TORONTO – The tombstone has been engraved, the caskets are ordered and members of the fan base have started the mourning process.
Now, The Post welcomes you to the Tragic Number Countdown.
There isn’t a better time to begin than after last night’s 14-3 spanking administered by the Blue Jays to start logging the days until the Yankees are eliminated from the AL East and wild-card competitions.
PHOTO GALLERY: Jays Pummel Yankees
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Any combination of Rays wins and Yankees losses totaling 23 eliminates the Yankees from the AL East race. Any combo of Red Sox wins and Yankees losses equaling 24 kills the Yankees’ wild-card hopes.
The Yankees, who have lost six of the last seven series, fell 10½ games behind the Rays and are six lengths back of the Red Sox.
Paired against Roy Halladay, arguably the best pitcher in baseball, Sidney Ponson never gave the Yankees a chance.
“I didn’t have anything tonight,” said Ponson, who didn’t make it out of the third inning and gave up seven runs and eight hits in two-plus frames.
“The sinker wasn’t there, the slider wasn’t there and the change-up wasn’t there. I pitched like [junk]. It was not a good game. The bottom line is that I gave it up. I am not happy at all. Seven runs in two innings is not acceptable.”
While many in the crowd of 37,037 serenaded the Yankees with “Yankees [stink],” Halladay breezed through the first six innings and was leading, 13-0, when Hideki Matsui hit a three-run homer in the seventh.
“He isn’t the best pitcher in the game for nothing,” said Johnny Damon, who had one of the five hits allowed by Halladay, who is 15-9 this year, 3-1 against the Yankees this season and 13-5 in his career versus the Yankees.
Joe Girardi still believes. Hal Steinbrenner remains optimistic. Derek Jeter and the players continue to utter, “We have to start playing better and win games.”
And there is no sign of the Yankees gaining traction. Mike Mussina might get the tires to grab tonight in Baltimore where he is pitted against Radhames Liz, but tomorrow night features the return of Carl “American Idle” Pavano.
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Joe Inglett and Marco Scutaro, the Nos. 1 and 2 hitters, had four hits each and Scutaro drove in four runs. The Blue Jays’ 21 hits were the most given up this season by the Yankees.
“Tonight was pretty disappointing but it doesn’t make a difference how it looks, it’s wins and losses,” Jeter said. “We have to forget about this, that’s the bottom line. It’s up to us. We have to string together some wins. Hopefully, it starts [tonight].”
Hope is all the Yankees have left. And those who look at it realistically, the hope resembles a candle in the wind.
Tuesday night they wasted a sterling effort by Darrell Rasner against A.J. Burnett. Wednesday night Andy Pettitte picked them up. Last night Ponson couldn’t have dragged them down any deeper had he been wearing cement shoes.
“It wasn’t a game well-pitched on our side,” Girardi said. “We were up in the zone and they made us pay.”