Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli had been surprising the baseball world with his hot start to the 2013 season, but the feel-good story in the Bronx hit a big snag last night when Cervelli's hand was struck by a Rajai Davis foul ball.
Cervelli broke his hand on the play, and is now expected to miss six weeks. The news is bad news for the Yankees offense; Cervelli was hitting .269 with three home runs and eight RBI in 17 games thus far, and he was carrying an .877 OPS, which indicates he was hitting for power and getting on base rather frequently.
To complicate matters, Cervelli has been the only person to catch Yankees ace CC Sabathia this season. The battery combination was working; despite Sabathia's dip in velocity he brings a 3-2 record, 3.34 ERA and 1.22 WHIP into today's start against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi said this when asked about Cervelli's injury, "It's disappointing, and I know it's really disappointing for him because of all that he's been through to get to this point." Cervelli was unexpectedly sent to Triple A last season in favor of Chris Stewart last season and was not a factor for the 2012 Yankees.
Starting pitcher Ivan Nova also left last night's win in the third inning with elbow trouble. They joined third baseman Kevin Youkilis on the Yankees bench. Youkilis has missed six straight games with tightness in his lower back, so the Bronx Bombers may be adding three more players to their already lengthy disabled list.
Austin Romine is expected to be called up today to replace Cervelli, while Stewart will likely step in as the primary catcher. David Phelps relieved the injured Nova, and struck out nine batters in four innings of work. He got the win, improving his record to 1-1, and will likely replace Nova in the rotation depending on how much time he will miss with the elbow.
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