Missing two-thirds of their starting outfield, the Sox are about ready to get a significant part of their team back on Saturday in Philadelphia. Jacoby Ellsbury, out since April 11 with broken ribs, is ready to pick back up where he left off.

Without Ellsbury or fellow outfielder Mike Cameron, the Red Sox are tied with Philadelphia for third in majors with 219 runs (six behind the Rays and 19 behind the Yankees). With Ellsbury they might be able to bridge that gap in the coming weeks as the swift left fielder brings a new dimension with him to the the Boston lineup.

“It gives us a different element, the kind of game-changing speed that teams have to be aware of … It is certainly a different look than when we don’t have him in here. Besides, I think the guys that have played have done a really good job,” manager Terry Francona said on Thursday.

Francona said that Ellsbury would travel with the team to Philadelphia and be good to go this weekend. The big worry for him has been to not just do baseball activities but also to move around in general. Broken ribs are the type of injury that put immobilizes anybody let alone a guy trying to turn on a Roy Halladay cutter. Ellsbury went 3 for 4 in his last rehab assignment on Thursday afternoon and got all the hurdles out of the way — stealing, diving back to the bag etc.

“Trying to catch every aspect as far as sliding back, stealing and I think I came through it really well,” Ellsbury said. “Diving back, that was kind of the last thing we wanted to do just for confidence sake and see how it held up and it did pretty good.”

Ellsbury was not particularly surprised that it took a solid month-and-a-half to come back considering that his ribs were broken. The initial surprise was that the bones were actually cracked. He said that after it happened he tried to play before the medical staff figured out the the bones were actually broken.

“If they would have told me it was broke right away, then yeah,” Ellsbury said when asked if he was surprised at the length of his disabled list stay. “But in the beginning we just thought it was just bruised ribs. Laid off for a few days, I was trying to play with it. But when we went to see what it was. Anybody who has broke one rib know how hard it is to move around let alone try to play pro baseball you know or any type of physical activity.”

Ellsbury said that his legs are still a little sore from his last rehab game and ultimately the decision to get back into the game lays with Francona and the medical staff. He has little doubt he can be a productive player once he does get back on the field because broken ribs are not the type of injury that lingers after the healing process is complete. At the same time, it might take the outfielder a couple of games to get back into the swing of things considering all the time off he has had since the beginning of the season.

“It was one of those injuries that once I feel good it is not going to linger. So, once I am back on the field I should be 100 percent,” Ellsbury said. “I have to talk the Tito and the training staff. I was scheduled to play a couple more games but depending on how I felt, I felt pretty good the first game in Pawtucket but still wanted to see me diving and do normal baseball activities that I would on the field and stuff. I think I can do everything I can in the games.”