Yankees Season May End in Next 3 Games

[EDGECRUSHER]

5 games behind Boston for the Wild Card, and Boston is missing Beckett and JD Drew now has a herniated disc. The 3 starter matchups are:

Tues:  Pettitte vs. Wakefield
Wed:  Ponson vs. Byrd
Thurs: Moose vs. Lester 

Yankees have their 2 best going, while Boston just has Lester. Byrd is kinda crap, but you never know with Wakefield. Either way, the Yankees have this scheduling quirk advantage. They have to sweep though, just gaining one game is not enough. Sweep or it's pretty much over.

I don't think they will, but you never know.

[MaineDolFan]

5 games behind Boston for the Wild Card, and Boston is missing Beckett and JD Drew now has a herniated disc.

Boston is missing more than that.  Missing starters:

Lowell has been on the DL for almost two weeks at this point.

Lugo has been down since July 11th.  Say what you will, the more starters you lose (even when it's Lugo) it drains your depth.

Wakefield has now missed three starts and things haven't been pretty in his absence.

Aardsma, a key part of the bullpen, just went back on the DL.

Drew is DL bound.  Sean Casey was hurt over the weekend.  Beckett has missed two starts at this point.

Boston is the walking wounded...

Don't count out the Yankees just yet.

[TonyB0D]

hey now, we got carla pavano back!  thank GOD, he's going to be our savior!! 

[pintofguinness14]

The Yanks (excepting Damon) looked terrible tonight. A-Rod's pain continues.

[EDGECRUSHER]

Yeah, the Yankees weren't even trying tonight. Boston ran out minor leaguers and struggling pitchers and they killed them. Boston wasn't even trying and they won handily.

Just a shameful way to end the season, but nothing new for these guys. It takes awhile to get rid of a culture of losing(or rather, a culture of just not winning championships but being good).

[YoFuggedaboutit]

Yeah, the Yankees weren't even trying tonight. Boston ran out minor leaguers and struggling pitchers and they killed them. Boston wasn't even trying and they won handily.

Just a shameful way to end the season, but nothing new for these guys. It takes awhile to get rid of a culture of losing(or rather, a culture of just not winning championships but being good).

I wouldn't even call them good at this point.  They've taken a few big steps backward if they miss the playoffs. 

[EDGECRUSHER]

They may still win 88-90 games, so that technically is good, just not good enough in the AL East. They'd have 95 wins if they were an NL or AL West team.

[EDGECRUSHER]

Now they just have to hope for .500 at this point. The team is doing their usual phone it in job they do every October, only this time it's in August.

At least they may get a draft pick in the teens this time as opposed to the late 20's.

[Sunstroke]

They'd have 95 wins if they were an NL or AL West team.

You forgot to present your psychic accreditations before chiseling your hypothesis in stone there. I'm sure it was just an oversight on your part...

[MaineDolFan]

They'd have 95 wins if they were an NL or AL West team.

AL West, yes.

NL?  No way.

Three teams in the NL East are over the .500 mark.  They would be right where they are now hovering around the 70 win mark.

Four teams in the NL Central are over the .500 mark.  I suspect the Yankees would be under .500 if they had to face the pitching and defense in that division.  That is a brutal division and is even better than the AL East.

The NL West is an unsual beast and you need to look beyond the overall record.  Year in and out over the past few years it's been like this.  The teams in that division have outstanding out of division records.  Have you noticed the pitching that is in that division?  The Yankees would be in the chase.  They wouldn't be a 95 win team in that division, they would be right about where they are now.  Stick ANY team from the AL East into the NL West and watch them tumble slowly over the course of a season.