MLB

Robbie prepared to carry offensive load for Yankees

TAMPA — Robinson Cano left for the World Baseball Classic as the most important part of the Yankees’ offense.

Cano returned yesterday as just about the only part of their offense, and that was the case last night as he had the only Yankees hit in a 6-1 loss to the Twins at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

With Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira out at least until May, Derek Jeter iffy for Opening Day and Alex Rodriguez sidelined through the first half of the season at best, there figures to be more pressure than ever on Cano.

If he’s affected by the added pressure, he didn’t show it.

“Hopefully I’ll continue to do the same thing I do every year,” Cano said before hitting third in last night’s game against the Twins at Steinbrenner Field. “I’ll just go out there, play hard and do the things to win games. Hopefully the guys we have help us just stay in the race until we get Granderson and Teixeira back.”

Instead, guys like Brett Gardner, Ichiro Suzuki and Kevin Youkilis, could represent the top of the order — along with Cano — when they open the season against the Red Sox on April 1.

Joe Girardi doesn’t intend to limit Cano’s playing time for the remainder of spring training.

“I won’t necessarily back him off,” the manager said.

PHOTOS: YANKEES SPRING TRAINING

That includes playing him in Fort Myers today against the Twins.

“The [WBC], I’m going to guess it probably helped him,” Girardi said. “The intensity was there. He physically, is probably in a pretty good position right now. We don’t have to necessarily play him every day to get him in shapeHe’s played in a bunch of nine inning games.”

And did well. Cano went 15-for-32 (.469), knocked in six runs and had an OPS of 1.269 on his way to being named MVP of the tournament — a tournament he compared to the playoffs.

“You have to go out and give everything you’ve got for your fans and your country,” Cano said.

His performance in the WBC stood in stark contrast to his showing in the playoffs a year ago, when he had just three hits in 40 at bats.

“That bad feeling I still have in my heart from last year,” Cano said. “But I’ve got to put that behind me and just play this year. First, we’ve got to play this season.”

And the second baseman hopes he can continue his success.

“I want to say yes, but you can’t predict anything in baseball and the WBC and the season are different,” said Cano, who agrees he doesn’t need time off. “It’s not like we were playing every day. I’ve already had two days [off], so I can go out there, play a few innings and keep the same momentum. When you win, you don’t feel anything.”