BALTIMORE — Alex Rodriguez is planning to have his surgically repaired right hip checked in the coming days, even though the Yankees cleanup hitter said it is not bothering him.
Rodriguez hit two home runs Tuesday night against the Rays, but had been in a miserable slump before then. Rodriguez said hitting coach Kevin Long suggested he get his hip checked.
The Yankees plan on having the hip examined during the team’s next homestand, which begins Friday against the Mets.
“That was something that came from Kevin,” Rodriguez said Wednesday at Camden Yards. “Kevin’s been working with me a long time. He just felt that we want to make sure that we dot our I’s and cross our T’s and are diligent about it and think big picture.”
The 35-year-old third baseman said the hip, where a torn labrum was repaired in March 2009, is not giving him pain. Rodriguez is hitting .250 with eight home runs and 24 RBIs. He started the season strong before going into a tailspin in recent weeks.
In the 21 games before he broke out Tuesday, Rodriguez hit .171 with one home run and 23 strikeouts. That led some to speculate whether the hip was bothering Rodriguez.
“It’s not an excuse for poor performance,” he said. “It has nothing to do with a bad feeling or aching or anything. I’ve been actually working my tail off with Kevin and feeling better each and every day. Finally yesterday I got a little result.”
Joe Girardi said he viewed the hip checkup as a standard precaution considering Rodriguez’s procedure in March 2009 to repair the torn labrum in the hip.
“I think you just want to make sure he’s OK,” Girardi said. “Al talked about wanting to be proactive and making sure everything is OK. He said he doesn’t necessarily feel anything so from our standpoint, you’re not worried about it. He’s had checkups before. We thought he’s moved a lot better this year. We just want to get it checked.”
Rodriguez said getting regular checkups on his hip will be part of the rest of his career. Even though he has not felt pain, he pointed out he did not feel pain before he had to have the hip operated on in spring training 2009.
“That’s a certain box and we want to check it off,” Rodriguez said.
Additional reporting by George A. King III