Today’s news is powered by Bruuuuuce! (He turned 60 yesterday):

• Pop goes the Hairston:

Yankees utility man Jerry Hairston Jr. was removed from Wednesday’s 3-2 win at Angel Stadium after feeling a popping sensation in his left wrist and will undergo an MRI examination on Thursday in New York.

Hairston was batting in the seventh inning against right-handed reliever Jason Bulger with New York leading, 3-2, and took a ball from the hurler. He tried a practice swing after the pitch and felt something strange and painful.

“It’s just been bothering me the last three weeks or so,” Hairston said. “It felt really weird. I’ve never had that. I felt something pop and I tried to take another swing and felt kind of a sharp pain. Right now, I’m hoping it’s scar tissue or something I can play through.”

• Will Carroll on Andy Pettitte’s season:

At 37, Pettitte’s been an effective mid-rotation starter . . . but the consistency in his workload over the years is astonishing. Aside from two seasons with arm problems in 2002 and 2004, Pettitte’s always been a workhorse. He’s put up four straight years of 200+ innings, and if he gets 16 more innings this season, he’d have his 11^th season with 200+ IP. At 215 wins, Pettitte’s unlikely to hit the 300-win milestone, but he’s also an interesting case for the Hall of Fame. The Yankees are far enough ahead in the standings that they can do things like give Pettitte a week off to rest up, and given his results last time out, it appears that worked. . . . The age and workload may have worn him down a little, but the Yankees are smart enough to get him the needed rest.

• More Zs for CC:

Friday is (CC) Sabathia’s day, but the Yankees pushed him back to give him six days’ rest. He would also have extra rest before his final start of the regular season next weekend at Tampa Bay. Then he could start Game 1 of the division series on no fewer than four days’ rest.

This is by design. Last season, Sabathia made his final four starts for Milwaukee on three days’ rest. He won twice, including on the final day of the regular season to lift the Brewers to the playoffs. But he fell flat on short rest in Game 2 of the division series at Philadelphia.

That history is behind the Yankees’ plan. “We started thinking about this in the beginning of September,” Manager Joe Girardi said, and it makes sense.

. . . “Definitely, getting extra rest, I’ve been feeling fresh the last couple of times out there, feeling strong,” Sabathia said. “Hopefully, it’ll help me come October and November.”

• More records for the Captain:

After the buildup in early September to Derek Jeter’s career Yankees hit record, we’ve probably all had our fill of hit milestones. But Jeter added another on Tuesday night, collecting his 200th hit of the season. At 35, he’s the oldest regular shortstop to have a 200-hit season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. His seven seasons of 200 hits are a record for a shortstop, which makes sense, since no shortstop has ever had as many hits.

• Eric Soderholm turns 61 today.  Soderholm finished up his career with one season with the Yanks (’81) in which he went .287/.353/.462 in 278 ABs as a DH/3B.
• On this date in 1927, the Yankees win their 106th, 6-0 over Detroit, for a new AL high. They will win 110, a record until the 1954 Indians win 111.
• On this date in 1972, in the nitecap of a twinbill sweep over the Indians, Sparky Lyle sets an American League record and ties the ML mark by saving his 35th game. The Yanks win, 8 – 3, after gaining a 5 – 4 win in the opener when they score two unearned runs on five Indian errors in the 11th. Thurman Munson steals 2B by kicking the ball out of Frank Duffy’s glove and going to 3B on the error. Duffy then boots a grounder and throws wildly for two more E’s. Catcher Gerry Moses then picks up a squibber and fires over 1B and RF Del Unser’s throw to the plate is over Moses’ head for error 5.
• On this date in 1978, Ron Guidry (23 – 3) gains his 3rd 2-hit shutout of the month, 4 – 0 over the Indians. The two Indian hits are by Duane Kuiper, the 2nd time this year that he has recorded the only hits in a game. The Yankees ace also two-hitted the Red Sox on September 9th (7 – 0) and 15th (4 – 0). It is Guidry’s 9th shutout of the year, a Yankee record, and just one short of the American League record for southpaws set by Boston lefty Babe Ruth in 1916.
• On this date in 2002, thanks to Jason’s two home runs in the Yankees 6-0 whitewash of the Devil Rays, the Giambi brothers (Jason 40, Jeremy 20) pass the DiMaggio siblings for the highest single-season total for homers with 60. The DiMaggios (Joe 46, Vince, 13) went yard 59 times in 1937.
• On this date in 2005, the Yankees become the third franchise in major league history, and the first since the 1994 strike, to pass the four-million attendance mark. The 1993 Colorado Rockies and the 1991-1993 Toronto Blue Jays were the other teams to have reached the milestone.