CHICAGO — Brian Cashman says the Yankees are digging themselves a hole.
The general manager technically is correct because the dig is in progress. But it can't be called a hole any longer. The shovels have created a ditch the Yankees will not escape from.
Last night's 3-2 loss to the White Sox in front of 23,826 at U.S. Cellular Field didn't eliminate the Yankees from the AL East race or the wild-card chase.
But it was the latest defeat in a season the Yankees have experienced baseball death by paper cuts.
A lineup that was supposed to be bolstered by Alex Rodriguez's return continued to sputter and wasted Hiroki Kuroda's solid effort that consisted of seven innings and three runs but dropped his ledger to 10-7.
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WALK OF SHAME: Alex Rodriguez tosses his bat aside after earning a walk in the first inning, one of three times the scandal-plagued slugger reached base. He was also hit by a pitch in the third and singled in the eighth.
Rodriguez went 1-for-2, walked and was hit by a pitch that was greeted by cheers from White Sox fans.
"I feel pretty good. I am seeing the ball and trying to get my timing down,'' said Rodriguez, who got hit on the left elbow, which he forgot to wear his padding on for the first time in 13 seasons. "The last two or three weeks, I have been swinging the bat relatively well.''
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The loss was the Yankees' 13th in 19 games and left them six games behind the Rangers for the second wild card. They are also behind the Indians, Orioles and Royals in the standings.
"We're digging ourselves a hole — no doubt about it. It's not something that we want. Hopefully tonight we can start digging ourselves out of that hole. It's a pretty obvious circumstance now,'' Cashman said before the loss that dropped his club to a season-high
10 1/2 games back of the AL East-leading Red Sox, who beat the Astros 15-10. "We have to win games. We have to play better baseball and win with what we have. This has been a terrible road trip.''
It's a trip that got worse last night. After splitting two games against the red-hot Dodgers in L.A., the Yankees dropped two of three against the lowly Padres. Now, the best the Yankees can do against the White Sox, who had lost 10 straight going into Monday night's 8-1 victory, is salvage one win in a three-game series tonight when they turn to the struggling CC Sabathia.
"We have not played well the last six to eight weeks. It has kind of been up and down. We need to start winning games or we are not going to be playing in October,'' said manager Joe Girardi, whose team hasn't copped a series since taking two of three from Baltimore on July 5-7. "There is some concern. We have to be more consistent as a club and that's offensively, defensively and pitching. If we don't, it's going to be difficult.''
It was hard to watch the Yankees' lineup, which accumulated five hits and a run against Chris Sale (7-11). Sale pitched into the eighth and won for the first time since July 11.
"You are not going to get a lot of opportunities off Sale,'' Girardi said. "You have to take advantage of the ones you get and we weren't able to do that tonight.''
Brett Gardner was called out at home plate in the third inning on a seemingly errant call by umpire Alan Porter. However, Gardner would have made Porter's call easier had he slid instead of attempting to score standing up.
At the time, the Yankees led 1-0 due to Alfonso Soriano scoring from second on a wild pitch from Sale.
As for Kuroda, he has a 2.45 ERA but only 10 wins.
"He should have a lot more than 10 wins,'' Girardi said of Kuroda, who has replaced Sabathia as the staff ace.
"I wasn't really sharp, but I was able to get big outs,'' Kuroda said.
george.king@nypost.com
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