From years of studying my Girardi-to-English dictionary, I’m pretty sure that when Joe Girardi said this yesterday:
“I think that we’re going to do whatever it takes to win this three-game series. Nothing that we do will be something that is just a knee-jerk reaction.”
What he meant was this:
“Yeah, of course I’m seriously thinking about dropping A-Rod in my lineup. I may be stubborn, but I’m neither blind nor deaf nor dumb.”
And demoting Alex Rodriguez in tonight’s Game 3 of the American League Division Series would be the right, necessary decision. More than anything, given all the ridiculous knocks Girardi takes for being overly reliant on using information — as if this were a horrible proclivity — it would be the logical move.
Girardi should drop the fallen slugger to sixth tonight, between Nick Swisher and Curtis Granderson, when the Yankees and Orioles square off at Yankee Stadium. Maybe it would change up Rodriguez’s late-inning fortunes. Maybe it would shake him up, at a juncture when there’s little risk to doing so.
“Sometimes it’s just not as easy as just writing a name or taking a guy out, a pitcher out,” Girardi said in a conference call. “You have to think about the emotional part. You always have to think about that as a manager. … But being a three-game series, our guys know what’s at stake, and we have to win two games.”
Rodriguez owns one hit, a single, and a walk in 10 plate appearances in Games 1 and 2. He has struck out five times. The 37-year-old doesn’t look mentally lost — he did a nice job deking J.J. Hardy in the third inning, keeping Hardy at third base when Adam Jones’ single rolled into left field — as much as he appears physically overmatched. Just as he did for pockets of September and early October as the Yankees’ regular season wound down.
Yes, he caught a tough break in the first inning Monday, when Baltimore second baseman Robert Andino snared his line drive up the middle and flipped it to second to nail Derek Jeter for the double play. And he drilled a single to left field in the third inning. Again, though, those two strikeouts — against Darren O’Day in the seventh, with Ichiro Suzuki on first base, and against Jim Johnson in the ninth for the game’s final out — undid the previous good. For Game 2, he finished with a Win Probability Added (WPA) of minus-.211, which means that his trips to the plate pushed the Yankees considerably toward a loss. Only Nick Swisher (minus-.213) was worse.
We know about A-Rod’s postseason struggles since his insanely good 2009. What’s just as relevant, if not more so, is his worst-ever 2012 regular season. His .783 OPS ranked seventh among Yankees regulars. He’s batting third more on reputation at this point, and as Girardi seems to realize, that won’t get it done when you have such little room for error.
By elevating Robinson Cano to third in the lineup, you’re putting your best hitter where he belongs. Slotting the lefty-hitting Cano after the lefty-hitting Ichiro Suzuki isn’t ideal, but you would rather take your chances with those guys against lefties and give Rodriguez fewer trips to the plate. Swisher has put together better swings and at-bats, so he can go ahead of Rodriguez.
Would you bruise A-Rod’s ego? Probably, yet at what cost? How much are you getting from him now, anyway? Besides, he still would be hitting ahead of a teammate, in Granderson, who hit 43 homers this season.
Six years ago, in the ALDS against Detroit, Joe Torre see-sawed A-Rod up and down the team’s lineup — from sixth to fourth to eighth — while also tinkering with Melky Cabrera, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield and Bernie Williams. No one could figure out the rationale behind the Yankees manager’s addition and deletions. Especially since Rodriguez still ranked as an elite offensive player.
To the contrary, everyone would understand if Girardi finally cleared A-Rod out of the prestigious third spot and sent him on a good trip down the starting nine.
In this emotional time, the Yankees must let common sense rule the day. And common sense says that A-Rod simply isn’t a No. 3 hitter right now.
kdavidoff@nypost.com