The stuck-in-reverse Yankees desperately need a savior.
And here comes Alex Rodriguez to fill that role. It’s time for him to earn some of those zillions the Yankees are paying him and to help save this sinking ship.
For A-Rod, it’s time to go back to work on Labor Day.
Smacked around by the Orioles yesterday at Yankee Stadium, 8-3, for their eighth loss in 12 games, the Yankees watched their AL East lead shrink to two games.
On July 18, they led the division by 10 games. Six days later A-Rod went down with a broken left hand and hasn’t played since.
Rodriguez will be back in the lineup today as the Yankees travel to Tampa Bay to begin a huge three-game series with the Rays. Then there is a four-game set in Baltimore.
“We need him,’’ yesterday’s No. 4 hitter Eric Chavez told The Post after the Yankees could not muster much of an offense against an injured (elbow) Chris Tillman and journeyman lefty Randy Wolf.
The Yankees need all the help they can get. They are staggering. Don’t forget, the Red Sox were in first place heading into September last year. Since then, they are 69-93.
The aging Yankees could be heading to a collapse of their own. They need to turn it around and fast.
The fact the Yankees need A-Rod, who at the age of 37 is hitting .276 and has only 15 home runs and 44 RBIs and has been limited by injuries the last two years, shows you the desperate state this team is in heading down the stretch.
Joe Girardi was quite testy after the loss. It was not a good day for the manager as he stayed too long with an ineffective Phil Hughes, who really needed to step up yesterday, but didn’t. Hughes went into the sixth with a 3-1 lead and surrendered a three-run bomb to Mark Reynolds, his second home run of the day and fourth of the series.
Rodriguez played for the Class A Tampa Yankees on Friday and Saturday and went through an extensive workout in Tampa yesterday to try to prepare for today and the matchup against Big Game James Shields.
“It’s time to step it up,’’ said CC Sabathia, who will get the ball for the Yankees.
Girardi has had to parade a series of No. 4 hitters into the lineup with Rodriguez down, everybody from Steve Pearce to Chavez. How bad is it? The Orioles outscored the Yankees 49-32 this season at Yankee Stadium.
“We could use his bat, that’s for sure,’’ Girardi said about A-Rod. “We need him to come back and be productive for us.’’
With Mark Teixeira (calf) still out, A-Rod is even more important to the Yankees.
“It’s not something in my tenure here that we’ve had to deal with a whole lot,’’ Girardi said of the struggles to fill the power spot in the lineup.
The good news for the Yankees is A-Rod is coming back; the bad news is he needs to do much more than he has shown this season — and he must do all that while coming back from a fractured left hand.
Chavez came back from the same injury in 2004.
“It’s going to be a little slow for him because he hasn’t seen major league pitching for five weeks,’’ Chavez said. “There’s going to be days where his hand feels sore, too, but we just need his presence back in the lineup, big time.’’
“We look forward to having him back,’’ Sabathia said. “He’s a great player. He’s been one of the best players in the league for a long time so that always helps your team.
“He’s just a presence,’’ said Nick Swisher. “More than anything he is just a presence.’’
If A-Rod can’t help turn this around, a total collapse is just around the corner.
kevin.kernan@nypost.com