A-Rod gets cortisone for ailing thumb

BOSTON -- Alex Rodriguez said it would make him "miserable" to miss the Yankees' last regular season visit to Fenway Park, but that's the predicament in which the third baseman finds himself.

Rodriguez received a cortisone shot -- the first of his career he said -- in his left thumb Monday in New York, where he saw hand specialist Dr. Melvin P. Rosenwasser and an MRI showed him to have a Grade 1 sprain.

"I don't want to rule out this series but probably, being a little bit more realistic, probably Friday," A-Rod said of when he thinks he'll next play. Rodriguez said his thumb, a day after the shot, felt "a little sore," but "I'm hoping the shot helps it."

A-Rod, who jammed the thumb in his first game back from the disabled list Aug. 21 backhanding a Joe Mauer grounder, said he's not worried about the injury lingering the rest of the season. "It is healing," he said. "The doctor assures me it's going to heal."

Rodriguez hopes, even if he's not in the lineup Thursday, to be able to take batting practice before that game.

"Where it was hurting me most was my work," said Rodriguez, who took ground balls before Tuesday's game. "During [practice] you might take anywhere from 50-100 swings. One thing Kevin Long and the doctors agree, the workload, calm that down a little bit."

Sitting, he said, is the worst part. "It hurts like hell just to sit on the sidelines watching," Rodriguez said. "It's miserable."

Decision time on rotation

Before the Joe Girardi reiterated that his plan is to get back to a five-man rotation after this series. He said Ivan Nova would start Friday against the Blue Jays and Bartolo Colon would start Saturday. Girardi said "we'll make a decision" regarding Sunday, though he said after Monday night's game Freddy Garcia, who was outstanding that night, was assured of taking his next turn.

Extra bases

Derek Jeter, who didn't play Sunday night or Monday against Baltimore because of a sore right kneecap, started at short, batted second and went 0-for-5.