Derek Jeter’s spot in the batting order has been a subject of scrutiny since Opening Day. Same as relates to Brett Gardner. Lately Curtis Granderson’s place in the order has been a steady topic of conversation.
Why, there hasn’t been this much attention paid to a lineup since the one involving “Usual Suspects” villain Keyser Soze.
And so it seemed serendipitous when Granderson, who had gone hitless in six at-bats in the preceding two games while batting third for the first time in his eight-year major league career, crushed his 27th homer after being restored to the two-hole for yesterday’s 7-5 Yankees victory over the A’s in The Bronx.
Except there was no correlation between Granderson’s home run and his place in the order, not at all. Instead, there was a connection between that blow in the fifth inning and the pregame work the center fielder had done in the cage with hitting coach Kevin Long.
“He went to work and made a few adjustments,” Joe Girardi said after Mariano Rivera’s first four-out save in 11 months allowed his team to remain three games behind the Red Sox in the AL East. “That’s the correlation I see.”
Granderson is second in the AL home run derby, four behind Toronto’s Jose Bautista. But the Yankees’ MVP candidate was neither pleased with his afternoon nor satisfied he’s come close to making all the adjustments necessary following a three-strikeout game that pushed his total to 107, fourth in the league behind notorious K-men Adam Dunn, Mark Reynolds and Austin Jackson.
Indeed, Granderson has struck out 107 times in 366 ups, or once every 3.42 at-bats, a higher ratio than last year’s 4.02 when he K’d a total of 116 times. Granderson’s strikeout ratio is nearly equal to his 3.43 in 2006, when he led the AL by striking out 174 times as a Tiger in his first full season.
“To go 1-for-5 with three strikeouts and have 11 strikeouts in my last five games, that’s definitely something I have to think about and then do more work to change,” said Granderson, who combined with Long last August to make a significant adjustment to his swing that turned around his 2010 and embryonic Yankees’ tenure. “I’m definitely not where I want to be and I have a lot to work on to get back to where I was.
“I have a lot to do. I’m over 100 strikeouts already and when you’re striking out and not putting the ball in play, you can’t make it a constructive out. I’m definitely not happy with a lot of stuff going on [with my swing].”
The Yankees scored 17 runs on Friday and then three on Saturday with Gardner, Derek Jeter and Granderson one-two-three in the order, even as Granderson went hitless and Gardner went 1-for-9 in the leadoff spot. Gardner sat yesterday against Oakland lefty Gio Gonzalez, replaced by Andruw Jones, who went 2-for-3 with two RBIs batting seventh.
The Yankees are going to be juggling the rest of the way, though; mixing and matching, trying to manufacture enough runs without Alex Rodriguez, who is expected out until mid-August, to remain a factor in the division race. Gardner will shift up and down. Jeter, consistently hitting the ball with authority, will bounce between the leadoff spot and the two-hole.
“We have had some outbursts, we have had some games where we’ve scored five or six runs, but that’s a big bat out of the middle of the order and the lineup is not as deep,” Girardi said when asked to measure the impact of Rodriguez’s absence, without whom the team has gone 8-5. “We miss him.”
The Yankees aren’t likely to add a big bat between now and Sunday’s non-waiver trade deadline, so it will be up to the guys currently wearing Pinstripes to get it done regardless of the batting order.
It will be up to Jeter, Granderson, Robbie Cano, Mark Teixeira, Nick Swisher, Jorge Posada.
You know, the usual suspects.
larry.brooks@nypost.com
