YANKEE NOTES
MILWAUKEE – In an effort to wake up his dead wood, Joe Torre boxed batting practice for tonight’s game at Miller Park.
“Maybe we will save some hits for the game,” Torre said of his batters who have eight hits in the past two games and are the primary culprits for the Yankees losing nine of their last 10. In those losses the Yankees are hitting a pathetic .198 (59-for-298) overall, .145 (9-for-62) in the clutch and have scored 19 runs.
“If we score a ton of runs they will say, ‘Why didn’t we do this a week ago?’ ” Torre added.
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According to Torre, Kevin Brown will test his barking left shoulder with a bullpen session today.
Torre made that announcement after last night’s 2-1 loss to the Brewers, but earlier in the day Brown said he couldn’t have pitched if yesterday had been his day and wasn’t sure if he’d be able to take the ball Friday night against the Cardinals.
“I wouldn’t say anything about the odds one way or the other,” said Brown, who fell and bruised his left shoulder while covering first base on Sunday.
Clearly, there is a problem.
“I wouldn’t want to try and pitch the way it is [yesterday],” Brown said.
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Torre was aware that Tino Martinez had two homers and was batting .357 (5-for-14) against Brewers starter Ben Sheets. However, Torre stayed with Jason Giambi at first base for the second straight game.
“Jason could be a big upgrade,” Torre said of Giambi, who went 0-for-2, walked twice and had a ninth-inning homer taken away by right fielder Geoff Jenkins.
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Chad Bohling has joined the Yankees after not being around the club in Kansas City and Minneapolis. Bohling’s job description is director of optimal performance.
In other words, Bohling is somebody the players can talk to when things are miserable. Figure there’ll be a long line to see him.
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Jaret Wright showed up at the minor league complex in Tampa yesterday complaining of biceps soreness, one day after throwing from 90 feet for the first time in his rehab program for a strained right shoulder.