“Cairo could be longer than Enrique. We are not going to take any chances. This is an unusually tough time in spring training for this to happen.”JOE TORRE
BRADENTON – Even if they don’t suffer any more injuries before splitting Florida for Tokyo on Thursday, the Yankees are going to limp out of spring training with ice packs strapped to their limbs.
With Jon Lieber (right groin) and Travis Lee (left shoulder) starting the season on the DL and Bernie Williams (appendectomy) not making the trip to Japan, the Yankees had already lost their fifth starter, backup first baseman and sixth-place hitter when Enrique Wilson and Miguel Cairo were forced out of yesterday’s game against the Pirates.
Wilson, who has copped the starting second base job even if Joe Torre refuses to announce it, left in the fifth inning when he turned the right ankle. Cairo, who is expected to back up at third, short and second, departed with a right hamstring problem in the fourth. Of the two, Torre said Cairo’s problem was more serious.
“Cairo could be longer than Enrique,” Torre said following a 2-1 loss at McKechnie Field. “We are not going to take any chances. This is an unusually tough time in spring training for this to happen. Hopefully, they are minor things.”
Asked if Cairo was hurt bad enough to land on the DL, Torre said, “Hopefully, that’s not the case.”
The loss lowered the Yankees’ spring ledger to 8-9 and was absorbed by Kevin Brown, Torre’s No. 2 starter. In 42/3innings, Brown gave up two runs and eight hits.
“My body feels good,” said Brown, who made two errant throws on balls hit back to the mound. “It was just a matter of not throwing the ball as well as I would have liked to.”
The Yankees, who played with all the regulars except Derek Jeter (day off), collected a half-dozen singles off six Pirates hurlers.
As for Cairo and Wilson, each downplayed the problems.
“It got tight running to first in the third inning and then I made a play in the hole and it got tight again,” Cairo said. “I didn’t want to tear it.”
Cairo suffered a pulled muscle in the same area in 1999 but hasn’t experienced any hamstring troubles since.
“It’s been five years with no problem,” Cairo said. “We will see (today). Hopefully I am fine. It’s tight, not a knot. More like a little ball.”
Wilson, who suffered the injury trying to avoid a tag between first and second in the fifth inning, had an ice pack strapped to his ankle but said it wasn’t bothersome.
“I am all right, it’s nothing serious,” said Wilson, who went 2-for-2 and is batting a team-leading .441 (15-for-34). “I went to stop and the dirt was soft and I twisted it.
“I didn’t want to take any chances so I came out of the game. Joe told me they didn’t want to lose any more people. We will see how it feels (today).”
If Cairo’s problem lingers, Torre has several options and one of them surprisingly is Felix Escalona, a 26-year-old infielder who has 69 games of big league experience and was jettisoned by the Devil Rays in May of last year after appearing in 10 games. He played in 59 games for the Devil Rays in 2002.
“We have Homer Bush and Escalona back there,” Torre said of fill-ins for Cairo. “(Escalona) is more likely because he plays shortstop.”
