There will be no more recommendations. .
There will be no more rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic that is the New York Yankees.
No, the league’s gold-standard franchise will arrive at Citi Field on Friday night with the most basic and perplexing of problems:
Do they have anything more in them?
Will they be able to avoid one of their most dreadful finishes in their illustrious history?
On Thursday night, the Yankees finished a “horrible” homestand with a 6-4 loss to the surging Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium, their sixth straight loss as they fell a game behind the dormant Red Sox (80-62) in the race for the top American League wild-card spot.
Meanwhile, the Jays (77-62) closed to within a half-game of the Yankees (78-62) after winning their eighth straight game. The Yankees are now 2-10 since their 13-game winning streak ended, including 1-6 this week in The Bronx.
“Time to roll,” Aaron Judge said, echoing the sentiments he divulged that he shared with his teammates after this one. “We know what we’re capable of.”
The Yankees never took a lead in this series, the first time that has happened in a four-game series since 1924 against the Washington Senators, and there is plenty of evidence to suggest that Boone’s team has lost its mojo with only 22 games remaining on the schedule. You can make their search for said mojo a character test, an endurance challenge, or a mix of both. It makes no difference. Either they stop the mudslide or they face the consequences if they don’t.
For the Yankees and their fans, Thursday’s script was depressingly similar to Wednesday’s: fall behind early, catch up, fall behind again. Nestor Cortes Jr. deserves credit for pitching six innings of two-run ball against Toronto’s potent offense, and when Anthony Rizzo hit a two-run homer off Toronto starter Jose Berrios in the bottom of the sixth inning, he at least gave Cortes a no-decision.
