BATTERED & BLUES

CC unravels as Yanks' offense keeps sputtering

It sure looks like the Yankees are going to be busy on Oct. 6.

After chasing the first place Blue Jays for a month, the Yankees now find themselves four games back in the AL East with just nine games to play, courtesy of Friday’s 52 loss to the White Sox and Toronto’s victory over Tampa Bay.

And that wildcard game is now staring them in the face.

“We’re certainly not giving up on it, but it’s a tall task,” Chase Headley said of the division title and its entry to the ALDS. “We’re going to play as hard as we can.”

That wasn’t good enough against the White Sox, as the Yankees hit into four double plays and CC Sabathia surrendered a pair of homers in the seventh inning to snap a 22 tie.

“I was OK, but OK wasn’t good enough to win,” Sabathia said. “I have to be better, especially late in the game and kind of hold the score.”

Sabathia hadn’t allowed a home run in three starts since returning from the disabled list, but it was the wasted chances by the offense that left the southpaw with no margin for error.

In six innings, White Sox starter Carlos Rodon managed to give up five hits, walk five and hit two batters and still give up just a pair of runs in the fourth.

“We had opportunities,” manager Joe Girardi said. “We didn’t cash in.”

It’s nights like Friday the Yankees may look back on if they are faced with a doordie game instead of best of 5.

Before the game, Girardi looked at the situation realistically, calling it an “uphill climb” to catch the Blue Jays. Still, he added “there’s been a lot of strange things that have happened in this game in the last 10 days, two weeks of a season.”

It would take another one for the Yankees to make this comeback, something the manager admitted following the game.

“I said it was gonna be really difficult and my mind hasn’t changed,” Girardi said. “[The Blue Jays] have played extremely well since Aug. 1, but we’re going to try to win every game and see what happens.”

That’s the attitude Sabathia had, who harkened back to the epic run he had with the Brewers seven years ago after he was traded from the Indians.

“I played in Milwaukee and it came down to the last game in 2008,” Sabathia said. “Anything can happen.”

But for “anything” to actually happen, the Yankees can’t strand two runners in both the second and third innings and then hit into an inningending double play with the bases loaded, as Headley did in the fourth.

And after Rodon departed, Chicago’s bullpen didn’t allow much. That included former Yankees closer David Robertson, who picked up his 32nd save with a scoreless ninth.

The wasted opportunities came back to haunt them when Sabathia faltered in the seventh.

In his previous two outings, the lefty had given up just one earned run over 12 ²/₃ innings in a pair of Yankees victories. The magic wore off Friday, as he surrendered four runs in 6 ²/₃ innings.

Making his fourth start since donning a brace on his surgically repaired right knee, Sabathia was effective until the homers.

Mike Olt started the seventh by crushing a 21 pitch into the second deck in left to give the White Sox a 32 lead. After Sabathia got Tyler Flowers to ground out, Gordon Beckham drilled another homer to left to make it 42.

“We’re disappointed, but you keep going,” Headley said. “The goal is still to win the division, but we have to take care of our end of it.”

YANKS’ ‘O’ FLOPS IN LOSS TO CHISOX, TRAIL JAYS BY 4