BALTIMORE — CC Sabathia has postponed a schedule appointment Monday with Dr. James Andrews and has met with Dr. Keith Meister to have his bothersome right knee examined. He also has an appointment scheduled with Dr. Neal ElAttrache.
ElAttrache, who examined Masahiro Tanaka’s right elbow in Seattle on Thursday, is the Dodgers’ team physician. Meister is the Rangers’ doctor.
While Andrews has examined and treated Sabathia’s inflamed knee this year, ElAttrache and Meister are considered by many to be the premier knee surgeons in the country.
The Yankees passed along Sabathia’s plans, but didn’t provide an explanation.
Sabathia woke up early last week with his right knee inflamed after a rehab start July 2 at Double-A Trenton. Because Andrews’ schedule was full, the first date Sabathia could be seen by Andrews was this coming Monday.
Sabathia hasn’t pitched since May 10, and there are concerns within the Yankees’ organization that if the former ace requires microfracture surgery, his brilliant career could be over. In eight starts this season, Sabathia is 3-4 with a 5.28 ERA.
Manager Joe Girardi said who starts Sunday would depend on who he needed out of the bullpen Friday and Saturday night. The candidates are Chase Whitley and David Huff, neither of whom pitched Friday.
Longtime Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts made his first visit to Camden Yards on Friday night with “NEW YORK” stitched across a road gray Yankees uniform. On the first pitch he saw, Roberts hit a solo home run to right in the second inning of the Yankees’ 3-2, 10-inning loss.
“Home runs always feel good, no matter where you are,” Roberts said. “It’s not like I want to hit a homer off of Miguel Gonzalez any more than I want to hit one off anybody else. Obviously, I’ve got a lot of good buddies over there. I spent a lot of time with them. It was just fun to be back here. I love this place. It was a great atmosphere. I wish we had gotten the win more than anything.”
Baltimore isn’t generally believed to have traffic woes like New York and Los Angeles, but the Yankees’ team bus required 65 minutes to make the 1 ½-mile trip from the team hotel to Camden Yards on Friday afternoon.