There is not much to say after the New York Yankees got swept right out of Texas over the weekend.
The Rangers took all three games and did so without slugger Josh Hamilton, who was out of the lineup with a sore back.
Friday night’s 13-inning battle ended on a Rangers’ walkoff home run off Nelson Cruz’s bat.
Saturday night things got even worse, with Derek Jeter getting benched. Still, at the same time I respect skipper Joe Girardi’s decision, as Jeter has hurt more than helped lately, and something had to be done.
At the bottom of the ninth inning, the Yankees were leading 6-5 and Girardi called on Mariano Rivera to close out the game.
Rivera not only allowed the tying run to score, but he loaded the bases and proceeded to hit Jeff Francoeur, resulting in the winning run.
Sometimes it is easy to forget that Rivera is not immortal, but so rarely does this happen. No reason to get alarmed or worried about Mo down the stretch just yet.
On Sunday against the Rangers and Cliff Lee, the Yankees were without the bats of Nick Swisher, Brett Gardner, and Alex Rodriguez. Lee has just come off a rough August, but you wouldn’t know it after going eight innings and the Rangers winning 4-1.
There was plenty to be concerned with regarding the Yankees before the Rangers sweep.
Now, nothing is working too its potential, and the Yankees need to figure it out or it could get really ugly fast.
Heading to Tampa Bay, Florida must have been a depressing plane ride, as the Yankees embarrassed themselves all weekend.
Tonight, the Bombers start a three-game set against the Rays, who are just a half-game back in the AL East.
Yankees SP CC Sabathia will take the mound, which couldn’t be more needed.
Sabathia struggled and lost in his last start, a first for CC in a year at Yankee Stadium. He was also trying to win No. 20 on the season for the first time in his career.
In 2009, Sabathia had the same opportunity to reach 20 wins at Tropicana Field against the Rays. Sabathia imploded, but the team could afford it back then.
Minus his last outing, Sabathia is the team’s, if not the league’s ace. Expect his mentality to follow, as the team needs a win and CC will be solely focused on getting that.
Sabathia is not a one-man team, and the Yankee bats will have to bring their A-game facing the Rays’ David Price.
Price is the other frontrunner with Sabathia for the AL Cy Young award. Price has a 2.87 ERA with 163 strikeouts, walking 71 and giving up 13 home runs. In 27 starts, Price has a 17-6 record.
A-Rod, Swisher, and Cano have the most success against Price at the plate, so hopefully the day off will get the first two back in the lineup.
Derek Jeter has done well against Price too. Hopefully Jeter’s success against Cliff Lee on Sunday will continue and get the Captain hitting like himself again. Jeter needs to figure himself out ASAP.
Prediction
Yankees will win 6-2 and Sabathia will get the win. There is no way the Yankees can lose another game at this point, after winning just one of their last seven.
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