Pennant Race Over

These three games reminded me of the Boston Massacre in 06' when the Yanks went into Fenway for five games in late August and just leveled the Red Sox.  Everyone was geared up for a fierce, competitive series and the Yankees just manhandled them, taking all five games and essentially winning the division right then and there.  That's what's happening right now.  It's men against boys.  Was I delusional thinking the Yanks had a chance to win the division a couple of days ago?  I guess so.  The Yankees are a good team, but a flawed team.  When everything breaks right they can go bumper-to-bumper with anyone.  But the Blue Jays simply are the best team in the American League and it's not even close.

And it isn't just the scores up on the board, it's how they're doing it.  Hitting colossal home runs, sprinting around the base paths hootin and hollerin, walking the parrot, slapping on the railings.  Not to mention Yankee Stadium has been straight up invaded by Canada this weekend.  What a pitiful, embarrassing showing by Yankee fans these last two days.  The Blue Jays used to lose games in this building before they even showed up.  They're now 8-1 in the Bronx this season and have have outscored the Yankees 57-26.

There are a number of people you can blame for what's transpired this series.  Severino and Nova basically took the Yankees out of the game right away in each of their starts.  Pineda looked dominant through three innings but began to unravel in the fourth and couldn't protect a three-run lead.  Betances served up a home run in the biggest game of his career.  Chasen Shreve fell off the face of the Earth and looks like he doesn't belong on a major league mound.  Ellsbury was fucking AWFUL but what else is new.  And Girardi has certainly given rise to second guessing not only throughout this series but pretty much all season long.  Giving A-Rod the night off in the biggest game of the year because he DH'd for eight innings earlier in the day.  Sticking with Shreve when he couldn't find the strike zone to save his life.  Admittedly pinch-running for A-Rod when he's on first with the bases loaded in a tie game in the 8th inning.  All awful.  Obviously the race is won by the horses but Girardi definitely hasn't done the team any favors.

So today is on Tanaka to ensure the Yankees don't get swept.  As it stands they find themselves 4.5 games back in the division with a three game lead for the first wild card ahead of Texas.  Even if the Yanks manage to pull out a win today this division race is still over.  They could get it together and go on a hot streak to close out the season and Toronto will match it or, more likely, surpass it.  Right now it's all about looking in the mirror and hoping to get things going by the time October rolls around and then praying for the best.