The Yankees came into the weekend series against the Boston Red Sox having won seven consecutive games. They managed to take the series opener 3-2 on Friday, moving into a deadlock for first place in the AL East.
New York proceeded to lose the series by dropping the next two games while simultaneously relinquishing the momentum they had gained in the race for the division crown. The Yankees’ performance against the Red Sox this season has been abysmal, dropping a staggering ten of twelve games. Despite this, they’ve somehow managed to keep the AL East race highly competitive.
As of Tuesday’s loss, New York is 69-45 (.605 winning percentage). Discounting their 2-10 record against Boston, the Yankees are 67-35 (.656 winning percentage) against the rest of the league. Come October, the one team the Yankees can’t conquer will likely be standing in the way of their 41st World Series appearance.
On Tuesday, the Yankees lost their third consecutive contest in a nail-biter against the Angels, falling 2.5 games behind the surging Red Sox. The seemingly immortal Mariano Rivera reminded us all of his human side by having his second consecutive shaky performance.
After blowing the save against Boston on Sunday, Rivera served up a two-run home run to former teammate Bobby Abreu in the top of the ninth. The homer broke the deadlocked score and gave Mariano his second loss of the season.
Despite faltering of late, Mariano should be the least of the Yankees’ worries. Come October, Rivera will be Rivera. New York’s most pressing concern should be Boston’s dominance over them. After that, the Yankees should work on solving the anomaly that is A.J. Burnett.
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