TRENTON, N.J. ? Derek Jeter is ready to return to the New York Yankees Tuesday.

“Basically, it’s up to me,” the shortstop said Sunday. The Yankees “have asked me if I’m ready to play. I’ll play.”

Jeter spoke with a bulky heat pack on his left shoulder, then ended his five-game rehabilitation assignment with the Double-A Trenton Thunder by going 2-for-2 with a triple and an RBI single.

He has not played for the Yankees since opening day, when he dislocated his left shoulder in a collision with Toronto catcher Ken Huckaby at third base.

The Yankees are off today and open a three-game series Tuesday night against Anaheim at Yankee Stadium. Jeter said he would take today off and rejoin the team Tuesday.

“I don’t anticipate anything other than having him play,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said. “He still has to get himself in shape against big league pitching. We’ll have to wait and see how long that will take. He seems very confident and upbeat.”

In five games with Trenton, Jeter was 8-for-18 with three walks, two runs scored and five RBIs. His biggest hit was a three-run double in the eighth inning Saturday night that lifted the Thunder to a 6-4 win over New Haven.

Jeter tripled off the wall in left-center in the first inning Sunday against New Haven right-hander Peter Bauer and scored on a single by Brian Myrow. On the triple, Jeter slid feetfirst into third base instead of headfirst — as he did when he was injured.

With the bases loaded and two outs in the second, Jeter drove in a run with a groundball to deep shortstop that was ruled an infield single.

Bauer hit him in the back with an 0-2 pitch in the fourth, causing Jeter to smile and shake his head as he trotted to first base.