After all the effort Mariano has had to put forth for his team recently—including pitching 3 innings during Tuesday night’s game—and the way the Yanks have been getting injured this year, it should come as no surprise that Mo has become the latest New York casualty. While putting on his shoes before batting practice on Thursday, Mo was struck by extremely painful back spasms, bad enough to necessitate help just to get back on the team bus. "When it happened, I couldn't believe it," Rivera said. "I thought it was a little thing, then all of a sudden, I couldn't move my legs.” His condition is listed as day-to-day, but he is not expected to pitch at all while the Yanks are in Baltimore.

A-Rod will also be sitting tonight’s game out, and possibly tomorrow as well, due to some sort of “virus”. Torre has had to shuffle his lineup around considerably lately, and without A-Rod to bat 3^rd or 4^th he has had to make some interesting changes. Here is tonight’s starting lineup:

Johnny Damon, CF (.279)
Melky Cabrera, LF (.310)
Derek Jeter, SS (.342) [wrist feeling better after 2 days of rest]
Jason Giambi, DH (.280)
Bernie Williams, RF (.266)
Robinson Cano, 2B (.306)
Andy Phillips,1B (.273) [on a hot streak!]
Miguel Cairo, 3B (.250)
Kelly Stinnett, C (.235)

Labels: a-rod trouble