MLB

HIP, HIP HOORAY! A-ROD HAS ‘GOOD DAY’ IN TAMPA

DETROIT — A batting practice that produced a parade of blasts well beyond the fences at the Yankees’ minor league complex during his first live batting practice and an increased work load running the bases and fielding ground balls highlighted Alex Rodriguez’s day in Tampa yesterday.

“[Trainer] Mark Littlefield told me he had a good day,” GM Brian Cashman said of his cleanup hitter/third baseman, who could play in an extended spring training game by the end of the week.

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Cashman has been encouraged by Rodriguez’s progress but refuses to fudge about the May 15 return date outside of saying, “It could be sooner.” The only thing left for Rodriguez, who underwent right hip surgery March 9, to do that’s baseball related before playing in a minor league game is to test the hip while sliding.

“Not that I know of, unless he did it in his room,” Joe Girardi said when asked if Rodriguez tested the hip with a slide.

“Feels good,” Rodriguez told the Associated Press. “I’m taking it one day at a time.”

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Brian Bruney, Xavier Nady, Chien-Ming Wang and Rodriguez are on the DL. Johnny Damon isn’t shelved but he is playing with a barking left (throwing) shoulder, and he doesn’t want to know what’s wrong with it.

“I woke up [yesterday] and parts of the shoulder blade are black and blue, and I have never had that before,” said Damon, who said the bruising isn’t from running into Fenway Park’s Green Monster Saturday.

Damon, who didn’t start Sunday night in Boston but did pinch-hit, doesn’t want to be stuffed into the Carl Pavano Memorial MRI Tube, but would accept something to alleviate the pain.

“I don’t care what test has to show, I don’t want to be shut down,” said Damon, who was on a 9-for-21 (.421) hot streak and batting .311 overall going into last night’s 4-2 loss to the Tigers in which he went 0-for-4. “I have been playing through it for years. The test won’t tell me what I want to hear. I don’t think something good could come out of it. I would like something to relieve the pain.”

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Joe Girardi went with the hot-hitting Melky Cabrera over Brett Gardner in center field last night and played Ramiro Pena instead of Angel Barroa at third base after Berroa committed two errors in Sunday night’s loss to the Red Sox.

“Melky is swinging the bat good, and we will go with him right now,” Girardi said of the switch-hitter, who was hitting .303 (10-for-33) overall and had 10 hits in the last 29 at-bats (.345) before going 1-for-4.