Considering what has gone down across the first six weeks of the Yankees season, it’s not wise to believe injuries to Andy Pettitte and Chris Stewart aren’t going to cause problems.
Last night’s battery against the Mariners at Yankee Stadium left before Robinson Cano made the final out with Brett Gardner on third of a 3-2 loss that was witnessed by an announced crowd of 35,392.
Pettitte told manager Joe Girardi and the trainers that his upper back was tight in the fourth inning. With two outs in the fifth and his velocity falling, Girardi went to the mound and removed Pettitte.
Stewart suffered a left groin injury running the bases in the seventh. He remained in the game, but Austin Romine caught the eighth.
With 10 players already on the disabled list, a list that includes Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and Kevin Youkilis, the loss of Pettitte and/or Stewart would be crippling.
“You have to move forward,’’ Girardi said when asked if enough is enough. “Injuries are part of the game. There are no excuses, you have to find a way to get it done.’’
Pettitte didn’t sound like a pitcher with a serious problem. But he is 40 and he missed a start in April due to a lower back injury.
“Doc said it was mostly spasms,’’ Pettitte said of the tightness in the left trapezius muscle.
“When I came off after the fourth it completely locked up,’’ said Pettitte, who absorbed the loss and is 4-3. “I got a massage with some heat and it loosened up really good. But the first pitch I threw to [Jason] Bay it completely locked back up on me. It was really tight and I couldn’t get extended at all.’’
As Pettitte talked after the Yankees’ third loss in five games that has as much to do with their going 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position as it did with Pettitte’s tight back, he said the back had loosened up. He believed that was a good sign but didn’t venture a guess if it would cost him a start.
If he can’t go the Yankees have Adam Warren, who threw 13 pitches in one inning last night, to fill in for Pettitte, whose next scheduled start is Tuesday in Baltimore.
“I don’t think Andy is too bad,’’ Girardi said.
The manager couldn’t use that phrase regarding Stewart because the regular catcher was taken for an MRI exam last night and the results weren’t available.
“When he went around the base he felt something, he said it didn’t pop and he said it was OK,’’ Girardi said. “When we saw him run he said it continued to hurt.’’
Asked if it was a DL situation, Girardi said: “Let’s see what the MRI says.’’
If Stewart joins fellow catcher Francisco Cervelli on the shelf the logical replacement is Bobby Wilson who has major league experience and is at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. However, adding him would mean juggling the 40-man roster again since he isn’t on it.
As for the rest of the night, the Yankees’ recent struggles in the clutch continued. They started the game in a 1-for-16 slide with runners in scoring position and extended that to 3-for-29 (.103).
Trailing by a run in the ninth Gardner provided the Yankees hope with a one-out single. He stole second and third with Jayson Nix at the plate. With the infield in and hard-throwing Tom Wilhelmsen on the mound, Nix whiffed. Cano, who drove in the Yankees’ second run with an infield single, stranded Gardner with a grounder to short.
So, now as they inch past the quarter pole with possible injuries to Pettitte and Stewart, you have to wonder if the smoke and mirrors the Yankees have used so well are drifting and cracking.