Matsui strains hamstring

 

NEW YORK (AP) -Hideki Matsui strained his left hamstring during the New York Yankees’ 10-7 win over Baltimore on Saturday and could be sidelined until next weekend.
Matsui was hurt running out a squibber in the second inning on a 39-degree day, then was pinch hit for in the fourth by Miguel Cairo. With the Yankees headed to Minnesota for a three-game series that starts Monday, Yankees manager Joe Torre said the left fielder might not play until the start of a series in Oakland on Friday.
“Hopefully, it’s only a few days,” Torre said. “It’s not a full-blown hamstring, but again, it’s something you have to keep an eye on.”
After playing in 1,768 consecutive games with the Yomiuri Giants (1,250) and the Yankees (518), Matsui was sidelined from May 11 to Sept. 12 last year with a broken left wrist. He said he would wait to hear his prognosis from the team’s medical staff on Sunday.
Cairo took over from Matsui in left field in the fifth inning – just his fifth outfield appearance since 2003. Johnny Damon, still recovering from a strained right calf, pinch hit for Cairo in the eighth and went to center field, with Melky Cabrera shifting to left.
Bobby Abreu, the right fielder, was hit on the inside of a knee by a pitch in the ninth. Torre expected Abreu to play in Sunday’s series finale.
“He’ll get ice and stuff to keep the swelling down,” Torre said. “Hopefully, that’s all it is.”
New York doesn’t have many outfield alternatives.
“We’re thin right now,” Torre said. “The only way we can get some help is to sacrifice a pitcher or put somebody on the DL, and we’re not really prepared to do either one of those things right now.”