Ellsbury Keeps Yankee Hopes, However Remote, Alive

The Yankees' chances of making the Playoffs are still very slim. Essentially, they need to win every game, and get help.

Not the kind of help Joe Girardi needs (a burning of his binder), or the kind Brian Cashman needs (a slap in the face and a pink slip).

Last night, Hiroki Kuroda did his job. Into the 7th inning, he allowed the Toronto Blue Jays 3 runs (2 earned), 7 hits, no walks, 7 strikeouts. Pitching like that deserves sufficient runs.

He got them. In the bottom of the 1st, already trailing 1-0 on an Edwin Encarnacion home run, Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a double. Derek Jeter singled him over to 3rd. (I know, I know, but it is time for him to go.) Brian McCann singled Ellsbury home. But the rally was stymied when Mark Teixeira grounded into a double play and Carlos Beltran (big shock) struck out.

Ellsbury struck again in the 3rd, hitting a home run, his 16th of the season. He struck again in the 4th, getting a run home on a groundout to ex-Met Jose Reyes, whose error allowed another run. Ellsbury either scored or drove in all the Yankee runs.

Girardi trusted Adam Warren to close the game out. In spite of what surely must have been palpitations from thousands of Yankee Fans, Warren got the job done.

Yankees 5, Blue Jays 3. WP: Kuroda (11-9). SV: Warren (3, believe it or not). LP: Mark Buehrle (12-10).

Here's how things stand, going into today's 4:00 start:

* The Yankees are 4 games out of the 2nd Wild Card spot, with 9 games to go.

* If the Yankees "go Borg," and win 7 of 9...

* The Kansas City Royals would have to drop 6 of 9.

* So would the Seattle Mariners.

* And the Cleveland Indians would have to do no better than winning 7 of 9.

If all those things happened, it would create a 4-way tie for the 2nd Wild Card.

Right, I don't think the Yankees are going to make it. But it's possible that that will still not be assured next Thursday, when Jeter's last home game is scheduled.

Let him play in the season's last series at Fenway? Or let the home finale be his finale? Recall that, in 2008, the Yankees were mathematically still eligible when the last scheduled game at the old Yankee Stadium was played, but the elimination number was down to 1, and we knew there would be no last round-up for the Big Orchard.

But it's still possible. Remote, but possible.

So I'm saying... there's a chance.

Yanks Beat Those Pesky Blue Jays On Jeter HR & Error

Last night, the Yankees opened Derek Jeter's final homestand, in the 1st of a 4-game series against those pesky Toronto Blue Jays.

Shane Greene started against R.A. Dickey, the knuckleballer that the Mets, in one of their periodic boneheaded trades, let go right after he won the National League Cy Young Award.

Greene took a 3-hit shutout into the 7th inning. He has been a big reason why the Yankees still have, however slight, a shot at the postseason.

In the bottom of the 5th, Stephen Drew defied his .163 batting average and .241 on-base percentage, and doubled home Chase Headley to put the Yankees on the board. In the 6th, Jeter hit a solo home run to left field -- possibly his last homer. He now has 3,453 career hits, 260 of them home runs.

It was 2-0 Yankees in the top of the 8th. But Joe Girardi, again operating the Yankee bullpen with all the efficiency of a one-legged man at a butt-kicking contest, didn't send Dellin Betances, who finished the 7th, out for the 8th. He sent Shawn Kelley out there.

After getting the 1st 2 outs, Kelley gave up a single to that other ex-Met on the Jays, Jose Reyes. And then he gave up a home run to Joey Bautista, who always hits the Yankees hard. (When are they going to test him for steroids?) As they say in English soccer, "Two-nil, and you fucked it up!"

David Robertson got the Jays out 1-2-3 in the top of the 9th. This was beginning to feel like another game the Yankees would lose in extra innings because they don't hit enough.

But Chris Young led off the bottom of the 9th with a single. Antoan Richardson pinch-ran for him and stole 2nd, putting the winning run in scoring position with nobody out. Brett Gardner bunted him over. Winning run on 3rd with less than 2 out. The batter was Chase Headley, who's hit very well for the Yanks since he came over. Surely, the Yankees weren't going to blow this?

As it turned out, the Jays took the matter out of the Yanks' hands -- and their own hands were not equal to the task. Headley grounded to Adam Lind at 1st, and the ball went through his hands and legs, not unlike Bill Buckner in the 1986 World Series. Yankees 3, Blue Jays 2.

WP: David Robertson (3-5). No save. LP: Aaron Sanchez (2-2).

*

The win, and the Oakland Athletics' loss, puts the Yankees 5 games behind the 2nd American League Wild Card slot.

There are 10 games left. If the Yankees can win 7 of the 10, the following would have to happen for them to make the Playoffs:

* The A's would have to drop 8 of their last 10.

* The Seattle Mariners, 7 of 10.

* And the Cleveland Indians, at least 4 of their last 10. As in, all 4 occurrences would have to happen.

The series continues tonight at The Stadium. Hiroki Kuroda starts for the Yanks, Mark Buehrle for the Jays.