Numbers game
BOMBERS JUST DONT ADD UP AS CONTENDERS
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — This isn’t the trade deadline. This is the reboot deadline. Shut down and start over. The Yankees had better make the most of it.
The players, of course, want to believe they are in the race. That is part of their competitive nature.
Reality is tough to swallow, but once again, on Friday night at Tropicana Field, the Yankees showed this is not their year. Ivan Nova needed to come up with a big pitching performance and fell flat on his face in an ugly 5-1 loss to the lowly Rays, a team that came into the evening 22 games under .500.
The loss dropped the Yankees to 52-50. Yes, there is mediocrity in baseball, but this most mediocre of teams is not a true contender.
Nova surrendered two solo home runs in the first inning. When he was taken out of the game by Joe Girardi in the fifth, the right-hander left the field barking at home-plate umpire Laz Diaz.
If Hal Steinbrenner still needs to be convinced his Yankees need to make the most of the trade deadline in this crazy seller’s market, he is living in a fantasy world.
The Yankees came into the night thinking a good week could put them right back in the AL East race, not just the wild card race, but when you come up so flat against the Rays and right-hander Jake Odorizzi, who entered the game with a 4.10 ERA, you have to look in the mirror as a team, as an organization.
Believe what your eyes are telling you.
The Yankees love their numbers, so believe in this number, too. Once again this season, the Yankees are losing the run differential war. They have surrendered 441 runs and have scored only 413.
That’s a losing number. With that kind of differential, they are lucky to be two games over .500.
Asked about that number by The Post, Girardi said this most telling comment: “Usually, to be a winning team, you have be pretty close to being on the positive side. To really be over .500, you have to be substantially over it.”
There you have it.
That beepbeep noise you heard at the Trop on Friday night was the Yankees’ moving truck backing up to the loading dock.
Instead of looking at this as raising the white flag, look at this at a faster route to future success. Trade Carlos Beltran to a contender. If the offer is overwhelming, trade Andrew Miller.
There is too much work here to be done not to make the most of trade assets in this down year. The Yankees have some huge holes that need to be filled for the future of the franchise. This is a new era in baseball: When it’s not your year, hit the reboot button, otherwise you not only waste the season, you waste an opportunity to get better in the near future.
Have the courage to do what needs to be done.
“This weekend is big for us,” Girardi said before the game. “This is a playoff run for us now.”
Once again, Alex Rodriguez was not in the starting lineup. A-Rod continued to play the role of good teammate, even taking pre-game ground balls at first base.
“I feel great,” he said after batting practice, “I just hope I get the chance to play.”
He pinch-hit in the ninth and singled.
On Saturday and Sunday, the Rays are starting left-handers. Rodriguez should be in the lineup.
Too often, the talk these days from the Yankees is about just getting into the tournament. This is not the NCAA.
The Yankees need to start aiming higher again. Just getting into the postseason doesn’t cut it. The Yankees did that last year, they were so thrilled to have made the wild-card game, and they were one and done and went backward this year.
The goal should be to build a team that can buzz-saw through the competition. That can only happen if trade assets bring a brighter tomorrow.
This is a reboot deadline. Shut down and start over. It’s time.