For Mark Teixeira, first there was the cough and now there’s the annoying wrist injury.
The cough limited his production until he was forced to take a weekend off in May against the Reds and now the wrist has forced him to take a second weekend off.
Teixeira did not take any swings but spent time before Sunday night’s game with Boston fielding grounders and running. While fielding grounders at first base, Teixeira was wearing a compression brace.
“There is definitely improvement,” Teixeira said. “We just want to give it one more day. Everyone agreed that you can probably push it today. It may feel OK, but it is best to give one more day.”
In late July, Teixeira missed two games and even had a cortisone injection. He is hopeful that by skipping this weekend’s series with the Red Sox the wrist will be healed enough to allow him to play Monday in Chicago.
Even with his wrist flailing up again, Teixeira has performed well since the All-Star break. He is hitting .274 since the break with eight home runs and 24 RBIs, though he was 4-for-17 in four games before taking the weekend off.
“As a power hitter, I need my wrist; I need my hands,” he said. “If it does linger, it is not going to help me out or the team.”
A-Rod throws, runs during workout
Alex Rodriguez’s latest X-ray on his fractured left hand came back clean, which means that the recovery is going well.
“Everything is as scheduled,” Rodriguez said after the game. “We talked about four to six weeks at the beginning and Tuesday is the four-week mark. We’re right on schedule.”
Three hours before the scheduled first pitch on Sunday, Alex Rodriguez underwent his latest workout as he recovers from a fractured left hand that has kept him on the disabled list since July 25.
The workout started with him in short center field throwing spirals with a football. Then he moved to left-center field, stretched and threw baseballs.
The session then moved to the infield where Rodriguez fielded grounders while playing at various depths at third base.
He started at the edge of the diamond and was throwing strikes to first base. Rodriguez then had his range and agility tested by getting soft-hit grounders thrown to him from first base and infield coach Mick Kelleher.
That drill forced him to field the ball on the run and also resulted in a few errant throws to first base.
As his teammates began batting practice, Rodriguez ran on the outer edge of the diamond, going from first to third and back. He did this about three times while taking brief breaks at first and third.
Rodriguez was not make available for comment and was scheduled for another X-ray before last night’s game. He had one Tuesday and said he came through it without any problem.
Good X-ray for Pettitte
The latest X-ray on Andy Pettitte’s broken left ankle checked out well and the 40-year-old left-hander is headed to Chicago.
At some point this week he will throw on flat ground with the hopes of getting on the mound sometime in the following week.
“Everything was good,” Pettitte said after last night’s game. “I’ll do that on this road trip and hopefully we’ll have a real good trip and I’ll be good enough. I’m hoping that when we get back from this road trip I’ll be able to get back on a mound. They haven’t told me yet, but I’m hoping.”
Granderson: cleanup hitter
Home run hitters often hit fourth and despite his frequent insistence that he is not a home run hitter, Curtis Granderson found himself hitting cleanup for Sunday night’s game.
It is the first time as a Yankee that he started as the cleanup hitter. It also was his first instance of doing so since May 31, 2009 for the Tigers in a 3-0 win against Baltimore.
Granderson has started in five different spots this month.
He began this month as the second-place hitter and then went to the leadoff spot. After going 2-for-20 there, he was moved to the sixth spot where he was 4-for-22.
He went 0-for-4 hitting third in a 3-2 win over Texas on Wednesday night and then returned to sixth for the previous two games where he went 4-for-10 with home runs off Jon Lester and Franklin Morales.
“He went through somewhat of a difficult time, but he seems to be coming out of it,” manager Joe Girardi said. “Maybe it was the couple of days off that we gave him that seemed to help him. I like the way he’s swinging now.”
The reasoning for the latest move is Granderson’s numbers off Josh Beckett. Though several Yankees have decent numbers against Beckett, Granderson is hitting .363 (8-for-22) off him since becoming a Yankee two years ago. He started his career just 2-for-14 against the right-hander.
“He’s been swinging the bat pretty good the last couple of days,” Girardi said. “He’s had some success off of [Josh] Beckett as well. With some of our guys out, I just felt I’d put Curtis there.”
Follow Yankees beat writer Larry Fleisher on Twitter @LarryFleisher.
