Time to panic? Yankees' Alex Rodriguez says ...

NEW YORK — Yes, the Yankees lost three games straight to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Yes, they watched their American League East lead dwindle from six games to 1 1/2 in a week. Yes, their offense has been putrid, their pitching hasn't saved them, and they're about to start a stretch of 16 games in 16 days Tuesday.

But, no, it's not time to freak out, designated hitter Alex Rodriguez said after the Yankees' 2-0 loss to the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium Sunday.

"Look, you have to have some perspective," Rodriguez told reporters. "There's not time for panic for us. We've had a very good season so far. We're in first place for a reason. We like our team. We trust our team. We're going to take a day off (Monday) and play some good baseball."

A-Rod wasn't done.

"The season's never a straight line," he said. "There's going to be peaks and valleys. There's going to be challenges along the way. And for us it's all about the way we respond that matters."

Sound familiar?

It's because it's almost exactly what Rodriguez said April 11.

Back then, the Yankees were in much worse shape. At 1-4 through their first five games, with their defense looking like Swiss cheese and their bats silent, the Yankees looked like they were in for a long year.

Then they turned it around.

Of course, they've also seen shallower valleys and more modest peaks since then.

At one point, they were nine games over .500, only to lose 10 of 11 games in a row. And before their latest slump, which has seen them shut out in back-to-back games for the first time since 1999 and was embodied by the Nos. 1 through 5 in their lineup going 0-for-16 Sunday, they had scored 90 runs in 10 games.

The point: The Yankees are about as streaky as it gets, but are often better than they are bad. And they believe their latest woes will pass.

"It's frustrating," said Brett Gardner, whom was hit in the head with a home run ball a fan had thrown back onto the field Sunday. "Obviously we don't want anyone to come in here and sweep us, no matter if it's the team that's chasing us. But they played well, they swung the bats pretty well and we just weren't able to get a whole lot going against them. We'll do our best to have a short-term memory. We're lucky to have an off day (Monday) and we'll have a good road trip."

Mark Teixeira agreed. He said the Yankees knew that the Blue Jays were never going to be out of the division race, especially after they added shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and starting pitcher David Price in a pair of shocking trade deadline moves.

"We're never comfortable," the first baseman said. "That's when you let your guard down and don't play well. This isn't going to be comfortable the rest of the way. We have to fight for every win and that's what we expect every single game going forward."

Said Rodriguez, "We definitely took a punch this weekend. Good teams punch back."

And they don't panic. Not yet.

Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.