Left ankle still sore, Jeter out of lineup

NEW YORK -- It's weird not to see Derek Jeter on the left side of the lineup card, Joe Girardi said. The Yankees manager is so used to penciling him in at shortstop that it's hard to not see him in the lineup.

But for at least the next few games, that's exactly where he'll be. Jeter was removed from Saturday's game with soreness in his surgically repaired left ankle, and the Yankees are going to give him a few days off before re-evaluating the oft-injured shortstop.

Jeter had a precautionary CT scan after Saturday's game, and the results came back negative. The Yankees also sent the results to Dr. Robert Anderson -- the Charlotte, N.C., physician who performed Jeter's ankle surgery in October -- as an extra precaution.

"During his career, he's played through so much," Girardi said. "He's been nicked up before. You play as long as he has, you've probably been nicked up a lot. As I said yesterday, there was some concern over the way he was moving for me. I just thought we needed to get it checked out."

The Yankees haven't considered shutting Jeter down for the rest of the season, Girardi said. The plan now is to give him at least two days off before re-evaluating his ankle and going forward from there.

"He understands," Girardi said. "I know he's frustrated and he wants to be out there. It's tearing him up inside. As much as he doesn't like it and he wants to be out there, I think he understands our point of view about trying to give it a couple of days to calm down."

Jeter was removed from Saturday's game because Girardi said he didn't like the way the shortstop ran to first on his sixth-inning RBI single. Girardi and general manager Brian Cashman also said they thought Jeter's ankle affected him on his wide throw to first on Red Sox left fielder Jonny Gomes' single.

"That was probably when it stuck out to me more than normal," Girardi said. "That's why I decided to basically say, 'Let's pinch-run for him and see where we're at. He's not coming out.' If you ask him, he won't come out."

If and when Jeter does return to the Yankees' lineup, Girardi said his expectations for what the shortstop is able to do will have to continue to change.

"I think I've somewhat altered that over the last couple of years [by] giving him more days off," Girardi said. "But I think at this point, with the way his ankle has been, you probably have to watch him even closer than before."

The Yankees have had to be extra cautions with Jeter this season considering all he's been through with injuries. The Yankees captain missed the first three months of the season while recovering from a fractured left ankle suffered in the 2012 postseason. Since returning from that injury on July 11, Jeter has gone on the disabled list two more times; once with a right quad strain and once with a right calf strain.

Jeter has played in just 17 of the Yankees' 142 games this season, batting .190 with one home run and seven RBIs.

"[It's] probably his worst [season] ever for him, to have to live through this, and you can probably go back to when he started when he was 6 years old," Girardi said, "because he loves to be out there and he loves to compete. And this is the time that he probably loves being out there more than anyone. It's been difficult."