How many injuries to front-line players can a team absorb before it becomes fertilizer to keep the grass green?
The Yankees are about to find out after watching Francisco Cervelli and Ivan Nova exit last night’s 6-4 win over the free-falling Blue Jays in front of an announced Yankee Stadium crowd of 36,151.
“Guys have to step up like tonight,’’ manager Joe Girardi said when asked how much hurt can a team take. “You keep finding ways, that’s what you do.’’
It helped the miserable Blue Jays were in the third-base dugout. Their pitchers issued 10 walks and the Yankees scored runs on a wild pitch and passed ball.
Before the game was three innings old, Cervelli was gone with a fractured right hand and Nova was removed with pain in his right elbow.
Cervelli’s injury was a product of a foul tip hitting him in the exposed knuckle. He will be operated on today by Dr. Melvin Rossenwasser at New York Presbyterian Hospital and will be out a minimum of six weeks. Catcher Austin Romine was summoned from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and will join the club today.
Nova told the medical staff the area above his elbow was stiff after the second inning, but he wanted to test it in the third. After his velocity was down a tick and he hit a batter with a curveball, Girardi called for David Phelps and Nova was sent for an MRI exam. The Yankees did not have the results last night.
Girardi was not ready to say Nova will miss a start, but can anybody who has been following the elongated Yankees medical saga really believe Nova will not join the long line of players on the disabled list?
With Cervelli joining Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson on the shelf, they may have to make room for Kevin Youkilis. He missed a sixth straight game, and if a lower back problem doesn’t allow him to play today the corner infielder is likely headed to the DL.
“You can’t think about it — injury bug hit us hard right now,” said David Robertson, who gave up a one-out solo homer in the eighth to Jose Bautista that cut the Yankees lead to 5-4 before Brett Gardner’s homer in the eighth accounted for the final run. “Nothing we can do about it.’’
Except try to keep the wheels from completely coming off. So far the 13-9 Yankees have accomplished that.
“We have a scrappy bunch,’’ said Phelps, whose four innings of one-run relief got him the victory. “We are going to win games a lot of different ways.’’
But how long can a team with Jayson Nix at third base, Ben Francisco the DH against lefties and Lyle Overbay playing first base every day stay afloat?
Probably as long as the pitching holds up. If Nova lands on the DL, it isn’t as damaging as CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda or Andy Pettitte going down. The difference between Phelps and Nova is minimal, and Phelps’ competitiveness may trump Nova’s superior stuff.
Also, the Yankees bullpen is a strength even though it was tested when Mariano Rivera loaded the bases in the ninth only to post his eighth save in as many chances by whiffing Colby Rasmus.
“It’s exciting baseball, the ninth inning. I am not sure my hair color needs it, but that’s baseball,’’ said Girardi, who has to be wondering what can happen next. “Injuries are part of the game, part of life.”
And often part of the ruination of a season.