Girardi: Posada won't catch 'this week'

BALTIMORE - Jorge Posada took significant steps to getting back behind the plate Tuesday, but Joe Girardi said that still probably won't occur this week.

"Obviously we're on the right track, I'm excited about that," Girardi said before last night's game. "I don't want to put a timetable on it but I'm not looking at it for this week."

Posada said he "did a little bit of everything" before the game, including getting in the crouch and throwing to simulated bases, blocking balls thrown by former catcher and bench coach Tony Peña and catching Andy Pettitte's bullpen session.

"Feels fine, feels good," said Posada, participating in catching drills for the first time since he came off the DL June 1.

Posada, who was the DH last night, said he'll take Wednesday off from doing catching drills - he could still DH - and will resume Thursday.

"It feels fine now, we just want to see if the foot can take it," Posada said. "We just want to be smart about it."

Taking the third

Pressed repeatedly, Girardi held firm that the struggling Mark Teixeira would continue hitting third, but left enough on the table for those wanting to do some tea-leaf reading.

"I am not worried about him long term," Girardi said. "You worry about players short term because you worry about how it's affecting them. Some guys are easier to read than others. If I was to move him, I would talk to him about it before we did it but right now, as of today, I don't have any plans to do that."

Girardi curious, too

Though his team was playing at the same time, Girardi was very interested in what was happening in Washington with Stephen Strasburg's debut.

"It would be hard for me to be a baseball fan and not be curious," Girardi said. "He's 45 minutes away and there's obviously a lot of excitement in the area."

Extra bases

With pitching coach Dave Eiland still on personal leave tending to a family matter, Staten Island manager Josh Paul joined the team as bullpen coach. Mike Harkey, normally the bullpen coach, has been serving as pitching coach in Eiland's absence. Girardi said there was no timetable for Eiland's return . . . Among the 24 players the Yankees selected in the amateur draft was St. John's RHP Daniel Burawa in the 12th round. The draft concludes Wednesday . . . RHP Angel Rincon, on the roster of the Yankees' Dominican Summer League team, received a 50-game suspension after testing positive for metabolites of Stanozolol, a performance-enhancing substance, MLB announced.