Rieber: Yankees take two: walk-off HR and Posada's OK

How fast can things change in baseball?

In the time that it took Nick Swisher to swing his bat yesterday, the Yankees went from disheartening loss to joyful win.

And in about an hour and a half, fear of Jorge Posada missing a whole lot of time because of a possible concussion went to Posada not having a concussion and being called "day-to-day.''

Day-to-day? How about second-to-second? That's about how long it seemed as if it took for the Yankees' fortunes to go from despair to glee to worry to relief, when you consider their 3-2 victory over the Orioles at Yankee Stadium and the health of their catcher.

While the Yankees were jumping and hooting and hollering around home plate after Swisher's two-run homer in the ninth, Posada was at New York-Presbyterian Hospital getting checked for a possible concussion.

Manager Joe Girardi dropped the bombshell about Posada's "concussion symptoms" a few minutes into his postgame news conference. The Yankees had kept the medical situation secret - not just from the media, but from most of Posada's teammates, too - until Girardi was asked why he didn't use Posada as a pinch hitter for Francisco Cervelli in the seventh with the Orioles ahead 2-1 and two men on base.

It was an obvious move and even more obvious that something must have been wrong with Posada. Unless you think Girardi is a terrible manager or just forgot he had one of the top offensive catchers in baseball on his bench.

Only problem? Posada wasn't on his bench. He left the Stadium midway through the game to see a neurologist.

This wasn't an ankle or a knee or a groin. Concussions and their lingering aftermaths are one of the great unknowns in sports. Just ask Ryan Church and Jason Bay, to name two New York players who went from day-to-day to month-to-month with post-concussion syndrome.

"Anytime you start talking about concussions - and we've seen a lot of these last a long time with players - there's concern," Girardi said.

Ten minutes after the game, Girardi took pains to say the diagnosis of a concussion had not been made. Just that Posada was hit with a foul tip Tuesday night and "had concussion symptoms after the game. Woke up this morning - didn't sleep well last night - had a headache today. Did a test here and he went to see a neurologist."

Girardi is usually so optimistic about injuries that it wouldn't shock you if he said Nick Johnson was a possibility to DH Friday against the Rangers. But he was concerned enough about Posada that he already was contemplating life without him.

"You're talking about a guy that's playoff-tested, World Series-tested, September-down-the-stretch-tested, a switch hitter that's in the middle part of our lineup,'' he said. "It's an impact."

Then came the two-sentence release from the Yankees public relations staff: "Tests performed this afternoon by a neurology specialist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital were negative. Physicians have cleared Posada for competitive play and he is listed as day-to-day.''

So the Yankees apparently dodged that bullet, just as they dodged a fourth straight loss and a sweep at the hands of Buck Showalter's Orioles.

"It was important to win this game today,'' Alex Rodriguez said, "because for us it's unacceptable to be swept at home.''

In truth, it probably would have mattered little to the Yankees' postseason plans if they had been swept. The more important part of the afternoon was happening in Manhattan, not the Bronx, and it appears the Yankees won that one, too.