Time to punch back.

This week has been brutal.  Most of it has stemmed from a cataclysmic meltdown against the Blue Jays last weekend.  Toronto came in here hot as a pistol amidst all the hype from their deadline moves and lived up to every bit of it.  They shut down the Yankee bats, scored runs when they had to and haven't stopped winning since.  As of two nights ago the once comfortable American League East lead that the Yankees had held for weeks has vanished.

During this recent stretch that at a point saw this once potent Yankee offense go ice cold to the tune of nine runs in seven games, the Blue Jays walked into Yankee Stadium and held the Bombers to one single run in three days.  The Yankee pitching held their own, limiting the best offense in baseball to 10 total runs, but that's all the Blue Jays would need to complete the three game series sweep.  Tonight the Yankees go into Canada to face a Blue Jay team that's playing even better than they were a week ago.  They've won 11 straight, 14 of 15 and haven't lost a single game with Troy Tulowitzki in the starting lineup.  After the Blue Jays wrapped up an early win yesterday against Oakland the Yankee bats finally woke up in the series finale against the Indians.  They salvaged that one game in Cleveland but if they're really going to get back on track then it has to start tonight.

Toronto is -230 to win tonight with David Price on the mound.  They're the new odds-on favorite to win the World Series.  Everything is coming up Blue Jays which puts them in a unique position.  Not in a million years has Toronto owned an AL East lead this late into the season.  Never in my life have the Blue Jays had legitimate expectations to win a pennant on August 14th.  The hunters have now become the hunted.  It's one thing to go on a hot streak in August, it's quite another to keep it up down the stretch during the last 50 games of a season and clinch a division crown.  I'm not saying Toronto won't do it.  They're stacked to the brim.  They have a legit ace, maybe the best lineup the league has seen in a decade and all the momentum in the world.  But they've never been here before.  We have.  If the Yanks get pummeled again this weekend I may have to concede the division early and start eying the Angels and the Orioles but I'm not ready to do that yet.  Things don't look great, but that's why you play the games.  We're going to find out a lot about the Yankees this weekend.  Like A-Rod said, we got punched last weekend.  Good teams punch back.