Alex Rodriguez was held out of Thursday night’s lineup in the Yankees’ 4-0 loss to the Rays in their home finale because of his beaten-up legs, but manager Joe Girardi said he was hopeful Rodriguez would be available for the team’s closing series in Houston.
The third baseman was removed from Wednesday’s 8-3 loss to the Rays on the night the Yankees were eliminated from postseason contention and at the time, Girardi didn’t have many details regarding what was wrong.
It was similar to his reaction the last time Rodriguez alerted the Yankees to a problem with his legs, when he left the Sept. 15 game in Boston with a strained right calf.
Typically Rodriguez’s most fierce defender this season, Girardi said nothing had changed in their relationship.
“No,” Girardi said. “He came out [Wednesday] because his legs were bothering him. I haven’t had a chance to talk to him, but he’s been battling calf and hamstring issues the whole year and he’s been playing.”
Though some players will skip the Houston series because of injuries, Rodriguez will be in attendance, according to a person close to him.
“We expect him to be there,” Girardi said. “He does not have permission not to be there. We expect our players to be there, if able-bodied.”
General manager Brian Cashman said he had no reason to believe the third baseman would not make the trip for the last series. His appeal hearing of a 211-game ban for involvement in the Biogenesis investigation will begin in Midtown on Monday.
“He hasn’t asked for permission,” Cashman said.
It has been a rough final few weeks for Rodriguez, who played well at times since returning from a second hip surgery in the offseason.
But in his last four games following his grand slam Friday against the Giants that kept the Yankees alive — at least mathematically — Rodriguez fell off.
He was just 1-for-14 with an RBI and a pair of walks and didn’t have any extra base hits. Rodriguez was booed following his fifth-inning at-bat Wednesday, when he struck out looking for the second time of the night.
Mark Teixeira said he expects better things from both himself and the Yankees next season.
“We have an opportunity with a good offseason and a healthy 2014 to get back to the World Series, which is where we want to be,” Teixeira said.
That’s asking a lot for a team that is facing many more questions than the last time it missed the playoffs. After that 2008 season, the Yankees signed CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, as well as Teixeira.
“The hole might be bigger this year, so instead of four new players, we bring in six,” Teixeira said, pointing to the Red Sox as a team that rebounded from a rotten season and won the AL East this year.
Boston, however, wasn’t trying to reduce payroll last offseason.
“Every year, a team has to reload in a certain way,” Teixeira said. “Whether it’s young guys coming in taking spots or making trades or signing free agents, there’s always an opportunity for a team to get better quickly, and we need to get better obviously.”
That figures to be difficult because of the losses of Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte to retirement, as well as the potential departures of Robinson Cano, Hiroki Kuroda, Curtis Granderson and others.
Nevertheless, Teixeira said he still is bullish on the team’s future.
“I’ve got three more years here and I know this team is always going to do whatever it takes to win,” Teixeira said.
Teixeira’s return to form following surgery to repair a torn tendon sheath in his right wrist would be a key and he is confident that will happen.
“The way I look at it is this is my Tommy John surgery,” Teixeira said. “Pitchers, whether they are 21 or 40, sometimes blow out. They take a year off and come back sometimes stronger. From what the doctors tell me, my wrist won’t be a problem next year and I expect to be out there 150 times next season.”
Andy Pettitte will make the last start of his career Saturday night in Houston and like Teixeira, the lefty said he still believes the Yankees would have made the postseason without their litany of injuries.
Despite the disappointing ending, he has no regrets about returning.
“I’m glad I did it,” Pettitte said. “You don’t know what’s going to happen when you sign up for a season and I think if we stayed intact we would have gone to the playoffs .I really believe that. It didn’t work out that way. This whole playoff thing is tough to swallow. ”
That fact didn’t settle in until the Yankees were almost officially eliminated.
“For me, it was just the last day or so,” Pettitte said. “I always felt like we’d pull it off because we always pull it off. … Maybe I was the only one who wasn’t realistic.”
Additional reporting by Joel Sherman