MLB

Granderson’s courtesy costs him shot to share HR crown

Curtis Granderson had a chance Wednesday night to tie Miguel Cabrera for the AL home run lead, but the Yankees slugger took a pass.

With the Yankees blowing out the Red Sox, manager Joe Girardi asked Granderson in the bottom of the seventh inning if he wanted one last at-bat.

“No,” Granderson replied, “give it to Melky.”

So rookie Melky Mesa pinch hit and hit into a fielder’s choice.

Later in the 14-2 AL-East clinching rout of the Red Sox, CC Sabathia informed Granderson that, because Granderson already had two homers on the night, giving him 43 for the season, he had put himself in position to tie Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera for the AL home run lead with 44. Which, if Granderson had gone deep for a third time, would have been a slight taint on Cabrera’s Triple Crown.

“The funny thing is, earlier today, I taped a congratulations video to Miguel [for winning the Triple Crown],” said Granderson, who played with Cabrera on the Tigers in 2008 and 2009. “That would have been a weird situation.”

Granderson said he wasn’t upset about conceding the home-run title and, consequently, Cabrera’s Triple Crown.

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Raul Ibanez wasn’t part of the clubhouse celebration because his wife Teryvette went into labor near the end of the game.

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Derek Jeter went 1-for-4 and finished the season with an MLB-high 216 hits.

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The Yankees will gather at the Stadium Friday night at 7 p.m. for meetings and to watch the wild-card game between the Rangers and Orioles.

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All Sabathia knows is that he will have another start. What he doesn’t know is where and against who. As usual, that doesn’t have the Yankees’ ace fretting.

“It doesn’t matter,” Sabathia said. “I have seen most of those guys.”

Sabathia, who started and went eight innings Monday against the Red Sox, threw in the bullpen Wednesday.

Phil Hughes was told by pitching coach Larry Rothschild that he was a candidate to pitch Wednesday night out of the bullpen. Hughes’ last outing Sunday in Toronto wasn’t good. In 4 ²/₃ innings he allowed five runs and eight hits and threw 93 pitches.

Where Hughes slots into the ALDS rotation isn’t known, but it likely is Game 4.

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Girardi didn’t drop Alex Rodriguez from the third spot in the order last night, though the slugger is in an 8-for-39 (.205) slide and has not homered in 68 at-bats.

“One thing, he has been getting on base, and that’s important in front of Robby Cano,’’ Girardi said of Rodriguez, who was 2-for-3 with two walks last night. “At any point we know the damage he can do.’’

Rodriguez’s double stopped a career-high stretch of 67 at-bats without an extra base hit.

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A little after 4 p.m., Girardi said he didn’t know if Rafael Soriano was available Wednesday night.

“I am not sure, we will have to see,’’ Girardi said of Soriano, who threw 43 pitches and two innings in Tuesday night’s 4-3, 12-inning win and hasn’t been sharp in the four outings after working two games on Sept. 19. In the ninth, Soriano gave up a homer to James Loney that stretched the Red Sox lead to 3-1 then pitched a scoreless 10th. “The good thing is he hadn’t worked a lot until that point.’’

He wasn’t needed in the 14-2 blowout.

Soriano worked an inning on Sept. 21 when he blew a save against the A’s and not again until Sept. 28 when he registered an out in Toronto.

In between Soriano was bothered by a dead arm. He gave up a run and two hits in one inning Sunday in Toronto.

“The curious thing is how he can bounce back,’’ Girardi said. “We have been in playoff baseball basically for a month. Guys in that room are used to winning, guys in that room are used to stepping up and he did it by going two innings for us. Guys are going to want to be out there and it’s our job to make sure they are OK. But at this time of the year, when you are in playoff baseball, sometimes you ask them for a little bit more than you normally ask them for.’’

After the win, Soriano said he will “do whatever they want me to do.’’