"Curtis Granderson needed a change.

No, not another change in teams, which the center fielder faced after the 2009 season when the Tigers sent him to the Yankees in a three-team deal that brought Austin Jackson and Phil Coke over from New York.

The change Granderson needed was with his hitting stance. Hitting, after all, was the reason the Tigers believed Granderson was expendable.

"There was a strong history where a guy quite frankly didn't handle left-handed pitching very well," Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long said Monday, before the opener of a four-game series. "I just looked at film and talked to him. We really had to get to the meat and potatoes of this thing."

Of the 30 home runs Granderson hit in 2009, two came off left-handers. In fact, he hit only .183 off lefties.

Entering this season, he was a career .210 hitter against left-handers.

"We moved him a little closer to the plate," Long said. "We talked about his tilt. He used to get tilted over. And then he really didn't take his A-swing against lefties. It seemed more like a feel swing and just trying to put the ball in play."

Since the change last August, Granderson has taken off.

He has 22 home runs dating to Aug. 10, third in the majors behind Toronto's Jose Bautista (27) and Colorado's Troy Tulowitzki (23).

This season, Granderson is hitting .280 against left-hander with three of his eight home runs off lefties (25 at-bats). He had four in 158 at-bats of left-handers last season."