JETER'S KNEE & FOOT HURTIN'

JETER'S KNEE & FOOT HURTIN'
By GEORGE KING





June 21, 2006 -- PHILADELPHIA - Derek Jeter limped out of Citizens Bank Park last night with a compression wrap on his bruised left knee and a problem with his right foot he didn't want to discuss.
And, yes, Jeter said he will be in the lineup tonight against the Phillies.

Jeter was hit by a pitch in the seventh inning of last night's 9-7 win. By the time he reached second base, Joe Torre and trainer Gene Monahan visited.

"I got hit on the inside [of the knee]," Jeter said.



Asked about an ankle problem Torre talked about after the game, Jeter said, "It's good." Pressed on it, Jeter said, "It's nothing."

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Torre said Mike Mussina could have been distracted by plate umpire Gary Cederstrom confronting Mussina for looking at him when Mussina believed Cederstrom missed a strike on Pat Burrell before Ryan Howard followed with a three-run homer in the first inning.

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T.J. Beam worked one-third of an inning for his first major league victory.

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Mariano Rivera was brilliant posting a two-inning save but not so pretty at the plate. In his first regular-season at-bat ever (he has three in the postseason), Rivera fanned with bad swings.

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Following a weight-room workout, Randy Johnson dressed and left Citizens Bank Park to serve the first game of his five-game suspension.

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Octavio Dotel will test his balky right elbow with a game of catch tomorrow, but it won't be in Trenton, as originally planned. Instead, Dotel will toss at Yankee Stadium under the supervision of the training staff since the Yankees are off.

Dotel has been shut down from a rehab assignment due to triceps tendinitis in the elbow area that underwent Tommy John surgery a year ago. ... Carl Pavano's return from elbow surgery to remove a bone chip continues today when he plays catch for the second time in three days.