ANAHEIM, Calif. – Aura and Mystique have been replaced by Blind Faith.
And, no Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Steve Winwood aren’t reuniting for a Yankee Stadium gig.
With his team on the verge of being eliminated and facing the final homestand at the current Yankee Stadium, manager Joe Girardi still believes. And Girardi said he believes his players haven’t stopped believing.
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“I still think we have something to play for,” Girardi said after the AL West champion Angels hung a 4-2 loss on the Yankees yesterday in front of 39,783 at Angel Stadium. “I still believe our guys believe we have something to play for.”
Yet, the digits don’t fib. And Girardi’s players talked more about playing for pride and showing respect for the colossal paychecks and a baseball cathedral on its last legs than getting into October.
The loss sent the 77-69 Yankees home from a 10-game, four-city road trip with a 5-5 record. The Yankees are 11 games behind the first-place Rays and 8½ games back of the wild card-leading Red Sox with 16 games remaining. Ten of those are at Yankee Stadium, which closes Sept. 21.
“It’s a bad feeling,” left-hander Andy Pettitte said of a dark October.
“Especially because I work so hard for October. It’s extremely disappointing. I would hope people play for pride and they get paid an awful lot of money to do a job. I hope that would account for something.”
Girardi pointed to the Yankees getting two runners on in the ninth against Francisco Rodriguez as an indication the effort remains in a very tired lineup. Nevertheless, when Dustin Moseley, Kevin Jepsen and Jose Arredondo hold you to three hits across seven innings it’s easy to assume the Yankees know it’s over.
“It’s strange, we thought we would be pressing for a playoff spot,” Johnny Damon said. “But we still owe it to our fans and the Stadium to play hard. We still have the pride aspect to play for.”
And nothing else. But that isn’t anything new. The Post ran the Yankees’ obituary on Aug. 14 on the front page.
Known as an elite second-half pitcher, Pettitte’s post-All Star slump continued when he gave up four runs (three earned) and nine hits in 42/3 innings. He is 3-6 since the break.
“I am giving up a lot of hits and I am not getting the job done,” said Pettitte, who at 13-13 is in danger of experiencing the first losing season of his career.
Pettitte says “I am banged up” but doesn’t go into detail. The left elbow is good. But when asked about the shoulder, he dances around the question.
Yesterday, it appeared he was going to waltz out of trouble in the fifth inning and keep a 2-1 Yankees lead.
After the Angels loaded the bases with three straight singles, Pettitte caught Juan Rivera and Kendry Morales looking. At 3-2 against Robb Quinlan, Pettitte was a strike away from escaping. Instead, with the runners moving, Quinlan laced a single to left.
Gary Matthews, Jr. and Garret Anderson scored easily and when Xavier Nady’s foolish throw to third sailed by Alex Rodriguez, Guerrero raced home with a 4-2 advantage the Yankees never came close to matching until the ninth.
Angels 4 Yankees 2