YANKEE NOTES
BOSTON – Even the hard-to-impress George Steinbrenner is smitten by Jason Giambi’s reinventing himself into a lineup force.
“I have to praise Giambi for working hard and for a remarkable comeback,” The Boss said via PR guru Howard Rubenstein of the Yankee’s first baseman, who went 10-for-18 (.556) with five homers and 10 RBIs on the six-game homestand. Giambi was also 3-for-4 with a homer and four RBIs with runners in scoring position.
While Steinbrenner is impressed by Giambi’s hot streak that lifted his average to a season-high .278, The Boss also threw praise at hitting coach Don Mattingly.
“He has done some great work with Giambi,” The Boss said of Mattingly, a workaholic whose daily cage sessions with Giambi have turned the left-handed hitter into a force again.
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As for the four games against the Red Sox in Fenway Park, Steinbrenner said, “I am looking forward to a series against a tough team.”
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Melky Cabrera‘s force-feeding program continued yesterday. While most Yankees were making their way back from the All Star break, the 20-year-old center fielder was at Yankee Stadium taking fly balls from coach Roy White before traveling to Boston.
Cabrera’s four big league games have included struggles in the outfield. It doesn’t figure to get easier with four games in Fenway Park where the walls provide strange angles.
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MLB hasn’t set a date for Gary Sheffield to explain his side of the June 26 incident with umpire C.B. Bucknor in which Sheffield was ejected and later suspended two games and fined $2,000. Sheffield is appealing the suspension. Since the Yankees start an 11-game road trip tonight, it’s not out of the question Sheffield’s appeal could be heard by MLB’s top cop Bob Watson in Boston.
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Mike Mussina was the Yankees’ best pitcher during the first half of the season, posting a 9-5 record and winning four of his last five decisions. Coming into the season, he was 10-6 at Fenway, and Joe Torre likes to pitch the right-hander there as often as possible and is Torre’s choice to start tonight.
However, the Red Sox have given Mussina trouble this year. In three games he is 0-2 with a 7.07 ERA and the Yankees have dropped all three of Mussina’s starts against the Red Sox.
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Former Yankee Mike Stanton signed with the Nationals yesterday.
“It was a tough 10 days,” said Stanton who was released Monday by the Yankees after being designated for assignment. “We requested a release five or six days into it but [GM Brian] Cashman still felt like he could trade me but it never materialized.”
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Lefty reliever Wayne Franklin, who took Stanton’s spot, has been a Yankee less than two weeks but he fits into the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry.
“I grew up a Yankees fan, so I grew up hating the Red Sox,” said Franklin, who was born in Delaware, went to high school and college in Maryland and has never been to Fenway Park.
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Right-handed reliever Felix Rodriguez was scheduled to make a second minor league rehab outing last night. If Rodriguez, who has been out since early May due to knee surgery, comes through it okay he could be activated from the DL. If healthy, Rodriguez’ biggest value to the Yankees could be as trade bait. Or he could replace Jason Anderson or Scott Proctor.