Girardi flip-flops on Granderson-Gardner fielding switch

It looks like the Brett Gardner-Curtis Granderson experiment in centerfield has concluded even before it really got started.

Gardner started in left field Sunday — even with Granderson out of action with a broken forearm — with Melky Mesa in center leading New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi to admit that the whole idea of flip-flopping their positions this season is basically over and done with.

"I'm not 100% sure, but that's what we're talking about," explained Girardi. "We don't really have the chance to work on it.  There's a chance to work on it.  There's a chance  I'm about to abandon it."

It is most likely, from the sound of it, that Granderson will return to centerfield when he returns from the DL in early May.

"I don't know how many games he would have in his rehab coming back," Girardi said of Grandy's return.  "And that's a concern for me. So I want him to be comfortable wherever he's at, because his bat is important to us."

The manager first thought about switching the two players on Feb. 22 — but that was two days before Granderson was hit by the bone-breaking pitch.  He is expected to miss 10 weeks.

The Yankees will have to make some adjustments until Granderson comes back.  Look for Ichiro Suzuki to return to right field with Mesa, veteran Matt Diaz, Juan Rivera or newbie Zolio Almonte to pick up the slack in center.  Unless, of course, if Girardi feels more comfortable with Gardner roaming center with left-handed pitching.

However the whole situation shakes out, expect some interesting developments during Granderson's absence.

Granderson gave up shot to share HR title with Cabrera

Curtis Granderson had a chance Wednesday night to tie his old teammate Miguel Cabrera for the AL home run lead and put the dreaded asterisk next to the Detroit Tiger's historic Triple Crown feat.

The Yankees outfielder already slugged two home runs against the Boston Red Sox — giving Granderson a career-high 43 for the season — and pulled himself within a single home run of tying Cabrera for the AL lead — when manager Joe Girardi asked Granderson if he wanted one last at-bat.

The Yankees were already blowing out the Red Sox, 14-2, in the seventh inning when Girardi approached his hot-hitting center fielder.

"No," Granderson told the manager.  "Give it to Melky [Mesa]."

By passing on the at-bat, Granderson avoided any chance of getting No. 44 and tainting Cabrera's magical season.  The pass secured Cabrera's Triple Crown title — the major league's first in 45 years.

Cabrera had already compiled a league-leading 139 RBI, .330 batting average and the 44 home runs when he was pulled from his final game in Kansas City.

"I wanted to get Melky [Mesa] in there to hit again," Granderson explained, referring to the rookie who had just one at-bat.  "I didn't think about it until CC [Sabathia] saw me sitting down.  he said, 'Man, you could have had one more up there.'  I was looking at the innings and where we were, and I could have had another at-bat."

"The funny thing is, earlier in the day, I taped a congratulations video to Miguel  [for winning the Triple Crown]," said Granderson, who played together on the Tigers in 2008 and 2009.  "That would have been a weird situation."

Granderson said he wasn't bothered by conceding the home run title — and a chance to be in the record books — by having Mesa pinch-hit for him.

Was it because he didn't want any chance of ruining Cabrara's season for the ages on the last night, as it was suggested.

"I was just asking all those questions if I knew,"  replied the popular Granderson.  "What would have happened , how would it have been perceived, whether it would have been tied.  It would have been a confusing moment for me.  But again, congrats to him.  An amazing hitter.  An amazing teammate.  And a lot of fun to watch."

It sounds like Grandy is the amazing one.

Yankees rookies dress up as 'Star Wars' characters

The New York Yankees rookies prepared for the final road trip of the season by dressing up as some of the best-known characters from the "Star Wars" films after Sunday's 5-4 loss to the Oakland A's.

This year's hazing of first year players may be a tongue-in-cheek attempt at humor because the team is universally known as "The Evil Empire."

Last year's rookies had to dress up as pop stars.

There were no booming strains of "The Imperial March" when the players posed for cameras but there was Adam Warren as Hans Solo, David Phelps as Princess Leia, Cody Eppley as Luke Skywalker and Melky Mesa as Darth Vader.  Mesa probably wishes he had that mask and helmet to hide his face after missing third base Saturday but that episode seems like it's in a galaxy far away right now.

New assistant trainer Mark Littlefield and Hiroki Kuroda's translator, Kenji Nimura, dressed up as the smallest Chewbacca and biggest Yoda ever, respectively.

New York is battling Baltimore for the top spot in the AL East, so Yankees fans are hoping the Force, or at least some power in the middle of the lineup, is with them.

Yankees pinch-runner misses third base and almost loses game in major league debut

In a 14-inning game that lasted nearly six hours, Joe Girardi put everything in the hands — more specifically the feet — of a rookie pinch-runner who, on what should have been a game-winning hit,  missed third base and almost cost the New York Yankees a win in the craziest game of the season.

Melky Mesa's base-running fail almost cost the Yankees a game that could have turned an improbable comeback against the Oakland A's into an ugly loss — all in his major league debut.

Mesa, stood at second base with the score tied at 9-9 when Alex Rodriguez slapped what looked like the game-winning hit through the infield.  Mesa went to round third but missed the bag by about a foot but the rookie had the sense to turn back and get back to the base.

After his Yankee teammates leaped out of the dugout with their arms raised in victory and A-Rod clapping his hands thinking he had the game-winning hit, Mesa sheepishly stood at third base when they all realized the game wasn't over because of his flub.  That 12 inches probably felt like a mile to the kid.

Luckily, for the Yankee, Girardi can file this base running gaffe under "W" for We can laugh about it now thanks to the generosity of the A's defense.  Mesa was thrown out in a force at home plate in the next at bat, but A's first baseman Brandon Moss failed to handle Eduardo Nunez's two-out grounder allowing Ichiro Suzuki to score for the Yankees 10-9 win.

It was the wildest game of a normally eventful New York Yankees campaign.  The fans who toughed out the marathon contest were treated to everything from missed calls at first, collisions at home plate, comebacks by both teams and finally the dramatic moment that could have defined the 25-year old Mesa's Yankee career.

Luckily for the embarrassed rookie, the Yankees won and Mesa even got the ultimate form of Yankees absolution — a hug from Derek Jeter.

After the game, Girardi smoothed things over by praising Mesa for having the sense to get back to third base and not getting tagged out.

"That would have been a tough one for the kid to swallow," Girardi said of Mesa.  "A lot of the guys gave him hugs.  We told him keep your head up.

"It just happened in his debut.  He won't forget it."