For two days, when New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi put in a call to the bullpen, he's been without the option of warming up setup man Rafael Soriano(notes).
The New York Daily News reports that Soriano "woke up Saturday with a sore lower back." The Yanks didn't need him that night when it blew out the Baltimore Orioles 15-3, but could have used him in the eighth inning Sunday night against the O's in what was at that point a one-run game and what became an 11-inning 6-3 win for New York.
"He tried to play catch today and he wasn't right," Girardi said Sunday after the game, the paper reports. "He was going to try. He said he'd give me an answer once he went to the bullpen. I called down in the sixth inning and knew that I didn't have him."
Soriano hopes to be back as a possible pitching option for Girardi on Monday, according to the Daily News.
