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NEW YORK -- After a slow start to their 10-game homestand, the New York Yankees know they need a quick turnaround.Otherwise, they might end up rare sellers at the Aug. 1 trade deadline.Before the biggest Yankee Stadium crowd this year, CC Sabathia allowed five or more runs for the fifth straight start, and New York dropped its second straight to the Boston Red Sox, 5-2 on Saturday.The Yankees (44-46) are under .500 after the All-Star break for the first time since 1995. After opening 0-2 on this homestand, they head into their series finale vs. the Red Sox on Sunday night with the trajectory of their season possibly hanging in the balance.Its got to turn around tomorrow, manager Joe Girardi said. This is probably as important (a) game that weve had in July in a long time, tomorrow.Sabathia (5-7) allowed five runs, four earned, in 5 1/3 innings. Boston chipped away at the big lefty by reaching base mostly on soft, well-placed contact and a couple of New York errors until a home run in the sixth by Sandy Leon.I felt good, Sabathia said. Just the result is not coming.Sabathias tough stretch follows a resurgent start to the season. The 35-year-old has allowed 27 runs in his past five starts after yielding just 18 over his first 11.Sabathia gave up nine hits Saturday, including two slow rollers beyond the range of charging third baseman Chase Headley and a soft RBI single by Leon in the fourth.I have to stay focused and know that those plays can turn around, Sabathia said. They arent right now, and thats just been whats killing me so far.Leon drove in four runs and Eduardo Rodriguez again dominated the Yankees in his return from Triple-A while Boston won its season-high sixth straight.Leon hit his second homer this season and the third of his career -- a three-run shot for a 5-1 lead. The catcher has 13 RBI in 20 games this season after compiling eight in 75 career games before that. Hes hitting .458 through 59 at-bats this season.He looks different now, Rodriguez said. He hits the ball everywhere.Leon also helped his Venezuelan countryman hold New York to a run and four hits over seven innings after the Red Sox recalled the left-hander from the minors Friday. Rodriguez (2-3) improved to 4-1 with a 2.01 ERA against Bostons archrival.Frustrating, Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner said. Offensively we werent able to get a whole lot going against Rodriguez today.Koji Uehara closed for his sixth save.Leons hot hitting has been timely for Boston, which has had catchers Blake Swihart, Christian Vazquez and Ryan Hanigan on the disabled list this season. The 27-year-old went into the All-Star break batting .455 (25 for 55), the highest first-half average ever in the majors, with a minimum of 50 at-bats.Rodriguez opened the season on the disabled list with a knee injury, then posted an 8.59 ERA in six starts before being demoted to Triple-A Pawtucket. Boston believed Rodriguez was tipping his pitches and had him adjust his delivery during two starts in the minors.Rodriguez threw 97 pitches Saturday, working quickly against New Yorks veteran-heavy lineup.Gardner ended a stretch of 180 homerless at-bats when he lined a solo shot into the Yankees bullpen in the third. It was his first homer since May 18 and sixth of the season.I definitely need to drive the ball a little bit better on a more consistent basis here in the second half, Gardner said.Headley hit a solo homer in the eighth for the Yankees against Matt Barnes.A-ROD IN LINEUPAlex Rodriguez is expected to start for the third straight game Sunday night when the Yankees face left-hander David Price. Its been a rare chance at consistent playing time lately for the 40-year-old, who is batting .218 with eight homers in 193 at-bats this season. Rodriguez was 0 for 3 with a walk Saturday and is 1 for 7 in the series.UP NEXTPrice (9-6, 4.34 ERA) pitches for Boston at Yankee Stadium following three straight games with exactly 10 strikeouts and one walk. He leads the AL with 140 strikeouts, most by a Red Sox left-hander before the All-Star break. Masahiro Tanaka (6-2, 3.23) is coming off six days of rest after allowing a season-high seven runs (three earned) in an 11-7 win against Cleveland.Kansas City Royals Pro Shop . Most important, perhaps, it went off without a hitch. Organizers poked a little fun at the now-infamous opening ceremony gaffe that saw only four out of five snowflakes open up into rings, leaving the Olympics logo one ring short. Stitched Royals Jerseys .Y. -- Paul Byron and Matt Stajan scored as the Calgary Flames started a five-game road trip with a 2-1 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon. https://www.cheaproyals.com/ . LOUIS -- Valtteri Filppula assisted on three of Tampa Bays four goals, and the Lightning beat the St. Fake Royals Jerseys . After a lengthy wait, persistent rain finally forced the postponement of the Nationals game against the Miami Marlins on Saturday night. The teams, and a few thousand fans, waited nearly four hours from the 7:05 scheduled start time before an announcement was made shortly before 11 p. Royals Jerseys 2020 . They had already blown a double-digit lead, fans were hitting the exits, and a long seven-game road trip waited at the end. NEW YORK -- John Tortorella was defiant in stating that the New York Rangers didnt take a step back when they were knocked out of the Stanley Cup playoffs in the second round. General manager Glen Sather thought otherwise and fired the combative coach on Wednesday. The fiery Tortorella was let go four days after the Rangers season ended with a Game 5 loss at Boston to the Bruins. New York had reached the Eastern Conference finals last year and was considered to be a championship contender in this lockout-shortened season. "I came up with the decision that I really needed to do something to improve our team going forward," Sather said during a conference call. "Every coach has a shelf life. Ive told every guy that Ive hired that at some point in time this is going to change. "Our goal is to win the Stanley Cup and we didnt achieve that goal this year. I had to make a decision, so I did." Tortorella was