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All streaks must eventually come to an end. That's the essence of what a streak is.

However, the Yankees’ 10-game run ended in such a fashion that they easily could have extended it one more night. They played a tough game and lost to a Braves team that made one or two more plays than the Yankees did, and limited the damage when the hottest team in baseball was threatening.

There is certainly nothing to be ashamed of by losing a game, especially the way the Yankees did. It's going to happen quite a bit over the course of 162 games. It's no one's fault either. Hiroki Kuroda didn't pitch as well as he had in his previous four starts, but that's asking a lot. He had allowed only four earned runs in his previous 28 innings pitched. Joe Girardi even said, “I thought he threw a pretty decent game.”

The Yankees had their opportunities to win an 11^th straight and were thrown out at the plate twice; it was not to be. They still have a stellar record in interleague play (168-110) and a league-best record in the month of June (14-3) entering Wednesday’s action.

“I mean this is a tough loss,” Girardi said after the game. “We had some opportunities and we just weren't able to come through, but we've been playing well. We still played a pretty decent game tonight. I don't like any of them (losses), but we've been playing well and we'll just try to start a new streak tomorrow.”

The streak brought the team to a high mark of 16-games over .500 on the season. In the wider scope going back even before the streak, this team has still won 20 of its last 25 games. When this current stretch began, the Yankees were 21-21 after a devastating 6-0 loss to the Kansas City Royals back on May 21. Oh how things have changed in just a month.

Double-digit winning streaks don't happen very often, so when they do, they need to be cherished for the boost that they give an entire franchise. In fact, the last one the Yankees had in 2005 pulled that team out of a very similar early-season 11-19 hole.

Now the team can get back down to business and don't have to talk about winning streaks anymore. One more game with the Braves, three at Citi Field against the Mets this weekend and another big week at home next week will end a month the Yankees will soon not forget. When this team is marching toward another 90-plus win season, they can look back at the streak that turned the entire season around.

Follow Joe Auriemma on Twitter: @JoeAuriemmaYES