A-Rod: 'I've been working my tail off'

The fastball from Cincinnati starter Homer Bailey came in at 95 miles per hour, and Alex Rodriguez turned it around and sent it soaring toward the Yankees' bullpen in right-centerfield. A crowd of 45,302 came to a full roar that suddenly died with the long fly ball on the warning track.

That was as close as Rodriguez has come to a home run in his past 40 at-bats and 11 games since he hit career No. 634 on May 6 in Kansas City. But it was just part of an 0-for-4 day in a 6-5 loss to the Reds on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.

"I've hit a lot of those," Rodriguez said of the warning-track shot. "I mean, you have a little bit of a crosswind today. I hit that ball pretty well. I thought it was a home run, but you have to worry about the process.

"I've been working my tail off with [hitting coach] Kevin Long, and I think we're in a good place. One of the things I'm working on is improving the ratio of ground balls to fly balls. I'm just putting the ball on the ground a little bit too much. The last two or three days, I've been much better."

Manager Joe Girardi said Rodriguez "is not driving the baseball as consistently as we've seen him do it in the past, but all of a sudden, you can put up eight in a month, and then, you're probably where you should be at. I think he's capable of doing that."

The bottom of the eighth inning was an example of the Yankee's power problems in a nutshell. Reds reliever Aroldis Chapman was pushing the radar gun to the top end at 97-100 mph, striking out Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano before getting Rodriguez to pop to shortstop.

"You don't see lefties that throw 100 miles per hour very often," Rodriguez said. "He gave me a good pitch to hit. I put a good swing on it, and it went straight up. It was pretty electric."

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When Rodriguez is plugged in at the plate, he can be pretty electric. He said he's 100 percent healthy this season, and he's equally sure he's going to reach his statistical standards.

"I'm extremely confident," Rodriguez said. "I'm in a good place. My body feels good. I'm working very, very hard every day with Kevin Long. My numbers are going to be there at the end of the year. There's no question about it. The thing is we've got to put it to work right away because our team needs victories. Our coaches, our players expect a lot from me, and I'll be there."