unexpectedly dismissed with one year left on his contract. In 319 regular-season games with New York, including a four-game run at the end of the 1999-2000 season, Tortorella went 171-118-1-29. He was 19-25 in the post-season, and reached the playoffs in four of five seasons after taking over as coach in February 2009. "Every time a coach gets fired, it is a surprise for me, because ultimately, we, the players, are responsible for our own play on the ice," Rangers backup goaltender Martin Biron told the Associated Press in a text message. Tortorella, hired to replace Tom Renney with 21 games remaining in the 2008-09 season, achieved some success with the Rangers but couldnt match the Stanley Cup title he earned in 2004 with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Sather said Tortorellas contract status didnt factor into the decision. "It wasnt one thing and I am certainly not going to speculate or start to criticize what happened with Torts and give you a lot of reasons why we decided to do this," Sather said. "After the analytical work that we do every year at the end of the season, trying to decide how were going to improve the team and how were going to move forward, this is a decision I made." Sather didnt name an immediate replacement, but hopes to have a new coach in place by the June 30 NHL draft in Newark, N.J. Former NHL coaches Lindy Ruff and Alain Vigneault could be candidates for New York. Sather wouldnt speculate whether anyone currently employed by the Rangers would be considered. The fate of assistant coach Mike Sullivan will be decided during the teams organizational meetings in June. "Hopefully whoever we hire has a lot of the good things that Torts had and a lot of good things that Tom Renney had," Sather said. "There are a number of good coaches around, and a lot of them have different qualities. It is a little tricky sometimes to find someone who has all those qualities, but hopefully thats what were going to have this time around. "I am certain that were going to find the right person." Last season, Tortorella led the Rangers to 51 wins -- the second-most in franchise history -- and 109 points before they were beaten in six games by New Jersey in the conference finals. He finished his Rangers tenure in fourth place on the teams career coaching wins list. The 54-year-old Tortorella got the Rangers back into the playoffs in this lockout-shortened season, and New York outlasted Washington in seven games in the first round of the playoffs before being knocked out by Boston. "I felt this was a decision that had to be made going forward," Sather said. "I tthink he was shocked, but he is a gentleman and he took it very well.ddddddddddddquot; Tortorella made curious comments on Monday when the Rangers packed up for the season, which could have led to his ouster. In his final meeting with reporters, Tortorella said his club wasnt emotionally ready to take on Boston after getting past Washington with back-to-back shutout wins when it faced elimination. "One of the things, and it falls on my shoulders, is our teams mindset going into another round," Tortorella said. "I dont think our mindset was ready to play another series and to the level you need to be at. It didnt have a playoff atmosphere. "Thats what I struggle with right now. I didnt do a good enough job in correcting and getting their mindset back to not only play at the level of a Game 7 in the first round but get ready for round 2, which is always going to be tougher." Even though the Rangers were knocked out earlier this year, Tortorella emphatically stated he didnt believe the team regressed. "I know the surrounding feeling here is that it was a negative season, a disappointing season. I dont buy it and I wont," Tortorella said. "There are some good things that happened. I dont think we took a step backward. I think this is a sideways step in our lineup and how things worked out. "We played really well our last couple of months to get in, found a way to win a big series against Washington, and against Boston I thought we competed right to the end." However, starting goalie Henrik Lundqvist disagreed with that assessment. Lundqvist is entering the final year of his contract and would be eligible to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. "It is a step back," Lundqvist said. "We were in the conference finals last year, we had high expectations on ourselves this year. It didnt go our way, so yeah it is a step back. Its tough to make it there, though. You cant just expect it to happen." Sather said he hadnt talked to Lundqvist, but added the teams plan is to sign him to a new long-term deal. The Rangers entered the 48-game season as a prime contender to win the Stanley Cup, especially after the off-season acquisition of top forward Rick Nash in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets. After a slow start, the Rangers rallied to a 26-18-4 record and the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. But New York struggled to score in the post-season, and Nash and Brad Richards were among the biggest offenders. Nash recorded only one goal and five assists in the Rangers 12 playoff games. Richards, who has seven years remaining on a nine-year deal, was a bigger disappointment and was a healthy scratch by Tortorella in the final two games against the Bruins. Sather said that move was an organizational decision. Richards had thrived under Tortorella when they won the Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay, but he managed only one goal and zero assists in his 10 post-season games. Richards will likely also be gone from the Rangers, who can buy out the remainder of his lucrative deal and remove him from the salary cap that will go down for next season. Tortorella is the career leader in wins by a U.S.-born coach with 410. He was an assistant coach with the Rangers in the 1999-2000 season and took over for John Muckler as head coach for the final four games. Tortorella was then hired by the Lightning and he was their coach for seven seasons -- compiling a mark of 239-222-36-38 and earning the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year in the championship 2003-04 season. ' ' '