Rodriguez to Miss Six to Eight Weeks with Fractured Left Hands

Fitzgerald Cecilio

New York, NY

New York Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez is expected to miss six to eight weeks after fracturing his left hand that was hit by pitch from Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernandez.

"It is difficult. Tough break. I never thought it would be a fracture, but it was. It's a tough blow. Tough blow," said Rodriguez, whose injury was initially diagnosed as nondisplaced fracture of the left fifth metacarpal.

The left hand will be further checked by the Yankees' medical staff Thursday upon Rodriguez's return to New York.

The Yankees have placed Rodriguez on the disabled list Wednesday and recalled Ramiro Pena from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Rodriguez was hit by an errant 91-mph changeup from Felix Hernandez in the eighth inning of the Yankees' 4-2 loss to the Mariners. The incident happened while Rodriguez, who is batting .276 with 15 home runs and 44 RBIs this season, was beginning to get his swing back.

"But we're going to have to make some changes, which is too bad, because Alex was just starting to feel good again," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

"It's just one of those freak things," Yankees captain Derek Jeter said. "You wish it didn't happen; obviously when somebody gets injured, it's pretty bad. But ... other guys are going to have to step up."

"You can't cry over spilled milk; you really can't," Mark Teixeira said. "It's very unfortunate. You hate to see a guy go down with something freaky like that, but we have gotten through it so far. I expect nothing less out of the guys in this locker room. We expect to get through this and have Alex healthy."

An apologetic Hernandez said the pitch that hit Rodriguez wasn't intentional. He hit three of the final five batters he faced, hitting Ichiro Suzuki in the seventh and Derek Jeter before Rodriguez in the eighth.

"It was a changeup to A-Rod," Hernandez said. "It's bad, I feel bad. It was a changeup, it was 3-2. What can I say?"

Girardi said he is planning to juggle veteran Eric Chavez and Jayson Nix at third base until Rodriguez returns to the line-up.

"We might have to change it around a little bit," Girardi said. "We've had to overcome some things so far, and we're just going to have to keep doing what we're doing."

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Rodriguez to Miss Six to Eight Weeks with Fractured Left Hands