How do you recover from this?
The Yankees — once all powerful but now The Little Train That Could — suffered a devastating setback at Fenway Thursday night. Leading the Red Sox, 5-1, in the eighth, and 5-2 with two outs in the ninth, New York was beaten by Hanley Ramirez’s three-run walkoff shot into the center-field bleachers off Dellin Betances.
“This one really hurts,’’ said Yankee manager Joe Girardi.
“A lot of guys in this room are really [expletive] off right now,’’ said third baseman Chase Headley. “We really want to come back and win tomorrow night.’’
When we last saw the Yankees here at Fenway they had just finished a trading-deadline fire sale and they were living through the final awkward days of Alex Rodriguez’s career in pinstripes. The Yanks were a flat-footed .500 (56-56) Aug. 9 and we wondered why Girardi seemed to be taking the games so seriously. Girardi was reluctant to let A-Rod have a farewell start and went to the trouble of using eight pitchers in what appeared to be a meaningless, 9-4 victory Aug. 10.
Much has changed. The resurgent, fuzzy-faced (11 rookies in the clubhouse), no-name Yanks came to Fenway Thursday nipping at the Nike heels of the first-place Red Sox. It’s the first time in nine years that the Yankees and Red Sox are meeting in September with playoff implications for both teams.
“It’s been different,’’ said Girardi before the game. “Obviously, it’s a different challenge. We didn’t know how guys were going to react. It’s been really enjoyable most of the time.’’
New York’s second-half surge was kick-started in the eight-pitcher game at Fenway in August. That was the beginning of a 20-9 run which put New York back in the American League playoff picture. Not bad for a team that was eight games under .500 in May, and nine games out of first place at the end of June. Not bad for a team that looked as if it was giving up when relievers Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller, slugger Carlos Beltran, and starting pitcher Ivan Nova were traded (for Adam Warren and a raft of prospects) at the deadline.
Mark Teixeira, a 36-year old veteran who has lost most of his playing time to the Bronx Baby Bulls, talked about what it has been like to see the Yankees replace established stars with hungry hearts.
“It’s been a lot of fun,’’ said the slugger who has announced he’s retiring at the end of the year. “The experience these young guys are gaining is invaluable. They’ve been playing meaningful games. It’s important for players who come to the Yankees to get that kind of experience. We always have a lot of expectations and that is welcome. When you hover around .500 as long as we did, you beat yourselves up. This got to be a place that wasn’t a lot of fun. Now it’s changed. It’s changed because the young players are playing well. If they weren’t playing so well, it wouldn’t be fun.’’
Photos: Red Sox rally to defeat Yankees
The switch from old to young represents a major victory for longtime GM Brian Cashman, who is in the final year of his contract. Cashman has long wanted to make the Yankees younger, but the Steinbrenners annually succumbed to the pressures of New York and the Yanks routinely lead the majors in payroll and roster lard. Now they are short on star power, but long on futures.
When it comes to team-building, you are always either getting better or getting worse. It’s like in “Shawshank Redemption’’ when Red tells Andy, “Get busy living or get busy dying.’’
The Yankees think they are getting better. Before Thursday’s game they added veteran righthanded masher Billy Butler, who was released by the A’s Sunday. Butler flew into Logan Thursday afternoon and made it to Fenway in time to hit cleanup against Sox southpaw Eduardo Rodriguez. . His first two Yankee at-bats produced two runs — a sac fly in the first and an RBI single in the third.
“We’ve had somewhat of a struggle [against lefthanders] all year,’’ admitted Girardi.
Yankee Baby Bulls Gary Sanchez (catcher), Rob Refsnyder (right field), and Tyler Austin (first base) were in the lineup Thursday. Aaron Judge, another rookie, was newly unavailable due to an oblique strain. Sanchez is the one you might have heard about. He came into the series hitting .321 with 14 homers and 25 RBIs in just 37 games. He hit a booming ground-rule double to center off Rodriguez in the first.
Thursday’s blown opportunity was a bad start to an 11-game trip for the Yankees. After the trip, they’ll finish with six at Yankee Stadium — three with the Red Sox and the final three with the Orioles.
Girardi is not backing down.
“We expected to win from Day 1,” said the manager. “Pressure comes from within. This is a critical series and we need to win games. That’s where we are.’’
The military-style manager said he would not issue any warnings to his young players about Fenway’s trickeration or the magnitude of the once-fiery rivalry.
“Why put a thought in a player’s head?’’ asked Girardi. “Let’s see how they handle it.’’
Dan Shaughnessy can be reached at dshaughnessy@globe.com