Schadenfreude 147 (A Continuing Series)

George A. King III, Post:

Plant the goalposts in Yankee Stadium's turf. Change the scoreboards from innings to downs. College football is the main attraction in The Bronx.

The baseball season expired Sunday when the Yankees snored their way through Game 2 of the ALCS against the Tigers without Derek Jeter.

The Yankees trail the best-of-seven affair, 2-0, with the next three tilts on the road.

Hours before the game Joe Girardi sat in a chair outside his office and attempted to explain the emotions running through his body. ... "We were questioned, people thought we would panic. We laugh at that when people say that."

Nothing about the Yankees' dire situation is amusing. After dropping Game 2, 3-0, yesterday in front of 47,082 at the Stadium, the Yankees are two games away from their season ending. Based on the excessive booing of the hitters the past two games from a very disgruntled fan base, the season can't end soon enough. ...

The only laughing going on is from the outside watching the Yankees attempt to hit.

Add Anibal Sanchez to the growing list of pedestrian hurlers to shut the Yankees down.

Mike Bauman, MLB.com:

If it is true that the meek shall inherit the Earth, the members of this Yankees lineup are in for some serious real estate. ...

Robinson Cano is hitting .063, and Sunday set a postseason record when his streak of consecutive hitless at-bats reached 26. Curtis Granderson is hitting .115. Nick Swisher, not a newcomer to postseason hitting struggles, is batting .154. Alex Rodriguez is hitting .130. ...

"We have to make adjustments," Girardi said. "We know what they are doing to us. You have to make adjustments. They are not going to put it on a tee for us. We know that."

Mark Feinsand, Daily News:

Maybe the Yankees should have let Hiroki Kuroda hit, too.

The Bombers' offense stunk up the Stadium on Sunday evening, falling 3-0 to the Tigers to fall into a huge two-games-to-none hole in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series. ...

The crowd of 47,082 sat in stunned silence for the final two innings, making themselves heard only with the boos that greeted every hitter on his way back to the dugout.

The series now shifts to Detroit, where reigning AL MVP and Cy Young winner Justin Verlander will try to leave the Yankees on the brink of elimination.

Joel Sherman, Post:

The Yankees can look at Alex Rodriguez or Robinson Cano in these playoffs and receive a referendum on avoiding a mega long-term commitment to Cano.

Rodriguez is just now at the halfway mark of his 10-year, $275 million contract and to say he looks helpless is an insult to the helpless. The Yanks don't want to see five more minutes of this, much less five more years.

Which brings us to Cano, who is supposed to be the logical heir to A-Rod as both middle-of-the-order thunder and, at some point, top-of-the-pay-scale wage earner.

Steven Miller, MLB.com:

Robinson Cano went 0-for-2 in his first two at-bats Sunday against Tigers starter Anibal Sanchez in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series, extending his hitless streak to 25 at-bats and setting a new postseason record.

The second baseman also grounded out in his next two at-bats against Sanchez and reliever Phil Coke to prolong his skid to 0-for-27.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Cano is the first player in baseball history to go on an 0-for-25 skid in a single postseason. He entered Sunday's matchup at Yankee Stadium 2-for-28 overall after recording a double in the first two games of the AL Division Series against Baltimore.

Bryan Hoch, MLB.com:

Yankees captain Derek Jeter will not travel with the team when the American League Championship Series shifts scenes to Detroit's Comerica Park for Tuesday's Game 3.

Peter Botte, Daily News:

Swisher is mired in his fourth consecutive postseason slump since joining the Yankees, and the pending free agent has been noticeably stung that the fans booed their one-time favorite and several teammates throughout most of the back-to-back home losses Saturday and Sunday against the Tigers. ...

"(Saturday) night was pretty big. A lot of people saying a lot of things that I've never heard before," Swisher said. "Prime example — I missed that ball in the lights and the next thing you know, I'm the reason that Jeter got hurt. It's kind of frustrating. They were saying it was my fault." ...

[Swisher] is an unfathomable 1-for-34 with runners in scoring position in his postseason career.

Jason Beck, MLB.com:

The Tigers became the 23rd team in LCS history to take a 2-0 series lead since it became a best-of-seven competition 26 years ago. Nineteen of the previous 22 went on to the World Series, the exceptions being the 1985 Blue Jays and Dodgers and the 2004 Yankees.