YANKEE NOTES
DETROIT – Derek Jeter finally tested his strained abdominal muscle yesterday, jogging lightly on the outfield warning track prior to the Yankees’ 2-1 loss to the Tigers at Comerica Park.
While it was Jeter’s first physical activity since leaving a game Thursday with the injury, the exercise didn’t give Jeter an indication if he is progressing.
“I just jogged,” Jeter said. “It was more for my legs.”
Today is an off-day for the Yankees but Jeter will be at Yankee Stadium for treatment, hoping he can avoid the second trip to the disabled list in his career. He missed a dozen games in 1998 with the same injury on the other side of his stomach, and a much deeper Yankee team went 9-3 without him. Including Thursday night’s game, in which Jeter played but two innings, the Yankees are 0-4 without their best player.
“He felt better [Saturday], hopefully that’s a good sign,” said Joe Torre, who set Friday as the earliest Jeter could return. “Maybe by Tuesday he will be able to do something. It was good that it felt better.”
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Since the Yankee clubhouse was closed a little longer than usual following yesterday’s defeat, Torre was asked if he talked to his slumping team.
“You will have to find that out from a different source,” he said.
None of the Yankees admitting to hearing Torre say anything, but several of them expect Torre to address the club before tomorrow night’s game against the White Sox at the Stadium.
With an eye on bolstering a lineup that was a bat short even before Jeter was hurt, the Yankees signed 25-year-old Randall Simon to a minor-league contract and assigned him to Columbus (Triple-A). Simon, a left-handed-hitting first baseman, was surprisingly released by the Braves this spring after hitting .317 with five homers and 25 RBIs in 90 games last year.
Simon was the target of John Rocker’s “fat monkey” remark when Rocker described a Braves teammate in the Sports Illustrated article that resulted in Rocker being suspended.
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Pitching in brutal Buffalo cold yesterday, Allen Watson came through his first rehab outing without a problem in his back. Watson, who has been on the DL since April 24 with a strained oblique muscle, worked a scoreless inning of relief for Columbus (Triple-A).
“You wouldn’t believe how cold and windy it was, but everything was fine,” said Watson, who is slated to start and throw two innings tomorrow. If there are no setbacks, Watson could be activated by the weekend in order to give Torre a second lefty in the pen for the three-game series against the Indians in Cleveland.
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Orlando Hernandez (4-2, 3.81) opens a two-game series against the White Sox tomorrow night at the Stadium. RHP Carl Eldred (2-2, 5.36) goes for the visitors … Roger Clemens (2-2, 3.76) draws LHP Jim Parque (3-1, 4.25) Wednesday night.
