BOBBY SOCKS SELF
Nick Sw isher doe sn’t know how many games he has left in a Yankees uniform, but he is planning to make the most of them.
Swisher, swinging the hottest bat in the Yankees’ lineup, went 3-for-4 in Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the Red Sox. He is hitting .324 (22-for-68) with four home runs and 15 RBI in 17 games this month, including a .380 average and 14 RBI in his last 12.
“I just feel like I’m going out there and I’ve been thinking a lot; that word ‘regret’ kind of pops in my head,” he said. “That’s the last thing I want to have. Regardless of whatever my situation is next year, I want to enjoy this time I have now and just soak it up. We’ll see what happens.”
Swisher is headed for free agency for the first time in his career this winter, and although he would love to stay in pinstripes, the Yankees’ edict to get under the $189 million luxury-tax threshold by 2014 might prevent that.
“I’ve never gone through something like this. I don’t even know what to think about,” the right fielder said. “I’m just trying to enjoy it, because this place has been so amazing to me. I figure if I didn’t go out and give it everything I had, I’d feel bad about that. I’m just trying to out there, have some fun, put up quality atbats every single time and just go from there.”
Red Sox fans and media outlets across the country are saying that for Boston to rebound from this debacle of a season, manager Bobby Valentine has to be fired. Valentine was asked Saturday how he thinks he’s done and, after trying to sidestep the question, said his performance has been substandard.
“As far as my job’s concerned, whether I’m doing a good job: I’m not doing a good job,” he said. “I didn’t get paid to do anything other than get to the playoffs, win a lot of games, be in the thick of things right to the end, even be in first place. The team I’m managing is not there. My job has not been a good job, if I had to assess. But that’s not what I do.”
Owner John Henry and GM Ben Cherington have said Valentine, who is in the first year of a two-year contract, will at least finish the season.
CC ON TRACK
CC Sabathia sailed through a short bullpen session without incident and is on track to start on Friday. The lefty, who has inflammation in his left elbow, threw about 23 pitches and “the last six or seven I cut loose pretty good,” he said. “I feel good about where I’m at.”
Sabathia hasn’t had any pain or swelling the past few days, so he is confident he’ll start in Cleveland. Sabathia’s final test is a regular bullpen session on Tuesday.
Even Sabathia admitted that going on the DL, which he fought at the time, was the right move.
“Looking back on it now, yeah,” Sabathia said. “A f ter throwing the past couple of days, the way I felt, it seemed like it was the best way to go.”
TEX STILL SORE
Mark Teixeira’s sore left wrist kept him out of the lineup for a second straight game, and Joe Girardi was unable to predict when he would have his first baseman back. “He’s a little bit better today,” Girardi said. “I’m a little bit concerned if it’s going to get to 100%.”
OPTING FOR KNIFE?
Most Boston players say they haven’t given up on this season yet, but a report on the Boston Globe’s website indicated lef t fielder Carl Crawford may have.
Crawford was on the DL with a partially torn ligament in his left elbow from the start of the season until being activated in July, when he said he was willing to play with pain as long as the Red Sox were in contention. The Globe report said he wants to have season-ending Tommy John surgery next week.