The Yankees talked about there are many more games to be played in a long season during this losing stretch.

That’s cliché speak for they need to do a better job and they will prove it this season.

With 60 games down and 102 games to go heading into tonight’s game against the Tigers, it’s time for the Yankees to step up. Everyone should be on the spotlight, especially Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi.

If George Steinbrenner was alive and well, there’s no doubt Cashman and Girardi would be worried about their jobs. In fact, they would have been fired long time ago.

It’s time for Hal Steinbrenner to take the same approach like his father. It’s past time actually.

The Yankees have been a mediocre franchise since 2011.  This is a team that missed the playoffs three times under Girardi. This is a team that hasn’t won a playoff series since 2012. There is a six-year championship drought for this proud franchise. 

This year seems to be no different. My eyes tell me this is not a playoff team. Not when a team has a mediocre starting rotation.  Not when a team has so many old men in the lineup. Not when their best hitters are hurt in Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira.

Here’s what damning about the Yankees: They are unwatchable and unlikeable.

Just because the Yankees are 30-30, it does not mean this is an accomplishment. There should be high standards for a proud franchise.

This is an indictment on Cashman and Girardi. Both need to be held accountable. They should be making a case for Steinbrenner the younger to retain them after this season.

Cashman has built an awful team in recent years. He continues to rely on free agency to build his team, and it does not work in today’s baseball. Baseball is a young man’s game. The Yankees need to be built around young players, not players that played for 10 years.

To Cashman’s credit, he has focused on replenishing the farm system. The Yankees have some good young players to build around in the next few years such as Aaron Judge, Greg Bird, Jorge Mateo and Luis Severino.

Problem is it’s not good enough. The Yankees need to continue to draft better. Most importantly, these guys need to develop into stars. It remains to be seen if Judge, Bird, Mateo and Severino could be the next Yankees’ Core Four.

There are too many questions about Cashman. It’s hard to give him the benefit of the doubt. Remember he only won because he inherited a great team that was built by his predecessors in Gene Michael and Bob Watson. It also helped he could buy players off free agency back in the last decade.

Baseball is a different world. Cashman has to adapt. Who knows if he can?

His body of work has not been good lately. Maybe it has gotten to the point Cashman’s time has ran its course. A general manager with a better vision could be the right fit for a team that needs a fresh perspective.

The Yankees need to rebuild eventually. Rebuild as in doing it the Astros way or the Cubs way in past years. That means dealing with lean years. They need a general manager that knows how to rebuild a team from the ground up.  A general manager like Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer would fit that description.

What the Yankees don’t need is a general manager that continues to rely on free agency to build a team. This isn’t 2001 anymore.

Girardi has been awful as Yankees manager. Sure, he has a winning record, but he has had great teams and the best he could do is win one championship only. He also had his team missing the playoffs three times under his resume. This is unacceptable for a team that has a high payroll.

He continues to overmanage. He has zero feel for the game. He relies on the binder of spreadsheets to make decisions rather than go with his gut. He burns the bullpen too often. He does not play the young players much as Rob Refsnyder can attest. When was the last time he managed a team to a victory the way Buck Showalter does for the Orioles or Joe Maddon does for the Cubs?

Plus, it does not seem like the players play for Girardi. Too many times, they don’t seem to play with a sense of purpose. They looked defeated often. Once the other team takes the lead in the game, the Yankees give up.

The Yankees have gone as far as they could with Girardi. He has yet to show he can manage a young team. He has yet to show he is the right man moving forward. He can’t seem to inspire guys to play hard every game.

Girardi is an average manager at best. The Yankees can do better than him.

Cashman and Girardi have no reason to fear about their job security. They know working for the Yankees is now a country club atmosphere under Hal Steinbrenner’s reign of error.

That has to change.

It’s clear George’s son does not have it in him in looking for a new general manager and manager. It takes so much work, and Hal’s not a baseball guy. He trusts guys who he has known.

That’s all well and good, but if there is a malaise going on with the franchise, things have to change.

The Yankees can’t be stale forever.

Cashman and Girardi should be on the clock right now.

They need to show they are the right men for the job.

Only way they can show it is if the Yankees make it to the World Series this season.