"Mark Teixeira strode around the Yankees clubhouse with a limp after Thursday night's 4-2 win, and the Bombers now can only hope that they aren't looking at a long stretch without one of their major run-producers and best fielders.

The slugging first baseman got drilled with an Alfredo Aceves pitch on the outside of his right knee in the sixth and had to come out of the game an inning later when it became so stiff in the field that he worried that balls would be hit his way. He retreated to the clubhouse after the bottom of the inning, and trainer Steve Donohue told him, "You're not going back out there."

"It's pretty painful. It got me in a bad spot. It couldn't have got me in a worse spot - right on the side of the knee so it got bone and ligaments, basically got it all," said Teixeira, who has 35 home runs and 100 RBI. "Any time you get hit - I've gotten hit in the knee a couple times this year - any time you do it you really get worried because you just never know."

The good news is the training staff didn't feel it necessary to send him for X-rays or other tests. And even though he was wincing when he walked on it after the game, he said do not rule him out for Friday.

"You know me: I always try to play," he said. "We'll see how it feels in the morning. We got ice and wrap on it right away so hopefully it doesn't feel too bad.""