Russell Martin is back in the Yankees lineup today, about 18 hours after suffering through his worst game as a Yankee on Tuesday night, and Joe Girardi said there was no thought of sitting him or demoting him after his two-error performance that led to four unearned Tampa Bay Rays runs.

At the same time, Girardi did not discount the possibility of more playing time for backup Chris Stewart. ""Stew's played,'' Girardi said. "He's played a lot. It's not like he hasn't played a lot. And he'll continue to play.''

Girardi said he thought Martin's struggles at the plate -- he went 0-for-4 Tuesday night to run his hitless streak to 23 at-bats and drop his average to .182 -- were related in some way to the lower back stiffness that limited his playing time last week. "Before Russell got hurt, he had a pretty good two or three week stretch when he was an offensive factor again,'' he said. "We've just got to get him back to that.''

And the manager repeated his contention from last night that he sees no sign that Martin is allowing his offensive struggles affect his game behind the plate. "You would see it in a lot of different ways, whether it's the way they're blocking balls or calling pitches, and I don't see that in him,'' Girardi said. "Russell knows how to separate the the two. So I don't think he's carrying it over, no.''