Heading back home for Game 3 of the ALCS, the New York Yankees are in an 0-2 hole against the Houston Astros, who have been their kryptonite in recent years. While the offense as a whole is struggling to produce, Josh Donaldson in particular is in a brutal slump. He's hitting just .227 in the postseason and a woeful .167 in the Championship Series.

While some Yankees fans are urging Aaron Boone to bench the veteran third baseman, he made it very clear: Donaldson will remain in the lineup as the Yanks try to turn this series around.

Via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com:

“As we struggle for offense, period, it’s interesting that everyone jumps on him,” Boone said. “He’s gotten on at a 40 percent clip in the postseason so far, for all his struggles. We need him. We need him to do something big within this series. We need to get that rolling.

“Different teams have pitched him differently all year,” Boone said of Josh Donaldson. “At times he’s struggled [with] where you’re trying to cover a couple of different speeds, so you’re a little in-between with your timing. That’s probably been the biggest thing from a consistency standpoint that he’s struggled with. But he’s also gotten a lot of big hits for us. We’ve got to continue to trust that he’s got a chance to change the game for us and really produce one of those heavy at-bats.”

To be frank, Josh Donaldson looks relatively lost at the plate right now. Other than a double in Game 2, he's just not confident, swinging at a lot of bad pitches and striking out 11 times in the playoffs thus far.

On a more positive note, the 36-year-old is a proven hitter in the big leagues and can come up with a key hit. That's exactly why Boone isn't losing confidence in him. If he did choose to make a change, it would be either Isiah Kiner-Falefa or Oswaldo Cabrera to step in at the hot corner.

But by the sounds of it, that's not happening. At least not in Game 4 on Saturday.