Struggling Gardner dropped to No. 9

In an attempt to alleviate some of the pressure on his leftfielder's shoulders, Yankees manager Joe Girardi reinserted Brett Gardner into the lineup in the No. 9 hole Sunday night.

Gardner usually leads off against righthanded pitchers, but that wasn't the case against Texas starter Alexi Ogando. Then again, any lineup spot is good news for Gardner, who was benched against lefthanded starting pitchers in the previous two games against the Rangers.

Entering Sunday night's game, he had one hit in his previous 20 at-bats, a .146 batting average and a .222 on-base percentage. He grounded into a double play and struck out in his first two at-bats against Ogando.

"Wherever I'm hitting in the lineup, I'm going to take the same approach out there," he said. "It's just important for me to figure things out and get on base for these guys."

The problem, however, has been Gardner's approach. He said his patience at the plate might hurt him at times because, more often than not, he finds himself behind in the count. "Maybe we have to tinker with my approach a little bit and try to go about things a little differently and try to get some good pitches to hit," he said.

Gardner also has noticed troubling things in his mechanics during his video sessions with hitting coach Kevin Long.

"Some swings I was taking, I wasn't using my lower half, and not only was I getting behind in the count in most of my at-bats, but when I was taking a swing, it wasn't always my 'A' swing," he said. "And that's something that's very important."

Girardi didn't appear too concerned. He pointed out that Gardner struggled in spring training last year but went on to have his best season.

"We're just trying to get him going," Girardi said of Gardner, who batted .277 with a .383 on-base percentage and 97 runs scored last season. "It's a place he hit all year last year, for the most part, and had pretty much success there. I'm not saying this is a long-term thing. We're just trying to get him going."

Asked if he thinks Gardner has felt added pressure to perform in the leadoff spot, Girardi said he isn't sure. "It could have [put pressure on him]," he said. "He did it for us last year from time to time, and I didn't notice it affecting him last year. But you don't ever truly know what a guy thinks when he's put in a new position. So that's why we thought we'll move him down, see if we get him going, and if we get him going, then we can move him back if we want."

Gardner, however, said he tries to go about every at-bat the same way. "I don't feel like I try to put any extra pressure on myself whether I'm hitting 1 or 2 or 8 or 9 or wherever," he said. "It's all the same for me. My job's to get on base. Plain and simple, I haven't really been doing that, so it's something I need to start doing."

He's determined to remain positive. "I think it's frustrating any time you struggle, especially at the start of the season not to get off to a good start, but what's done is done," he said. "I'm not somebody that's going to dwell on what happened yesterday or what happened last week or a week and a half ago. Today's a new day, and the main thing is the team's been winning. We've been playing good baseball, so it's a lot easier to go through personal struggles when your team's still playing well."