A-Rod doesn't have hip checked

Alex Rodriguez was to have his hip checked out Friday morning, but the appointment was canceled because of the late hour the Yankees returned from Baltimore. The Yankees will head out west Thursday, and Joe Girardi said he may or may not get checked out before then.

That the team feels no urgency is a positive. If A-Rod were feeling any pain -- he said in St. Petersburg on Tuesday and in Baltimore on Wednesday that he was not -- having him checked out immediately would be more of a priority.

"He's feeling fine," Girardi said. "I don't know if there's a day we have it scheduled, but as Alex talked about, he routinely has checkups. When the next one is, I can't exactly tell you."

With A-Rod in a nearly monthlong slump in which his lower body seemed out of sync with his upper body, hitting coach Kevin Long suggested Tuesday that a checkup take place when the Yankees returned from their trip. But Rodriguez hit two homers that night against Tampa Bay and followed with four hits Wednesday against Baltimore, easing concern that there was an issue with his lower half, especially his right hip.

Injury news

When he meets with doctors in the near future, Eric Chavez hopes to be cleared to put some pressure on his broken left foot. He said he has been without a limp for "four or five'' days . . . Pedro Feliciano (rotator cuff strain) said his rehab is going well and that he's holding out hope that he'll be back in time to pitch against the Mets in the second Subway Series on July 1-3 . . . Damaso Marte (shoulder labrum inflammation) has been participating in long toss every three days for two weeks and said that his arm feels good . . . Phil Hughes hopes to hear he can take the next step in his arm-strengthening program. Said Hughes, "I'll be on a mound within a week, I'm hoping."