New York Yankees Notes: Andy Pettitte, Brett Gardner and Nick Swisher

The Yankees lost 7-4 to the Royals and Alex Rodriguez failed to hit home run no. 600. Sergio Mitre started and allowed 7 runs, 5 earned, but Dustin Moseley went 4.2 scoreless innings to save the bullpen. Mark Teixeira hit a pair of home runs and came to the plate as the tying run in the 9th, but failed to homer a third time.

Here are some notes:

• Andy Pettitte is expected back in 4-to-5 weeks, but if you ask him he expects to be back earlier .
• Brett Gardner missed this afternoon’s game after he was hospitalized this morning with acid reflux.
• Jonathan Albaladejo was great last night, but got sent down today .
• Nick Swisher missed his 2nd game with a sore achilles tendon, but hopes to play tomorrow .

Here’s the thinking behind sending Albaladejo down. He’s been bad in the past, but he’s had a phenomenal year at Triple-A this season and has been impressive in this latest stint. At this point the Yankees are better off with him over Moseley, Chad Gaudin , or Chan Ho Park , but they get to keep Albaladejo if they send him down and the other pitchers would have to be DFA’d. I’d expect his performance this time around to earn him a quick call back though.

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