Mark Teixeira believes he will play again this year but, since his right leg throbs when he walks, this late in the season there is a chance that won’t happen.
“In my mind I am playing,’’ Teixeira said Thursday at his locker after leaning a crutch against the wall.
Teixeira is scheduled for an MRI exam and CT-Scan Friday and hopes the bleeding and nerve damage between the knee and ankle has subsided.
“I can’t walk without pain,’’ said the switch-hitting first baseman who fouled a ball off the leg Aug. 17. He missed the next seven games, started one, pinch hit in the next and hasn’t been on the field since Aug. 26. “But we tried to push it the first time and it wasn’t ready. We have to figure out when we can push it again. I would like to run today, but this is a lot worse than we first expected. The injections helped, but there is still a lot more healing to do.
“If it was just a bruise and a little bit of soreness I would be out there,’’ Teixeira said. “It’s a severe bruise and because of it, it causes swelling and nerve pain up and down my leg. My leg really doesn’t work right now.’’
While Teixeira is focused on returning, he is hoping the Yankees play deep into the postseason.
“Hopefully we have a long playoff run and I am part of that as well,’’ Teixeira said. “The World Series goes into November.’’
While multiple tests haven’t unearthed a fracture, that’s the way it’s being handled.
“You treat it like a fracture, you treat it like it needs to heal,’’ Teixeira explained. “There is still a lot of bleeding in the bone and that means it’s not healed. That’s why we are going to see [Friday] how much it has healed.’’
With the Yankees 1 ½ games back of the AL East-leading Blue Jays, Teixeira said having to watch has been hard.
“It’s not fun at all. This has been pretty painful in a lot of ways,’’ Teixeira said.
After missing two games and appearing in a third as a pinch hitter Wednesday night because of a jammed left shoulder, Brett Gardner was on the lineup card that was posted on the clubhouse door Thursday afternoon.
“He feels good and we will keep our fingers crossed,’’ Girardi said of the slumping left fielder who is in a 0-for-10 slide and has seven hits in the last 35 at-bats.
Masahiro Tanaka will start Sunday on four days’ rest. Normally, the Yankees like to work Tanaka with five days’ rest, but with Nathan Eovaldi likely shelved for the remainder of the regular season, the Yankees attempting to win the AL East and Adam Warren throwing 47 pitches in relief Wednesday night, it’s Tanaka on Sunday in the finale of a four-game series against the Blue Jays.
It will be Tanaka’s fourth start on four days’ rest. He is 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA in those three starts.
Because Girardi doesn’t have a healthy Eovaldi he couldn’t answer when asked if Tanaka would be pitching Sunday had Eovaldi been healthy.
“I don’t know because we don’t have to deal with that,’’ Girardi said. “There is a chance [Eovaldi] would have pitched Sunday, sure.’’
As for Tanaka on four days’ rest, Girardi isn’t concerned.
“He has done it a few times and he seemed to have respond well to it,’’ Girardi said. “He didn’t throw a ton of pitches Tuesday so he should be fine.’’
Tanaka threw 104 pitches in an eight-inning stint against the Orioles who won, 2-1, with a run in the ninth inning. It was the eighth time Tanaka has thrown 100 or more pitches and the fourth time in the last five starts. His season-high is 114 against the A’s on July 9.
Girardi watches Carlos Beltran in right field and says the 38-year-old is providing what he can. Beltran’s range has deteriorated over the years and is far below average these days.
“I think Carlos is giving us everything he has,’’ Girardi said. “Obviously he doesn’t run like he used to. This is a guy who played center field, Gold Glove caliber center fielder.’’
Beltran, who had surgery on both knees following the 2007 season with the Mets, is removed from games the Yankees lead late for Chris Young.
Beltran is contributing at the plate where he is batting .327 (37-for-113) in the last 33 games; 29 in which he has had at least one hit.
