Ellsbury Nowhere To Be Found At Plate As Yankees Push Toward The Postseason
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The timing couldn't be worse.
With the Yankees fighting tooth and nail to stay in the AL East race, they can ill afford to have one of their best hitters go in the tank.
But that's where Jacoby Ellsbury appears to be heading.
Mired in a brutal slump, the veteran outfielder's bat will be a must if the Yankees are to overcome the first-place Blue Jays in the division or hold on for a wild card spot over the regular season's final 19 games.
A career .289 hitter, Ellsbury is hitless in his last 21 at-bats and is batting just .104 (5-for-48) in September and .254 overall. He has yet to record an extra-base hit or RBI this month, in which the Yankees have gone just 7-6.
Manager Joe Girardi said he's not too worried about Ellsbury's problems.
"He feels pretty good, he's been just a little bit off," Girardi said. "He's doing everything he can to get back on track. He's extremely important to our lineup. Sometimes when guys go through these tough periods, the game has a way of equaling its way out. Hopefully it does for the next 20 games."
Monday night seemed to sum up how things have gone for Ellsbury of late. He went 0-for-4 against the Rays, including grounding into a double play in the top of the ninth with the Yankees trailing by a run.
New York somehow rallied to win 4-1, but the fact remains Girardi's team needs Ellsbury and Brett Gardner at the top of the lineup consistently getting on base. That said, the manager made it clear he has no intention of messing with his starting center fielder.
"You know that eventually it's going to turn around," Girardi said. "If every time a guy was going through a tough spot, they started moving them out, moving them down, you'd be juggling the lineup every day."
