NEW YORK – Grady Sizemore will have surgery on his left knee next week and is expected to miss at least six to eight weeks.

Cleveland’s three-time All-Star has a deep bone bruise in the knee he injured May 16, and the condition and stability of the cartilage beneath his kneecap will be assessed during the arthroscopic operation by Dr. Richard Steadman in Vail, Colo.

Steadman pioneered the use of microfracture surgery, which stimulates stem cells to repair and re-grow cartilage. Indians trainer Lonnie Soloff said that neither microfracture, nor anything else, had been ruled out.

“The specifics of the surgery won’t be available until after the procedure takes place, so there’ll be some intra-operative decision-making process that determines what Dr. Steadman will do during surgery,” Soloff said.

The surgery hasn’t been scheduled yet, though it is planned for some time next week.

“The question isn’t how much cartilage is there, it’s the stability of the cartilage,” Soloff said. “We’ll have a specific update after the surgery.”

Cleveland officials consulted several knee specialists about their star center fielder, who would be a key player on any Indians contender in the near future.

He was certainly expected to perform on this edition of the team, which is 18-30 following Sunday’s 7-3 loss to the Yankees and stuck in last place in the AL Central.

“Big blow,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “He’s such an important part of this ballclub, because even when he’s struggling offensively as he was, he brings so much to the table. Speed never goes into a slump. He’s always played great defense.”

Sizemore missed the final month of 2009 after having surgery on his abdomen and left elbow, injuries that hounded him throughout the worst year of his career.

After averaging 29 homers and 118 runs in his All-Star years, the Gold Glove center fielder batted only .248 with 18 homers and 73 RBIs in 106 games.

Sizemore is one of the few remaining stars on a young roster that is expected to help the small-market Indians eventually contend again, after trading away Cy Young Award winners CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee for prospects.

The last time the Indians overhauled their personnel, they traded away pitcher Bartolo Colon at the deadline for two prospects. One was Lee, who was traded to Philadelphia last season and went on to start Game 1 of the World Series – against, of all people, Sabathia and the New York Yankees. The other player was Sizemore.

NEW YORK – After the Indians learned they will be without Grady Sizemore for at least a month or two, Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter reminded Cleveland that it has more problems than just a missing star center fielder.

Teixeira hit a three-run homer after Jeter sparked a rally with a two-out, two-run single, A.J. Burnett pitched eight innings and the New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians 7-3 Sunday.

Cleveland starter Justin Masterson pitched well, too, but the Yankees’ situational hitting – and that three-run homer – made the difference.

“Masterson was tough today,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “On the home run by Teixeira, it was a huge hit for us. We were having a hard time scoring runs. Then we got a couple of guys on base and Jeter came through with a big hit.”

The game turned around over the span of three batters in the seventh inning, which began with Cleveland up 3-0. Masterson, who has struggled to retire left-handed hitters all season, held the lefty-heavy Yankees scoreless through six.

Switch-hitter Swisher and lefty Brett Gardner singled before Jeter, who looked awkward in striking out his previous time at bat, poked a two-out single up the middle.

“The one to Jeter just stayed up,” catcher Lou Marson said. “It was a pretty good piece of hitting.”

Tony Sipp came in to face Curtis Granderson for the second time in this series, and Granderson doubled off the Indians’ lefty again, as he did on Friday night.

Sipp, who had allowed three earned runs in 21 appearances before this weekend, has now given up six in two appearances, retiring only one of the eight batters he faced.

“He’s a guy I’m going to go right after,” Sipp said of Granderson. “Sometimes, he’s going to get me and sometimes I’m going to get him. It hasn’t happened this year.”

Sipp still could have gotten out of trouble by retiring Teixeira. Instead, Teixeira connected for the 250th home run of his career, a blast that landed at the back of the bleachers section in left field.

“I was just trying to hit a ball up the middle,” Teixeira said. “When he hung that slider, I could put a good swing on it.

It was just another headache from a bullpen full of them for Cleveland, which has a 4.72 ERA and five blown saves in 12 chances for its up-and-down relievers, not to mention an ugly ratio of 81 walks to 97 strikeouts.

Burnett (6-2), struck out eight and allowed only one earned run in eight innings. Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth.

