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KANSAS CITY, Mo. - - Just when it looked as if the Orioles would be getting one of their key position players back from a nagging leg injury, another one is unsure about his status for Tuesday's game against the New York Yankees.
Shortstop Cesar Izturis left Sunday's game before the bottom of the eighth with a left groin strain and said afterward that he's not sure of its severity.
"We'll see how it feels after the off day [Monday]," Izturis said after the Orioles' 7-4 loss to the Kansas City Royals. "It's sore right now. We'll wait and see what happens."
Izturis first injured the groin in the seventh inning when he collided with Royals reliever Ron Mahay during a play at first base.
He stayed in the game, but when he planted his left leg to make a throw to first in the bottom of the inning, the pain intensified. He was replaced in the bottom of the eighth by Robert Andino, who likely will start at short if Izturis is out.
Right now, the Orioles are considering Izturis day-to-day.
"We'll have to give it 24 hours and see where we are," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said.
Izturis is batting .243 with 13 RBIs and eight stolen bases in 33 games. He normally hits at the bottom of the order but has batted second in the past four games while center fielder Adam Jones has been out with a hamstring strain.
Roughly 12 hours after getting his first win in more than a year, Orioles left-hander Rich Hill was sticking to his day-after-game routine: jogging around the stadium.
As fans were filing in for Sunday's contest, Hill was running by them and through the parking lot. He also jogged to the top deck of Kauffman Stadium. It's a ritual he picked up from Chicago Cubs starter Ryan Dempster.
The Orioles hope Hill continues another tradition he began in Chicago in 2007: piling up strikeouts by mixing and commanding all his pitches. In Saturday's win against Kansas City, Hill's first big league start since May 2, 2008, he walked two, allowed two runs and struck out six in 5 2/3 innings.
"I was very impressed with how he attacked the strike zone," pitching coach Rick Kranitz said. "That's big. He established his fastball early, and he mixed his breaking ball in when he needed to."
Jones missed his fourth straight game Sunday, but his right hamstring is much improved. He has wanted to play since leaving Wednesday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays but is confident he will return Tuesday against the Yankees' formidable lefty, CC Sabathia.
"I'll be in there to face Sabathia," he said.
Trembley said Jones could have started Sunday "if I wanted to push it," but the manager decided to let him sit one more day and allow Felix Pie to get back-to-back starts.
New Yankee Stadium awaits
The Orioles will get their first look at new Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, and Trembley is just as eager to see it as he is to see the empty version of the old place, where he attended games as a kid."It will be different seeing the old one right behind it unoccupied. That will be a little different," Trembley said. "I might try and see if I can get over there and see what it looks like."
The Orioles' 3-2 win Saturday was their first this season in which they scored fewer than four runs. They are 1-11 in those games. ... Despite Sunday's loss, the Orioles still dominate at Kauffman Stadium, going 25-9 dating to 2001. ... Aubrey Huff extended his hitting streak to eight games with an eighth-inning single. ... Melvin Mora's hitting streak ended at seven games.
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