Time For Panic?

        With yet another Yankees loss today and an Orioles win, the Yankees lead in the American League East is down to one. It is no secret that the Yankees have been struggling mightily of late and it is no secret that the Orioles have been very hot and a very big surprise. The Yankees have seen their ten game lead dwindle and all but disappear. Without a doubt it is time for Yankee fans and for the New York Yankees to panic. The Baltimore Orioles are not going away and have been one of the best stories in baseball this season. The Tampa Bay Rays are not going away as well as they always seem to get hot and make things very interesting in September. These three teams will be battling it out the rest of the month as the Yankees will have five more games against Tampa Bay and four games against Baltimore in Baltimore. 
         The Yankees struggles are far and many. They have a plethora of injuries to the biggest names on their team, their bullpen is struggling, and they can not hit with runners in scoring position. The Yankees have lost Mariano Rivera, Brett Gardner, Andy Pettitte, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Ivan Nova and Curtis Granderson all to injury. Alex has come back and Granderson is expected back tomorrow but when your two, four, and five hitters are all hurt, it will affect any lineup. Yet, the Yankees have had plenty of opportunities to blow games open or take leads late. They just have not been able to capitalize with big hits. Right now,  the Yankees are playing their worst baseball of the season, by far. They need to get everyone healthy and they need to pick up their play. Right now, for all Yankee fans, it is scary seeing a very comfortable lead go down to just one game. Their pitching has not been good and when it has, they are not scoring enough runs. No doubt a healthy Yankees team will make the playoffs but will this team? If they do not get these injured players back and back soon, Yankee fans might look at the standings and see their team in second or third place. 
         With all the injured players back for the playoffs, will the Yankees be another first round flop? The way this team has hit with runners in scoring position, and in the clutch, it is hard to win playoff games. The Yankees are the only team in Major League Baseball this season to not have won a game when trailing after eight innings. Nothing for the Yankees is clicking right now. They must figure everything out soon or else they could be playing golf a little bite earlier than what Yankee fans are used to.