CHICAGO — Minutes after his club had dropped three straight to the White Sox last night, manager Joe Girardi went after a loud-mouthed fan outside the Yankees’ clubhouse.
As Girardi started talking to reporters, the White Sox fan chanted “sweep’’ and called Girardi “a bum.’’
“Hey, hey, hey, shut up, I am doing an interview,’’ a livid Girardi said as he moved toward the man who was exiting the tunnel.
“Do something,’’ Girardi barked at an obese U.S. Cellular Field security guard lounging on a golf cart as the man disappeared.
Girardi’s behavior was a lot more aggressive than how the Yankees played all night against flame-throwing left-hander Chris Sale, who pitched the White Sox to a 2-1 victory that was witnessed by 26,319.
“We didn’t pitch the first two games and tonight we didn’t hit,’’ Girardi said of the three-game sweep. It was the first time the White Sox swept the Yankees in a series three games or more since 2000 and the first time at home since 1991.
On July 18, the Yankees’ AL East lead was a plump 10 games. Today, the Yankees woke up in Cleveland with a three-length advantage over the Rays, who have won 13 of 16. It’s the Yankees’ slimmest margin since June 25.
With 38 games to go, Derek Jeter said it’s far too early to be staring at the standings, yet it’s hard to ignore when seven games are shaved off a lead in a little more than a month.
“I don’t pay attention until September,’’ said Jeter, whose third homer in three nights accounted for the only run off Sale. “If we win games, we will be fine.’’
It also was the first time in his career that Jeter homered in three consecutive games.
SIT DOWN! Nick Swisher grimaces after striking out in the first inning of the Yankees’ 2-1 loss to the White Sox last night. (AP)
Should the Yankees continue to flush strong pitching performances like the one Phil Hughes delivered last night, it’s going to be tough to hold off the Rays.
In seven innings Hughes allowed two runs and five hits. But facing a lineup that had a combined 15 at-bats against him, Sale limited the Yankees to a run and three hits. In 7 2⁄3 innings he fanned 13 Yankees. Addison Reed added two more strikeouts in the ninth and the Yankees set a season-high in whiffs (15).
“If he is on, you have to be pretty close to perfect and I wasn’t perfect,’’ said Hughes, who gave up a run in the second on Kevin Youkilis’ sacrifice fly and Alex Rios’ one-out homer off the top of the wall in the sixth, one half inning after Jeter tied the score with his 13th homer of the year. “The pitch to Rios wasn’t where I wanted it and it cost us.’’
Coupled with the Rangers beating the Orioles, the Yankees fell one-half game behind the Rangers in the AL race for best record.
Hughes fell to 12-11, but early on it was apparent very good wasn’t going to cut it against the 23-year-old Sale, who was in the bullpen last year.
“He is funky, has a different kind of motion,’’ Jeter said of Sale, who is 15-4 with a 2.65 ERA and very much in the AL Cy Young debate. “He comes at left-handers and away from [right-handers]. He throws 95 to 96 mph and has a lot of off-speed pitches he throws for strikes.’’
Today’s day of rest ends a stretch of 20 straight games for the Yankees in which they went a pedestrian 11-9 and lost 3 1⁄2 games off the lead.
“The day off couldn’t come at a better time,’’ Nick Swisher said. “We are not sweating anything. We can make a lot of good things happen in a short period of time.’’
After a 10-game lead was sliced to three in a shade over a month, Swisher better be right.
george.king@nypost.com