Matt Carpenter on foot injury: ''I'm very encouraged we avoided surgery."

SEATTLE – A resolute Matt Carpenter stood on crutches here late Monday night in the Yankees clubhouse after suffering a fracture in his left foot.

“My mindset is I’ll be back (this year),” Carpenter said.

The veteran utility man received news late Wednesday morning here that makes that a distinct possibility.

“I’m very encouraged we avoided surgery,” said Carpenter, who saw a local foot specialist who works with the Seattle Seahawks. “It’s a clean break that just needs to heal. We’ll see how long it takes.”

Carpenter said he received “a number” in terms of weeks from the doctor, one he preferred to keep to himself, though when he pressed the 36-year-old said: “I’ll be back this season. I feel good about it.”

The likely timeline is in the 6-8 week range.  

Carpenter, signed May 26 as basically an afterthought, became an instant revelation, hitting his way into the everyday lineup. At the time he went down Monday, Carpenter was hitting .305 with 15 homers, 37 RBIs and a 1.138 OPS in 128 at-bats spanning 47 games.  

“I don’t like to put any restriction on me or any kind of timeline,” Carpenter said. “But when I feel like I can come back, I’m going to be ready to go.”

Welcome back, Rizzo 

Anthony Rizzo had a mostly quiet return to the Yankees lineup but, most significant for the first baseman and his club, a healthy one.

Rizzo, who missed five straight games after being a late scratch Friday night in St. Louis with lower-back tightness, went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts after starting in the field and batting third in Wednesday’s loss.

“I think good,” said Aaron Boone, asked how he thought Rizzo came through the day.

Can you hear me now?

A major topic of conversation among players across the sport Wednesday morning – and this certainly was the case in the Yankees’ clubhouse – was the Pirates’ Rodolfo Castro having his cell phone fall out of his pocket while sliding into third base during Tuesday night’s game at Arizona.

“That,” one veteran player said, shaking his head, “just can’t happen.”

Boone smiled when asked if he needed to have a meeting to remind players not to take their cell phones on the field.

“I don’t know if I’ll call a meeting for that but maybe just mention it to a few guys to make sure cell phones are locked up in the street clothes in their locker,” Boone said, still smiling. “I was just of like, ‘Wow’ [when I saw it].”

Clean it up

The Yankees, not the strongest team on the bases the last few years but better in that department this season up until recently, had five runners thrown out on the bases in Tuesday night’s 1-0 loss in 13 innings, including four in the extra frames.  

“I feel like over the past few weeks we’ve had a handful of mistakes out there were probably gotten a little (overly) aggressive, not had the best reads on some fly balls in the outfield, things like that,” Boone said before Wednesday’s game. “Not wanting us to lose the aggression but, hey, it’s a wakeup call to say you have to be really smart in certain situations.”