(
)
ST. PETERSBURG — Blame oozed from one wall of the Yankees’ clubhouse to the other last night.
Standing on the left side of the somber room was Mark Teixeira, shouldering the blame for a 4-3 loss to the Rays in front of 21,742 at Tropicana Field.
Across from Teixeira, David Robertson pointed the finger at himself.
“I blew the game,’’ said Robertson, who gave up a pinch-hit, RBI double to the light-hitting Brooks Conrad in the seventh inning that tied the score, 3-3. “That’s not on Tex. I should have been able to get Conrad out. I let everybody down.’’
When Elliot Johnson’s hard smash got by Teixeira for a three-base error that scored Conrad with the eventual winning run, the first baseman shouldered the load.
“I really don’t know, I just missed it. I didn’t get leather on it,’’ said Teixeira, who was charged with his first error of the season. “It was a bad time. I take pride in saving runs and I gave one back tonight. I still have to knock it down. The ball didn’t do what I wanted it to do. We should still be playing if I make that play.’’
There were other culprits — Boone Logan walked pinch-hitter Sean Rodriguez with one out and the bases empty in the seventh. The Yankees scored two gift runs in the first thanks to right fielder Hideki Matsui botching Teixeira’s routine fly ball and just one more run across the final eight frames.
And manager Joe Girardi’s decision to allow Freddy Garcia to face Carlos Pena in the sixth with one out, the bases empty and the Yankees leading 2-1 was second-guessed by some because Girardi had lefty Clay Rapada ready for the lefty-swinging Pena.
“Track record and the way he was throwing the ball,’’ Girardi said of Garcia, whom Pena was 4-for-41 (.098) against, including hitless in the first two at-bats.
Yet, Garcia missed with a 2-1 slider, Pena belted a home run and the score was tied, 2-2.
“He was looking for it,’’ Garcia said of Pena. “It was a slider to the middle of the plate.’’
Other than solo homers to B.J. Upton and Pena, Garcia pitched well, taking over for Andy Pettitte in the rotation.
“I’ll take two solo shots anytime,’’ said Garcia, who started for the fifth time this year and first time since April 28. “I’m looking forward to my next start.’’
Since Pettitte isn’t expected back until September at the earliest, Garcia will be a rotation mainstay if he pitches the way he did last night.
In 5 1/3 innings he allowed two runs, five hits, didn’t issue a walk and fanned four.
The only run the Yankees scored against lefty Matt Moore after the first was in the seventh, when Curtis Granderson’s sacrifice fly plated Chris Stewart for a 3-2 cushion.
“We had a lead a couple of times and we weren’t able to hold it,’’ Girardi said.
That’s because Robertson, whose reputation for escaping jams, didn’t.
“I have to be able to get outs,’’ said Robertson, who maintained he is completely healed from the left rib cage injury that sidelined him for a month. “I couldn’t throw the first breaking ball for a strike and then I didn’t get it in enough. He got enough of the pitch to pull it off the wall and it [stinks].’’
george.king@nypost.com