Written by George A. King III at the New York Post.com
As the news spread through the Yankees’ clubhouse Wednesday that Alex Rodriguez was placed on the disabled list with a right hamstring injury, it wasn’t lost on a team that bleeds for every run.
“It’s a big loss. We need all the help we can get,” Brett Gardner said of not having the DH and middle-of-the-order hitter for at least 15 days and possibly longer. “The past few days Alex was swinging the bat good.”
Rodriguez, 40, suffered the injury running out a ground ball in the fifth inning of Tuesday night’s 4-1 loss to the Orioles. He underwent an MRI exam Wednesday morning. The Yankees were waiting for team doctor Chris Ahmad to look at the MRI before announcing the severity of the injury.
“Pretty down, obviously disappointed,” Rodriguez said before Wednesday night’s game against the Orioles at Camden Yards, as the Yankees attempted to halt a six-game slide without their leading home-run hitter (five) who was tied for the club RBI lead (12) with Starlin Castro. “I was just hitting my stride.”
It’s not often a team would miss somebody hitting .194 (14-for-72) with a .275 on-base percentage. However, entering Tuesday night’s game, Rodriguez was easily the Yankees’ hottest hitter in the previous four games when he batted .429 (6-for-14) with three homers and six RBIs after returning from missing two games last week in Texas with a left oblique muscle problem.
Considering the Yankees opened play Wednesday evening last among the 15 A.L. teams in RBIs (77), tied for 14th in runs (82) and 14th in OPS (.666), it certainly hurt to lose Rodriguez.
Prior to getting hurt, Rodriguez spoke up during a pre-series team meeting.
“There is no reason we can’t score five runs per night,” Rodriguez told his struggling teammates. Entering Wednesday night’s action the Yankees had scored five or more runs just twice in the previous 19 games.
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