Morning Brew, NY House Blend

Not a lot of panic in New York. Not nearly as much as followed the last Boston sweep. But still, we thought you might like a few headlines and snippets after a weekend that put the Sox 4 up in late June. Enjoy.

NY Post - CC Ya Later. (Nice twist of the Michael Kay call. I can't help but find that signature damn annoying. Otherwise, Michael Kay is pretty good. Still, with Ken Singleton on the color commentary, I don't wish the YES network on any of you.) "It took a $161 million arm to bark for the spotlight to dim on Alex Rodriguez's return from a two-game starting hiatus. With all eyes on Rodriguez to see how his fatigued body would respond to the first start since Thursday, Yankees ace CC Sabathia left the mound in the second inning with what was diagnosed by Dr. Dan Kanell as biceps tendinitis."

NY Post - Yankees Protest Lineup Snafu. (I mean, sure you've gotta get every game you can, but still, I enjoyed the smell of desperation in this.) "With pitcher Leo Nunez in the leadoff spot after Alejandro De Aza hit for Renyel Pinto in the seventh, Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez doubled-switched left fielder and leadoff man Chris Coghlan out of the game. But with Coghlan in left as Nunez warmed up, Girardi told plate umpire Tim Timmons that Nunez couldn't be hitting first if Coghlan was in the game. And Girardi told Timmons not to warn the Marlins. After Nunez's first pitch, Girardi went back to Timmons, who gathered the umpires to discuss a situation Timmons told Girardi he never had seen before...It likely will fall into the laps of Joe Garagiola, senior VP of baseball operations, or Ed Burns, VP of baseball operations.
According to Girardi, if the protest is upheld, the game would be resumed with the Marlins leading 6-3 at the start of the eighth inning." (Pretty interesting. Wonder if the Yankees will come back within a base hit again.)

NY Daily News, A-Rod to Sit out One Day a Week. "Joe Girardi plans to rest A-Rod once a week for the next month, a plan Rodriguez said was devised by Dr. Marc Phillipon, the Colorado surgeon who operated on his hip in March. 'That sounds like a good plan,' A-Rod said Sunday. 'From what I understand, that comes from Vail (Colo.) and Dr. Philippon. We'll follow his instructions and regroup in a month. The idea is that I'll get stronger each month.'" (I understand doctor's orders and everything, but isn't your franchise player supposed to at least pretend like he doesn't want a day off every week, like it's tearing him up inside?)

NY Daily News, The Manager doth Protest too Much. "There's an old saying that every day you go to the ballpark, you might see something you’ve never seen before. That was certainly the case Sunday night. I saw CC Sabathia leave a game in the second inning, and while that has actually happened twice before, the last time was 2004, so I had personally never seen it...I saw two separate fights in the stands during the eighth inning, and while I’ve certainly seen my share of those, one of them involved two women who were fighting like Wendi Richter and the Fabulous Moolah. These two women weren’t having a stereotypical slap fight - they were throwing haymakers, essentially shifting all eyes in the ballpark in their direction. I had definitely never seen that before. But the most interesting thing that I had never seen before actually took place at the same time as the aforementioned fight. It was Joe Girardi halting the game in the top of the eighth to protest something to the umpires, apparently believing that the Marlins had taken part in some type of illegal substitution."

NY Times, Humble Josh Johnson Humbles the Yanks. (This one's from yesterday, but I thought the angle was pompous enough to include anyway.) The Florida Marlins’ Josh Johnson is 25 years old, young enough to still be awed to share a field with the Yankees’ Derek Jeter. At least, after the game he was awed. During it he was thrilled to strike out Jeter with a 96-mile-an-hour fastball. Johnson punctuated the moment with a rare fist pump. 'Striking out Derek Jeter, I’ll remember that for the rest of my life, I’m sure,' Johnson said. 'One of the best players in the game, one of the best players of all-time, I think. One of the most respected players, too. That’s when I got a little emotional, when I struck him out.'" (Yup, a story about how the Yankees are so great it humbles young ballplayers to beat them up. Well done, New York Times.)