MLB

Yankees’ Teixeira ‘happy’ with rehab

Mark Teixeira walked out of Dr. Melvin Rosenwasser’s office yesterday morning encouraged by what the wrist and hand specialist told him.

“He was very happy with the progress,” Teixeira said of the torn tendon sheath in his right wrist. “I am very happy and feeling good. I wasn’t expecting him to say, ‘This is terrible.’ I am very encouraged, and I am going to stay positive.”

YANKEES OPENING DAY PHOTOS

Rosenwasser cleared the Yankees first baseman to remove the brace from his wrist when he isn’t working out, though he did not give him permission to start swinging a bat.

“That’s for the next checkup in about 10 days,’’ Teixeira said.

Teixeira, who will stay with the club until he is ready to play in minor league games, watched yesterday’s 8-2 loss to the Red Sox from the dugout.

“It’s very disappointing, especially Opening Day,’’ Teixeira said of sitting it out. “It’s the first Opening Day I have ever missed. It’s super-disappointing.’’

Kevin Youkilis and Lyle Overbay played first in place of Teixeira. Youkilis, who played the final three innings at third, went 1-for-4 and Overbay was hitless in two at-bats.

***Phil Hughes threw seven innings against Single-A Tampa at the Yankees’ minor league complex in Tampa. Later, after David Phelps, who is slated to start Saturday in Detroit, entered yesterday’s game in the sixth inning, Joe Girardi was asked whether Hughes could make the start against the Tigers instead.

“I really haven’t gotten a report on Hughes, how many pitches he threw,” Girardi said of the right-hander, who is on the DL attempting to build arm strength after suffering a bulging disk in his upper back early in spring training. “I have to see how he did and where we are at with him.’’

Phelps worked 1 1/3 innings, allowing a run, a hit and two walks.

Phelps worked around a leadoff triple by Jacoby Ellsbury in the sixth, but he walked the first two batters in the seventh and watched Boone Logan allow one to score.

***Girardi said he split time between Francisco Cervelli and Chris Stewart behind the plate.

Girardi paired Cervelli with CC Sabathia against the Red Sox even though Stewart caught the ace 18 times a year ago compared to Russell Martin’s 11.

“For the first month, it will be somewhat of a process figuring out how you are going to do it,’’ Girardi said. “It’s something I thought about the last three or four days and talked to my coaches about it. Right now it’s going to be a fairly even split and go from there.’’

For Cervelli, it’s a major improvement from a year ago when he was sent to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in the last week before the season after the Yankees acquired Stewart from the Giants. Cervelli didn’t surface in the big leagues until the rosters expanded Sept. 1.

He went 1-for-3 and drove in two runs.

***When the Yankees left Florida Thursday night, nobody was sure what Derek Jeter’s program was going to be.

“For Derek, it’s play as you can play,” Girardi said. “There is no exact schedule for Derek. It’s what his ankle allows him to do, and we are not really going to know that until he goes out there. Our expectations were that he was going to be here today. He was not ready to go so we backed him off a little bit.’’

Jeter worked out at the Yankees’ minor league complex in Tampa yesterday. He played catch and long toss and did some strengthening exercises.

***The laptops affixed to each Yankee’s locker have been removed from the clubhouse. Outside of Jeter using the device to track the weather, not many players used them. … The 49,514 attendance was the largest in the current Stadium for a home opener.

***Yesterday was the first time since 1959-60 the Yankees had no more than one position player start on Opening Day at the same position two consecutive years. Robinson Cano started at second base last year and yesterday.