Now Swisher has a reason to smile

Few knew how lost Nick Swisher was.

In the presence of reporters, the Yankees' gregarious rightfielder had remained energetic and upbeat, even when discussing the low points of his season. When peppered with questions about his slow start and benching on back-to-back days last month, he outwardly had taken the disappointments in stride.

But he never truly let on to the thoughts churning inside him.

"When you come off a year like I had last year and then all of a sudden, you come out of the gates and it's not working like you want to, you say, 'What the hell is going on? What am I doing now that is causing this to happen?' And the next thing you know, it goes to your head, and that can affect a lot of things," a resurgent Swisher told Newsday on Sunday after hitting his ninth home run in the Yankees' 6-4 victory over Colorado.

Last year, he earned his first All-Star selection and hit .288 with 29 homers, 89 RBIs, a .359 on-base percentage and a career-high .511 slugging percentage. But he struggled early in 2011 and was hitting .214 with two homers and 19 RBIs in 42 games when he was replaced by Chris Dickerson in rightfield in the starting lineup May 22 and 23.

"When you look at it and you talk about the same thing every single day, whether it's with your coaches, whether it's with your teammates, whether it's with the media, that stuff starts to grind on you," he said. "And as much as you try to push it out of your head, it's always being brought back to you. Like I didn't play for those two games, in the papers, the next thing you know: 'Swisher's benched' . . . I don't want to see that.

"But it's the way it is here in New York. You've got to go out and do your thing. I feel I've been very fortunate that I've had the backing that I've had, not only on the field with my teammates but off the field as well.

"I feel like I've had a lot of great people in my life who have helped me get through that tough time, which makes this time so much easier to enjoy it because you've been through those tough times. You know what it feels like to be in the gutter. And for myself, I'm just having a blast right now."

His smile no longer is forced now that he has seven homers and 19 RBIs in his past 26 games. Since his average fell to a season-low .204 on May 25, Swisher has batted .312 (29-for-93), with a .437 on-base percentage and a .613 slugging percentage.

"You can't be grounding out [and] laughing and smiling about stuff," said Swisher, who's up to .245. "Then when you get a couple hits, you can start to be yourself again. And I feel like I'm getting back to myself."

Swisher has flourished as a righthanded hitter this season (.342-.446-.548), but as a lefthanded hitter, he had to get hot just to get his numbers up to .203-.332-.355. He said he hasn't made any mechanical changes to his swing. It's more of a mental modification than anything, he said.

"I feel like I'm more charismatic," Swisher said. "I'm smiling all the time again and I feel when I am that way, I feel like I'm playing my best. It's attitude.

"It's more mental than anything."