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Sixty minutes before Saturday’s Kentucky Derby went off, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez sat next to each other at a clubhouse table looking at video on a laptop of Rangers pitchers.
As various Derby pools filled and the ultimate horse race phrase — “Who do you like?” — filtered in and out of the room, another question surfaced.
Who was going to hit the next home run? Jeter or Rodriguez?
Considering Jeter hadn’t hit a ball over the wall all season and Rodriguez is one of the most prolific home run hitters of all time, the smart money was on Rodriguez, even if he were ice cold.
Of course, it turned out to be Jeter. He went deep twice Sunday in a 12-5 beating of the Rangers.
Rodriguez? He hasn’t homered in 53 at-bats, isn’t driving balls and eight of the nine hits as he’s batted .170 since April 23 have been singles. The other was a double.
Hitting coach Kevin Long and Rodriguez went through a film session Sunday, and Rodriguez saw what Long has often seen from the cleanup hitter when he gets off the rails: too much kick in the left (front) leg.
“It was way up and it has been there for a while,” Long said. “Usually, he makes a quick adjustment. This time it has taken a little longer.”
Until the Yankees plated a dozen runs Sunday, they were in a team-wide funk. In the previous five games, they scored 14 runs, batted .208 (33-for-159) overall and .231 (6-for-26) with runners in scoring position.
While Rodriguez wasn’t the only non-producer, he hits fourth, makes the most money, has the out-sized personality and is the lightning rod for everything wrong in the Yankees’ universe.
Until Jeter started to warm this past week, his plate woes provided cover for Rodriguez, who batted .290 with five homers and 18 RBIs in April.
Rodriguez enters tonight’s action against the Royals at Yankee Stadium batting .263 with the same five homers and one more RBI. Worse, he is batting .185 (5-for-27) with runners in scoring position and has six hits in the last 26 at-bats (.231).
Slumps aren’t new to Rodriguez and he always puts more stock in how he feels than results. Still . . .
Several scouts in Texas said it doesn’t appear Rodriguez is generating the same powerful torque in his swing that he had earlier this season.
“I don’t worry about it,” Rodriguez said of the slump. “I look at baseball like the stock market, you don’t look at it every day.”
And what stock would Rodriguez be?
“Google,” he said.
That’s ironic because he is searching to find the answer.
“We looked at video from spring training and earlier in the year and made an adjustment and I was happy with all my swings [Sunday],” Rodriguez said.
Through 32 games, the Yankees have pitched better than expected. So the time is coming when the lineup, which is dotted with limp bats, will be called on to carry the Yankees.
And in the middle of the lineup sits Rodriguez.
Prior to Jeter going 4-for-6 with two homers Sunday, he showed signs of getting warm and has 11 hits in 28 at-bats (.393). Curtis Granderson has 11 homers. Robinson Cano is in his first funk of the season (4-for-24; .167) but not a cause of concern.
Beyond those three there are questions. Mark Teixeira avoided his usual April nightmare but is hitting .259. Manager Joe Girardi insists Jorge Posada’s at-bats have been good, but he is hitting .152. How long can the Yankees stay with the DH if the production doesn’t improve? Nick Swisher is hitting .217. Brett Gardner is better after a miserable start, but still at .233.
And Rodriguez has turned into a singles hitter, which is something that has to change quickly.
george.king@nypost.com
