Yanks Drop Big Series|Season Could Be Over

After dropping two of the past three games to the Red Sox the Yankees find themselves six games out in the Wild Card standings and their playoff hopes may have been dashed.

With just 29 games left to play the Yankees are dangerously close to being eliminated from playoff contention. Barring a comeback for the ages they have been essentially eliminated from October baseball.

Take a look at the numbers, if the Red Sox go 14-15 they would finish with a 91-71 record. For the Yankees to even tie that they would have to finish this season 20-9. Which could be near impossible with the rotation they have and Joba Chamberlain joining the bullpen when he returns.

The Red Sox aren’t the only team they have to be worried about as well. There are also the Minnesota Twins who would be a little easier to catch as they are only two games behind the Sox, but when you are counting on two teams tanking the Yankees chances get even worse.

They blew a golden opportunity this week as they really needed to sweep the Red Sox to get back into the Wild Card race. Instead they managed to barely avoid a sweep with a ninth inning walk off victory in the third game.

Alex Rodriguez’s struggles in the first game have been documented, but it was really the pitching staff who let this team down this week. Arod could have come up with some timely hits in the first game and helped the Yankees win, but if Andy Pettitte didn’t give up six runs in just over four innings maybe they could have found some other way to win.

Then in an absolutely must win the Yankees left their season in the hands of Sidney Ponson, who we all know is not the answer. The team’s failure to find a decent replacement came back to bite them in the ass as he allowed four runs in 4.2 innings. He wasn’t alone in the debacle on Wednesday, we also saw abysmal performances by Jose Veras and David Robertson who combined to go one inning and managed to allow seven runs keeping the Yankees from any chance at a comeback.

By the final game the Yankees had blown their opportunity even though they managed to save some respect by taking the final game.

After spending the past three days trying their hardest to ruin this season they should spend the next three trying to make next season a more pleasant one. I’m talking about making some deadline deals.

There are already rumors that they are shopping Carl Pavano, they should begin shopping other players as well. It’s tricky because most of the team have no trade clauses, but maybe Brian Cashman can convince players like Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, or Ivan Rodriguez that it is their best interest to waive those clauses.