Judge rules trees can’t stop Yankees

The New York Yankees can break ground today for their new ballpark next to Yankee Stadium after a state judge struck down an environmental challenge to the construction, saying trees don’t have legal protection.

Even before Tuesday’s ruling by state Supreme Court Justice Herman Cahn, the team announced it planned to conduct a groundbreaking ceremony today. Construction is to start a day later.

The team, which has played at its Bronx ballpark since 1923, plans to move to the new 53,000-seat, $800 million stadium for the 2009 season.

The judge rejected an effort by Save Our Parks, an association of about 100 households in the neighborhoods where the new ballpark will be built, to stop the city from removing trees at the construction site.

“Trees themselves have no legal protection,” Cahn said.

Communities were protected through environmental impact statements and reports but there was no legal bar to cutting down trees to permit a project that benefits the city and the community, he said.

“The trees are not owed more deference than the community as a whole,” he said.

He acknowledged the Yankees’ threat to leave the city if construction does not begin, saying it was a “real and significant possibility.”

The group’s lawyers asked the judge to block construction while he more fully heard their arguments that the city did not honestly explore the impact of the new stadium on the neighboring communities’ parkland, open space and 15,000 students at 19 schools.

A lawyer for the organization did not immediately return a telephone call for comment.

The judge did not toss out the group’s lawsuit but said its claims seemed unlikely to succeed and were insufficient to block construction.

Randolph expects best for ace

Mets ace Pedro Martinez was examined in New York, one day after a strained right calf forced him out of his start against Philadelphia following the worst first inning of his career.

Mets manager Willie Randolph was optimistic that Martinez’s injury wasn’t serious. A team spokesman said results of the tests won’t be known until today.

“He said he felt sore, but he didn’t seem alarmed by it,” Randolph said before the National League East-leading Mets played the Phillies in the second of a four-game series. “I’m not concerned at all. It’s nothing to get excited about.”

Jones rests sore knee

Andruw Jones was scratched from the Atlanta Braves’ lineup shortly before their game against the Washington Nationals because of a left knee injury.

Jones was replaced in center field by Ryan Langerhans, while Adam LaRoche was moved up from seventh in the batting order to Jones’ cleanup spot.

The Braves said Jones has patellar tendinitis in his left knee and listed him as day to day. The club said he was available to pinch hit.

He’s hitting .274 with 29 homers and 100 RBIs this season. Jones doubled twice in Atlanta’s 10-4 win over Washington on Monday.

Reyes hits three homers

Jose Reyes became the seventh player in New York Mets history to hit three homers in game when he connected against the Philadelphia Phillies at Philadelphia.

Reyes hit the first pitch of the game off Randy Wolf into the left-field seats. He added another solo homer off Wolf in the third inning and drove a two-run shot into the upper deck against reliever Brian Sanches in the eighth inning.