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Yankees' Posada carries trouble on his shoulder

Ken Davidoff

July 20, 2008

Yes, Rajai Davis said, confirming the obvious. The Athletics' scouts aren't blind, deaf and dumb.

When Oakland manager Bob Geren inserted Davis as a pinch runner in the ninth inning yesterday, Davis knew full well that the rifle in Jorge Posada's right shoulder had been reduced to a slingshot.

Even for the A's, who generally eschew the stolen base as an offensive weapon, the call here was easy: Davis entered the game for Jack Hannahan with none out, and after three pickoff attempts by Mariano Rivera, Davis broke for second as soon as Rivera threw a pitch.

Davis easily beat Posada's throw to second base and came around to score a go-ahead run on Ryan Sweeney's single.

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Just to rub some salt in Posada's wound, Sweeney himself stole second on the next pitch. When the game extended to extra innings, Jose Molina replaced Posada at catcher to start the 10th.

The Yankees won the game, anyway, as Molina took a bases-loaded hit by pitch to lead the home team in a 4-3, 12-inning slog-fest at Yankee Stadium - despite leaving 21 men on base and hitting 3-for-18 with runners in scoring position. Yankees manager Joe Girardi said that he lifted Posada in the 10th because Posada blocked a ball in the eighth inning and injured the "meat" part of his right hand.

But as Girardi's crew tries to climb back into the American League East race - they're only four games behind Boston now - Posada's ailing shoulder remains a primary problem. Their best lineup has Posada at catcher, although not when he can't throw.

"The strength in the arm, it's not there," said Yankees first-base coach Tony Peña, who also works with the catchers. "It's not 100 percent. He'll just work on it, try to play long toss, try to work and get it stronger."

Posada, who has started at catcher in just six of 14 games this month, stopped for only seconds with reporters.

Asked whether the hand injury affected him, he said, "A little bit," before bolting.

He looked upset, as he often has this season. He suffered what the Yankees are calling right rotator cuff tendinitis on Opening Night, and he eventually missed 37 days to rest it.

The 36-year-old said the shoulder doesn't hurt him, but there is undisputed weakness there. After Davis and Sweeney each swiped second yesterday, opponents have now stolen 34 bases in 41 attempts against Posada this year, an 82.9 percent success rate.

In 2007, Posada limited baserunners to 102 steals in 130 attempts, a 78.5 percent success rate - and to be honest, that's worse than I would've guessed. However, it seems like teams are taking more advantage of Posada than they did in the past. And certainly, there was never an extended stretch like this, in which Posada didn't play more than half of the time behind the plate.

"That's something we approach every day," Girardi said of Posada's arm strength. "He threw the ball better in Toronto, and you look at it every day."

"Jorgie is very tough. He's a strong guy," Peña said. "He's very strong mentally. He has played for so long. The only reason why he has played for so long is he's a strong guy and he can play with injuries. He's shown that before.

"This is the first time that he has been on the DL, and it's a little tough for him. There's no question that he feels bad."

Even though getting back into the playoff mix seems mathematically doable, the Yankees have so many wrongs to right.

There's their train wreck of an offense, with so many key players underperforming. There's the back end of their starting rotation, which is leaning on a couple of prayers named Sidney Ponson and Darrell Rasner.

And there's Posada, who also has been subpar offensively.

"There's one thing for sure," Peña said. "We're not going to stop until we get him where he wants to be."

Realistically, that recovery might not occur until next year, following offseason surgery. For now, other teams will continue to capitalize on Posada's misfortune. Which makes Molina more important than the Yankees ever wanted him to be.