Wang's stiffness by pointing to the lengthy seventh inning, in which New York sent 12 men to the plate against three Seattle pitchers.

With a low pitch count and the Yankees having staked Wang to a large lead, the right-hander opened the eighth inning, throwing two pitches to pinch-hitter Jeremy Reed. Both offerings set off red flags in the mind of catcher Jorge Posada, who trotted to the mound and checked on Wang after Reed chopped to second base.

"He asked me if I was OK," Wang said. "I said, 'I'm OK.' I could not get loose."

That, Posada said, was enough to wave to the Yankees' bench for a coaching visit. Enough was enough.

"I was not going to let him pitch," Posada said. "It just didn't look good -- the two pitches he threw, something about it didn't look right. I just wanted to make sure he was OK. He told me he felt tight, and I told the dugout to come out.

"You don't want him to get hurt. He's too valuable. I just wanted to make sure he was OK."

Wang said he received only normal ice treatment on the back and that he was feeling better after the game. Since he will not pitch on seven days' rest with a long layoff upcoming due to two off-days in the schedule, the Yankees had little concern the issue would follow him.

Pitching coach Ron Guidry and Torre both blamed the stiffness on the lengthy preceding inning, since Wang opened the eighth at just 84 pitches.

"Sitting down for 45 minutes, that's it," Guidry said. "Most of the time, it's five minutes, 10 minutes. When you sit down for 40 or 45 minutes, your back gets tight, especially late in the game."

"You could see when he threw the first couple of pitches, he didn't bend his back," Torre said. "It was just stiffness. It's not an issue. I think it was just a long inning."

Asked if Wang perhaps should have admitted that his back was stiff before opening the eighth inning, the catcher shuffled the question off to the 27-year-old right-hander. With 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball in the books on the way to win No. 17, Wang could do little wrong.

"You don't want him to get hurt," Posada said. "He's too valuable. I just wanted to make sure he was OK."