Youkilis in lineup, ready to move forward

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BOSTONKevin Youkilis is back in the lineup Tuesday night, playing third base and batting fifth for the opener of the two-game series against the Rangers.

Just good to be in the lineup tonight, said Youkilis. Try to go out there and get a W tonight, just got to go out there and get Jon Lester some run support this time around.

Youkilis, who is hitting just .200 with a .265 on-base percentage and .233 slugging percentage, sat out Mondays game against the Rays with what manager Bobby Valentine said was a groin strain.

He has a career average of .156 (7-for-45) with a .255 OBP, .267 slugging, one home run, two doubles, two RBI, four walks, and 11 strikeouts against right-hander James Shields, who started for the Rays on Monday. Against right-hander Colby Lewis, who is starting for the Rangers Tuesday, Youkilis is batting .222 (2-for-9), with a .300 OBP, .444 slugging, with two strikeouts, a walk, and two doubles.

It was just one of those things where if it was 7:00 game on Monday, Id be fine, Youkilis said. The medical staff didnt want to take any chances. We took care of it and its all good.

It just happened when I was running from first to home in the sixth inning on David Ortizs double, and I slid kind offunny. It grabbed a little bit on the slide, just the way I slid around the thing, it caught a little.

Youkilis, though, was hesitant to talk any more about the firestorm that erupted on Sunday after Valentine comments on Youkilis were perceived my many to be critical of the third baseman.

For me, I dont want to talk much about that anymore, Youkilis said. I said what I said yesterday and thats all I got for you.

Im not here to really talk about things that happened yesterday and all that. Were all moved on, were all ready to play Texas. Go out there and try to get a W.

Youkilis, though, was pleased his teammates supported him in the brouhaha.

Well, its always good when your teammates have your back, he said. We root for each other. So its good. Theres a lot of good guys in here. Theres thing that you do off the field, too, and you stick together. This environment can be rough. This town sometimes if youre not winning the first three or four games, something like that, it can be a little rough. So you have to stick together. So weve done a good job of that.Weve come out, we played some good baseball after we struggled at first. We had a great series with Tampa, whos a great team. Thats what we got to do. We got to come and win this series, too. Tonight starts the series, we got to come out and try to get some run support early and let Jon pitch.

Although Youkilis was critical of Jacoby Ellsbury being away from the team two seasons ago when the center fielder was hurt, Youkilis said he would support a teammate in a similar situation to what he went through on Monday.

Oh, for sure, he said. Yeah, but, weve done it in the past. David, theres been times where guys have had some stuff and like I said its all in the books now and lets focus on Texas.

Youkilis is hopeful yesterdays incident wont linger.

Oh, I hope not, he said. I hope its one-and-done type of thing. Were all good and were all going to be one big happy family and play some ball.

While clubhouse harmony is important, Youkilis knows there will be times when not everything will be perfect.

Well, in baseball being on the same page is a little different, too, he said. Its not like were going to run plays. Were not going into 3-4 defense tonight and all that. Youre not going to be on the same page all the time. Offense might be one night, defense might be another thing. So you want to try to be on the same page, the hitting, the defense, and the pitching all work together. In 162 games it doesnt always work but for us. But I hope it happens this series and the next series.

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