TORONTO — Early last night, Alex Rodriguez said he would be in the lineup tonight against the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.
After a stunning 6-5, 10-inning loss, manager Joe Girardi said, “We are expecting he will be available for us [tonight].”
But there was no guarantee from Rodriguez.
Until the Yankees’ cleanup hitter steps into the batter’s box to face lefty Brett Cecil, there will be doubt that the third baseman’s oblique muscle problem will allow him to play.
Considering Rodriguez left Saturday’s game, didn’t play Sunday, rested during Monday’s off day, sat again last night and tomorrow is another off day, the safe play would be to hold Rodriguez out of the lineup tonight so he could be fully recovered for the start of a series Friday night in Baltimore.
“If there are any questions, we know the schedule,” Rodriguez said. “But right now we are scheduled to play [tonight].”
Rodriguez left Saturday’s game with what was diagnosed as lower-back and oblique stiffness.
Yesterday, he took 40 to 50 swings in the indoor batting cage with hitting coach Kevin Long watching, and then fielded grounded balls during batting practice.
Rodriguez, who has been on the disabled list in each of the past three seasons, said he would have played if it was later in the season rather than the middle of the first month.
“I could strap it on and play, but considering where we are in the schedule . . .” said Rodriguez, who is batting .385 (15-for-39) with four homers and nine RBIs in 12 games.
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To believe Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon will remain two-fifths of the Yankees’ rotation for the remainder of the season would be naive.
Each right-hander has a history of serious injuries, and they are well on the back side of very good careers.
Yet that doesn’t mean the Yankees can’t squeeze some wins out of the veterans. Garcia beat the muscular Rangers at Yankee Stadium, and if Colon pitches tonight as well as Garcia did, the Yankees will be pleased.
Prior to being inserted into the rotation last week, when Phil Hughes went on the DL with a dead right arm, Colon pitched well in three games as a reliever. Now, he makes his first start since July 24, 2009, when he was with the White Sox.
Arm problems forced him to miss all of the 2010 season. On the recommendation of bench coach Tony Pena, who managed him in the Dominican Winter League, and scouts Joe Caro and Bill Livesey, the Yankees signed Colon to a make-good, $900,000 contract, though they admitted they didn’t know what to expect in spring training.
Colon’s velocity held up for a month and he showed a turbo sinker out of the bullpen.
“It was a matter of need that we made the move,” Girardi said of injecting the 37-year-old into the rotation. “We hope the innings he throws and the innings he didn’t throw last year aren’t going to bother him.”
Colon is 8-3 with a 3.65 ERA in 18 games against the Blue Jays and 4-2 with a 3.86 ERA at Rogers Centre.
“I like to pitch away [from home], it’s been that way everywhere I pitch,” Colon said.
The numbers don’t lie. At home, Colon is 75-55 with a 4.13 ERA. On the road, he is 78-49 with a 4.06 ERA. Overall, he is 153-104 with a 4.09 ERA.
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For the second straight game against a right-hander, Girardi hit the ice-cold Brett Gardner ninth.
“His timing is a little off. He is a little late,” Girardi said of the left fielder, who is in a 0-for-16 slide and has one hit in his past 26 at-bats. “Obviously he is very important to us. We are putting him in a spot he was familiar with last year.”
Gardner’s April nightmare continued last night. He not only went 0-for-4, he failed to get a sacrifice bunt down successfully and was thrown out attempting to steal second. It was the third straight time he was caught stealing.
Gardner, who is hitting .128 (6-for-47), is not likely to play tonight when the Blue Jays start lefty Brett Cecil. Girardi can use Andruw Jones in left.
“Nothing is going his way right now,” Girardi said of Gardner. “But that will change.”
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Girardi said there is a chance Francisco Cervelli may return from a fractured left foot sooner than expected. The backup catcher was due back early next month, but Girardi said, “He could be ahead of that.”
Cervelli is due to join Single-A Tampa tomorrow on a rehab assignment.
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Pedro Feliciano‘s decision to rehab the injured left shoulder instead of surgery was done with this year in mind.
“He is going to try and rehab it and see if we can use him at some point,” Girardi said. “We will keep our fingers crossed.”
When the left-handed reliever visited Dr. James Andrews on Monday, surgery was considered a strong possibility.
“There was no guarantee that surgery would have fixed it by the end of next year,” Girardi said.
Feliciano is in the first of a two-year deal worth $8 million.