Jared Wickerham/Getty Images
Mike Napoli, center, after his homer in the 11th inning. Napoli also hit a three-run homer, off C. C. Sabathia, in the third inning.
BOSTON — At about the same time that Alex Rodriguez was sliding into a magnetic resonance imaging tube in New York on Sunday afternoon, Derek Jeter was standing in shorts in the bullpen at Fenway Park tracking pitches during Andy Pettitte's bullpen session.
Neither activity was what the Yankees were looking for from their two highest-profile players, both of whom are in their late 30s. But it is what the team has come to expect in a season defined by an unending string of injuries.
In their 98th game without Rodriguez and their 97th without Jeter, the Yankees fought and clawed the way they often do, but still fell to the Boston Red Sox, 8-7, in 11 innings early Monday at Fenway Park, despite wiping out a four-run deficit in the late innings.
At 12:53 a.m., Mike Napoli hit a two-out, full-count home run off Adam Warren in the 11th as the Red Sox came pouring out of the dugout to celebrate with him. Napoli also hit a three-run homer off C. C. Sabathia in the third inning.
As much as the Yankees have battled to stay competitive in the American League East, they fell seven games behind Boston in the division and do not know when, or if, they will be getting help from their injured stars.
Rodriguez, who was tentatively scheduled to join the Yankees on Monday in Texas after he spent the last six months recovering from hip surgery, had the M.R.I. to assess the tightness that developed in his left quadriceps during the final days of his minor league rehabilitation assignment.
The way the season has gone, it could hardly have been considered a surprise that he was told he had a Grade 1 strain.
That, after all, is the same news Jeter received for his right quadriceps injury on July 12. He sustained the injury in his first game back after he spent nearly nine months rehabilitating his twice-broken left ankle and was sent back to the 15-day disabled list. Jeter, who turned 39 on June 26, is eligible — but not certain — to come off the D.L. on Saturday. That is the same day that Rodriguez turns 38.
Rodriguez has completed his 20-day minor league rehabilitation assignment, so he is no longer eligible to play in official minor league games, unless the Yankees petition Major League Baseball to allow it, because of the new injury. For now, the Yankees said, he will remain on the disabled list and return to Tampa, Fla., for rest and treatment.
Rodriguez has not played in a major league game all season and has not been with the team for weeks during his rehabilitation, although he watches almost every game on television.
Jeter has remained with the team during his latest injury, but has been limited in what he can do, hence the tracking of pitches. In order to keep his timing and rhythm intact, he stood in the bullpen while Pettitte threw Sunday, as a way to see pitches.
But he has not done any running. Manager Joe Girardi said Jeter could theoretically be ready to play July 27, but he did not sound overly optimistic about it.
"I guess anything is possible," Girardi said before Sunday night's game. "I'm not sure. Obviously, the biggest hurdle he has to clear is running. I wouldn't say that I'm 100 percent sure that he'll be back."
Of course, Jeter and Rodriguez are not the only injured Yankees. Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira, who combined for 67 home runs last year, have played only a handful of games because of injury. Kevin Youkilis has also been lost after back surgery. All three of them, plus Jeter and Rodriguez, have sustained injuries in their recoveries from their initial wounds.
Even some of the backups, like Jayson Nix, Eduardo Nunez and Zoilo Almonte, have been injured, and Youkilis was originally signed to cover for Rodriguez.
Amid all the injuries, the one thing that has kept the Yankees from completely capsizing has been their bullpen and some timely hitting. The starting pitching was included in that solid category until recently, when pitchers like Pettitte and Sabathia faltered.
Sabathia has not pitched up to his capabilities this year, and Sunday's performance was all too typical of his struggles. He lasted five-plus innings, gave up nine hits and seven runs, including two towering home runs.
Napoli's three-run shot cleared the seats above the Green Monster in the Red Sox four-run third, and Jonny Gomes hit another one in the fifth that was headed out of the ballpark until it hit the light tower above the wall.
A dejected Sabathia walked off the field in the sixth inning and as he descended into the far end of the dugout, he received a small pat of support from Jeter.
And somewhere in New York at roughly the same time, Rodriguez might just have turned off his television.
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