YANKEES MUST WIN EVERY SERIES NOW

It is very simple.  The Yankees need to win every series they play through the end of the season.  It is not realistic for us to say, they have to win every game, but every series is a non-negotiable.  Whether they win with the long ball like they did last night or the small ball, they need to win.

"Baseball isn't a game in which one loss is supposed to matter this much, especially when it follows seven straight wins. The Yankees were going to lose sometime. They weren't going to finish the season with a 28-game winning streak," reported ESPN this week.  But unfortunately, we truly can't afford to lose.

"Winning seven and then losing four does nothing for us," said Yankee fan and colleague @JayBilly2 when we met early Tuesday morning.  And this is the reality of our hopes for the post season.  "On Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers, for a game Girardi called "very important," considering a two-game skid that's shoved them down the Wild Card standings, his starting lineup is again without Ellsbury, instead giving Rob Refsnyder the start in left while Brett Gardner slides over to center," reported NJ.com on Tuesday.  Guess what, Aaron Judge left the game with an injury and who did the skipper call upon to take his place?  That's right, Jacoby Ellsbury, who stepped up to the plate and hit what Michael Kay called a monstrous home run.  He got us back in the game as we headed to the eighth inning.  We are tied for the series as we head into the rubber game tomorrow afternoon.

"There's a belief in there," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said Sunday morning, referring to the players in his own clubhouse. "That youthful energy and that belief can carry you a long way, and that's what's happening," reports ESPN. 

The odds of us getting the wins we need and the relying on others to lose are very low.  "It doesn't mean they have no shot. Those playoff odds change with every result, and when the Red Sox held on to beat the Blue Jays on Sunday, the computers at FanGraphs increased the Yankees' chances to 14.3 percent," according to the same ESPN article.  

So the bottom line is every game is critical and every win is essential.  I have to say, watching the Yankees since the middle of August has been an incredible experience.  I come home from work and want to put the game on.  It is a great feeling.  They are fun to watch and I am hopeful that a Boston Massacre is upon us as we head to Beantown for a four-game series beginning this Thursday.  Let's pick up another win first this afternoon before we pack our bags for Fenway Park.

--Suzie Pinstripe, BYB Senior Staff Writer
BYB Hot Stove Columnist
Twitter: @suzieprof