The Yankees haven’t seen back-back losses since they dropped 3 of 4 to Chicago at the end of July. They’ve been the hottest team in baseball since the All-Star break but have cooled off, handsomely losing the last game of the Seattle Series (10-3) Sunday night and getting zeroed by Oakland last night (3-0).

That’s back-to-back losses for two of the big men: Joba Sunday and Burnett last night. Joba got smacked around for 4 runs over 5 innings in an indubitable loss but Burnett’s loss to the A’s was a little different. Oakland managed to string together a couple of hits in the 4^th inning and thanks to a Swisher dive that was most comparable to a dream, and a freakishly obvious Balk, the A’s found themselves sitting with a 3-0 lead heading into the 5^th. They would not relinquish the lead nor give up a run as Brett Tomko picked up the shutout victory giving the Yankees the proverbial “screw you for releasing me” performance.

With the losses the Yankees still remain 7 games ahead of the Red Sox in the AL East, dropping just a half of a game thanks to Boston’s day off. The back-to-back losses barely affect the Yankees in the standings and I doubt it will affect the teams dominating mentality considering CC takes the mound tonight against the A’s Vin Mazzaro (4-8, 5.54 ERA) tonight. CC should have his way with the Athletics as he tries for his 4^th straight victory.

CC has looked very sharp recently and has limited opposing batters to a .100 BA over his past two starts. CC is about to hit the end of the season stretch where he has famously dominated over his past few seasons. Last season after CC signed with the Brewers just before the trade deadline, he went 11-2 with a 1.65ERA and had 128 SO in 130 innings. Yankees fans are looking to see him hit that stride again this season and dominate his opponents for the rest of season: so far, so good.

Girardi has really mixed up the line-up while on the west coast, giving everyone some rest for the difficult schedule they will face after finishing up in Oakland. The Yanks will fly to Boston with a day off Thursday to take on the Red Sox for their final three games in Fenway this season. From there the Yanks will fly home to host a very hot and recent Wild Card leading Texas Rangers team and then the Chicago White Sox who took 3 out of 4 from them last month. I like seeing Girardi resting up the guys on this west coast outing and I think it’ll pay off come the weekend.

Assuming the Yankees win the next two in Oakland, the Yankees will go 5-2 during their west coast trip. Not bad considering they started the Seattle series with some bumps and bruises and haven’t played with their normal starting 9 in any of the games thus far. But getting zeroed last night by Brett Tomko is a little unnerving.

A-Rod blew the Yankees only opportunity by grounding into a 1-2-3 double play with the bases loaded (obviously). Not that it was all A-Rod’s fault or anything but he did blow the Yank’s only real opportunity. Besides that the Yankees failed to even threaten to score let alone actually chalking one up. Besides Derek Jeter (who went 3-4) the rest of the offense was pretty dormant despite out hitting the A’s 7 to 6. None of the Yankee’s hits were timely and none came with runners in scoring position. One would have to assume this isn’t something that is going to continue, at least I hope not.

The Dog Days have calmed the season down and slowed the march. Its important that the Yankees don’t get complacent and find themselves assuming a playoff birth. That’s where a team can hurt themselves. You gotta believe that the feeling from missing the October fun last season lingers enough to avoid contentment. Their lead is comfortable at the moment but the comfort of a lead in August is nothing compared to the La-Z-Boy feeling of that same lead come October.