TORONTO – Hip, hip, hooray! Six to nine weeks without Alex Rodriguez doesn’t sound so bad to Derek Jeter.
“It’s good, better than the other story I heard that he was going to miss a longer time,” Jeter said last night before Team USA faced Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic. “It’s good he gets taken care of and will be back with us soon enough.”
Jeter was prepared for the Yankees’ announcement yesterday that Rodriguez will have surgery today on his ailing right hip. True to form, the Yankees captain didn’t seem fazed.
At the start of the 2003 season, Jeter missed six weeks after dislocating his shoulder in a collision while sliding into third base here against the Blue Jays. In recent years, Yankees such as Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada have missed significant time with injuries.
“We were hit pretty hard last year,” Jeter said. “You’re talking about the combination of Jorge and Hideki, that’s a pretty big chunk right there, two guys in the middle of your lineup.
“But hopefully Al is not going to be gone for long. I don’t know the timetable, but you hope he’s back sooner rather than later.”
Can the Yankees survive without A-Rod?
“We have no choice,” Jeter said. “But we have enough guys on our team that we’ll be all right.”
mpuma@nypost.com