Chuck Knoblauch had said on Friday that he hoped to be back on the field before the end of the weekend. But yesterday Don Zimmer said he thought Tuesday’s series-opener against Anaheim might be a bit more reasonable.
“It’s going to be a couple days. It could be Tuesday, with that off day Monday,” Zimmer said before the Yankees’ 14-5 loss to the Mariners.
“I don’t think he’s that close. And it’s no cinch he’ll play Tuesday; he’ll play when he’s able to play. Like [Roger] Clemens, we want him to play when he’s able to play 100 percent.”
Knoblauch suffered a severely bruised left leg Thursday when he was crashed into by Minnesota rookie Corey Koskie, a former collegiate hockey player. The Yankee second baseman was in the midst of a torrid hitting streak, having gone 13-for-36 (.361) on the recent road-trip and collecting 29 hits in his last 76 at-bats to raise his batting average from .174 on April 13 to .333. *
Another Yankee on the mend is Jeff Nelson. The righty reliever has been on the disabled list since May 3 with inflammation of the right elbow, and is expected to start playing catch on Tuesday.
“Nelson is feeling better every day. After the day off he’s probably gonna start playing catch. But that injury appears to be coming along,” Zimmer said. *
Derek Jeter, who tied his career high in RBI with five on Friday night, singled to left in the third inning of yesterday’s game and has now reached base in the Yankees’ first 29 games. He’s the first Bomber to reach base in that many games to start a season since Dave Winfield in 1988. *
Yankee Stadium flags were flown at half mast yesterday in memory of late Jets owner Leon Hess.
Hess died at Manhattan’s Lenox Hill Hospital at the age of 85 as a result of complications from a blood disease. *
Righty Ramiro Mendoza (3-2, 3.03) closes out the Seattle series today at 1:35 p.m. against an undecided Mariner pitcher.
Yankees have an off day tomorrow, and lefty Andy Pettitte (1-1, 4.88) opens the Anaheim series Tuesday against Angels righty Steve Sparks (1-3, 4.29). David Cone (4-0, 1.34) goes against lefty Chuck Finley (1-3, 5.92) Wednesday, and the Yankees haven’t settled on a starter to close the series against Omar Olivares (3-3, 3.52) Thursday night.
