DETROIT — The sign on the grease board outside the Yankees’ clubhouse last night informed the Dead Bat Society that today’s pre-game program included “Optional Hitting.”
If more swings are the key to escaping a team-wide hitting funk, batting practice had better be jammed.
For the second straight night, the DBS succumbed to a Tiger pitcher at Comerica Park, where Max Scherzer posted eight scoreless innings and a 4-0 victory in front of 22,569.
“We haven’t swung the bat well collectively, but some of that is who you are facing,” said Derek Jeter, who went 1-for-4 and left the game after flying out to right in the eighth inning when Joe Girardi noticed him favoring the right hip as he ran toward first.
Jeter, who said he will play today and that the problem shouldn’t be classified as an injury, was being kind to his lineup mates.
In the past two games, the Yankees have scored a pair of runs, are hitting a woeful .194 (12-for-62) and are 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
Against that backdrop, Yankees starter Freddy Garcia had no chance. He gave up four runs in seven innings and, when you pitch in front of a lineup that houses Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano, that should be enough for a victory.
Last night it wasn’t close as Garcia (1-2) dropped his second straight decision and got emotional in the dugout with catcher Francisco Cervelli after giving up a two-run homer to Magglio Ordonez in the third that stretched the Tigers’ lead to 4-0.
To some it appeared Garcia and Cervelli were having words about the pitch, but they denied it.
“It’s all me, I made a mistake and I paid for it,” said Garcia, who didn’t get a sinking fastball inside enough. “I was [ticked]. I am the one who throws the ball. If I don’t want to throw that pitch I don’t throw that pitch.”
Not many of Scherzer’s pitches were hit by the Yankees, who were blanked for the third time this year. Jeter opened the game with a line-drive single to center, but the next 10 Yankees went down before Teixeira doubled with one out in the fourth.
The Yankees’ strongest scoring threat surfaced in the eighth when Brett Gardner walked and Cervelli dumped a shattered-bat single into right. But Jeter popped up to short right and Curtis Granderson banged into an inning-ending, 4-6-3 double play.
Because Rodriguez hits cleanup, went 0-for-4 and is in a 4-for-50 (.080) funk, the responsibility falls on him.
“No question there is a disconnect in my swing; I have to keep working at it,” Rodriguez said. “I got off to a good start and I am not swinging the bat good the last couple of weeks.”
He had company last night.
Teixeira, Rodriguez and Cano went a combined 1-for-11 and fanned six times. Cano is 0-for-8 since sitting out Monday night’s game with a bruised left hand.
“You have to pitch on a consistent basis because the bats come and go, but we didn’t swing the bats good the last two nights,” Girardi said.
Like Jeter, the manager was being kind. Yes, Scherzer throws in the mid-90s with movement. But good lineups are supposed to hit good pitchers. For the past two nights, that hasn’t happened.
“There is no panic. [Today] will be a better day,” Rodriguez predicted.
He has a good chance of being correct, because the DBS can’t look as bad as it has in the past two games.
george.king@nypost.com