JETER AIMS TO PLAY THROUGH THE STRAIN

JETER AIMS TO PLAY THROUGH THE STRAIN
By GEORGE KING





June 24, 2007 -- SAN FRANCISCO - Joe Torre said there is a chance Derek Jeter may have to sit out today’s game against the Giants with a strained left hip flexor muscle. As usual, Jeter scoffed at the idea he can’t play.

“I wasn’t able to move too well but it’s not a problem, no big deal,” said Jeter, who was removed from yesterday’s crushing 6-5 loss in the 13 innings in the eighth inning. “I plan on playing.”

Jeter suffered the injury running out a double in the first inning but stayed in the game.

“It had gotten to the point where he if he had gotten on [in the eighth] we would have had to run for him,” Torre said of his captain, who went 2-for-5 and extended a hitting streak to 17 games. “Dr. [Allen] Miller is here and he said it shouldn’t be long. I know he wants to play.”

Because the Yankees are off tomorrow, Jeter may benefit from not playing today and getting two days of rest. But that’s not the way to bet.

Jeter has a 25-game interleague hitting streak going, the second longest in history.

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No wonder Alex Rodriguez digs this city.

Rodriguez went 4-for-6 with a homer that led off the ninth and tied the score, 5-5. He is 22-for-33 lifetime in San Francisco. It was his seventh ninth-inning homer this year. Rodriguez has nine homers in the last 19 games and has reached base in 11 of his last 13 plate appearances. In the ninth inning he is batting .550 (11-for-20) after batting .143 (5-for-35) in the ninth last year.

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Torre said no decision will be made regarding whether to put Johnny Damon on the disabled list until Tuesday. Torre said Damon’s abdominal muscle problem was better yesterday, but the manager won’t try to speed up the recovery process after watching Damon ground out as pinch-hitter yesterday.

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Torre saw enough positives from Kei Igawa’s outing Friday night to keep the lefty in the rotation, but didn’t know when the left-hander’s next start would be.

“That box is open,” Torre said of pitching coach Ron Guidry’s chart.

If the Yankees stay in rotation, Igawa’s next start would be Thursday against the Orioles in Baltimore. Because of tomorrow’s off day, however, the Yankees could use Chien-Ming Wang, yesterday’s hurler, Thursday. Torre was waiting to see how Wang came out of yesterday’s effort. This time the Yankees gave Wang an extra day of rest after he threw 113 pitches against the Mets in his prior outing Sunday.

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When the Yankees summoned Andy Phillips from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Torre said he was going to give the infielder substantial playing time at first base. However, since arriving Tuesday, Phillips has started one game. Yesterday, Torre stuck with Miguel Cairo at first and said he was tempted to play Jorge Posada there today before Posada caught all 13 innings yesterday.

“With Derek we will probably start like we finished today,” said Torre who had Cairo at short and Phillips at first for the final six innings.

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When Bud Selig instructed Jason Giambi to talk to George Mitchell or risk disciplinary action, reliever Mike Myers was critical of the commissioner’s edict. Now, that Giambi has agreed to meet with Mitchell, Myers doesn’t expect the former senator to learn much new.

“Jason will be smart about it,” Myers said. “He probably won’t go into a lot more detail that he has already said.”










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