Jeter having trouble working swing shift

LAKELAND, Fla. - When he stops thinking about the adjustment, Derek Jeter said, he'll be fine.

But he's nowhere near that point, and he had no trouble admitting Monday that he's far from feeling comfortable in making what amounts to a sea change in his swing.

"You have to get that out of there," Jeter said of thinking about swing mechanics. "You hope it becomes second nature so you don't have to think about it. But the good thing, my foot hasn't been moving, so that's a step in the right direction, I guess."

So to speak.

Jeter went 1-for-4 in Monday's 6-2 loss to the Tigers at Joker Marchant Stadium, pulling a grounder through the hole between third and short for his first exhibition hit.

Of course, he's played in only two games, going a combined 1-for-6, so no one is getting carried away with results.

"Results in spring training I'm not too concerned about," hitting coach Kevin Long said after the game. "What I'm concerned about is him feeling comfortable and good up at the plate as soon as possible. If we can get to that point, sooner rather than later, then mission accomplished."

Work continues on eliminating the stride that's been a part of Jeter's swing his entire career, and the mission is far from being accomplished.

Which is fine. It's part of what spring training is for. "It's so early in the process," Long said.

Said Joe Girardi: "I think you have to be patient with it because he talked about the other day when he was hitting, it seemed like he had so much more time and he actually was out in front of balls. It's a timing thing that he's going to be able to wait a little bit longer, and he's going to have to get used to that."

Long said that instead of accompanying the team to Bradenton for Tuesday's game against the Pirates, he'll stay behind for extra work in the cage with Jeter. Then he'll drive to Bradenton.

"It's something he's trying to change after 16, 17 years of doing it one way," Long said. "I can tell he's not comfortable."

The pair worked the last three weeks of 2010 to start eliminating the stride with Jeter's front foot. Now they're working to get rid of it completely, which, when it takes, will help Jeter see the ball longer and should enable him to make better decisions, Long said.

"It's going to take a while," Jeter said. "That's the first time I've seen pitching with it, so it's going to take a while to get comfortable."

Jeter - whose old swing brought him to within 74 hits of 3,000 - said he doesn't have a timetable for when he believes the changes will take hold.

"I don't think it will take long to have success, but it still might take a while before you get comfortable," he said. "And the key is not to think about it. Once you stop thinking about it, you're pretty comfortable."

Long said his goal is for Jeter to reach that point by "about a week before the real games" start. "Right now, there's going to be some difficulties in feeling comfortable," Long said. "My job is to get him to feel as good as possible as soon as possible . . . He's saying, 'I have to figure out what to do with this extra time,' and I said, 'Trust me, this is a good thing that you're seeing the ball longer.' In the long run, this is going to help. Again, I feel for him a little bit because he's fighting through something, he hasn't done it enough times. So I'm not discouraged. I'm looking forward to getting it right. And we will."