Extra-inning loss comes at inopportune time

NEW YORK — In the long and storied history of the New York Yankees, there have been plenty of teams described as “unstoppable.” And they all have one thing in common: At one point or another, they were, in fact, stopped.

No Major League team has ever finished undefeated, nor has any team ever been expected to. But that expectation has almost fallen upon the shoulders of this season’s Yankees, who, after losing, 2-1, to the Giants in 12 innings Saturday, fell to 4 1/2 games back of the second American League Wild Card spot with the Aug. 1 non-waiver Trade Deadline now just eight days away.

Every loss represents not just another missed opportunity to climb toward a playoff spot, but a slide toward the near-inevitability of being sellers at the deadline. So, as Yankees manager Joe Girardi said a week ago and reiterated Saturday night, this is about as important of a July homestand as you’ll ever see. Which, to relief pitcher Dellin Betances, is a bit unfair.

“Obviously we’re not going to win every game,” Betances said. “As hard as we play, we’re going to lose some.”

Of course the Yankees are going to lose a couple of games. As Carlos Beltran said, that’s baseball. But there’s a stinging feeling that Girardi and catcher Brian McCann admitted to that sets a loss like Saturday’s …

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