BIG BLASTS: Derek Jeter watches his fifth-inning home run yesterday, his first in 259 at-bats. He added another — his fourth hit of the game — in his next at-bat to snap a tie in the seventh and spark the Yankees to a 12-5 win in Texas. (AP)
ARLINGTON, Texas — For much of the season Derek Jeter heard what he couldn’t do. Yesterday he did what is expected from future Hall of Famers: fit a sinking team with life vests.
Too many ground balls, the critics cried. No balls hit over outfielder’s heads, they said. Even hits were classified as anemic whether on the ground or flares to right. Too old, came the shouts. Manager Joe Girardi has to remove him from the leadoff spot, they claimed. The radicals called for Jeter to be benched. How could the Yankees have signed him to more than a one-year deal?
Girardi, hitting coach Kevin Long and Jeter insisted his swing was getting healthier, and yesterday Jeter carried the Yankees to a much-needed 12-5 victory over the Rangers in front of 48,057 at Rangers Ballpark.
Much-needed in early May while tied for first place in the AL East?
Absolutely.
PHOTOS: YANKEES ROUT RANGERS, 12-5
The Yankees had dropped four of six on a seven-game trip and were on their way to a 2-5 ledger when Jeter slugged his first two homers of the year and finished the game 4-for-6.
“Anybody needs a game like this regardless if you are swinging well or not swinging well,” said Jeter, who raised his average from .256 to .276 with his second four-hit game of the year. “If you feel comfortable, the hits will come.”
Jeter couldn’t have been more comfortable if he was sitting in a poolside lounge chair.
Jeter’s first homer of the season came in the fifth, when the Yankees scored twice and tied the score 4-4. His second leading off the seventh against Arthur Rhodes snapped the 4-4 tie and preceded Curtis Granderson’s 11th homer that upped the lead to 6-4.
Francisco Cervelli busted the game open with his first career grand slam in the eighth that provided a 10-5 bulge and Mark Teixeira added a two-run homer to the six-run eighth.
An unsteady beginning by CC Sabathia put the Yankees in an early 4-0 ditch after two. The ace left-hander, however, rebounded to post the victory and improve to 3-2.
ROUGH START DOESN’T GET CC DOWN
GIRARDI NOT IN GLOVE WITH FIELDWORK
Talking with Jeter, Sabathia said he had a feeling Jeter was about to break out.
“We were sitting on the bench and he said, ‘I am feeling good,’ ” Sabathia said. “That was exciting to hear.”
Of course, the questions never stop. Now the self-loathing Yankees fans will demand Jeter avoid the weak groundouts and lazy fly balls that filled April.
“My job is to get on base and score runs,” said Jeter, who stopped a 259 homerless at-bat streak with the first one. “I wish I could hit 50 doubles, 20 triples and 60 homers, but that’s not going to happen. I want good at-bats.”
Jeter believes the less thinking he has been doing the better hitter he is.
“I tried the no-stride thing and it didn’t work out,” Jeter said of the mechanical adjustment introduced by Long late last year and carried into spring training. “It’s difficult to hit sitting around thinking about things. Now I just get to the point where I try to hit.”
Jeter said he started to feel comfortable this week in Detroit. And he did enter yesterday’s action 7-for-22 (.318) in the previous six games.
So is there a big difference between feeling comfortable and not feeling comfortable?
“No,” Jeter said quickly. “I wish I could give you an explanation then I would never feel bad.”
george.king@nypost.com