PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — If Freddy Garcia doesn’t wind up in the Yankees’ five-man starting rotation, the veteran right-hander knows where to dump the blame.
“I said on the first day of camp, if I lose the spot, it’s my fault,” Garcia said after hurling two shutout innings yesterday against the Rays at Charlotte Sports Park in a 1-1, 10-inning tie.
“Hopefully at the end of spring training, I will earn that spot.”
In his first spring outing, the 34-year old gave up two hits and fanned one. With Ivan Nova, who worked three innings in relief of Garcia, the favorite to land the fourth spot, Garcia is competing against Bartolo Colon and Sergio Mitre for the fifth slot in the rotation.
Joe Girardi may not agree that the spot is Garcia’s to lose, but the manager adores Garcia’s thinking that way.
“I like the attitude, you got to believe in yourself,” Girardi said.
Garcia was clocked at 88-89 mph.
“The fastball is pretty good right now,” Garcia said. “The changeup and split are good. Hopefully, I continue to pitch and win the spot.”
A year ago his right arm wasn’t all the way back from 2007 shoulder surgery that limited him to three starts for the Tigers in 2008.
“Last year in spring training, I wasn’t 100 percent,” Garcia said. “I couldn’t let it go, but this year is different.”
Garcia, who went 12-6 with a 4.64 ERA in 28 starts for the White Sox last year, is encouraged about his chances.
“I came here realizing my arm feels really good,” said Garcia, usually a bad spring-training pitcher. “Right now it’s 100 percent and I am letting it go. Other springs, I had a spot in the rotation, but not here.”
Nova, who was very sharp in his spring debut against the Phillies this past Sunday, didn’t have a perfect frame in his three-inning stint, in which he gave up three hits.
He needed left fielder Brett Gardner to throw out Tim Beckham at the plate for the second out of the third. In the fourth, he gave up a one-out single to Manny Ramirez before feeding Matt Joyce a 3-6-1 double play ball. Nova hit Kelly Shoppach with two outs in the fifth.
Colon, who threw a scoreless inning his debut last Saturday against the Phillies, starts tonight at George M. Steinbrenner Field versus a Red Sox lineup that is expected to be, for this Grapefruit League game, low on star power.
Because Colon missed all of last year with arm trouble and Garcia was winning a dozen games in the big leagues, it’s easy to understand the Yankees being more familiar with Garcia than Colon.
“You have a better idea what [Garcia] can do,” Girardi said. “Colon is a mystery to us. We know Freddy better.”
Nova is the leader with two appearances and five scoreless innings. He was the favorite to land a spot when camp opened, and nothing has changed. That leaves Colon and Garcia, who are in camp on minor-league deals, for the fifth spot, because Mitre appears better suited for the long relief/spot starter job, and Manuel Banuelos and Dellin Betances are heading to Trenton (Double-A).
Girardi mentioned often that to judge on the first outing wasn’t fair to the pitchers. But they will get more of a taste the second time.
“We will start stretching them out,” Girardi said. “I would like to see them become more crisp and more consistent.”
george.king@nypost.com