MLB

THERE’S A CATCH TO POSADA

Jorge Posada insists he is healthy and that his once ailing shoulder is no longer an issue.

“I’m fine,” Posada said.

Yet for the third straight game, Posada started as the DH last night, with Jose Molina behind the plate.

The 36-year-old, who signed a four-year deal prior to this season, has had his worst season defensively, due in part to the injury. But even since he has come back from that, Posada has been ineffective as a catcher, particularly at throwing baserunners out.

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And he isn’t satisfied with what he has recently been relegated to.

“It is what it is,” Posada said before getting two hits in the Yankees’ 5-0 win over the Rays last night at the Stadium. “I’m just trying to be ready for the team.”

With the All-Star break coming up, he did say that he hoped things changed in the second half, although he is unsure whether they will. “I have no idea,” Posada said. “I would like them to. I want to do more, but whatever they tell me to do, I’ll do.”

Joe Girardi said that Posada’s physical condition is not a factor. “He feels fine,” Girardi said. “It’s just getting him back to where he was. And we continue to work on it. He continues to work on it.”

Despite his recent struggles – he’s thrown out only three of 33 potential base-stealers this year, a rate of just 9.1 percent – Posada isn’t ready to give up that part of his game.

“Things will get better,” Posada said.

Making the situation more complicated is Molina, who, for all his defensive ability, is not a productive hitter, although he helped spark a third-inning rally last night.

He entered the game just 1-for-8 with four strikeouts against the Ray’s hard-throwing lefty, Scott Kazmir, but belted a double off of him and then scored on Derek Jeter’s two-bagger.

More importantly, he has thrown out 47 percent of runners (23-of-49), but Girardi said there’s no exact science with how he decides who is going to catch.

“Every day we just look at it,” Girardi said. “There’s more to it than just throwing the baseball. But I’m very happy with the way Josie’s catching and you look at [Tampa Bay], this is a club that chooses to run a lot, and I just felt that this was our best lineup. Especially this way I can get both right-handers in the lineup and I just felt this was the best lineup tonight.”

dan.martin@nypost.com