CLEVELAND — Joe Girardi strongly hinted he will not play Derek Jeter tonight, who collected two hits last night to move four shy of 3,000.
Then the manager suggested it might be wise to rest his shortstop tomorrow, after the Yankees get home in the wee hours of the morning.
“He has played four days [two rehab games] in a row and then we have [tonight] and then another four, so I will talk to him,” Girardi said after Jeter’s two hits, plus two homers by Curtis Granderson and a sensational outing by CC Sabathia carried the Yankees to a 9-2 win over the Indians in front of 30,100 at Progressive Field last night. “That’s a decision I will sleep on. What do you think he is going to say?”
Of course, Jeter wants in.
“He hasn’t told me anything and he usually lets me know. I feel fine,” said Jeter. “It’s hard to sit anyway. I sat for three weeks. I want to play.”
Jeter played all nine innings in his second game off the disabled list (strained right calf muscle) and made a spinning play up the middle to go with an infield single and a two-run double that keyed a five-run second inning.
Before last night’s win that halted a two-game slide and kept the Yankees 1 1/2 lengths ahead of the second-place Red Sox in the AL East, Girardi said Jeter would get a day off before the All-Star break hits Monday. He didn’t change his mind afterward.
“I think he needs a day off, I think it makes sense,” said Girardi, who noted that if Jeter is healthy enough to play in Tuesday’s All-Star Game he won’t have the three extra days to rest the calf.
The Yankees have four games with the Rays starting tomorrow night in The Bronx, and it’s hard to imagine Girardi sitting Jeter at home if the chase for 3,000 remains alive.
However, Girardi left the door open a bit that the better route to go would be to sit Jeter tomorrow night even though that wouldn’t be received well in The Bronx or other precincts in the Yankees’ universe.
“In your mind you could say, ‘It’s a travel day, it’s a long night. Maybe it’s better to sit him on Thursday,’” Girardi said. “That’s the thing you have to weigh. Sometimes guys are more fatigued when you get in at 3 in the morning. I want to talk to him and think about it a little bit.”
Girardi said he wasn’t aware that Jeter is 5-for-12 (.417) against Justin Masterson, tonight’s Indians starter, but that is a good reason to play Jeter.
One thing Girardi is clear about is the decision will be his and not made for him from above.
“No one has ever said a word to me about where he needs to do it,” Girardi said.
Jeter is averaging 1.1 hits per game this season, and if he gets a game off, he’ll have four games to get four hits before the All-Star break. And the Yankees start the second half on the road.
Jeter’s two-run double fueled a five-run second that was set up when Indians second baseman Cord Phelps failed to turn what should have been an inning-ending double-play grounder by Francisco Cervelli and gotten starter Carlos Carrasco out of a bases-loaded jam unscathed. But Phelps’ throw short-hopped first baseman Carlos Santana and allowed a run to score.
Jeter followed with a two-run double and Granderson hit the first of two homers, giving him 25 on the season — one more than he hit last year. Granderson also homered in the fourth.
Sabathia fired seven scoreless innings and won for the fifth straight time. He allowed five hits, walked two and fanned 11. After being left off the AL All-Star staff, Sabathia improved to 12-4 and lowered his ERA to 2.90.
With Phil Hughes pitching tonight for the first time since mid-April, the Yankees go for their eighth straight series victory.
But first, no lineup card in the history of baseball will be more anticipated than the one third-base coach Rob Thomson slaps on the clubhouse wall this afternoon
george.king@nypost.com