'Fortunate' Dickerson has mild concussion

BALTIMORE -- Chris Dickerson had a diagonal bruise under his left eye and a mild concussion Thursday.

But all in all, Dickerson felt "extremely fortunate" less than 24 hours after being beaned by lefthander Mike Gonzalez in the top of the 15th inning Wednesday night.

The bruise was caused by the bill of his batting helmet, which was cracked by the force of the 93-mph fastball. "It could have been bad," Dickerson said.

He spent what he estimated was "quite a while" at University of Maryland Hospital, where he received a CT scan, which showed no damage.

"Not fun," Dickerson said. "Nothing good can come from being in an emergency room at 1 o'clock in the morning."

He doesn't think he'll need to be put on baseball's new seven-day disabled list, created specifically for those who suffer concussions.

"I think if there were any residual symptoms, if I felt nauseated or was still dizzy getting out of bed, I think there would be a cause for concern," said Dickerson, who expects to be ready for the Subway Series. "I feel lucky to be in the position I'm in right now."

Gonzalez immediately was ejected after hitting Dickerson, who was called up from Triple-A Tuesday afternoon. But when asked if he thought the pitch was intentional, Dickerson said, "Absolutely not."

"He threw great pitches to start off the at-bat, two great curveballs," said Dickerson, who was hit with Gonzalez's third pitch shortly after Robinson Cano's tiebreaking two-run double in the 15th. "If you're going to retaliate for something, you're going to do it first pitch. You're not going to waste two great curveballs and then throw at me."

Dickerson said Gonzalez approached him before Thursday night's game to see if he was OK.

The pitch that hit Dickerson led to A.J. Burnett being used as a pinch runner, infielder Eduardo Nuñez playing rightfield and Jeremy Guthrie having to replace Gonzalez. Guthrie, who had been scheduled to start Thursday night, was replaced by Brad Bergesen, who allowed five runs in the first inning.

Logan's run

Lost a bit in the overall craziness of Wednesday night's game was Boone Logan's stellar effort out of the bullpen. He came on with the bases loaded and one out in the 11th and got out of it, striking out lefthanded-hitting Luke Scott on a slider for the second out of the inning. It's a pitch that Logan hasn't been happy with this season, but he hasn't been scored upon in 32/3 innings in his last five appearances.

"I've been focusing on getting on top of the ball and my slider's had a better break to it," Logan said before Thursday night's game. "It's still not where I want it to be, but it's been better."

Visiting hours

Girardi said Alex Rodriguez "possibly" could see doctors in New York for a "short checkup," something hitting coach Kevin Long suggested earlier in the week. But the checkup, which Girardi and A-Rod have called a case of being "proactive" and not resulting from any pain in his hip or anywhere else, might take place another time. Said Girardi, "We'll see what time we get in ."