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Tonight's lineup originally included Jacoby Ellsbury in center field and Brett Gardner sitting. Now we know why it's been changed. Joe Girardi is holding Ellsbury out of tonight's game because of a a sore left hand:
Girardi said Ellsbury has had a sore left hand for a couple days. He had tests which came back fine, so Girardi hopes to play him tomorrow.
— Mark Feinsand (@FeinsandNYDN) April 29, 2014
Ellsbury has been dealing with a sore hand. Girardi said its the top part of hand all tests negative. Said could use him for d if needed
— Meredith Marakovits (@M_Marakovits) April 29, 2014
Girardi says that the center fielder would be available as a defensive replacement, if needed, and should be fine to play tomorrow night. It sounds like he's day-to-day, but I was expecting something much worse.
If Ellsbury's hand was going to be the extent of the injury bug tonight, I would have considered the Yankees lucky. Of course, that's not all, though, because now there's trouble with Michael Pineda:
Pineda left a sim game with tightness in his right lat. Start Monday is "probably in jeopardy" according to Girardi.
— Mark Feinsand (@FeinsandNYDN) April 29, 2014
Pineda is supposed to return from his 10-day suspension to make a start against the Angels on Monday, but that might not happen. He will have an MRI on his right lat, and for the medically inept, like myself, here is a diagram of what Pineda hurt:
As you can see, it has nothing to do with his surgically repaired shoulder or even his pitching arm. If it's just tight, it might not end up being serious at all and he could return to the rotation sometime after Monday. In the meantime, David Phelps is expected to remain in the rotation. After the suspension, and with off-days, it was believed that Phelps was only going to have to make one start. Now, it looks like it might be a little longer and, depending on what the MRI says, Pineda could end up on the disabled list.