Girardi surprised by Yanks' offensive struggles

SEATTLE -- The ice-cold Yankees bats, ranked 13th in the American League in runs scored entering Tuesday, have not shaken Joe Girardi's optimism that a fresh hit of firepower must be around the corner.

"These guys have track records and they're going to work at it, and I know they will," Girardi said. "You look at it today, they're working on it right now. So I believe it's going to change."

The Yankees entered play on Tuesday with a 31-31 record. They held an identical record after 62 games in Girardi's first season as manager in 2008, won their next game and finished the year 89-73 -- good for third place in the American League East.

Girardi acknowledged that he has been surprised by how much this Yankees lineup has struggled.

"I thought we would score more runs," Girardi said. "Yeah, we've had some injuries at times where we've missed some key parts in the middle of the order, and times when key parts in the middle of the order were struggling and made it more difficult to score runs.

"I don't think, for a period of time -- which every club has -- we've had six or seven guys hot at the same time. We haven't had that. We're due for that, and I'm looking forward to it."

One possible move to shake up the lineup is to dislodge Derek Jeter, currently in a 3-for-26 skid, from the No. 2 spot. Girardi said that is not a button that he wants to push at this time.

"He's always been a guy that has responded during the course of time," Girardi said. "People have been ready to say that you should move him, and one year he ended up with 200-plus hits and that sort of thing. You can look at Derek in the No. 2 spot, but we've had a lot of guys who have struggled. Maybe because of his name, he's going to be the focus a little bit, sometimes maybe more than other guys, but we've had a lot of guys struggle."