"The Yankees beat the Tigers and ace Justin Verlander last night at Comerica Park with their best hitter, Robinson Cano, sidelined, their cleanup man, Alex Rodriguez, in a deep slump and their designated hitter, Jorge Posada, attempting to fight his way out of an extended slide.

Cano suffered a bone bruise on the left palm Sunday when he was handcuffed by an Ivan Nova pickoff throw at second base.

"It feels better," said Cano, who was replaced at second by Eduardo Nunez and in the fifth spot by Nick Swisher. "[Sunday] I couldn't hold the bat."

Cano was told not to take batting practice and said he wasn't available to pinch hit.

"I don't want to make it worse," said Cano, who is batting .320 with eight homers and 21 RBIs.

Following the Yankees' 5-3 victory, in which Nunez had an RBI double and Swisher provided the game-winning hit, manager Joe Girardi said Cano possibly would return tonight.

Rodriguez lugged a 3-for-27 (.111) slump to the plate last night and if not for a generous scoring call would have gone 0-for-5 instead of 1-for-5 with an infield single."