Masahiro Tanaka believes that he is heading in the right direction in his recovery from an elbow injury, giving the New York Yankees something to look forward to as they try to barge into the postseason.

Tanaka, who has not pitched since their 5-3 loss to the Cleveland Indians on July 8 after sustaining an elbow injury, had his first bullpen session on Saturday where he threw 25 fastballs.

"I think we're heading in the right direction," Tanaka said of his recovery via Yahoo! Sports. "So I feel really good about it."

Tanaka was diagnosed with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow. Such an injury usually requires Tommy John surgery, but the Yankees and Tanaka's camp opted to undergo rehab first before seeking further treatments.

Following his first bullpen session on Saturday, reports indicated that Tanaka, who went 12-4 with a 2.51 ERA in 18 starts for the Yankees, felt no pain and soreness, but Yankees manager Joe Girardi is not too excited, saying that they can only determine the Japanese pitcher's real condition once he pitches in actual games.

"I think it's important that we know that he's healthy," Girardi said via My Central Jersey. "And I think the only way you're going to find out is if you get him in games."

Pitching coach Larry Rothschild said that the ace pitcher showed encouraging signs during the weekend, but he also declined to give a timetable for Tanaka's return this season.

"He's had no twinges or anything," Rothschild said. "You stay optimistic until you know otherwise. We'll just keep progressing the program as it is set up and just go from there. I can't put a time frame on it. We've got to get past the hurdles that we have in front of us first, then we'll get to that point."

The Yankees are still 7.5 games behind the Baltimore Orioles in the American East League standings and three games behind in the wild card race.

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