Schadenfreude 195 (A Continuing Series)

Kevin Kernan, Post:

Reality is tough to swallow, but once again, on Friday night at Tropicana Field, the Yankees showed this is not their year. Ivan Nova needed to come up with a big pitching performance and fell flat on his face in an ugly 5-1 loss to the lowly Rays, a team that came into the evening 22 games under .500.

The loss dropped the Yankees to 52-50. Yes, there is mediocrity in baseball, but this most mediocre of teams is not a true contender. ...

If Hal Steinbrenner still needs to be convinced his Yankees need to make the most of the trade deadline in this crazy seller’s market, he is living in a fantasy world. ...

Believe what your eyes are telling you.

The Yankees love their numbers, so believe in this number, too. Once again this season, the Yankees are losing the run differential war. They have surrendered 441 runs and have scored only 413.

That's a losing number. With that kind of differential, they are lucky to be two games over .500.