Yanks schedule checkup on A-Rod's hip

BALTIMORE -- Alex Rodriguez said that he feels no discomfort in his surgically repaired right hip, but the Yankees slugger will agree to have an examination when the team returns to New York.

Rodriguez said that he could have an appointment on Friday, before the Yankees open the Subway Series at home against the Mets, but he stressed that there is no particular urgency to do so.

"Checkups are going to be part of the rest of my career," Rodriguez said. "We're doing it to be very proactive. I wouldn't be surprised if there's another one in October or January.

"Again, we'll be sitting here next year talking about that. We just want to make sure -- that's a certain box, and we want to check it off."

Rodriguez had a procedure performed in March 2009 that knocked him out until May 8, when he homered on the first pitch he saw from the Orioles' Jeremy Guthrie in Baltimore.

Rodriguez has had few ill effects since, and Dr. Marc Philippon gave him a clean bill of health over the winter to resume full-force baseball workouts instead of focusing on rehab exercises.

But recently, Rodriguez has been less inclined to use his lower half in swings, a flaw that hitting coach Kevin Long has worked to correct.

Rodriguez homered twice off the Rays' James Shields on Tuesday. Still, Long suggested that Rodriguez get the hip looked at, just to make sure he is as close to 100 percent as possible.

"It's definitely no excuse for any poor performance," Rodriguez said. "It has nothing to do with bad feelings or aching or anything. I've actually been working my tail off with Kevin and feeling better every day. Finally, yesterday, I got a little results."

Rodriguez typically has a winter checkup with Philippon in Vail, Colo., but the team is not expecting Philippon's presence to be necessary in New York.

"I think you just want to make sure he's OK," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "Al talked about being proactive and making sure that everything is OK.

"He said he doesn't necessarily feel anything, so from our standpoint, you're not worried about it. He's had checkups before. It's an issue he's had, and we thought he moved a lot better this year."

The expectation is that team physician Christopher Ahmad will be able to execute what Rodriguez believes will be a relatively routine checkup.

"There's no urgency," Rodriguez said. "We've had a little bit of a crazy schedule here, travel-wise, but when it's convenient for everybody, we'll get it done."