The second part of Smoke & Mirrors shattered last night at Yankee Stadium and then David Ortiz dragged a shard of glass across the Yankees’ throats.
During the first two months of the season, the Yankees hit the jackpot with Bartolo “Smoke” Colon and Freddy “Mirrors” Garcia, aging right-handers who exceeded every expectation by even the biggest Yankees supporter.
Last night Mirrors had no tricks, and the Red Sox pushed him out in the second inning of what developed into a 6-4 Yankees loss before a sold-out crowd of 48,450.
It appears the Yankees avoided a serious injury to Mark Teixeira, who had to be helped off the field after a Jon Lester cutter drilled him on the right knee. X-rays were negative, and Teixeira said he hopes to play tonight, but that seems doubtful after watching him limp out of the clubhouse with a bone bruise.
Jorge Posada replaced Teixeira and went 3-for-3 — including two hits off the lefty Lester — and walked.
Derek Jeter went 2-for-5 and, with nine games left on the homestand, is a dozen hits shy of 3,000.
In 1 2/3 innings, Garcia gave up four runs, four hits — three for extra bases — and walked three. Jacoby Ellsbury hit Garcia’s fifth pitch of the game for a homer that fueled a three-run first inning.
The Yankees scored a run in the first, two in the fifth and one in the ninth, making Ortiz’s two-run homer in the fifth off Hector Noesi proved the difference in the Red Sox’ sixth win in seven games against their blood rivals.
The Yankees got the potential tying run to the plate in the ninth on Posada’s two-out RBI single, but Jonathan Papelbon blew away Alex Rodriguez to end it.
The victory pulled the Red Sox into a tie for first with the Yankees in the AL East, though the Yankees lead by two percentage points.
As Ortiz left the batter’s box, he flipped his bat and it didn’t go unnoticed.
“He took a long time getting out of the box and you never want someone to do that to you,” catcher Russell Martin said. “It’s up to us to do that back at them. I like it better when he does it against other teams, not against us. He almost got hit by the [previous] pitch and kind of rubbed it in our faces.”
Defending Noesi, manager Joe Girardi didn’t like Ortiz’s act.
“I didn’t care for it,” Girardi said. “I don’t know if he was upset with the pitches earlier. I have a young kid on the mound. I don’t know if he was upset that he came in hard on him.”
Ortiz brushed aside Girardi’s comment.
“It’s not my first time, and it’s not going to be my last time,” Ortiz said. “So, big deal. I am a home run hitter. It’s not like I do it all the time, but it’s part of the excitement. What can I tell you?”
Lester improved to 8-2, but it was a struggle. In six frames he gave up three runs and eight hits. Robinson Cano singled in a run in the second to make it 3-1, but the Yankees missed a chance to score more when Nick Swisher grounded out with the bases loaded to end the inning. It made Swisher 1-for-23 (.043) with two outs and runners in scoring position, though he came through in that situation in the fifth to drive in two and make it 6-3.
As for Garcia, he was awful.
“I didn’t have a chance to throw all of my pitches and they took me out,” said Garcia, who had a two-game winning streak stopped and is 4-5. “That’s part of the game.”
So is getting spanked when your fastball isn’t located.
“He was up and behind,” Girardi said. “His stuff wasn’t crisp. It was the first time we have seen that from him. I don’t think he had much command of his fastball and they jumped on the off-speed almost like they knew it was coming.”
And left the field covered in broken glass that Ortiz dragged across the Yankees’ throats.
— Additional reporting by Mark Hale and Kevin Kernan
george.king@nypost.com