Yankees Skid Hits 4 as Stumble Continues in Boston

RED SOX 4 - YANKEES 1 - Saturday 

The Yankees are in midst of the worst stretch of baseball in their 2018 season. A 4-1 loss to the Red Sox on Saturday, stretched New York's losing streak to four games, a season high, and now they turn to Mashairo Tanaka on Sunday night to stop the bleeding.

Already 8-1/2 games out of first place, the Yankees can no longer (at least in the serious interim) think about the AL East. Barring a Met-like collapse by the Boston Red Sox, they will win this division. So the focus for the next 53 games should be on holding off the Oakland A's and Seattle Mariners for the wild card.

As it stands right now, only the A's are nipping at the Yankees feet. Oakland won five in a row entering Sunday's action, and are only two back in the win column from the top wild card spot. The Mariners on the other hand, much like the Yankees, are in a tailspin having lost five in a row.

So considering the Yankees still enjoy a big lead over the AL West teams a blessing in disguise. Because the truth is this is a Yankee team that is in an overall collective funk.

While there are legitimate concerns about the starting pitching, the Yankees offense has gone to sleep the past two games, producing only two runs on six hits in 18 innings.

They watched as Rick Porcello blew them away with tremendous movement en route to a complete game 1-hitter on Friday. Then on Saturday, Nathan Eovaldi was equal to the task, holding the Yankees scoreless over eight innings, before Craig Kimbrel gave up a Didi Gregorious RBI double in the ninth.

It isn't good, and the Yankees know it.

The Red Sox own the Yankees in every facet right now. They do the little things right, and have to two best players in baseball right now in Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez. The Yankees were supposed to have that 1-2 MVP punch, but Aaaron Judge is on the DL, and Giancarlo Stanton isn't having nearly the year he had last year in Miami.

Should the Bombers get swept tonight, the panic that has ensured in New York the past few days will ratchet up even further. The Yankees can't afford to lose on Sunday night to the Red Sox. They need a win, if nothing else to calm the waters down slightly.