Nice While It Lasted

The latest dash of winning play from the Yankees was a fun little ride (accent on the LITTLE), but it's over now. They couldn't beat the Toronto Blue Jays two games out of three, and are losing ground rather than gaining it with 29 games left on the schedule.

It was interesting to have hope for a while, but that's pretty much kicked in the face now, so let's assess.

Robinson Cano became the 116th Yankee to be hit on the hand by a Blue Jays pitcher this year, but only if you count Curtis Granderson twice. Eduardo Nunez, current winner of the Ron Bloomberg Silver MRI Award, hurt his knee while not really doing anything on a play up the middle, and it looks like he's going to be out for a while. And there isn't a whole while left in the season.

I don't know who the backup shortstop or second baseman is for the Yankees right now, but I'm getting out my glove and waiting for a phone call.

This is a microcosm of the 2013 season: A short burst of decent play offset by so many injuries the YES Network must be selling its Injury Report at bulk rates. "And now the Injury Report, brought to you by W.B. Mason, your local Mercedes-Benz dealers, Bigalow Tea, our good friends at the Fox News Channel (!), Bob's Liquor Store on 128th Street, the cast of Under the Dome and that guy who's always asking you for spare change at the train station."

We asked much, too much, of a group of hangers-on and replacements at the beginning of the year. By the time everybody except Teixeira came back, it was just too late to expect more. Alfonso Soriano has been pretending it's 2001 for a month now and doing a convincing job, but Mr. Rod looks like a guy awaiting a 211-game suspension, Curtis Granderson is reminding us about the strikeouts and not so much the home runs, and the captain, although he hasn't been back long, makes us hold our breath every time he hits a ball on the ground and has to run.

This hasn't been a good year, and it isn't going to end well. That's okay; it happens every once in a while. But getting our hopes up in late August bordered on the cruel, only to have people fall down and not get up again, and see Hiroki Kuroda suddenly forget what was working for him until August 1.

Until recently, the offense has been offensive. Now, he pitching is starting to look like a bunch of old men and a couple of guys who never really became what they were supposed to be. When David Huff is seriously in the conversation to start a game, it's time to draw the curtain and thank the folks for coming.

The real tragedy is that Mariano Rivera won't get another chance to pitch in the postseason. But if anyone can be said to have done enough for the Yankees, that's the guy. Sorry it's not going to end in storybook fashion, Mo. Maybe we only expected it to because you were always the guy at the end of the game.