Now, he's 8-Rod.

Alex Rodriguez, 1-for-11 with no RBIs in the AL playoffs and stuck in a prolonged October slump, was dropped to the eighth spot in New York's batting order on Saturday as the Yankees tried to avoid being eliminated by the Detroit Tigers.

It's the lowest A-Rod batted since May 7, 1996, when he was a 20-year-old shortstop for the Seattle Mariners.

Jason Giambi _ 1-for-8 in the series _ was dropped from the Yankees' starting lineup for Game 4, and Gary Sheffield was back at first and in the cleanup spot after sitting on Friday. Looking for an offensive spark, Yankees manager Joe Torre had Melky Cabrera in left field and batting ninth. Hideki Matsui was moved from left to designated hitter.

Facing a win-or-else situation, the Yankees had to do something with their embattled third baseman, who is hitting .091 in the first three games of the best-of-5 series. The two-time AL MVP hasn't driven in a run in 11 playoff games dating to 2004 and is batting .116 (5-for-43) in his last 12 post-season games.

``There's tension in this clubhouse. We've worked too hard this year to go home like this,'' said Rodriguez, who hit cleanup in Friday's 6-0 loss after batting sixth in Games 1 and 2.

Torre shook up his lineup for Game 3, but the Yankees went 0-for-18 with runners on base and were blanked over 7 2-3 innings by an emotional Kenny Rogers as the Tigers took a 2-1 lead.

New York, with an all-star at nearly every position thanks to a US$200 million payroll, hasn't scored in 14 innings.

Torre is hoping Cabrera, who hadn't batted in the first three games, would recharge the Yankees' powerful lineup.

``He seems to give us another dimension,'' he said. ``I wanted Sheff back in and Jason hasn't been swinging the bat real well. Somebody has to bite the dust.''