Emergency surgery for Peña
New York Yankees' Ramiro Pena turns a double play over New York Mets' Jason Bay during the fourth inning of an interleague game at Citi Field. (July 3, 2011) Credit: AP
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Ramiro Peña will likely remember his 26th birthday for all the wrong reasons.
The backup infielder had an emergency appendectomy Monday morning at a Tampa hospital and was placed on the 15-day disabled list.
"I'm not sure exactly how long this will take," Joe Girardi said. "I've heard guys trying to come back after five or six days. I think that's a little bit difficult. But I wouldn't expect it to be too long."
Joba Chamberlain also had an appendectomy 10 days ago, Girardi said.
Brandon Laird, hitting .266 with 10 homers and 49 RBIs in 90 games with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, was called up to replace Peña on the roster. The 23-year-old Laird was supposed to be in St. Petersburg in time for Monday night's game but there was a plane delay.
Girardi said Eduardo Nuñez, who has struggled in the field this season and displayed a lively bat at times, will still get most of the time at third as Alex Rodriguez recovers from right knee surgery.
"I'm going to stick with Nuney," Girardi said. "To me, he's earned that and has played well for us."
Sori, Chavez to rehab
Rafael Soriano (right elbow inflammation) and Eric Chavez (fractured left foot) are scheduled to appear for Class-A Tampa Wednesday night. The general thought is, should there be no setbacks, Soriano could be ready after three rehab games.
"I would think that would be the minimum but I don't have a number on it," Girardi said. "The question is do you do back to back [games]."
The formula is a little more complicated with Chavez, on the DL since May 6.
"He's been out for a while, so I think he's going to need some at-bats, and the question is how long can he go in those first couple of games," Girardi said. "If he was out a shorter period of time, it would probably be easier to build him up. We need him to be able to play nine innings when he gets here, so that could take some time."
Extra bases
Girardi called Bartolo Colon's start Tuesday "important" but not because his spot in the rotation is in any jeopardy after two straight rough starts.
"His stuff was not bad his last start," Girardi said. "We just didn't help him. I saw good stuff, I didn't see good defense."
The GCL Yankees, including Dante Bichette Jr., the Yankees' first pick (51st overall) of this year's draft, were on-field guests before the game.
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