Yanks will help determine wild card winner

TORONTO

Such are the delightful quirks of baseball that, by losing a 3-0 snoozer to the Blue Jays Sunday afternoon at Rogers Centre, the Yankees completed their four-city, 11-day, 10-game odyssey with an uninspiring 4-6 record.

And they gained a game and a half on the Red Sox (2-7) in the process.

As the universe has it, the Yankees will be returning home not merely with the aspirations of clinching both the American League East and the top AL seed in the playoffs.

Thanks to the Rays' resurgence, the Red Sox's swan dive and the schedule-makers, the Yankees get to play king-makers over these next 10 days.

"We've still got a week and a half of baseball left," Brett Gardner said. "Anything can happen. We've got to take things one day at a time and try to get back on track."

"We've got to take care of our own business," Joe Girardi said.

Nah, the Yankees didn't play along with the notion that their play will determine the identity American League wild card. That doesn't mean it isn't true, however.

By defeating the Red Sox, 8-5, Sunday at Fenway Park, the Rays drew within two games of Boston in the AL wild-card race. The two teams have completed their season series, so the Red Sox control their own destiny. However, the Red Sox look like a broken team right now, entrenched in a 5-14 slump.

After Sunday's makeup game against Minnesota at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees will have four home games against Tampa Bay and a weekend three-game set against Boston at the Stadium. Then they'll close out their regular season with three games against the Rays at Tropicana Field.

So the Yankees play 10 of the 20 combined remaining games of the Rays and Red Sox. Boston has seven more against Baltimore -- four home, three away -- while Tampa Bay's other three games are at home against Toronto. That's some serious potential impact.

For all of their bluster about focusing on themselves -- and let's face it, that's what they should say -- the Yankees aren't oblivious to what's occurring below them in the division.

"You see scores out on the big screen during games," Gardner said.

"It's hard to avoid, the way they're playing," Robinson Cano said of the Red Sox.

So after Monday, the Yankees' remaining games will come against clubs who have their own agendas beyond planning their winter vacations. Perhaps that dosage of intensity will help the Yankees. Or maybe it will further expose their lethargy.

"We've got to go home and play better, there's no doubt about it," Girardi said.

The Yankees can't simply secure their playoff status and spike the ball. They still have work to do, most importantly determining their postseason starting rotation. Freddy Garcia pitched poorly again Sunday, taking the loss, and both he and his fellow comeback kid Bartolo Colon look as though they're running on fumes. Meanwhile, A.J. Burnett and Phil Hughes have pitched better of late.

Alex Rodriguez was in the lineup again and went 0-for-4 Sunday, although his first plate appearance produced a screaming line drive that the Blue Jays' Jose Bautista tracked down in rightfield. A-Rod needs to use the rest of the regular season to increase his comfort level with his new bat grip, designed to minimize pressure on his ailing left thumb.

Rodriguez was among those most openly intrigued by the Red Sox-Rays skirmish. He asked what the gap was between the two, then pursed his lips and nodded.

"No predictions here," he said, smiling.

The Yankees don't need to be the predictors here. To evoke former Texas Rangers owner George W. Bush, they'll be the deciders.