It’s official: The Yankees need help.
Before we get that far down the stretch drive, though, they’ll have to prove, again, they can help themselves.
By losing Friday night’s Subway Series opener, 5-1, to the Mets at Citi Field, and with the Blue Jays disposing of Boston, 6-1, up at Rogers Centre, the Yankees no longer control their own destiny in the American League East. At 80-66, they trail Toronto (85-62) by 4 ¹/₂ games, so with just three games remaining against the division leaders, the Yankees can’t simply win out and prevail. They must watch the scoreboard and hope others help them upend the ultra-dangerous Blue Jays, whose magic number to clinch the division dropped to 12.
“We just need to win games,” manager Joe Girardi said. “That’s the bottom line. If you do that, you’ve got an opportunity. If you don’t win a lot of games, it’s going to be tough.”
Since the Blue Jays’ late-July refueling, the Yankees have felt like the weaker team in this dual. Now, mathematically — for the moment, at least — the Yankees no longer can carve out their own positive destiny.
This loss felt particularly painful. Girardi lined up his starting rotation so that ace Masahiro Tanaka would start on four days’ rest, after beating the Blue Jays on similar rest Sept. 13, and then would be in position to face the Jays on Wednesday in Toronto — yet again on four days’ rest, after getting a fifth day off for the bulk of his 2015 assignments. Tanaka pitched well enough to win, allowing solo homers to Lucas Duda (in the second inning) and Daniel Murphy (sixth) and nothing else of importance in his six innings of work.
However, the Yankees’ lineup, missing Alex Rodriguez (he never starts games in National League parks), Brian McCann (rest) and Jacoby Ellsbury (profound ineptitude), did little against Mets rookie starter Steven Matz, cobbling together a first-inning run and then shutting it down to allow the Long Island lefty to remain undefeated in his major league career. The visitors loaded the bases with one out in the ninth inning against Mets closer Jeurys Familia, creating some excitement, but Brett Gardner flied out to shallow left field and Chase Headley struck out on three pitches to thrill the Mets faithful on site.
“You just want to give yourself opportunities,” Headley said following the game, “knowing that if you keep doing that, you’ll get the big hit.”
While that makes sense in a vacuum, the Yankees now must rely on others — namely, the Blue Jays — to provide them the opportunities to avoid playing in the winner-take-all wild-card game. They still can bet on themselves to maintain the home-field advantage in that Oct. 6 game, or a postseason berth at all. And even though these Yankees have proven themselves to be an impressively resilient bunch, they continue to send out warning flares.
Like that their bullpen, taxed by the starting pitchers’ low workload, is fried. Chasen Shreve, such an asset earlier this season, relieved Tanaka in the seventh and surrendered a two-run homer to pinch-hitter Juan Uribe. He has given up six runs and nine hits over four innings in his last five appearances.
“No clue,” the southpaw said, when asked for a self-diagnosis. “If I knew, I wouldn’t be struggling.”
Shreve’s struggles could have influenced Girardi to not pinch hit for Brendan Ryan in the sixth inning, with two outs, the game tied at 1-1 and Yankees on first and third with two outs. Girardi pointed out that, had he gone to A-Rod there, the Mets could have walked the bases loaded and forced the Yankees to lift the next batter Tanaka for a pinch-hitter when the starter had thrown a mere 64 pitches. What Girardi didn’t say, but what everyone understood, was that he didn’t possess a reliever he trusted to pitch in the sixth.
The issue of controlling their own destiny is mostly symbolic; you can’t envision the Yankees sweeping the Jays in Toronto this coming week. Consider it one more negative signal in a race that looks increasingly daunting for Girardi and his players with each day that passes.
