MLB

Girardi blames ump after Yankees get shoved into 2-0 hole

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(Anthony J. Causi)

HE BLUE IT: Umpire Jeff Nelson misses the call as Robinson Cano slaps a tag on the Tigers’ Omar Infante for what should have been the last out of the eighth inning. Instead, the Tigers scored two insurance runs to take a 3-0 victory and a 2-0 ALCS lead. When Joe Girardi came out to argue the call a second time, he was tossed by Nelson (inset). (
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Plant the goal posts in the Yankee Stadium sod. College football is the headline attraction in The Bronx.

No matter who howls why, the Yankees are two games away from being swept by the Tigers in the ALCS, and one fact is unavoidable: You don’t hit, you don’t win.

Never mind the umpires blowing two critical calls. Forget that Yankee starters have been terrific and Hiroki Kuroda was sensational yesterday. Ignore the Yankees missing Derek Jeter for Game 2 and the rest of the postseason with a fractured left ankle.

The Yankees walked out of the Stadium early last night saddled with a 3-0 loss and trailing the best-of-seven affair, 0-2. In addition, they will face Justin Verlander in Game 3 tomorrow night at Comerica Park.

Twenty-three times a team has won the first two ALCS games and all but three of those teams have gone on to the World Series.

Before addressing his hitters’ woes, Joe Girardi made a passionate plea for expanded instant replay, believing the umpires missed two key calls in each of the first two games that may have affected the outcomes.

“In this day and age when we have instant replay available to us, it’s got to change,’’ said Girardi, who was ejected by second base umpire Jeff Nelson after Omar Infante was called safe diving back into second in the eighth inning when it was clear Robinson Cano tagged him before Infante touched the base.

BOX SCORE

Had Nelson, who later admitted he blew the call, called Infante out, the inning would have ended with the Tigers leading, 1-0. Instead the winners scored twice and a 3-0 lead looked like 30-0 to the Yankee hitters who were loudly booed by many in the announced crowd of 47,082 at the Stadium.

“There is more pressure on pitchers when it’s 1-0 in the eighth inning and your club is hitting than 3-0. I would like to take my chances,’’ Girardi said.

Based on the Yankees’ lack of hitting in their first seven postseason games, Girardi’s chances wouldn’t have been good.

Tigers’ starter Anibal Sanchez limited the Yankees to three hits (two singles) in seven innings. With Jose Valverde removed from the closer’s role after giving up four runs in the ninth inning of Game 1, former Yankee Phil Coke hurled the final two frames yesterday for the save.

Yet, it was Nelson who received a lot of attention from the Yankees, who are hitting .209 in the postseason and .192 (15-for-78) against the Tigers.

“I was safe and had the guy out at second base by five feet,’’ said Cano, who was called out at first by Rob Drake in the second inning of Game 1 on what would have been an RBI infield single. Girardi and Cano aren’t wrong, but their complaints are hollow considering the team’s lack of hitting. And Cano is the worst offender.

His 0-for-4 yesterday, when he grounded out four times, extended his postseason slump to 0-for-26. That’s the longest hitless streak in postseason history, surpassing Bobby Bonilla’s 0-for-24 with Baltimore in 1996.

“You have to understand what teams are trying to do to you,’’ said Girardi, whose hitters whiffed 10 times in each of the first two games. “Take what they are doing to you and make adjustments. We have to take what they give us and find a way to put balls in play when runners are on and do the things you need to do to score runs.’’

Nick Swisher and Curtis Granderson are chasing pitches out of the strike zone and at times appear to be looking for home runs. Swisher went 1-for-3 and whiffed twice. Granderson went 0-for-3 and fanned three times.

“He is not swinging at strikes a lot of times,’’ Girardi said of Granderson who is 0-for-7 with five strikeouts in two ALCS games. In seven postseason games, Granderson is 3-for-26 (.115) with 14 Ks.

Now Verlander looms.

“It’s not an ideal situation. I would rather be up 2-0 and facing a Triple-A pitcher,’’ Alex Rodriguez said. “That would be nice. A lot of people have counted us out, but we will be back Tuesday.’’

george.king@nypost.com