ARod among bruised Yanks

Alex hit in elbow, scores winning run in 11th

By Anthony DiComo / MLB.com

Alex Rodriguez scored the game-winning run after being hit in the elbow in the bottom of the 11th inning on Wednesday. (AP)

• ARod hit hard on elbow »

NEW YORK -- When the Yankees boarded their flight to Seattle late Wednesday afternoon, they took with them a slew of injured players and no easy answers.

Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, both hit by pitches, are questionable for Thursday's series opener against the Mariners -- Rodriguez more uncertain than Jeter. Catcher Jorge Posada, who took a foul ball off his right hand and a series of other pitches off his body during Wednesday's 4-3 win over the Blue Jays, is also unsure whether he will play. And closer Mariano Rivera, who woke up Wednesday with a sore right shoulder, is similarly in question.

Just like that, the Yankees went from being remarkably healthy to quite incomplete, and they cannot be sure of the status of their wounded players until they wake up Thursday.

Jeter was the first to be injured, having taken a Ricky Romero curveball off his right foot in the first inning on Wednesday. Though he remained in the game and took another at-bat, Jeter did not run down the first-base line well on his fielder's-choice grounder, leaving the game before the Yankees took the field in the top of the third.

"I wasn't moving too good, so they decided to take me out," Jeter said.

"There is a concern that he'll be sore tomorrow," manager Joe Girardi said after the win.

X-rays taken on Jeter's right foot were negative, and Ramiro Pena took over for the Yankees' captain at shortstop.

In the 11th inning, Rodriguez set up the winning rally in a similar fashion -- by taking a pitch off his body. This time, it was a fastball from Shawn Camp that drilled Rodriguez on the padding of his left elbow. Rodriguez's protective guard did no good, as he immediately fell to the ground and stayed there for several moments, eventually taking first base after a talk with Girardi and the Yankees' training staff.

"My hand went numb," Rodriguez said. "As long as I've been wearing the pad, I've never had that type of pain before."

Had the Yankees not won the game later that inning, Rodriguez may have had to exit -- but New York, which had pinch-hit for Pena and was playing Jerry Hairston Jr. at shortstop, would have had no logical replacement at third base.

It was a situation the Yankees were happy to avoid.

Moving forward, considering that Girardi was planning on giving Rodriguez a routine day off anyway on Thursday, it is almost certain that he will sit out the opener in Seattle. But Girardi also said that although X-rays were negative on Rodriguez's elbow, he may need to miss more than one game.

"Let's hope it's just one day," Girardi said.