Yankees: Up and down all around, they can’t get it going

The Yankees just can’t seem to get it going. Up, down, and all around, the team is like a chameleon. One day you see them glowing, and the next day they disappear. When, if ever, will this team win six straight again?

The Yankees didn’t play poorly last night in losing to the Red Sox 4-1. They just didn’t play well.

The team received good starting pitching again, this time from Sonny Gray, who turned in seven innings of work allowing only five hits. His trouble, though, was three bad pitches to Andrew Benintendi, Eduardo Nunez, and Hanley Ramirez that went into the seats in the outfield for home runs.

And once again, Gray was the victim of an invisible offense that couldn’t duplicate what they had achieved the night before when they scored nine runs. And this time, it wasn’t Corey Kluber who shut them down. It was a run of the mill pitcher who sports an 81-83 career record in the big leagues. Because on certain nights, the Yankees can make Doug Fister look like Cy Young.

Who can explain this? Joe Girardi attempted to in this in this postgame video interview, but as you can see, he spent most of the time scratching his chin as though it was his head, wondering what the hell he can do that he hasn’t already done.

The trouble is, of course, you don’t explain it because you can’t. All you can do is play the next game on the schedule until there isn’t a game on the schedule.

And it would be fitting if the Yankees beat the hell out of Chris Sale tomorrow night and score ten runs against him, knocking him out in the third inning. Because that one couldn’t be explained either.

A funny game that isn’t so funny anymore

Baseball is a funny game. One day the ball looks the size of a beachball and the next day it appears to be the size of a pea. You hit a clunker just over the head of the first baseman like Derek Jeter did in his final at-bat, and you win the game.

While the next day, you hit a screaming line drive the third baseman makes a diving catch on, and you walk back to the dugout as a failure.

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The Yankees are still playing sub-.500 baseball since they began the season on a 21-9 spree. And if they continue to do that, they are going to pay dearly for their inability to put together a couple of 8-2 runs over their next twenty games.

We forget the fact that only 3.5 games separate the Yankees from seven (seven!) other teams who are breathing down their neck, chasing them for a spot as a Wild Card team. Or, that the Minnesota Twins who, on paper have nothing except the spirit to win, are only a game behind them.

No, you can’t explain it. You can only see it. And at the moment, the Yankees do not impress anyone, even though they are somehow still proclaimed to be the team to beat.

Drew Pomeranz has no business beating the Yankees today. Like Fister, Pomerantz is a .500 career pitcher (39-40) in this league.

Next: Yankees have the best starting pitching in baseball

And if the Yankees can’t beat a pedestrian pitcher like Pomerantz or Fister, you can kiss it goodbye when they face Kluber, Justin Verlander, or a Sale in the playoffs.

Sorry, but that’s the way I see it.

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