During their recent series against the Angel, in which they were swept, the Yankees were 3-for-7 in getting a runner in from third with less than two outs. It happened three times during Sunday’s game, which was decided by one run. It might’ve helped.

Today, they stand 10 games behind the Rays in the loss column and have no chance at winning the division. But, they would if they had played better over the last 16 games, in which they’ve dropped 11, because the Rays just lost two everyday players to the DL in Outfielder Carl Crawford and Third Basemen Evan Longoria.

Crawford doesn’t hurt the Rays too bad, as he is 15 among AL LF in VORP and is currently being out-played by the likes of Matt Joyce (DET) and Ben Francisco (CLE).

However, you can make the argument that Longoria is the Rays best player. He is 20th in the entire AL in VORP, 2nd at his position and first on his team. He also plays a tremendous third base as he has provided 13 Fielding Runs Above Average this season.

Losing Longoria hurts the Rays a lot, the possible correction coming from them playing six games over their pythagorean record might hurt them too. It would be interesting to see how this effects them down the stretch, unfortunately it doesn’t look like the Yankees are good enough to even put pressure on them.