Morning News and Notes

Good morning Fackers. Happy Humpday. Let's get over the hill with some news and notes:

• Chad Gaudin will take Sergio Mitre's turn in the rotation and start Thursday's series opener in Toronto. As you may recall, Mitre was spinning a gem in his start last Saturday when he took an A.J. Pierzynski liner off his throwing arm in the seventh. No word on yet on when Mitre will be available again.



• It's worth mentioning that Joba Chamberlain's next start will be Friday, in the game after Gaudin's spot start. Given the latest Joba plan, I wouldn't expect Joba to go more than three or four innings Friday. Since August 1st, Gaudin has made just 6 appearances covering just 17.1 innings. So over two days the Yankees will probably need eight or nine innings out of their pen and Alfredo Aceves is really the only Yankee reliever who can go more than two innings at a time. Thankfully, the Yankees currently have a ten man bullpen due to September call-ups, so they should survive.



• Speaking of September call-ups, yesterday I wondered why Jonathan Albaladejo wasn't included in the first round of additions. Turns out he took one to the eye while playing catch the other day and is currently day-to-day. He should be up once he's back to full strength.



• In other minor league news, three Yankees have taken home some hardware. Highly touted catching prospect Austin Romine was named Florida State League (high A) Player of the Year. At AAA, Shelley Duncan was named International League MVP and Austin Jackson was named IL Rookie of the Year.



• Mark Feinsand of the Daily News tweeted that both Duncan and Jackson will be recalled later this month. Remember, as we discussed yesterday, AJax would have to be added to the currently full 40 man roster first.



• Brett Gardner took live BP yesterday for the first time since his thumb injury and could begin a minor league rehab assignment as soon as Thursday.



• Nick Swisher's home run at Camden Yards last night was his fourth in that ballpark in 2009. He also has four at Tropicana Field and three at Comerica Park. Swisher has three home runs at Yankee Stadium this year.



• Carlos Pena leads the American League with 38 home runs. He has twenty home runs on the road. Nick Swisher is approximately 24th in the AL with 24 home runs. He too has twenty home runs on the road.



• Jerry Hairston Jr took over in left field as a defensive replacement in the bottom of the seventh last night. In the eighth, he had another defensive misplay, as he let an awkward hop by him, turning a Brian Roberts single into a double. Ken Singleton, calling the game for YES, intended to describe it as an "erractic hop", but initially mispoke, calling it an "erotic hop". Funny, but not quite as good as Michael Kay's "drop a deuce" line earlier this year.



• The George Steinbrenner Yankeeography premiers tonight following the game.



• ESPN normally functions as the root of all evil. Yesterday however, they made a gracious move, agreeing to allow the Sunday September 27th game against the Red Sox, to which they have the TV rights, to begin at 1 PM rather than 8 PM to accomodate Yom Kippur, which begins at sundown. No word yet as to whether Joe Morgan and Steve Phillips plan to use the opportunity atone for being a awful announcers.

We'll be back in a bit with more for you.