Yankees' ALDS Game 3 lineup: Joe Girardi won't tip his hand

Despite speculation that Joe Girardi might drop Alex Rodriguez in the New York Yankees' order for Game 3 of the ALDS due to his poor performance, the manager neither confirmed nor denied the move in his press conference Tuesday.

Ian O'Connor of ESPN New York reported that Girardi was "seriously considering" dropping the third baseman in the lineup. Although Rodriguez had recorded two hits in three of the team's final four regular season games, he is currently 1-for-9 with five strikeouts and a line drive into a double play thus far in the series. But when asked about his lineup choices for Game 3 against Miguel Gonzalez of the Baltimore Orioles, Girardi said that he hadn't decided how he would tweak his team's lineup, or if he would tweak it at all. He noted that he would keep in mind "the emotional part" - a noteworthy factor, considering career-long criticism of Rodriguez as a player who couldn't perform in the clutch.

Rodriguez had seemingly silenced that criticism hat he couldn't perform in the clutch after his monster 2009 postseason, when he hit six home runs with a batting average over .400 in the first two series as the Yankees went on to win the World Series. But with the skid in the past two games, Rodriguez is 10-for-69 with no home runs in the past three postseasons. He's continued to hit either third or fourth in every game.