Missed opportunity

Not that the expectation was a sweep of the Rays but the Yankees certainly felt after winning the first two games they'd take three of four. It didn't happen as CC Sabathia had one of his worst outings of the season.

“I’m definitely disappointed,” said Sabathia, who allowed a season-worst seven runs. “It’s a big game. We’re trying to win this division, it’s our main goal. These guys put some tough at-bats on Price, scored some runs. He’s been good all year and I wasn’t able to come through. I feel bad. I feel like I let these guys down.”

The Yankees increased their lead to 2 1/2 games after winning the first two games but that lead is back to 1/2 game as the teams head off for their final three series.

The Yankees have the far tougher road the rest of the way with a home series against the Red Sox and road series against the Blue Jays and Red Sox. The Rays finish with home series against the Mariners and Orioles, then at the Royals.

“It would have been nice to win this series to give us a little bit of an edge,” said Mark Teixeira, who snapped an 0-for-19 skid with a third-inning double but finished 1-for-4. “But at the same time, we have three big series left. We have a chance to finish it off and reach our goal. We just have to work a little bit harder now.”

Joe Maddon said he's not making any assumptions based on the schedules.  

"On paper it looks good," he conceded. "We just have to keep playing. I've always been an anti-assumptionist and won't start now." 

Joe Girardi said the way the series ended was disappointing but with the Red Sox in town starting tomorrow night, there's no time to look back.

“We’re basically back to where we started on April 1, with a lot less games to play,” Girardi said. “We’re still trying to win our division and we’re still trying to get home field advantage. You win the first two, looks like you have a good chance to win the series, but we didn’t and you have to move on.”