MLB

ALCS exposed myriad flaws Yankees need to correct

DETROIT — There is only wreckage now, the detritus of having every weakness exposed, of falling apart so completely as to make it difficult to see the outline of a major league team, much less the New York Yankees.

Yankees management wants to take a deep breath, step away from that wreckage to gain perspective, not let the anger and embarrassment of being swept out of the ALCS by the Tigers overly influence decisions about 2013.

Nevertheless, if you believe the Yankees are going to depart from their homer-centric principles because of the long-ball-or-nothing death they suffered this week, Brian Cashman stopped that before the team’s offseason was even an hour old.

“I’m not going to turn myself into the Bronx Bunters because all of a sudden we didn’t hit for this week in October,” the general manager said soon after the Tigers’ 8-1 romp yesterday ended the Yankee season. “That’s not our DNA. That’s not what makes us successful. And that’s certainly not what’s getting us into the postseason every year.”

Cashman characterized the Yankees’ six-run ALCS — the same total driven in by Detroit DH Delmon Young — “as a perfect storm” of elite Tigers pitching and pretty much a collective slump by a lineup of mostly pedigreed hitters. He felt that the 39 ALCS innings — in which the Yankees never led — were not indicative of the lineup’s abilities and that he would not overreact to the small sample size.

But this is not wholly a small sample size. This issue has buzzed around the Yankees all season, nearly led to their ouster in the Division Series and for the second straight postseason ushered in elimination by the Tigers. As Mark Teixeira said, “We live and die by the homer.”

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Their 2012 grave came because they managed one run in the ALCS that did not come via a homer, and that was a double by choke-meister-general Nick Swisher with the team down 6-0 yesterday.

The Yankees were an NBA team that relied in total on a low-post offense and had no ability to make a jumper when defenses packed the lane. The Yanks, pretty much up and down the lineup, swung for homers and when that was unplugged, they lacked the diversity to score in other ways.

Yes, some of this is about lack of speed. But it is also about lack of quality at-bats. Championship Yankee teams of recent vintage relied plenty on the homer. However, they also grinded long at-bats that wore down opposing pitchers mentally and physically. The symbol of this team, far too often, including in these playoffs, was the non-competitive at-bat fueled by wild hacks more suitable for Home Run Derby or slow-pitch softball.

The Yanks were 7-for-46 with runners on base in the ALCS and the first three games were so close that they could have tilted in the opposite direction with a few well-timed hits.

Again, this is not about defusing the Bronx Bombers. The Yanks must continue to capitalize on playing 81 games in their short-porched park. Their team-record 245 homers negated a lot of clutch failings and led to the best record in the AL. You do end up overanalyzing those clubs that make it this far, though 26 teams wish they had the Yankee problems.

However, the Yanks define themselves on not just getting in, but winning this time of year. Their mandate is parade or bust. The 2009 champions hit just one fewer homer than this year’s team, but were loaded with better hitters that made each at-bat feel like a little baseball holy war (where have you gone Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada, not to mention a better version of Alex Rodriguez?). That team had the one fewer homer, but lots more of just about everything else, including walks, doubles, triples and steals.

So this is not about Cashman renouncing his long-ball religiosity, but finding a way to better augment the lineup for times, like the playoffs, when homers become more difficult to generate.

The Yanks, therefore, have to at least consider if they can have a successful offense with both Brett Gardner and Ichiro Suzuki, especially if they could find backup outfielders with might as supplements. They definitely should commit — no matter the defense — to 400-plus plate appearances for Eduardo Nunez, whose quick bat can hit high-end pitching and whose quick legs can turn games. And, maybe, just maybe, they can rediscover Curtis Granderson’s speed game, Robinson Cano’s opposite-field might and the 50 points that have disappeared from Teixeira’s batting average.

This is not about changing the lineup DNA or becoming the Bronx Bunters. It is about constructing an offense more likely to get one of those parades again.

joel.sherman@nypost.com