A few quick updates to share from the Yankees clubhouse as they prepare for tonight’s game against the Rays at Tropicana Field:
- Kevin Youkilis is still having treatment on his sore back and is not expected to play until Thursday at Yankee Stadium. Joe Girardi said they won’t ask Youkilis to come to the bench during tonight’s game so he can keep receiving treatment, but Youkilis’ back is supposedly getting better. He did not appear in the clubhouse this afternoon. The Yankees are again playing Jayson Nix at third base and Lyle Overbay at first base against left-hander David Price.
- Mark Teixeira is still taking only dry swings, and said that his right wrist hasn’t loosened up enough to permit him to move on to batting practice. Teixeira said he feels like the wrist is healed, but acknowledges he won’t make it back for May 1st. Teixeira’s initial time frame of the injury was eight to 10 weeks, so May 1st would’ve been about the earliest possible date, but Teixeira still believes he is on track to play in the big leagues during the month of May.
- Ben Francisco has struggled in his role as the DH against left-handed pitching, but Girardi said that he will stick with him, saying that he believes “Francisco has hit some balls pretty decent.” That said, Girardi acknowledges how much the lineup misses guys like Derek Jeter and Teixeira against lefties.
- Brennan Boesch is likely to be in tomorrow’s lineup as Girardi plans to give Vernon Wells a day off.
- Jeter is expected to rejoin the Yankees on Thursday in New York and will talk to the media at Yankee Stadium. Girardi said that he believes Jeter has been fitted for a walking boot on his left ankle again.
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