The difference between the Yankees truly battling the Rays for the division as of now and having to focus on a wild-card berth has been their inability to sweep teams when given the opportunity. (Well, that and not being able to beat the Rays, Blue Jays or Red Sox). With a chance to go into Friday's day off off three straight wins against the really, really bad Twins, the Yankees blew a three-run lead and ended their two-game winning streak.

After the recap, Eric Hubbs of the Short Porch Podcast joined me to talk about the the state of the Yankees. We talked just before the start of Thursday night's game, so the mood was more upbeat than it would have been had we talked after the game.