Big scoring night Friday and Saturday were sandwiched in between weak showings in the opener Thursday and the finale Sunday.
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Ellsbury showed his sprained right knee did not hold him back from running the bases at Minute Maid Park, so it was decided to ship the leadoff hitter and center fielder to Tampa where he could begin a minor league rehab assignment with the Single-A Tampa Yankees as soon as Monday.
Also on Empire Writes Back: Who was the best Yankee of 2014? He will only need a couple of games on his rehab assignment to get his timing back, so barring any setbacks there’s a chance that he could rejoin the Yankees before the end of next week.
According to Girardi, when Ellsbury gets into a minor league game depends how he feels Monday after two days of running the bases. The Yankees are fourth in the majors in runs scored this month, so they have done a good job staying afloat without one of their most important pieces. Girardi told reporters “it is possible” Ellsbury can return for the beginning of that series. “I’m excited to be playing in games sometime this week, and I can’t wait to get back with the big league club”, Ellsbury said in a statement. The Yankees were 22-18 when Ellsbury went on the disabled list.
Regardless, the Yankees will be more than happy to have their $153 million dollar man returning to the lineup.
The Yankees begin a three-game set in Anaheim on Monday, and return home on Friday to face the Tampa Bay Rays.
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In all 37 games he played in this season, Ellsbury batted first, usually with Gardner hitting behind him.
