There was a moment early Monday night when, if you closed your eyes and focused — really focused — it felt like you could actually see the good vibes electrifying Yankee Stadium. You could actually see the momentum shifting in the American League East, a handoff in an ethereal relay race.
On the field in the Bronx, Chase Headley crushed a pitch from Corey Kluber into the right-field stands, and when he crossed the plate, it brought the Yankees into a 1-1 tie with Kluber, who usually treats the Yankees with utter disdain. Luis Severino was throwing 100-mph BBs at the Indians.
If you peeked at the scoreboard?
Things really started to come together up there, because the news from Toronto was spectacular: The Jays had jumped on the Red Sox, 2-0. The Sox already had lost four straight and were bleeding badly; it didn’t take much imagination to reconcile that by night’s end, the difference between those ancient rivals could be only 1½ games.
And one skinny game in the loss column.
With four colossal matchups awaiting this weekend.
There are times in a baseball season when you wouldn’t mind having access to a “pause” button, because as noted baseball historian Ferris Bueller once put it: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
The Yankees haven’t missed out on their shot at first place, not entirely, not yet, not with those four huge games coming at the Stadium, not with a full month of baseball season left to play. As quickly as a season zigs, it can zag even quicker. You like the way your season’s going? Give it a few days.
Don’t like it? Same rule.
That’s how the Yankees have to be betting, anyway. They need to rely on a reversal, because what’s befallen them has been a rapid free fall that’s been as shocking to see as it probably was to absorb.
How fast?
This fast:
The Yankees actually took a 2-1 lead off Kluber Monday. Then …
… Severino was burned and buried by the long ball and the Indians won 6-2. Then …
… the Sox came back in Toronto, won 6-5. Then …
… rain washed out Tuesday in the Bronx while Chris Sale sailed against the Jays. Then ….
… the Yankees lost the opener of Wednesday’s doubleheader with the Tribe 2-1 …
… and the nightcap 9-4 …
… while the Sox were polishing off sweeping the Jays …
… and that quickly, that swiftly, the passing lane to first place vanished.
Now the Yankees find themselves 5½ games back, needing to play much better baseball, in a hurry, hoping the law of averages arrives in time for first pitch Thursday night.
“Let’s just try to win a game [Thursday],” said Yankees manager Joe Girardi, who didn’t even bother to camouflage his glum mood. “That’s most important. Win a game tomorrow and there’s still 30 games left.”
He paused. The frown grew deeper.
“I’m not going to downplay the magnitude of this series,” he said. “It’s a very important series for us.”
Suddenly, it smells like a critical series, a make-or-break series. Suddenly it feels imperative to make a profound statement, quickly, something like a three-out-of-four statement, if they wish to continue to harbor hopes of first place.
(And the way certain wild-card aspirants are playing — hello, Baltimore! — the Yankees probably don’t want to fritter away their perch atop those standings anytime soon, either.)
“I know what’s going on around us,” Girardi said. “I don’t have my head in the sand.”
Even by baseball’s standards, this went sideways in a hurry. That 2-1 lead Monday? It was exactly 45 hours later the Indians planted a four-run first inning on Jordan Montgomery in Thursday’s nightcap.
“We have to worry about ourselves first,” Girardi said.
That means reversing the curve, ricocheting the tumbling line, playing a whole lot better over the next four days than they did the last three. Ready or not.
Of course, whether the Yankees are ready, the witching hour is officially at hand. Fifteen minutes ago, it seemed the whole of the AL East was falling the Yankees’ way. Turns out, 15 minutes isn’t quite as long as it used to be.