Jorge Posada wasn’t in the lineup for the second straight game yesterday because of a sore left thumb after taking two foul balls off it Wednesday night.
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“It’s sore. We will see,” Posada said before the lineup card was posted without his name.
Manager Joe Girardi wasn’t sure of Posada’s availability today.
“He has some swelling in his thumb and we will give him another day and see where he is at [today],” said Girardi, who used Posada to pinch-hit Thursday night in the ninth, when he fanned. “It’s in the joint.”
As of yesterday, tests weren’t planned.
“The concern is if he gets hit again, that’s a tough position to heal,” Girardi said.
“I get a little concerned if he gets [hit] again and you go right back to where you are.”
Francisco Cervelli caught A.J. Burnett. Cervelli went 1-for-4 and threw out Alex Rios trying to steal second in the fourth inning on a breaking ball.
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Girardi said he will attempt to give Alex Rodriguez one of the remaining three games against the Blue Jays off and use Mark Teixeira as a DH.
Nevertheless, Girardi admits it’s difficult to delete Rodriguez’s muscular bat from the lineup.
If Rodriguez sits out a game against the Blue Jays, Girardi said he wouldn’t sit out one of the three games against the Twins at the Metrodome next week on turf.
If Hideki Matsui hadn’t hit well against Blue Jays starter Brian Tallet, Girardi might have used the switch-hitting Teixeira as the designated hitter against the lefty instead of Matsui.
Nevertheless, Matsui was 6-for-11 (.545) so Girardi kept him in the lineup and he went 1-for-3 with a single against the lefty.
Girardi said if Rodriguez gets a day off against the Blue Jays, he would think about using him as a DH in one of the three Twins games.
After the All-Star break, the Yankees will talk with Rodriguez’s doctors and him to see if the one-day-off-a-week plan will still be necessary.
Rodriguez’s leadoff homer in the eighth upped the lead to 4-2. It was Rodriguez’s 14th of the season in 50 games and 567th of his career. That’s two short of Rafael Palmeiro for 10th place on the all-time list.
It was Rodriguez’s 222nd Yankees homer and tied Don Mattingly for ninth place on the club’s all-time chart.
Tallet doesn’t see any difference between the old Stadium and this one.
“They spent a billion dollars to build the same stadium,” Tallet said.
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The word from other organizations is that the Yankees refuse to talk about prospects Austin Jackson and Austin Romine in potential trade deadline deals.
Jackson, a 22-year-old outfielder at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre is fifth in the International League with a .320 average. Romine, a 20-year-old catcher, is batting .288 with 10 homers and 45 RBIs for Single-A Tampa.
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Today marks the 70th anniversary of Lou Gehrig‘s “Luckiest Man” speech, and the Yankees will honor their Hall of Fame first baseman during a pregame ceremony.