"Somebody has to sit.

This is the reality facing Curtis Granderson and Brett Gardner every time the Yankees face a left-handed pitcher, and manager Joe Girardi shoehorns lefty-masher Andruw Jones into the lineup.

Jones, signed to a one-year, $2 million deal specifically for his prowess against lefties, needed just one plate appearance to show why the Yankees signed him in the offseason. He hit a solo homer Tuesday night off lefty Brian Duensing in the Yankees' 5-4 loss to the Twins.

"It was special," Jones said. "I wish we won the game. But it was great."

But for the Yankees to use Jones' power, either Granderson or Gardner must take a back seat. This time, it was Gardner, who was just 2-for-15 (.133) through four games. When the Yankees face left-hander Francisco Liriano in Wednesday's series finale, Girardi said Granderson will likely sit.

"The one thing that you want to do is that you want to get Andruw Jones going like we did last year with Marcus (Thames)," Girardi said. "We put Marcus in there against lefties early. We believe all of our lefties can hit left-handers. But you don't want a guy to go two weeks without playing, three weeks without playing."

Girardi said he will take several different factors into account when deciding who to sit. But he said some of the decisions will come down to feel.

"We'll look at different things," Girardi said. "We may feel that one guy's more fatigued than the other and need to give him a day off. We might look at matchups. We might look at how the guy's swinging at that time. There's a number of different things.""