TORONTO — Say gooᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚd-bye to the 3-D Yankees who are Definitely Done Dancing.
As they did Thursday night after a crushing 6-2 loss to the hapless Jays in front of an announced Rogers Centre crowd of 32,003 the Yankees continue to bel🔜ieve they have a chance becaꦏuse they aren’t eliminated from the AL wild-card race.
In reality, their slim hopes died w🌟hen Adam Lind lofted a Joba Chamberlain slider over the right-field wall for a three-run ho▨mer in the seventh inning that stretched the Blue Jays lead to 6-1 and fitted the Yankees for toe tags.
With nine games remaining, the Yankees are 3 ½ games out of a wild-card spot and have to catch four teams to grab the s💝econd ticket to October.
“We have nine more games. If we start playing better we have a chance,’’ said Alfonso Soriano, referring to a lineup that has scored 13 runs in the past six games and was held to one run and four hits by Tor⭕onto’s Todd Redmond. “If we win seven of nine we have a chance.’’
Considering they dr🔜opped two of three to the Blue Jays the Yankees are delusional to truly💖 believe they can go 7-2 the rest of the way, and that might not be enough.
Friday night starꦍts a six-game homestand against the Giants and♊ Rays that is being viewed as the cure.
“Hopefully we get home and having our fans behind us we can put toge༺ther a run or go home,ꦺ’’ Vernon Wells said.
Trailing, 3-1, in the seventh manager Joe Girardi hooked H🧔iroki Kuroda after he gave up three runs and eight hits in six gritty innings.
Liking the way Chamberlain had thrown recently, Girardi opted for him, though he hadn’t been use♏d in tight spots since losing his late-innings gig to Preston Claiborne and Shawn Kell𝓀ey.
“He used to pꩵitch in a lot of close games,’’ Girardi said🍰. “Tonight he didn’t get it done.’’
St♊aying with Chamberlain to face the left-handed hitting Lind raised seve💫ral questions.
Neophyte lefty Cesar Cabral was throwing in the pen and Lind was 8-fꦑor-18 against Chamberlain🍰.
“You are not sure what🌼 you are going to get,’’ Girardi said of Cabral, who has appeared in six big league games.
What he got from Chamberlain was poison.
“No situation they can put🌌 me can surprise me,’’ Chamberlain said. “At that point, I had to keep us in the game and I didn’t do my job.’’
Lind’s homer was the killer blow but the Yankees’ inability to solve right-hander Redm𒀰ond never put pressure on the Blue Jജays.
In seven innings Redmond (4-2) allꩵowed a run and four hꦡits. It was the second time since Aug. 28 that Redmond beat the Yankees. He is 3-3.
Kuroda fell to 11-12 and had a quality start negated by the 𓆉soft bats. He ꦦhasn’t won since beat the Dodgers in Los Angeles on Aug. 12.
“We have no choice, it’s time to win games,’’ said Alex Rodriguez, who went 0-foꦏr-3 and has one hit in 22 at-bats. “It’s a good time to get to our hoღme field. We have to do it ourselves.’’
What the Yanke꧟es have done to themselves is why they are where they are. And six games at home isn’t going to change anything.