Yankees reeking when they should be peaking, and the lack of concern is alarming

The Yankees blew a game in the late innings to Toronto on Sunday and now are 8-11 in their last 19 games.

NEW YORK — Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez provoked one final round of boos Sunday at Yankee Stadium when he struck out on three pitches to end a 3-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.

These were angry boos and they were deserved.

The Yanks were up 2-1 heading to the eighth, Dellin Betances was called in from the bullpen, and four hits and two runs later the Jays had a lead that held up.

This loss was the Yankees’ 11th in their last 19 games heading into the final two weeks of the regular season, and it also cemented another series loss to a losing team.

MLB magic numbers, remaining schedules for contenders

All those losses to the Orioles, Twins, White Sox, Tigers and Jays is reason No. 1 why this week’s Yankees-Red Sox series at the Stadium won’t be what it could have been … what it should have been.

It’s still big for both teams.

Following Monday’s day off, the Yanks will resume their fight with the Athletics for home field in the AL Wild Card Game. They’re up 1 1/2 games on Oakland with 13 to go.

Meantime, the Red Sox’s magic number to win a third AL East crown in a row is down to two, so they just need to win Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday to have a champagne celebration at Yankee Stadium.

Maybe the Red Sox clinching in the Bronx will be the proverbial kick in the fanny that helps the Yankees out of their late-season fog. Maybe that plus the expected return later this week of All-Star right fielder Aaron Judge as a full-time player and the likely activation of All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman from the DL by mid-week will be a kick-starting trifecta that works wonders.

The Yanks need something because they aren’t consistently playing like a team that looks to be gearing up for another long playoff run.

They look more like a team that’s going to be a one-and-done.

The final out on Sunday was a reminder of how the mighty have fallen because it was Jays closer Ken Giles punching out Sanchez to end the game.

One of the Yankees’ best wins this season was on May 1 in Houston. That’s the game that Giles, then the Astros closer, gave up a three-run homer to Sanchez in the ninth inning of a scoreless game and then punched himself in the right cheek with a hard right as he was walking to the dugout after being removed one hit later.

The Yanks won that game 4-0, then they won again the next two days to take three of four from last year’s champs.

The momentum from winning this 2017 ALCS rematch series helped the Yankees go home and sweep three from Cleveland, then they won a series from Boston that had them tied with the Red Sox for first on May 10.

Since, the Sox went on an amazing run that already has them sitting on 103 wins, and the Yankees countered with a lot of good baseball prior to their recent tailspin.

Manager Aaron Boone, a Mr. Positive through and through, has passion in his voice Sunday when he was asked in his post-game presser if he’s concerned that his club is in a funk late in the regular season.

“First of all, it’s never too late and we’re not even close to too late,” Boone said. “We’ve got to play better. Clearly we’re not playing our best right now, but the history of this game is littered with stories of teams that went into the playoffs in different scenarios … limping, playing great.

“The bottom line is you’ve got to be playing right when it counts, and don’t mistake that for, ‘This is OK.’ But I still at my core believe that we have everyone in that (locker) room to do something special and because we’re getting pushed around a little bit right now and because it’s difficult and we’re not playing our best, this thing ain’t even close to done.”

The Yankees will be going to the playoffs, and they’ve earned it. Just look at the standings. The Red Sox are way ahead in the division, but the Astros are the only other team in baseball with a better record than the 91-58 Yanks.

What should be concerning to Boone is none of his players who have been talking after recent games seem agitated or worried or annoyed.

Here are a few samples from Sunday:

Aaron Hicks: “You go through the ups and downs during a season like this. You can’t go all season on a high.”

Andrew McCutchen: “I don’t think there’s really no sense of urgency here. No one thinks that here in this clubhouse.”

Betances: “I’m not concerned. Obviously, we hold our own destiny. We have to play a little better.”

Those aren’t comments that we should be hearing.

The Yankees have to be a lotbetter quickly because soon enough the competition will be a lot better, and they can’t assume that they’ll play well against the best AL teams just because they fared well against most of them early on this season.

The Yankees still can be a better team in October than they were in the first half when they were right there in the division with Boston.

The April, May and June Yankees had Luis Severino pitching like a Cy Young winner every fifth day and he hasn’t had a great second half, but Masahiro Tanaka is on that kind of roll now.

Also, those Yankees didn’t have 2018 All-Star J.A. Happ, who has been their best starter in August and September.

They didn’t have McCutchen, a 31-year-old former MVP who probably will be taking Brett Gardner’s spot in left field (and be an upgrade).

They didn’t have high-energy slugger Luke Voit, whose first 100 at-bats have been some of the best ones that the Yankees have received from a first baseman all season.

And in the first half, rookie stars Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar were far less experienced.

With all that arsenal, plus baseball’s best bullpen getting Chapman back soon and Judge soon returning to a lineup that is closing on the major league single-season record for homers … the Yankees potentially still can do great things.

“We’re chasing utopia,” Boone said.                            

That’s nice to hear, but the Red Sox, Astros, Indians and Athletics also are chasing utopia, they’ll all be in the AL playoffs, too, and all of them have been playing better baseball than Boone’s Yankees.

That should be very concerning to the Yankees.

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.