The Philadelphia Phillies’ Roy Halladay was lucky enough to have his Sports Illustrated jinx last for only one spring training game.  The New York Yankees have not been so fortunate.  And to make matters worse, the May 3, 2010 issue of the popular sports magazine featured not one, but four of the Bronx Bombers’ top players.

So how has gracing the cover of SI treated Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte thus far?  Let’s just say that not even the boys in pinstripes are immune to some bad luck.

As of yesterday, the names of three of the four cover boys could be found on the Yankees’ injury report.  Rivera has been sidelined with stiffness in his left side, Posada was out with a mild calf strain, and Pettitte was forced to leave yesterday’s game and has been listed as day-to-day with an inflamed left elbow.  Derek Jeter appears to be the only one surviving his SI cover experience.

Thankfully, the jinx has only affected the health of the players featured on the magazine, and not the team’s record (they have won four in a row).  However, they may want to consider avoiding SI covers for the remainder of the season.  If they can do that, the Yankees may once again find themselves featured on the cover in November, as World Series champions.

With the Jays up 9-2 in the bottom of the eighth, Brett Gardner hit a double down the 1st base line which brought in Jorge Posada, but as the Yankees’ catcher crossed home plate, he brushed Jays’ pitcher Jesse Carlson with an elbow.  Posada was immidiately ejected, but that didn’t stop Carlson from having a few choice words.  Seconds later, Posada, Carlson and Jays’ catcher Rod Barajas came together and a brawl ensued.

With Posada and Carlson going at it, as well as Barajas and Shelley Duncan, benches cleared and players attempted to break things up.  They eventually succeeded, but not before some damage could be done.

Carlson received a welt on his head, while even Yankees manager Joe Girardi got into the action, getting clipped in the eye and cut on his left ear.  He wasn’t the only manager involved either as Cito Gaston confronted a member of the Yankees who was seen attempting to drag Barajas by his catchers’ equipment.

Both Carlson and Posada were ejected from the game by umpire Jim Joyce, who stated that his crew would look over the video tapes again before finalizing their report, but their initial observations were not particularly good ones for Jorge.

“As he ran past Carlson, he gave him a little shove with his elbow,” Joyce said. “It was very unsportsmanlike. The pitcher wasn’t looking for anything like that and he ran past him, didn’t say anything and just gave him a shove with his elbow. It was a cheap shot.” [MLB.com]

We have gotten used to seeing brawls in the stands at the new Yankee Stadium, and a similar incident almost transpired back in June when the crosstown rival Mets were visiting, but things got settled down before any punches could be thrown.  That was not the case this time as the fists weren’t exactly flying, but the intent was there.  It was a rather disappointing brawl in my opinion, but I guess you can’t expect baseball players to stir things up like athletes in other sports.  Not even one chair thrown.  How disappointing.

Going into the bottom of the 7th, it looked as if the Yankees were again going to lose to the Indians.  But catcher Jorge Posada stepped up to the plate as a pinch hitter and hit a 2 run home run that eventually would be the winner.

“After an 8 1/2-minute delay, crew chief Jerry Crawford confirmed the original call on Posada’s pinch-hit two-run homer, and New York went on to spoil former teammate Carl Pavano’s return with a 7-3 win over the Cleveland Indians on Sunday.”

Posada’s game winning home run set a couple records at the new Yankee Stadium,

• Posada’s shot was the 20th hit at Yankee Stadium this season, setting the record for most homers in a ballpark’s first four games. Great American Ball Park saw 18 in 2003.

• It was the first video replay used this season, as the Yankees won their fourth game of their past six.

The only problem is that after looking at the replay of the home run, we have concluded that the home run hit by Jorge Posada was an error.  The correct call should have been, no home run because of fan interference and the umpires call should have been overturn.

Even with the new MLB instant replay rules, the umps still find ways to make the wrong calls.