It starts with Mariano Rivera’s right shoulder and flows south to Shane Spencer’s left hamstring and crosses over to Raul Mondesi’s right knee.
There is nothing that can be done about injuries but in this case “it” is the level of concern that surrounds the Yankees as they move toward their fifth straight AL East title and prepare for October. When you click off reasons the Yankees could stumble, injuries are near the top.
And the questions don’t end with Rivera, Spencer and Mondesi. David Wells’ 39-year-old back is a little over a year away from surgery. Andy Pettitte, last night’s starter, missed two months with a balky left elbow and was working for the first time since Aug. 25 after being skipped in his last start because of a stiff back.
Roger Clemens is 40 and every time he bends over to catch his breath like he did Tuesday night, the Yankees hold theirs. Rondell White never uses the jammed middle finger on his left hand as an excuse for a morbid season but the career .295 hitter is batting .237. Nick Johnson missed almost a month with a bruised left wrist. He returned Tuesday night.
With the Yankees holding a 7½-game lead over the Red Sox, they have the luxury of making sure their injured players are healthy for the postseason. That’s why they are going so slowly with Rivera, who hasn’t thrown a ball since Aug. 15 and may not start to play catch until early next week in Tampa. It’s also why Joe Torre isn’t going to burn out players trying to capture the best record in the AL.
Torre isn’t concerned about the cloudy health picture because he is the master of not worrying about issues he can’t control. That’s why he isn’t stressing the possibility that he may not have Rivera until the postseason. And even then there is a possibility Torre will have Rivera for one game and maybe not the next.
“You put up with the nicks and bruises because every team does,” Torre said. “With Rivera you are more concerned because you don’t know if he will be ready. Little things crop up all the time, that’s part of it. And I don’t know anything more about Rivera than I did [Tuesday], I am just using him as an example.”
Since Spencer had started 11 straight games and was on a 7-for-19 (.368) streak, he is frustrated at the hamstring problem that surfaced last Saturday when he was running to first in the second inning on the artificial turf at Toronto’s SkyDome.
Initially, Spencer didn’t believe it was that big of a deal. But it took until yesterday for him to get into a uniform for BP.
“I’ve done everything else,” Spencer said. “They are tired of seeing me in [the trainer’s room].”
While Spencer was preparing to take BP, he admitted the injury is more serious than anticipated.
“It’s much worse than I thought,” Spencer said. “I have had these in the past and they go away in a day or so after a few days. This one is still there. I will swing today and try running tomorrow. If it doesn’t bother me swinging, I will go from there.”
Torre was convinced that Pettitte’s back was completely healed.
“If he doesn’t do well it’s not because of a physical problem,” Torre said before Pettitte faced the Red Sox and Derek Lowe. “I don’t know how good his command will be because he missed a start.”
Mondesi’s knee forced him to miss two games before he returned Tuesday night when he went 1-for-4 with a double. Because the knee has been bothering him since he ran into a Cleveland wall in the middle of July, you can expect it to be a problem for the remainder of the season.
