MLB: Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees

Despite Gloomy Sunday, July 4th Weekend a Success

NEW YORK — The Yankees were floating on cloud nine entering Sunday, so it’s only natural the locker room after their 8-1 loss to Tampa Bay felt as lifeless as the sky after the conclusion of a fireworks display.

And yet, even after such a disheartening loss, the Yankees can still walk away from their holiday weekends with their heads held high. After dropping three of their previous four series against AL East teams, they beat the Rays two games to one and remained atop the division, with a one game lead over Baltimore. It could have just as easily been four series losses in their last five.

On Friday, Masahiro Tanaka threw up a lackluster six-inning, three-run outing, and the Rays got to the Yankees bullpen late, raising their Win Probability to 96% in the Top of the 12th inning. On Saturday, the offense sputtered after a strong first inning against Nathan Karns, and Dellin Betances blew his second save of the year. The Yankees won both of these games – and they won them in walkoff fashion.

“That was the biggest win of the year, by far,” Brett Gardner said after Friday’s victory. “If you lose that game it’s tough to go to sleep tonight.”

The Yankees find themselves with the seventh-highest likelihood of winning the World Series of any team in baseball, with a 6.2 percent chance according to Baseball Prospectus. Their chances of winning the AL East – the tightest division in baseball, are inching towards 50 percent, and their playoff odds have jumped up almost four percent over the past week. Instead of waking up on their day off and seeing two other teams ahead of them in the East, the Yankees will relax with a cup of tea and a good book.

“You’ve got to beat the teams in your division,” said Brian McCann. “That’s how you’ll be there at the end. It was a big [series] win against a good team. They’ve got some good pitching over there with a good lineup.”

Considering they have just six games scheduled against divisional opponents until the first week of August, when divisional play ramps up, the three-game set would have been all the more upsetting to drop.

As we near the All-Star Break, it’s important to note that the Yankees have performed near the top of Major League baseball in most regards, yet still have room to improve. While they’re coming off a scorching month of June, as the league’s best offensive team, and have won three of four in July, this is nothing new. They rank fourth with a .784 OPS on the season, yet just 28.4 percent of their batted balls in play have gone for base hits. That’s fifth-worst in baseball.

So much has gone incredibly right. Alex Rodriguez has blown away an entire nation of fans with 16 HRs and 47 RBI in half of the season. Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann have combined to add 36 round-trippers and 111 Runs Batted In. While Rodriguez did not even play in 2014 due his suspension, Mark Teixeira’s body began to break down a bit, and some wondered whether or not Brian McCann could play in the American League. Michael Pineda has stayed healthy to this point, striking out 105 in under 100 innings.

And yet, the Yankees are still left on the edge of their seat whenever C.C. Sabathia takes the mound, not knowing what return they will get every fifth day on their $23 million investment. Stephen Drew has followed a disappointing 2014 campaign with a disastrous start to 2015, struggling mightily to find the mendoza line. Chase Headley is having the worst year of his career on defense. Jacoby Ellsbury, maybe their most important offensive player, has missed a significant part of the season due to injury.

The lists of positives and negatives for the New York Yankees are equal in length. They’ve had some pretty bad luck at times. That’s why stealing two victories from a team breathing down your neck in the AL East standings brings great euphoria. And, that’s why a crushing loss like Sunday’s is a sobering reminder of the misfortune that has reared its head time and time again. For one weekend, though, the good luck outweighed the bad. That’s what it will take for the Yankees to win the division.

(Photo: Andy Marlin-USA Today Sports)

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