BALTIMORE -- Orioles' shortstop J.J. Hardy received a cortisone injection in his right elbow on Friday and hopes to be back on the field later this week.
"I'm getting better," said Hardy, who is on the 60-day disabled list with a wrist injury. "The wrist isn't really an issue. The shoulder was an issue for a little bit, but now it's the forearm. Kind of tennis elbow stuff. Got that shot [Friday] and I'm gonna start throwing today and probably start swinging tomorrow and see where we're at."
Orioles manager Buck Showalter said Hardy is a possibility to play at some point during the team's upcoming series against the Yankees, which starts on Monday, depending on how he progresses.
"I'm hoping that at some point in the Yankee series that he's available to us," Showalter said. "It could be that quickly. That's the only thing. He's got to get that elbow manageable. That's why we stopped, because it wasn't helping any if he continued to play there, so he got the shot. If that manages in the next day or so, if it's real good today, that could move pretty quickly. If it doesn't by, say, Thursday, we'd probably think about doing something for Cleveland, I would think."
Hardy thinks the elbow flared up because of the layoff due to his wrist injury. He's hoping to get back to full strength soon and that he won't need any more time playing in rehab games.
"I tried to squeeze six weeks of Spring Training into a week and a half. Spring Training for me is always the time to get my shoulder and everything loose. It usually takes that time for me," he said. "So a week and a half, I felt like it was getting better [on rehab] and it was going to be good enough. But this elbow thing kind of came up out of nowhere."