The Yankees had defied the odds and made a race for both the wild card and the division title as they began a 4-game series with Boston last Thursday.  They had a 5-1 lead late and then Dellin Betances had a complete meltdown in the 9th inning as the Yankees went down 7-5 to start a 4-game sweep in Beantown.  They led in 3 of the 4 games.  Long-time Yankee fans will recall when Dave Righetti closed for the Yankees in the 1980s.  Whenever that team went on a mini-roll, Righetti would come in late and blow a seemingly safe lead that inevitably led to a 4- or 5-game losing streak.  Those teams had lots of scoring power but limited pitching.  Rags had so many bad blown saves – the team could never get over the hump.

This is what Thursday’s blown save reminded me of – the team took a major body blow and just doesn’t have the offense to overcome a leaky bullpen.  SU has no problem with the sweep or the effort.  Girardi had mixed and matched his corps of young relievers as best he could but there was so little margin for error.  His starters only go 5-6 innings and this is what happens.  SU can live with this – help is on the way in the minors.  The team made a great run fueled by Gary Sanchez and of course, Chase Headley hitting the 50-rbi milestone over the weekend.  Many say I am hard on Headley but honestly, he plays every day at a power hitting position and 50 rbis is an embarrassment.  Now that they are out of it, SU says play Austin and the others every day and roll Texeiria out for his retirement day the last week of the season so he can ground to 2nd base in short right field one more time.

Meanwhile, the Mets are down to one of their ace pitchers – boy, that happened in a hurry.  But you have to get them a lot of credit for gaining a lock on a wild card slot despite a depleted roster.  The Cubs are looking very pretty in the National League as other than the Nationals, most other teams are limping in to the playoffs.  In the AL, the Red Sox are peaking at the right time – that is some offensive line up.  SU will be glad to see Big Papi go – I have had enough of the styling homeruns.

The Giants are 2-0 and are winning close games – what a change from years past.  It’s still too early to get excited but 2-0 is 2-0.  The Jets are putting points on the board but their defense needs to show up soon.

College football is wide open this year and you have to love how the games are so high scoring.  SU cannot get enough of it.  No lead is safe.