The Yankees came into Fenway winners of four in a row and less than a week removed from winning two straight over the Red Sox, but Boston has since reasserted its dominance in the rivalry, taking two straight and removing the Yanks of any momentum they may have been feeling heading into the series.
After blowing a 3-1 lead with two outs in the ninth inning on Thursday, the Bombers offense looked lifeless on Friday, dropping the team nine games back of first after dropping the first two of a pivotal series that had been a golden opportunity to directly make up ground in the division.
“Very frustrated,” Aaron Boone said. “We understand where we are in the season and the calendar, and we know how important it is that we play really well. I don’t think anything has changed there.”
With the trade deadline a week away and the calendar about to flip to August, the Yankees will have to undergo some serious self-assessment in the coming days, starting with the final two games in Boston, which at best will land the Yanks right back to where they were before the series started in terms of their divisional deficit, or could knock them out of the race altogether. Regardless, the opportunity to take another series from the Red Sox and inspire hope that the team’s recent streak was sustainable has been lost.
“I still feel like we’re playing really well,” Boone said. “Obviously lost a very tough one [Thursday] and weren’t able to amount enough [Friday] and build on the second inning, so it’s frustrating, but we also have a 4:00 game [Saturday] that’s really important.”
At the beginning of the week, the Yanks were being praised for their backup squad providing an offensive spark, using speed and small ball to win four in a row, two against the Red Sox, but the offense has since looked putrid at Fenway, wasting a second inning rally on Friday and coming away with nothing more. It didn’t happen right away, but New York is now clearly missing the bats of Aaron Judge, Gio Urshela and Luke Voit, who were all lost just before the team’s most important stretch of the season.
“It’s baseball,” Boone said. “You’re not just gonna roll through with everyone every night. Do I miss Gio and Judge? Of course. They’re great players and important pieces to our lineup. But the reality is, we have a lot of people filling in and playing important roles for us right now, who have by and large played really well. You’re not gonna do it every night, but they’re certainly guys that we feel are capable of going out and helping us win a ballgame, and that’s what we gotta try and do [Saturday].”
The Yanks have been owned by their divisional rivals this season, giving little reason for optimism that a nine-game deficit can be overcome. Now, they also sit five games back of the second Wild Card spot, and while that is hardly out of reach, the chance to make up ground against contending teams is not off to a good start.
But the Yanks have no choice but to push on while the front office decides its course of action at the trade deadline.
“I’m not looking at the standings,” DJ LeMahieu said. “We know where we’re at. We know what’s at stake. We just need to keep going. Big game tomorrow, just like tonight was.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
Follow WFAN on Social Media
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch