Return of Godzilla Watch 2

from Yankees.com:

Hideki Matsui was cleared to take full batting practice for the first time on Tuesday, a big step in his hopeful return to the Yankees' lineup this season. Matsui is scheduled to hit indoors on Wednesday.

Matsui had no problems with soft-toss hitting drills on Sunday, but he hasn't taken live batting practice yet. The Yankees originally thought Matsui wouldn't be ready until some time later this week.

"In terms of being pain free, that's something I definitely feel good about and very satisfied," Matsui said through his interpreter. "I'm still working on my mechanics and things like that."

The story goes on to say, "Matsui said he's still conscious of his left wrist when he swings," uhhh, ya think?

"We can probably DH him at some point," Torre said. "I think that's the safest thing for him to do, as opposed to have him dive for a ball in the outfield."

And that's why he's a legend, folks. Torre doesn't want to put the man in the outfield right away. Sorry for the sarcasm, I'm sure the question that elicited that response was pretty dumb.

In other injury news...did anyone else see that hit that Seattle's Soriano took last night? Ow. Ow. Ow. Can't imagine that Guerrero slept well last night.

Last baseball thing for now: Vocabulary Lesson: Pavano. One of the funniest things I've read in days.