Girardi pleasantly surprised by Yanks' early power

TORONTO -- One area the Yankees were supposed to have trouble in this year was the power department.

New York started the season off with key offensive pieces Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter on the disabled list. The club also lost outfielder Nick Swisher, Russell Martin and Raul Ibanez to free agency, and it was forced to sign a number of players to short-term deals to fill out its roster.

That missing group of seven accounted for 164 of New York's Major League-leading 245 homers last season, but, so far, the club hasn't shown any lack of power.

New York entered play Saturday with 25 home runs, tops in the American League.

Manager Joe Girardi admitted he didn't necessarily expect his team to be hitting the long ball at the pace it has to start the year.

"A little bit," Girardi said when asked if we surprised with the club's power. "We have guys that have hit a lot of home runs in the past ... but I can't tell you that I thought they would put up the home run numbers that they are doing right now.

"It's a long year, I understand that, but they are hitting them and we're not having to do as much. As long as it continues, we can do what we're doing."

Vernon Wells, Travis Hafner, Kevin Youkilis and Lyle Overbay are among the veterans the Yankees brought in this offseason, and they have combined to hit 13 of the club's 25 homers.