The New York Yankees were given a second life on Thursday afternoon when Brian Cashman completed a transformative trade deadline, adding elite closers David Bednar and Camilo Doval, as well as electric project right-hander Jake Bird.
Somehow, still, they were given an immediate reality check on Friday evening in Miami, when Bird was unable to navigate a five-run lead and Bednar surrendered a backbreaking game-tying home run and tiebreaking run. Let this be a lesson to you: August 1 isn't the be all, end all. Now, you have to stay on the straight and narrow and actually deliver.