ANAHEIM, Calif. — If Alex Rodriguez responds to four days of rest the way he did to two days off in June, when he returns from the All-Star break, the Yankees’ cleanup hitter should continue the tear with which he ended the first half.
“I am looking forward to the four days off,” said Rodriguez, who on June 19-20 against the Marlins in Miami, got his first rest after returning from right hip surgery on May 8. “I bounced back pretty well after [that rest].”
Since then, he is 31-for-67 (.463) with eight homers and 24 RBIs, even after going 0-for-5 in yesterday’s 5-4 loss to the Angels. Rodriguez will spend the break with chiropractor Mark Lindsay so he can continue to rehab his hip.
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Derek Jeter is the captain of a team that can’t beat the Angels, but he has no problem hitting their pitching. Jeter’s two hits raised his career average against the Angels to .336 (174-for-518). That’s tops among active players with a minimum of 200 at-bats.
Jeter, who will be joined at the All-Star Game in St. Louis tomorrow by teammates Mark Teixeira and Mariano Rivera, went 11-for-27 (.407) during the six-game road trip. Since June 21, Jeter is batting .382 (29-for-76) and has raised his average from .301 to .321.
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Among the many topics manager Joe Girardi and general manager Brian Cashman will discuss during the break is where Alfredo Aceves fits best.
If Girardi had the right-hander available Friday or Saturday — when Joba Chamberlain and Andy Pettitte each failed to get out of the fifth inning — he wouldn’t have had to use Mark Melancon in relief in the first game of the three-game series sweep by the Angels or David Robertson in the second game. The neophyte right-handers may someday be ready for that role, but aren’t now.
“We could have used [Aceves], not two days in a row, but he is a very valuable reliever,” Girardi said. “We kind of missed him the last couple of days.”
Aceves wasn’t available because he started in Chien-Ming Wang’s spot Thursday against the Twins, throwing 65 pitches.
Barring a deal for a starter — Roy Halladay, Jarrod Washburn, Erik Bedard, Jason Marquis, Gil Meche and Cliff Lee are candidates to get moved — the Yankees could promote righty Sergio Mitre from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
“He is definitely an option,” Girardi said of Mitre, who he managed in Florida, is coming back from Tommy John surgery and was suspended for the first 50 games this season for testing positive in January for performance-enhancing drugs. “There is a toughness to him.”
In seven games at Triple-A, the 28-year-old Mitre is 3-1 with a 2.40 ERA after beating Buffalo, 3-2, yesterday when he threw eight shutout innings. He is 10-23 with a 5.36 ERA in 78 big league games (52 starts).
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Eric Hinske’s two homers in Saturday’s 14-8 loss were only part of the reason Girardi started him in right field.
“This is a tough match-up for [Nick] Swisher,” Girardi said of his regular right fielder, who was batting .116 (5-for-43) with 17 strikeouts against Angels starter John Lackey. “We have five [outfielders] playing good. It’s all about winning ballgames.”
Hinske against Lackey wasn’t an upgrade, because he was batting .063 (1-for-16) against the righty and went 0-for-3.
“I wasn’t supposed to play much this year,” said Swisher, who didn’t beat out Xavier Nady for the right-field job in spring training, but moved into it in April when Nady went down with a season-ending elbow injury. “I think I have done a pretty good job. He [Girardi] told me I was going to get at-bats and I got at-bats.”
Swisher is batting .237 with 14 homers and 47 RBIs in 85 games.
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In an effort to keep the Angels from running at will like they did Saturday when they swiped four bases in five tries, Girardi started Jose Molina behind the plate instead of Jorge Posada.
“It’s a different look,” Girardi said. “Try to slow them down and see what we can do.”
The move paid off when Molina caught Robb Quinlan trying to steal second base to end the fourth.
Posada, who hit for Molina in the seventh, went 1-for-1 with two RBIs and a sacrifice fly.
Girardi also sat Johnny Damon in favor of Melky Cabrera in left.
“Johnny has had a tough July,” Girardi said. “He is not staying on his backside, I am giving him a day [off].”
Damon was hitting .291 at the end of June, but thanks to a 5-for-34 (.147) July is down to .276.