Bomber Bites With Jumping Joe–Yankees Cannot Afford Letdown

After winning five straight games, the Yankees dropped the opening game of a three game set in Detroit.  It would be easy to write off the loss as a result of fatigue from playing in their third city in three nights or chalk it up to an unusual bad outing from Brandon McCarthy, who has been lights out since his arrival from the Diamondbacks.  However, Yankee fans have seen the Yankees do this dance all season, for every two steps forward they take one step back.  They are a maddeningly inconsistent team who will win four or five in a row and then lose three or four for an encore.  This series against the Tigers is stocked full of wild card implications.  The Tigers are one of the teams the Bombers are looking up at in the standings as they chase the playoffs.  The Yankees need to win these games to move up in the standings.

Mandatory Credit: Chad R. MacDonald.

Losing to a tough pitcher like Rick Porcello when a team is playing in their third city in three days is not the end of the world.  It is a forgivable sin.  However, the Yankees need to rebound immediately.  The need to win tonight when rookie Shane Greene takes the mound in Detroit.  The Tigers will roll out their most recently acquired Cy Young winner in David Price and field a lineup that includes the two-time reigning AL MVP in Miguel Cabrera.  It doesn’t matter.  The Yankees still need to find a way to win.  The Yankees cannot win five straight and then lose two of three or get swept by a Tigers team that they are competing with for a playoff spot.  This type of inconsistency has been a constant thorn in the side of the Yankees playoff chances all season.

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The Yankees simply cannot afford to slide down the slippery slope of inconsistency.  They need to get right back up on the horse.  They need a solid outing from their stellar rookie Greene and the offense has to show that last night was simply a bad night and not let it drag over into the next game.  Since their “hitter’s meeting” the Yankee bats have done reasonably well and the Bombers have won five of six games.  The offense will have their work cut out for the them against Price, but they have no choice.  The offense needs to deliver or risk flushing all of the good work they did during their five-game winning streak down the toilet.