Colon injured as Yankees shut out Indians

Mark Teixeira summed up the latest wild day at Yankee Stadium nicely.

"There's always going to be something else going on," he said after the Yankees' 4-0 win over the Indians Saturday that featured another Yankee getting hit by a pitch soon after a home run, an ejection, then the most unfortunate bit of news for the Yankees' pitching staff.

Bartolo Colon limped off the field after 62/3 shutout innings in yet another dominant performance. His surprising season may hinge on an MRI exam on his left hamstring last evening at New York Presbyterian Hospital. He was injured as he went to cover first base on a bouncer to Teixeira.

"It's not what you want, that's for sure," Joe Girardi said of losing Colon, who allowed only two hits and struck out six in winning his third straight start. "You keep your fingers crossed, hope it's not much and we get him back."

The Yankees' ever-shrinking pitching staff is now out Joba Chamberlain and Colon just this week. Even without the Red Sox and Indians treating Yankees hitters like the bull's-eye on a dunk tank, this has been a trying few days for an already stretched-thin group of pitchers.

"He's pitched so well for us, especially against all the odds," Curtis Granderson said. "He's done everything and more for what we needed him to do."

Granderson was the catalyst of sorts yet again for the latest Yankees hit-by-pitch. After his 20th home run of the year, a solo shot to right with one out in the sixth to make it 2-0, Teixeira flied deep to right, a ball that would have been out on any other day but Saturday, when the damp and wind kept high flies in the field of play.

Teixeira was drilled in the back by Fausto Carmona on Friday, one pitch after Granderson's 19th homer. Teixeira escaped Saturday but Alex Rodriguez, who hit a laser home run to open the scoring in the fourth, took a two-seam fastball off his left quad from Indians starter Mitch Talbot.

Home-plate umpire Dan Iassogna immediately ejected Talbot as Rodriguez lay in the dirt. Rodriguez stayed in, Talbot left after pleading his innocence and things went on.

"After what happened [Friday], you can't do that," said Teixeira, who launched his 19th home run in the eighth.

"I'm not sure if it was intentional," Rodriguez said, "but I do know it hurt like hell."

He stayed in after the HBP but left in the ninth for defensive replacement Eduardo Nuñez.

After Colon left, David Robertson rushed to get himself ready. The new eighth-inning reliever was pressed into seventh-inning service and did fine; in the eighth, with a 3-0 lead, Robertson allowed leadoff singles to Jack Hannahan and Lou Marson, then issued a balk to move both runners into scoring position.

But as he's done often, Robertson cleaned up his own mess -- this time, it was three straight strikeouts, including a final one on Grady Sizemore with a brilliant, sweeping curveball and a pump of his fist.

"The role doesn't matter to me. I'll pitch whenever," he said. "We've lost some guys and it stinks, but that's part of the game. We really have to step up all aspects of our game."

Girardi will dip into the farm system to replace Colon if, as expected for a 38-year-old who didn't pitch anywhere last year, he winds up on the disabled list.

"Your hope is you have enough depth to cover everything, but you're asking young kids to do a lot," he said.