TORONTO — Say good-bye to the 3-D Yankees who are Definitely Done Dancing.
As they did Thursday night after a crushing 6-2 loss to the hapless Jays in front of an announced Rogers Centre crowd of 32,003 the Yankees continue to believe they have a chance because they aren’t eliminated from the AL wild-card race.
In reality, their slim hopes died when Adam Lind lofted a Joba Chamberlain slider over the right-field wall for a three-run homer in the seventh inning that stretched the Blue Jays lead to 6-1 and fitted the Yankees for toe tags.
With nine games remaining, the Yankees are 3 ½ games out of a wild-card spot and have to catch four teams to grab the second ticket to October.
“We have nine more games. If we start playing better we have a chance,’’ said Alfonso Soriano, referring to a lineup that has scored 13 runs in the past six games and was held to one run and four hits by Toronto’s Todd Redmond. “If we win seven of nine we have a chance.’’
Considering they dropped two of three to the Blue Jays the Yankees are delusional to truly believe they can go 7-2 the rest of the way, and that might not be enough.
Friday night starts a six-game homestand against the Giants and Rays that is being viewed as the cure.
“Hopefully we get home and having our fans behind us we can put together a run or go home,’’ Vernon Wells said.
Trailing, 3-1, in the seventh manager Joe Girardi hooked Hiroki Kuroda after he gave up three runs and eight hits in six gritty innings.
Liking the way Chamberlain had thrown recently, Girardi opted for him, though he hadn’t been used in tight spots since losing his late-innings gig to Preston Claiborne and Shawn Kelley.
“He used to pitch in a lot of close games,’’ Girardi said. “Tonight he didn’t get it done.’’
Staying with Chamberlain to face the left-handed hitting Lind raised several questions.
Neophyte lefty Cesar Cabral was throwing in the pen and Lind was 8-for-18 against Chamberlain.
“You are not sure what you are going to get,’’ Girardi said of Cabral, who has appeared in six big league games.
What he got from Chamberlain was poison.
“No situation they can put me can surprise me,’’ Chamberlain said. “At that point, I had to keep us in the game and I didn’t do my job.’’
Lind’s homer was the killer blow but the Yankees’ inability to solve right-hander Redmond never put pressure on the Blue Jays.
In seven innings Redmond (4-2) allowed a run and four hits. It was the second time since Aug. 28 that Redmond beat the Yankees. He is 3-3.
Kuroda fell to 11-12 and had a quality start negated by the soft bats. He hasn’t won since beat the Dodgers in Los Angeles on Aug. 12.
“We have no choice, it’s time to win games,’’ said Alex Rodriguez, who went 0-for-3 and has one hit in 22 at-bats. “It’s a good time to get to our home field. We have to do it ourselves.’’
What the Yankees have done to themselves is why they are where they are. And six games at home isn’t going to change anything.