Ken Davidoff

Ken Davidoff

MLB

Once again, Ellsbury’s injury history comes under spotlight

TORONTO — The way he hobbled around the Yankees’ clubhouse Saturday, Jacoby Ellsbury looked more likely to watch “SpongeBob SquarePants” reruns from a hospital bed Sunday than take part in a Major League Baseball game.

We still are getting to know Ellsbury in his first year as a Yankee, so it felt startling when, shortly after an Ellsbury-less Yankees lineup managed just one hit against the Blue Jays in a 2-0 loss at Rogers Centre, the center fielder spoke as if he would be back in the team’s lineup, his sprained left ankle taped up and ready for action, at any moment.

Especially because manager Joe Girardi, who has no issue spinning this stuff ultra-positively, painted a far grimmer prognosis.

So we arrive at a moment of truth we’ve long awaited in the Ellsbury Adventure: His first injury of consequence as a Yankee. He has a history to live down.

“I’m staying optimistic about it,” said Ellsbury, who sustained the injury Friday night in the Yankees’ 6-3 victory. “I’m a quick healer, got high pain tolerance, so I’ve got those things going for me. … I guess I’m hoping for [Sunday].”

“I’d be really shocked if he played [Sunday],” said Girardi, who added that Ellsbury would undergo more tests when the Yankees return home this coming week. If this were earlier in the season, Girardi conceded, this condition would be serious enough to consider placement on the disabled list if Ellsbury didn’t show considerable improvement in a few days. Because the rosters expand to 40 on Monday, that’s a non-issue.

Unfortunately for the Yankees, they face far greater headaches that can’t be waved off as non-issues. At 70-64, 3-3 on this crucial road trip, they must play a high level of baseball that has eluded them throughout this 2014 campaign, with nearly 83 percent of the schedule complete.

They must pull this off knowing their hottest position player just went down and their ace Masahiro Tanaka left town for New York on Saturday to decelerate the rehabilitation from a torn UCL in his right elbow.

“I think we’ve pitched well,” Girardi said, after watching Michael Pineda take the loss while allowing just two runs in six-plus innings. “I think we’ve had some really good offensive days. It just needs to be consistent.”

“I’m not sure exactly how many games we need to win, but we need to win every series,” said Mark Teixeira, who picked up the Yankees’ only hit with a fourth-inning double off Jays starter Drew Hutchison. “So [Sunday] is a big opportunity for us to win a series.”

Ellsbury leads the Yankees with 130 games played, and he largely has given the Yankees what they hoped to receive when they signed him to a stunning, seven-year, $153-million contract last offseason.

Yet it’s time once again to remember the Yankees offered their own free agent Robinson Cano seven years and $175 million to come back, and Cano entered Saturday’s action having played 128 games — and currently healthy — for the Mariners and sporting an .866 OPS to Ellsbury’s .778.

It’s a large reason why Seattle, 72-62, leads the Yankees in the race for the second American League wild card, trailing the Tigers and Royals by just 1¹/₂ games, while the Yankees are 3¹/₂ out.

Cano owns seven seasons of playing 140-plus games, including the previous seven years. Ellsbury can boast of three such seasons, the last one coming in 2011.

This Ellsbury injury resulted from hustle, as he got thrown out at home on a play Girardi thought Toronto catcher Dioner Navarro illegally blocked the plate.

Many of Ellsbury’s previous ailments also resulted from playing hard, and many kept him out for a while, which is what led to teammate criticisms — most notably Kevin Youkilis on the 2010 Red Sox — about the way he handled these situations.

None of the Boston whispers about Ellsbury have come to fruition this season. To the contrary, he has behaved as a model teammate, by all accounts.

So this ankle injury shouldn’t serve on a referendum of his personality or toughness or willingness to win or any of that noise. Yet it will be another measure of Ellsbury’s reliability. Of how much the Yankees can expect from him.

What he has given has been great, but the team sure could use more.

“I realize how important these games are,” Ellsbury said. “Obviously, we need a win. I’m willing to go out there not at 100 percent. … In the past, I’ve come back from injuries fairly quick. I’m going to try to do everything I can to be out there. This time of year, every win is important, and I need to be out there.”

Can he reach the 140-games mark? 150? The Yankees’ long-shot hopes ride, at least partly, on those touted quick-healing abilities.