--3B Alex Rodriguez (strained right quad) was scheduled for an MRI exam. If that goes well, the Yankees hope he'll be ready to take part in a rehab assignment in the middle of the week and return to the Yankees by the weekend. Rodriguez is eligible to come off the 15-day disabled list Thursday.

--3B Wilson Betemit was placed on the 15-day disabled list Sunday with a strained right hamstring after injuring it in the fourth inning while running the bases Saturday. Betemit had just returned from the DL three days before after battling eye problems. IF Alberto Gonazalez was recalled from Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to replace him.

--SS Derek Jeter would have batted cleanup for just the second time in his career had Sunday's game not been rained out. Manager Joe Girardi wanted to give Hideki Matsui, who'd been batting fourth, a day off and penciled in the right-handed hitting Jeter between lefties Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi. "It's a little different," Girardi told reporters. "You hate being in situations where you stack your lefties and they have left-handed relievers."

--LHP Kei Igawa could be skipped in his next start thanks to some help from the weather. Sunday's rainout prompted the Yankees to push their rotation back a day. RHP Darrell Rasner would then likely assume the spot Thursday for Igawa, who yielded six runs in three innings in his start last week. That scenario though would leave a question mark for Friday so it's not a definite decision yet.

--RHP Darrell Rasner has given the Yankees exactly what they sought from him when they called him up to take RHP Phil Hughes' spot in the rotation. In his two starts, Rasner has gone six innings both times and posted a 3.00 ERA. More impressively, he has made his fielders comfortable playing for him. "He works quick, he throws strikes; he's fun to play behind," Derek Jeter told reporters after Rasner won his second straight start Saturday.

BY THE NUMBERS
46,000,194 -- Number of dollars the Yankees have invested in Japanese import Kei Igawa, who posted a 6.25 ERA last season and looked even worse in his first start this year.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"If he wants to yell and scream after a strikeout and dance around the mound ... My home run was in a much bigger situation ... but I didn't dance around and scream." -- Cleveland outfielder David Dellucci, who hit a game-winning homer off Joba Chamberlain one game and struck out the next, on Chamberlain's exuberance on the mound.

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