Derek Jeter: Slump? What slump?

Derek Jeter flashed his trademark smile at the cameras, but his playful demeanor couldn't mask the slight edge in his voice.

"See, I don't use the word slump. You guys use the word," he said Sunday when asked about his struggles at the plate.

Call it what you will, but the shortstop - who is in the final season of his 10-year, $189-million contract - is experiencing the toughest month he's had in six years.

Jeter, who was 1-for-5 in the Yankees' 6-3 loss to the Twins, is hitting .182 for the month of May (12-for-66). It's his lowest monthly average since he hit .168 in March-April 2004, including the infamous 0-for-32 streak that prompted boos at Yankee Stadium (and ended with a home run off Barry Zito into Monument Park).

Jeter hit .330 in April and still was at .304 as recently as May 8, but since then, he's gone 5-for-35 in eight games and is down to .269.

And yesterday, Jeter missed yet another opportunity to be Captain Clutch.

After Randy Winn and Ramiro Peña led off the bottom of the ninth with back-to-back singles, Jeter stepped to the plate representing the tying run with the Yankees trailing 6-3.

But he couldn't check his swing on a 1-and-2 pitch in the dirt from 6-11 Minnesota closer Jon Rauch, striking out on a 75-mph curveball. Then Brett Gardner struck out swinging and Mark Teixeira struck out looking on another curveball to end the game.

Jeter has always maintained that hitting streaks and slumps are an inevitable part of a long baseball season, statistics that players should never gloat or fret over.

"We have a tough lineup when guys are swinging the bats well," he had said Saturday. "But it's not always going to happen. All of us haven't been hot at the same time, but we've been able to win games."

Still, it's not a slump, he said.

"You get frustrated sometimes with the results," said Jeter, who was robbed of a hit in the third inning when centerfielder Denard Span made a diving catch. "But at the same time, you can't help when guys are diving all over the place catching balls.

"All you can really focus on is trying to have good at-bats and hitting the ball hard. I'm not negative, so I don't use the word slump. It's more of, you'd like to see more results."