ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Taken out of mothballs, Alex Rodriguez had no chance Saturday night. Same for the sell-sell-sell Yankees.
The struggling A-Rod went from the bench to batting cleanup in Joe Girardi’s most desperate lineup of the season. It didn’t work. And Sunday morning, the Yankees proceeded to unload their desirable players by trading reliever Andrew Miller to the Indians.
Rodriguez had one at-bat in the previous last eight days: a pinch-hit, ninth-inning single Friday night. Yet, there he was Saturday night batting fourth against left-hander Drew Smyly.
Rodriguez was a mechanical mess as he struck out four times in the Yankees’ terrible 6-3 loss to the Rays at the Trop, their second straight loss to a team that came into this series 22 games under .500.
Rodriguez is batting .206. His year has been a disaster.
“I didn’t do myself any favors tonight, that’s for sure,’’ Rodriguez said. “Tonight was a rough night, no excuses. I swung at balls and took strikes. Smyly has been pretty tough on me in my career.
“It’s definitely been a frustrating season all the way around, that’s for sure,’’ said Rodriguez, who struck out four times in a game for the seventh time in his career. “It’s one night, you have to go on to tomorrow.’’
Is there a tomorrow for the struggling slugger? Girardi opt to use Carlos Beltran as the DH on Sunday against Rays lefty Blake Snell, and Rodriguez went back to the bench.
“The second half, it’s been a struggle, and it was a struggle tonight for him,’’ Girardi said. “I don’t know if it’s rust or what it is. He hasn’t hit like he did last year and we’ve tried to get him going, I’m trying to get him going, we’ll see what happens.’’
Rodriguez knows the deal.
“I had a chance to make my case tonight,’’ Rodriguez said, “and I didn’t do a good job of that. Yesterday was a good day, today was a bad day and you hope you get another chance.’’
So much for the fairy tale that the 52-51 Yankees are contenders.
In his first three at-bats against Smyly, who improved to 3-11, Rodriguez was overmatched, twice striking out swinging and then taking a fastball right down the middle for strike three. Closer Alex Colome struck him out swinging in his fourth at-bat.
Rodriguez was in the lineup to hit lefties, so it remains to be seen what his future will be – if the Yankees even keep him on the roster, considering the Miller trade is another move toward wholesale changes.
The phasing-out of A-Rod is something that was bound to happen, and Girardi has been down this road before with the likes of the aging Jorge Posada and Derek Jeter.
It’s a long goodbye. Girardi said his job is to put out the best lineup he can every day. He said he knows how much pride Rodriguez takes in his job.
“It’s something that we’ve had to deal with here, aging superstars, and it’s something I’ve gotten used to, ’’ Girardi said. “It’s never easy because behind that is a person who really cares and really cares about how he does and wants to contribute, and I respect that. The hard part is making the lineup sometimes every day.’’
For the Yankees to expect the 41-year-old Rodriguez to do well at cleanup after such a long layoff and such a struggling season was too much to ask.
As one Yankee told The Post: “You can’t make this stuff up.’’
“I’ve underachieved this year,’’ Rodriguez said. “There’s two months to go, I continue to have faith that I will turn it around.’’
The Yankees face the Mets on Monday in the first of four Subway Series games. That is trade deadline day and the Yankees are sellers, plain and simple.
Aging A-Rod is lost at the plate, and this is one lost season for the Yankees.