- Commissioner’s statement on Ventura, Marte
- Ronnie O’Sullivan: Masters champion ‘felt so vulnerable’ in final
- Arron Fletcher Wins 2017 WSOP International Circuit Marrakech Main Event ($140,224)
- Smith challenges Warner to go big in India
- Moncada No. 1 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Braves land 2 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Kingery makes MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- New Zealand wrap up 2-0 after Bangladesh implosion
- Mathews, Pradeep, Gunathilaka to return to Sri Lanka
- Elliott hopes for rain for Poli
Rough series backs Yanks into a corner
- Updated: September 19, 2016
BOSTON — Calculators are no longer welcome in the Yankees’ clubhouse, nor are they necessary. There are 13 games remaining, and after a brutal visit to Fenway Park, Joe Girardi’s team needs to win almost every night to avoid having their season end on Oct. 2.
The Yankees found ways to drop a quartet of contests to the Red Sox, flushing leads in three of the games, including Sunday night’s 5-4 loss. This time, after another Gary Sanchez homer helped New York build a 4-0 lead, the recipe was the combination of Hanley Ramirez’s red-hot bat and a key CC Sabathia throwing error.
“It was tough,” Sabathia said. “Obviously we had some games that — probably all of them — we could’ve won. So it’s up to us to be ready on Tuesday and try to win a baseball game.”
New York has lost five straight and seven of their last eight, unraveling all of the good done by a recent seven-game winning streak. Ramirez single-handedly ruined their weekend, going 9-for-16 (.562) with four homers off Yankees pitching — including two on Sunday.
Ramirez’s game-winning homer in Thursday’s series opener completed Boston’s unlikely comeback from a 5-1 deficit, and had the Yankees won that game, they would have sat just three games behind in the American League East.
Instead, they departed Fenway with their division hopes all but dashed, now eight back of the Sox. They sit four games back of the Blue Jays for the second AL Wild Card spot, needing also to jump the Tigers, Astros and Mariners to extend their season.
“When we got here, we were finding ways to lose,” …