BALTIMORE — Early Monday night, Yankees Manager Joe Girardi was asked if there was any scenario where he would move Alex Rodriguez out of the No. 3 spot in the batting order, a position Rodriguez is holding down like an anchor.
"I haven't thought about it," Girardi said, proving once again that it is very different running a team than rooting for it.
Because it is a safe bet that there are not many Yankees fans who have not thought about moving Rodriguez down in the lineup. Many Yankees fans have most likely shook a fist at the television as they pleaded and begged for it.
"Our lineup has worked pretty well the way it's been set up," Girardi continued, "so I've kind of stuck with it. Obviously we want to get him going, and we know what he's capable of doing."
After the Orioles defeated the Yankees, 3-2, in Game 2 of an American League division series, with Rodriguez stranding two teammates — to go along with the four he left on base in Sunday's Game 1 — Girardi was given the chance to revisit the topic. Is Rodriguez not a speed bump hindering the streaking No. 4 hitter, Robinson Cano?
"Right now, I don't plan on having any changes to our lineup," Girardi answered, shaking his head side to side.
Of Rodriguez's night, Girardi said: "He squared up two balls tonight. You look at the ball he hit in the first inning, he squared it up. And then he had the other hard single. I don't have any plans to make any changes."
Rodriguez did indeed hit the ball hard in the first inning with Derek Jeter at second base and Ichiro Suzuki at first and no outs. It was a curling line drive caught by Baltimore's Robert Andino, which became a double play when Jeter strayed from the base.
In the third inning with Suzuki at first, Rodriguez singled to left but the Yankees did not score in the inning.
But far more pertinent to his job as the No. 3 hitter was Rodriquez' performance in his next two at-bats.
With one out in the seventh inning Suzuki was again on first base, minutes after the Yankees had cut the Orioles lead to 3-2. There was tension to the moment, a buzz in the ballpark. The Yankees had chased Baltimore starter Wei-Yin Chen, who had been crafty and dauntless for a first-year player in an American postseason situation. It was evident to all at Camden Yards that this was a pivotal moment in the game, maybe even the best-of-five series. Orioles Manager Buck Showalter turned to reliever Darren O'Day.
Rodriguez, standing in the middle of this big moment, struck out with a few misguided, unimposing swings. Two innings later, it was perhaps fitting that Rodriguez ended the game, striking out against Orioles closer Jim Johnson. The Baltimore crowd roared.
It is true that Rodriguez is hardly alone in leaving teammates on base with futile swings. Curtis Granderson looked lost Monday as did Nick Swisher. As a right-handed hitter, Rodriguez gives balance between two left-handers near the top of the lineup: Suzuki and Cano.
But Rodriguez's failures to advance runners in scoring position continue to be the focus of attention before and after games. That will happen when you have more than 600 career home runs, but a long history of postseason failure — with one mighty impressive exception in 2009.
It may or may not help when Girardi talks about Rodriguez squaring up two pitches as if they were productive results. Did they yield runs batted in or extra-base hits — the things No. 3 hitters are expected to produce?
"I could see it bounding into center field," Rodriguez said of his first-inning liner, lamenting it as a near miss.
It was a sinking liner that was going to bounce near second base. That is his prominent memory of the game, which may be a way of using positive thinking to move forward. But Yankees fans will more likely recall his final two strikeouts late Monday night.
"I feel fine at the plate," Rodriguez said as he stood at his locker with a smile. "I've got to just keep going. I've just got to finish at-bats. I'm getting good swings. If that first-inning ball goes through, it changes the game. I've just keep attacking."
Attacking is not a word many would use to describe his latest at-bats. And a change of scenery — from a different perspective in the lineup — could not possibly hurt him. In other sports, they would call it a change of pace. Or a chance to regroup out of the most direct spotlight.
Earlier Monday, Girardi was asked what Rodriguez needed to do to recover his batting stroke.
"We just need to get him back," Girardi said. "We need to get him back going. It's just a matter of getting consistent contact and putting up good at-bats. The one thing he has done is he has taken some walks, and I know when you think about the No. 3 hitter you're not necessarily saying take some walks. But the bottom line is to keep the line moving and get on base, and he is finding ways to do that."
Rodriguez put it another way.
"I've got to keep finding ways to help Robbie," he said of Cano.
The No. 3 hitter in one of baseball's most feared lineups did not speak about finding ways to help himself, which may have been telling.
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