The AL East has been the most competitive division in baseball this season, and the standings got a bit tighter over the weekend when the Boston Red Sox swept the New York Yankees. Anthony Rizzo insists he is not sweating the tough series.
The Red Sox got back above .500 by winning three straight games against their biggest rival. New York fell further behind the division-leading Tampa Bay Rays, who held a 10.5-game lead over the Yankees entering Monday.
When asked about the sweep following Sunday’s doubleheader, Rizzo had a blunt response.
“It sucks. It’s definitely a low in the season, but this is part of the ups and downs of the big league season,” Rizzo told reporters.
Yankees fans probably want to hear more urgency from Rizzo, who is in a massive slump at the plate. There’s certainly no need to panic in June, but the Yankees have now lost 10 of their last 15 games. Rizzo, who is hitting .083 this month, is a big reason for that.
The Yankees need their bats to come alive if they want to avoid digging themselves into a hole they can’t climb out of. Ups and downs are, indeed, part of the season, but they have been going down for quite some time now.
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