Ground balls give A-Rod trouble

MOOSIC, Pa. -- A few minutes before Alex Rodriguez took the field for the start of his final Triple-A rehab game here, he asked one of his teammates to toss him a pop fly in front of the Yankees dugout.

Once Rodriguez caught the ball, the Yankees third baseman pumped his glove at the crowd in mock celebration, a reference to his inability to catch two foul pop-ups the previous night.

But Wednesday night, it was the balls hit on the ground that gave him problems.

Making his second appearance for Triple-A Scranton while rehabbing his surgically repaired knee, Rodriguez let one grounder go through his legs and couldn't catch a sharp grounder one step to his right, making for a rocky finish to his brief stay in the minors.

Rodriguez is expected to rejoin the Yankees in Minnesota Thursday, but manager Joe Girardi told reporters before the Yankees' game in Kansas City Wednesday night that they haven't decided when they will activate Rodriguez from the disabled list.

"We may have him just go through some things for a couple of days," Girardi said, "and wait a couple days to activate him."

Rodriguez said he's been told he's definitely not playing Thursday and is OK with waiting a few days before returning to the Yankees lineup. He said he'll use the extra time to work with infield coach Mick Kelleher on getting comfortable at third base again.

Girardi also said he may initially ease Rodriguez into the everyday lineup as the designated hitter. When that news was relayed to Rodriguez after Wednesday night's game, he joked that it might be a good idea in the wake of his rough two days in the field.

"I really thought I played great defense when the ball wasn't hit to me," Rodriguez said.

One night after joking that he provided some "entertainment" for the local fans with his botched pop-ups, Rodriguez was back at it in the first inning. With one out and runners on the corners, Rodriguez let a potential inning-ending, double-play ball go through his legs, allowing a run to score.

"I thought I had a good read on it and it went right between my legs, and that's about it," Rodriguez said. "You saw it better than me. It didn't even hit my glove.

Rodriguez also let a hard-hit grounder just to his right get by him in the second inning, which led the crowd of 10,408 to boo. Whenever Rodriguez fielded the ball cleanly after those plays, the fans here gave him a bit of a mock ovation.

Offensively, Rodriguez went 1-for-2 with a single and two walks. But most important to Rodriguez is the state of his right knee, and he said that it has responded well to consecutive days in the field. He had surgery July 11 to repair a torn meniscus.

Although he didn't have too many running opportunities Wednesday night, he said he intentionally ran hard from first base to third base on the last out of the first inning in an effort to see how his knee felt. And he was happy with the results. Added Rodriguez, "I felt much more confident."

With Erik Boland