Girardi remains patient as offense struggles

TORONTO -- Joe Girardi was clear: Don't expect any significant changes in his struggling lineup.

"Confidence is a very important thing in this game and in any walk of life," Girardi said before last night's 4-1 loss to the Blue Jays. "I think it's important that you have a feeling in your heart about a player, that you show them confidence and you don't necessarily succumb to the pressure of what the numbers are May 15 or June 1. You ride it out."

The Yankees are now 3-for-41 with runners in scoring position over their last five games, including last night's 0-for-8 performance.

More staggering numbers: In their nine losses this month, they are 3-for-60 with RISP.

"Guys have to get it done," Girardi said after his team went 1-for-8 with RISP in Wednesday night's loss, a night after going 1-for-9 in a loss at Baltimore.

Much of the attention has been focused on the middle of the order, which most agreed before the season should again be among baseball's best.

Though Robinson Cano has shown signs of emerging from a bad first month, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira have only done so in modest spurts, with the bottom line being the Yankees' 3-5 hitters have underperformed to this point.

Girardi repeated what he's said all season -- the track records of the struggling players will prevail in the end.

"These guys have done it for us," he said. "Every year we look up and Tex has 30 [homers] and 30-plus [homers]. Would I like everyone of my guys to hit .350 and have an on-base percentage of .425 with 35 homers and 100 RBIs? Hell, yeah I would. But that's not going to happen. It's not. So you have to be patient. This is a game where you have to be patient because it is every day."

Girardi understands the questions.

"It's New York, people want answers," he said.

He also knows his guys with solid resumes aren't the only ones having early-season troubles.

"If someone told you [before the season] May 15 [Jose] Bautista and [Albert] Pujols would be around .200 and Pujols would have only a couple of homers, would you have bet against them?" Girardi said.

At some undefined point, it's no longer early in a season and, one way or the other, players are who they are. Girardi said he's far from the point of considering Cano, A-Rod and Teixeira -- or any of his other players off to slow starts -- are simply in for rough seasons.

"Our guys keep themselves in tremendous shape and they've been through these things before and they've come out of them before," he said. "Sometimes you just have to ride it out."