MLB

Forget 600, time for Yankees to focus on AL East

The Yankees have fallen into the A-Rod trap. And they can’t get out.

There’s been so much attention given to the 600 home run chase, the Yankees have forgotten they’re in a pennant race. The first-place Rays haven’t. They are 10-1 over the last 11 games while the second-place Yankees are 5-6 over that span and the Red Sox remain within striking distance.

The night started with Alex Rodriguez forgetting to show up for the team photo. It ended with the Yankees forgetting to show up for the game as the Blue Jays pounded four home runs to crush the Yankees 8-2 at the Stadium before 46,480 frustrated fans.

In this celebrity era, the Yankees have to get back to the team game and putting their eye on the real prize, not 600 home runs, but doing whatever it takes to winning the AL East, day by day. This is serious baseball. You can’t let any distractions get in your way or you will get annihilated.

“The biggest thing about milestones is sometimes they get in the way a little bit,” manager Joe Girardi admitted. “And you hope that guys don’t think about them too much but this is a pretty big milestone and we’ve got to get through it. No one ever said this was going to be easy. We’re in a tough division.”

Al Santasiere, director of publications, stood in for the superstar until photo shop can put Rodriguez with his teammates. Girardi joked that Rodriguez will hear from Captain Kangaroo, meaning he will be fined by the Yankees’ kangaroo court. That’s Rodriguez; he can think an eighth-inning home run is a pie in the face walk-off winner or forget that it is picture day.

“The boys are going to get me good, no excuses,” a smiling Rodriguez said after batting practice. “I’m going to get crushed.”

His team got crushed. The Blue Jays destroyed Dustin Moseley while Ricky Romero held the Yankees to one infield hit over the last 27 batters.

The combination of the trade deadline, adding several new Yankees, A-Rod’s crawl to 600 and A.J. Burnett’s theatrics created a kind of bad brew that has knocked the Yankees off their game. By the way, the Yankees placed new softer “player proof” message boards on their clubhouse doors last night so Burnett and other Yankees cannot hurt themselves by hitting those doors. The Yankees cover all their bases.

The day that Rodriguez hit No. 599, the Yankees were three games in front in the AL East. The next day they bumped that lead up to four games. They are now one game behind the Rays. There are only two tickets to the October dance, not three in the AL East.

In a way, the Yankees have been caught looking in the mirror, like Rodriguez once did, looking at themselves, instead of channeling all their efforts to take care of business in the most difficult division in baseball.

By trying to lay low on home runs and go about his business, Rodriguez has inadvertently created a mess in his crawl to 600 over his last 51 plate appearances. Rodriguez needs to do what he does best, take a few walks and go up there looking for a certain pitch, swing from the heels and crush it and get this whole 600 thing out of the way.

The thinking “small” Rodriguez is batting .196 since blasting No. 599. Rodriguez is trying so hard not to be concerned about No. 600 that he has become overly concerned about it. That’s his nature. He can’t help himself, that’s who he is. He just needs to embrace the 600 milestone and go out there looking to smash a home run.

It’s time to get this thing over with, concentrate on another number, getting No. 28 as in Yankees World Championships. After the game, Rodriguez had no words for the media. There was nothing to say.

The milestone has become a millstone around the neck of A-Rod and the Yankees.

kevin.kernan@nypost.com