YANKEE NOTES

While Randy Johnson continues to make progress, Joe Torre can’t gauge how far Johnson has come since missing a start last Thursday.

“He threw a bullpen the other day [Sunday] and felt fine and played catch [Tuesday] and that went well,” Torre said of his Game 3 starter tomorrow night in Detroit. “[Yesterday] went well, but I can’t give you degrees.”

Early yesterday afternoon Johnson threw 30 to 35 pitches to coach Joe Kerrigan in a Yankee Stadium bullpen. Then he boarded a flight to Detroit, arriving early for tomorrow night’s Game 3.

“He was fine and he will be ready to go Friday,” Torre said of the 43-year-old lefty who hasn’t pitched since Sept. 23 because of a herniated disc. “I am going to give him the ball and we will wait and see what it is.”

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Alex Rodriguez is wearing a green and white bracelet on his left wrist during the ALDS to honor Wayne, N.J., youngster Steven Domalewski, a 12-year-old pitcher who was struck in the chest by a batted ball on June 6.

The ball hit Domalewski, an A-Rod fan, between heartbeats and stopped his heart. He was diagnosed with commotion cordis.

“I will be wearing it for the [ALDS],” A-Rod said.

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Ticket holders for last night’s game (Home Game 2) must use them for today’s rescheduled game at 1 p.m. No ticket exchanges will be honored and no part of the purchase price will be refunded.

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Former Yankee minor league manager and current Nippon Ham Fighters (Japan) skipper Trey Hillman has surfaced as a replacement for the fired Buck Showalter with the Rangers. Hillman is a native of Arlington, Texas.