Hello Darkness my old friend: A tough loss unleashes the Yankee dogs of fear

The year 2021 was supposed to bring an end to the pandemic and an economic boom, launching a new Roaring Twenties. Britney would be freed, A-Rod would marry J-Lo, and the Yankees would win the AL East. 

Well, we all know what happened: Every time this broken boomerang of a team won a few games, suggesting a run on first, somebody snapped a blinky, or a bomb went off in the bullpen - something horrible happened. Enduring memories of 2021 will include losses so crippling, so soul-devouring, that they belong in a Rob Zombie movie, not a future YES Yankeeography. 

And last night - as the innings puckered along, with the Yankees flailing and failing - the night terrors returned. Suddenly, we were back in 2020, rooting for a team destined to crush us.  

Seriously, I ask one question to the readers of this blog:

What more honest way of celebrating 2021 than to blow the final three games and finish out of the running?

Turns out, even if we lose all three, we'll end up tied for the final wild card birth, the away-team, and face a Monday playoff. So there's that. Also, we made a valiant - albeit too late - ninth inning comeback try. So there's that, too. 

But here we are, needing one win - just one - against a team that has owned us since long before we ever heard the word COVID. 

If we win today - game time 1:05 p.m. - we clinch something. The remaining question would be whether we play the wild card home or away. If we lose today, we could be on our way to pissing away everything we gained last week. But wouldn't that be sooooooooo like the 2021 Yankees?

Other deliriums: 

1. Last guy I expected to see holding the Yankees fate in his hands last night was Albert Abreu. In every ninth inning bullpen scenario, I didn't imagine him on the mound. And despite Michael Kays assurances that Abreu was a cool customer, not likely to melt under the pressure, I saw the entire season going down - with Albert Abreu on the mound. 

2. Why did it have to be Wander Franco delivering the winning hit? Whenever I see this guy, I imagine him killing us for the next five years, then being traded for three younger versions of himself, and eventually - at the end of this career, when he's a shell of the player he once was - being our DH.  

3. In the wild ninth, Joey Gallo executed one of the most beautiful bunts I've ever seen. Bravo, Joey. But why did he wait so late in the game? Tampa was using an outrageous over-shift against him - four OF and nobody on the left side. In his previous at bat, Gallo lashed a liner into the gap, where it was effortlessly caught. Last night, with a little sense, he could have gone 4-for-4 and broken their defensive scheme. One last thing: When he came to bat in the ninth, Gallo displayed one of the disturbing stat lines I've ever seen: With the Yankees, he had 8 HRs and 10 RBIs. Think about that.

4. The fact that DJ LeMahieu couldn't bat for Kyle Higashioka in the ninth should terrify us. He must be in a wheelchair. As it was, all the air left the stadium - and my living room - when Gary Sanchez stepped up to pinch hit. And three pitches later - two outside the zone - he was marching back to the dugout. All we needed was a single...