DETROIT — Having participated in sliding drills for the first time yesterday since March 9 hip surgery, Alex Rodriguez cleared the last hurdle before playing in minor league rehab games.
“It’s getting fairly close,”manager Joe Girardi said of Rodriguez playing minor league games. “We want to make sure he responds every day. I have said all along I don’t want to rush him, but we expect to see him at some point this week.”
It likely won’t be today in order to see how he came through yesterday’s program that included taking 15 at-bats in a simulated game and sliding feet-first into a mat five times.
“A good day. It felt good,” Rodriguez told the AP. “Good to be out there.”
TONIGHT’S PREVIEW: Yankees at Tigers
If Rodriguez reports no problems today, he could begin playing in games tomorrow. Should that happen and he suffers no setbacks, it’s quite possible he will return in the May 7-8 area, which is a week earlier than predicted.
“He could be,” Girardi said of Rodriguez returning sooner. “I am going to stick to [May 15] because I don’t want to put pressure on him. I want to make sure he feels he is ready to go, that he is ready to play every day and be a contributor.”
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Girardi and Jorge Posada insist the catcher’s left hamstring injury isn’t the latest serious injury to hit the club.
However, Posada wasn’t in the starting lineup for the second straight game last night against the Tigers at Comerica Park.
“I could play [last night], but I think they are being cautious,” Posada said. “They are giving me an extra day. I will be fine [today].”
Posada suffered the injury stretching before Sunday night’s game in Boston, a 4-1 loss that Posada went 0-for-3 with a walk in.
He admitted the problem affected him Monday night in the ninth inning when he hit into a rally-killing double play in a 4-2 loss. However, had the Yankees extended the game Posada was going to catch.
“I was running careful,” said Posada, whose chopper was turned into a 5-4-3 double play. “I wanted to get there but I wasn’t 100 percent.”
Posada pinch-hit in last night’s 11-0 win and delivered a sacrifice fly that scored the game’s first run in the seventh inning when the Yankees plated 10 runs.
Robinson Cano’s fourth-inning single extended his hitting streak to 15 games.
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Chien-Ming Wang threw 50 pitches off a Tampa mound yesterday and could pitch in an extended spring training game this weekend.
Wang, who is on the DL with problems in both hips, showed improved flexibility in the hips and foot, according to Girardi.
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Ramiro Pena started at third for the second straight game last night and went 0-for-2 and was pinch-hit for by Posada.
“We are going to take it day by day until we get Alex back,” said Girardi, who used Angel Berroa in the first two games following losing Cody Ransom Friday night. Berroa made two errors Sunday night.
“The young man has a good set of hands and good range,” Girardi said of the natural shortstop. “The positions are different because the ball gets to you quicker but he played it good [Monday].”
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According to GM Brian Cashman, Triple-A pitcher Ian Kennedy is in New York to have his right hand examined. Kennedy experienced numbness Monday night and was removed from Scranton Wilkes-Barre’s game against Rochester.