With hopes in AL East fading, and Bosox in town, Yanks eye wins
Forget the Red Sox. The Yankees can’t even catch them with a four-game series sweep this weekend. So at this juncture, the Bombers should be focused on simply getting into the playoffs, their lead in the AL wild-card standings shrinking with every loss.
The Yankees entered the week just 2½ games behind the firstplace Red Sox in the AL East. But after getting swept by the AL Central-leading Indians, the gap between the division rivals is back to 5½ after Boston’s 7-1 win over Toronto on Wednesday night.
“As I’ve said all along, we’re in charge of our own destiny, and we have to win games,” Joe Girardi said after the Bombers were outscored 11-5 by the Tribe in a pair of defeats at Yankee Stadium. “But it’s impossible not to look at the scores, they’re right there. Still, we have to be worried about ourselves. We can’t worry about how other teams are doing. We have to play well.”
The Yankees could’ve made a statement had they played well against Cleveland. Instead, they were outclassed. Corey Kluber outpitched Luis Severino on Monday, setting the stage for a forgettable doubleheader on Wednesday in which the Bombers mustered just two extra-base hits overall and scored two runs in the first 17 innings prior to Greg Bird’s three-run homer in the ninth of Game 2.
Gary Sanchez, Aaron Judge and Didi Gregorius combined to go 3-for-19 in the twin-bill, while Francisco Lindor (four hits), Jose Ramirez (four hits) and Edwin Encarnacion (two hits) all delivered for the Indians, who seem like a team the Yankees would be better off not facing immediately come October.
“We need to swing the bats better, that’s the bottom line,” Girardi said.
The Yankees were much better in the first half, when Judge, Aaron Hicks, Starlin Castro and Matt Holliday (still rehabbing at Triple-A Scranton) were all healthy and productive. They came in ranked 16th in the majors in second-half runs scored. Granted, Bird did record four RBI in Game 2, so that’s something.
“Everyone has their injuries, and you have to step up,” Girardi said. “Everyone goes through cold spells, and other guys have to step up. You can’t rely on one or two guys over the course of a season, or you’re going to be in trouble. So everyone has to do their part.”
The Bombers now face the Bosox. Things might’ve been different had Aroldis Chapman not blown those games on July 14 and Aug. 13. The Yankees just need to bank some wins and keep Minnesota, Los Angeles and surging Baltimore, winners of seven straight, at bay.
CC Sabathia, who is 3-0 against the Red Sox in 2017 with a 0.90 ERA, gets the ball in the opener Thursday night.
“Every game for us right now is important, and we just have to get ready to play tomorrow,” Sabathia said.
Winning the division would’ve been quite an achievement for a team supposedly in transition. But now, it just feels like it’s about avoiding failure in the eyes of Hal Steinbrenner, and that means securing a home berth in the wild-card game and going from there.
“Let’s just try to win a game tomorrow,” Girardi said. “And there are still 30 games left. But I’m not going to downplay the magnitude of this series. I’m not going to. It’s a really important series for us.”