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It is now September and the Yankees are tied for 1st place with the Baltimore Orioles. The Rays are only a game and a half behind.

The Yankees have had their share of injuries which I definitely feel is one of the major culprits of this Yankee slide. Their pitching staff has not had the full complement of pitchers for the whole season. It is hard when you have to hope that CC and Kuroda will win every start.

You listen to the sportscasters and they are all saying that the Yankees will be fine. I say that they are not making the play-offs. I am not saying that they are a bad team, I am saying that they have had their share of injuries which has caused this slide. Injuries are part of the game and you just have to deal with it.

Even if Pettite, Tex, Nova and Rodriquez come back, the damage to the team has already been done. Let's look at the facts...

The Yankees are 24-26 since the All-Star break.

Over the last 14 games the Yankees have averaged 3.2 runs a game, a team batting average of .215 and they have only hit 14 home runs. The glaring statistic is that they are batting .198 with runner's in scoring position and their team ERA is 4.57.

This is not the direction you want the team to be going in at the start of September. They needed to be playing better baseball just to stay alive until the rest of the troops come back. They have dug themselves a hole that is going to be a little tough to climb out of.