Rehabbing Dotel Taking It One Day At A Time

STATEN ISLAND, NY- Not lost in Staten Island's 2-1 victory over Williamsport Thursday was a one inning stint from Yankee reliever Octavio Dotel.

A couple of days after an outing at Trenton, the former Met made his third rehab appearance for the Baby Bombers.

Topping out at 93 MPH, the righthander worked out of trouble in the seventh. After allowing two straight hits to open the frame which put runners on second and third, the 32 year-old veteran buckled down by whiffing James Barkdale and then got a bit of fortune when he gloved a Gonzalez liner to start a 1-5 double play to end the threat.

"I was excited that I got it," Dotel said. I'm usually not able to get those."

"To be honest, I like those kind of situations because it makes me say, 'Hey. You got to get your stuff going on...I got to do my job here.'"

The ex-Athletic who was signed by the Yankees in the Spring is trying to comeback from elbow ligament replacement surgery which was performed last summer.

He was encouraged by his performance but also is taking it a day at a time.

"I feel good," he added. "I think I'm going to go one more outing. I don't know where and then see how I feel after and also see how I feel tomorrow."

"My next inning is going to be Saturday. But let's see first how I feel."

If all goes well, the Santo Domingo Dominican native hinted that he could be back with the big club by next week. But he wasn't in any hurry and didn't ponder what his possible role in the Bronx could be.

"I just want to get healthy first and then I'm going to think about what I'm going to do."

"I just want to feel good. I just want to get my whole way to get to the majors. I just want to see how things go."

The question remains as to when Dotel will be able to take the mound for the Yanks. It was reported a few hours later that he felt soreness.