Sputtering offense has Yankees in free fall, and out of first place

The New York Yankees woke up on Thursday morning in second place in the American League East for the first time since July 3. On July 28 they had a seven-game lead, their biggest of the season. But thanks to a 1-6 stretch, including five consecutive losses, the Yankees are suddenly looking up at the red-hot Toronto Blue Jays in the standings.

The Yankees’ offense is squarely to blame for their recent woes.

Their futility of late is striking when compared to the 10 games prior. In 10 games from July 25 to Aug. 4, the Yankees scored 90 runs, including 21 in a win over the Rangers (which included an 11-run inning) on July 28, the night they had a seven-game lead in the AL East.

Here’s a look at how their offense compares over their previous 17 games:

	July 25-Aug. 4	Aug. 5-Aug.12
Games played	10	7
Runs	90	9
Runs per game	9	1.2
Hits per game	11.3	5.2
Record	7-3	1-6

The Yankees pitching and defense have been fine, during this 1-6 stretch they’ve only allowed 2.8 runs per game but have lost four one-run games.

The burden is on the shoulders of the Yankees’ cast of veteran hitters who are struggling mightily right now. Brett Gardner, the Yankees lead-off man, is 4-for-23 since Aug. 5 with no extra-base hits or RBIs. Chase Headley is 3-for-21 with two RBIs. Brian McCann is 1-for-19, with a solo homer in Wednesday’s loss. And most glaringly – Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira are both just 4-for-28 with one RBI apiece.

That’s 16 hits and five RBIs combined in seven games for the top five batters in the Yankees’ lineup. That’s really bad. For the sake of comparison, the Blue Jays’ usual top five of Troy Tulowitzki, Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Russell Martin have combined for 32 hits and 25 RBIs in the exact same period.

The Yankees, who open a three-game series in Toronto against the Blue Jays on Friday, are reportedly calling up prospect Greg Bird to try to kickstart the offense. Bird is a power-hitting first baseman who was the No. 4-ranked Yankees prospect by both MLB.com and Baseball America.

But the big question for the Yankees is whether this is just a bad slump, or a total regression. The Yankees are an aging team. Rodriguez was, until recently, having a renaissance at 40 years old. Teixeira, 35, is among the AL home run leaders. Gardner was an All-Star for the first time this season at 31. So are they just slumping or wearing down as the long season rolls on?

The Yankees need to figure that out before the Blue Jays run away with the division, and the pack of wild-card hopefuls gain any more ground.

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