ARLINGTON, Texas - When Joe Girardi didn't hear the word great spill out of Mariano Rivera's mouth when asked how his back was, the manager put his closer on ice for the second straight game last night against the Rangers.
"He said he felt OK," Girardi said of Rivera, who was held out due to spasms in the upper back. "But I got to hear great. He feels good. He will be available [tonight]."
Rivera was in the bullpen when Damaso Marte gave up a game-winning grand slam to Marlon Byrd in the ninth, ready if called upon.
"I was in the pen, they made the decision," said Rivera, who played long toss before the game, shagged flies during batting practice and did stretching exercise in the bullpen during the eighth inning. "I would have thrown but they didn't call."
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Darrell Rasner will take a blister on the right index finger and a 5-8 ledger and 5.23 ERA to the bullpen if he doesn't take Joba Chamberlain's start on Saturday.
One day after Rasner was belted for five runs and seven hits in four innings by the Angels on Sunday in a game the Yankees eventually won, the right-hander was replaced in the rotation by journeyman righty Dan Giese, who will start Friday night against the Angels in Anaheim.
"I didn't have the touch I normally have," Rasner said of the blister, that surfaced in his previous start but was worse Sunday when it developed into a blood blister. "I have had blisters before, it's just another one of those things."
Rasner, who started the season 3-0, will flip roles with the 31-year-old Giese, who might be keeping the seat warm for Phil Hughes.
Ian Kennedy has been throwing better recently in the minors, but the Yanks aren't as hot to elevate him to the big leagues as they were a year ago.
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According to a report on ESPN.com, the Yankees are among a group of teams being investigated by Major League Baseball for skimming dollars off bonuses for players signed from the Dominican Republic.
ESPN.com reported that 17-year-old outfielder Kelvin DeLeon's name was on an anonymous letter sent to the club within the last month and with the amount of money skimmed from his $1.1 million bonus of a year ago. The report said the club sent the letter to MLB and that it contained other names of Yankees prospects.
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