Alex Rodriguez was 0-for-3 a day after hitting Cleveland pitcher David Huff in the head with a line drive. Huff showed no symptoms of a concussion before the game, smiling and joking around in the dugout.

Roughly 24 hours after Huff’s injury put a scare into both teams, Rivera had to leap over the barrel of Luis Valbuena’s broken bat to field the ball for the final out.

Juan Miranda added an RBI double in the eighth for New York and Francisco Cervelli hit a sacrifice fly to score another.

Sizemore’s replacement for the time being, Trevor Crowe, hit an RBI single in the third and made a nice play to run down Robinson Cano’s deep drive to end the sixth inning. While Crowe has the job for now, the Indians also may see some more in center from Michael Brantley, who is at Triple-A Columbus.

After making it 1-0, Crowe was caught in a rundown after Burnett threw over to first, catching him off the bag.

The Indians scored two runs in the seventh on shortstop Jeter’s throwing error and Jason Donald’s RBI triple off Swisher’s glove in right field.

Masterson was charged with three runs, striking out eight in 6 2/3 innings.

“I had good control, we made a little mechanical adjustment, things worked out a little bit better,” Masterson said. “I was happy with the overall performance today.”

TODAY

• WHO: Cleveland at N.Y. Yankees
• TIME: 1:05 p.m.
• WHERE: Yankee Stadium
• PITCHERS: Talbot (6-3, 3.73 ERA) vs. Pettitte (6-1, 2.62)
• TV/RADIO: SportsTime Ohio; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM

NEW YORK – Even a few hours after he took a line drive off his head, Indians pitcher David Huff was cracking jokes and trying to make people laugh.

A day later, he thought he’d be ready to make his next start.

New York’s Alex Rodriguez hit an RBI double off the side of Huff’s head in the third inning of Saturday’s game. The ball bounced into right field and Huff went down and stayed motionless for a while until giving a thumbs up as he was carted off the field.

“Anytime a pitcher gets hit by a line drive, everybody thinks the worst, especially when he’s not moving,” Huff said Sunday. “I just wanted to give a hand wave or some indication that I was all right.”

Huff had more neurological testing done at the ballpark Sunday, and will continue to be evaluated for post-concussive symptoms, which don’t always manifest immediately.

He said he slept well, had no headaches, and basically almost forgot that he had been hit unless he scratched his head on the wrong side.

Cleveland’s medical staff hasn’t decided if Huff is fit to take his next turn in the rotation yet, though Huff said he’s ready to go.

Rodriguez tried to go to the hospital afterward, but Huff was already back in the Indians’ clubhouse, celebrating Cleveland’s come-from-behind 13-11 win.

Instead, he gave Huff a call.

“It was a good conversation,” Huff said. “I was trying to get him to laugh because I know he was pretty struck by that as far as emotionally.”

It was a scary scene. Rodriguez looked stricken, crouching behind the mound as medical staff attended to the fallen pitcher.

Huff said he knew not to move because he may have had a serious head or neck injury. However, he never lost consciousness and told trainers who rushed out to the mound that he wanted them to let his family know he was OK.

“He was conscious, he was alert, he wanted to stand up, but we encouraged him to remain on the ground and motionless until we could evaluate,” Indians trainer Lonnie Soloff said.

Huff’s parents and brother were in the stands, and joined him at the hospital.

Soloff pointed out that the ball going so far after hitting Huff was a good sign, meaning less energy was absorbed by Huff’s skull.

Cleveland fell behind 10-4 at one point Saturday, but came back against the Yankees’ bullpen. Huff watched from the hospital.

“It’s funny because we took a lead and we were just about to leave – and you know baseball, guys are superstitious. Maybe I should stay here if we’re going to keep scoring runs.”

Lewis up; Laffey down

Right-handed reliever Jensen Lewis was called up from Columbus before Sunday’s game. Left-handed pitcher Aaron Laffey was sent down so he can build innings in an attempt to join the Indians’ rotation.

• Designated hitter Travis Hafner singled in the first inning Sunday, reaching base for the 20th straight game.

• Shin-Soo Choo was 0-for-4, bringing his slump to 0-for-17.