Missed Opportunity

The Yankees failed to cash in on a huge opportunity Thursday night. Bottom of the 1st inning and already up 1-0 on Zack Greinke and the Astros, Gary Sanchez came up following Brett Gardner's bases-loaded walk. A single likely makes it 3-0, a home run -- and keep in mind, Sanchez had 31 of those during the regular season -- could quickly put the game almost out of reach.

Instead, Sanchez, on a 0 and 2 count, flailed away at a Greinke pitch way out of the strike zone. Crunch time, and as George Steinbrenner loved to say, he "spit the bit."

Sure, Sanchez, later delivered a two-run homer -- but with the team down 6-1, it really didn't bring the Yankees back.

No one came up clutch on the Yanks Thursday night. Gleyber Torres and Edwin Encarnacion each struck out with the bases loaded and the club down just 3-1. The whole night, the hitters appeared out of synch, or out of gas. And the Yankees now find themselves one loss away from not only their off-season, but completing their first decade since the 1910s without a World Series appearance.

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