Yankees Suffering Doubleheader Sweep to Orioles Is Final Nail in 2014 Coffin
September 12, 2014 · Jacob Shafer · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
A day that began with bad news for the Baltimore Orioles ended with even worse news for the New York Yankees.
Hours after learning they’ll be without slugger Chris Davis—who tested positive for an amphetamine and was suspended 25 games, per MLB Public Relations—the Orioles swept the Yankees on Friday in a pivotal doubleheader.
More to the point: They pounded the final nail in the coffin of New York’s disappointing 2014 campaign.
Oh, sure, there’s some season left. Anything can happen. At 75-71, the Yankees are five games out for the second wild-card slot. They’re still technically alive.
But this was a watershed moment, a late-season measuring stick. And New York came up woefully short.
The Yankees entered the twin bill with a little wind at their back, having won two straight against the Tampa Bay Rays, including a stirring comeback on Sept. 10 and a walk-off victory on Sept. 11, a particularly emotional day in the Big Apple.
“[It’s] extremely frustrating, especially when you’ve got some momentum from the way you won the last two games, but we weren’t able to hold on today,” skipper Joe Girardi told MLB.com‘s Bryan Hoch after the first contest, a 2-1, 11-inning defeat. “We have another game today, and we have to go win it.”
They didn’t. In the first game, the Orioles needed extra-inning heroics from pinch-hitter Jimmy Paredes, who clubbed a walk-off, two-run double to ignite the Camden Yards faithful.
In the second game, they simply, methodically beat up on the Bombers en route to a 5-0 victory.
The sickly stench of defeat had hardly cleared out of the Yankees’ locker room, and the New York Post‘s George A. King III had already penned the acerbic eulogy:
Viewing hours are two to four; seven to nine. Location and date TBA. After being swept in a doubleheader Friday by the Orioles at Camden Yards, the Yankees’ slim chances to play in October have been extinguished. Instead of flowers, the Steinbrenner family requests a truckload of bats with hits in them for next season after the Dead Bats Society sabotaged this one.
All of this, of course, is playing out against the backdrop of Derek Jeter’s farewell season. Everyone in pinstripes wanted to send the Captain out on a winning note, to give him one final shot at October glory along with his gold wristwatch.
Now, barring a miracle, that won’t happen. Jeter, and the rest of baseball’s second-highest-paid franchise, will watch the postseason from home.
“It’s tough. It’s a quiet clubhouse right now,” starter Brandon McCarthy, who tossed seven strong innings in Friday’s first game, told MLB.com‘s Hoch. “You’re looking for any kind of lifeline that you can hang on to at this point…”
This wasn’t the script. It never is in New York, where winning isn’t merely expected, it’s mandatory. Yet a veteran club has seen injuries—most damagingly to imported ace Masahiro Tanaka—and an uncharacteristically punchless offense doom its chances at a 28th World Series championship.
If there isn’t time to claw back into contention, there’s at least time to fight for pride.
New York plays two more games in Baltimore before heading to Tampa Bay to battle the Rays. They then host the Toronto Blue Jays and Orioles, and finish with a series in Boston against the archrival Red Sox.
New York was hoping those contests would be pregnant with playoff implications. If they aren’t, the next best thing is to give Jeter a few more chances to flash that trademark smile, to display the enduring class and sweet swing that made him a symbol of the game.
It’s not what the Yankees hoped for. At this point, though, it looks like all they’ve got left.
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