That felt like a playoff preview as the Rays close in.

Five games on the loss side.

The same old weird story with Cole. A delayed start to the inning; an error by the shortstop; followed by an ill-timed "one bad pitch," which somehow wasn't his fault.

In a 3-2 loss, the offense deserves most of the blame, and that blame is spread around.

But Cole gets derailed by the littlest things all the time.

Also, I'd like to point out that nothing magical happens when the calendar flips to September. The Yankees haven't put August "behind them" just because the calendar says so. 

It's September and Mantle and Maris are walking through the door.