During a funereal pregame session with the media in which manager Joe Girardi was asked questions about what went wrong in 2013 and what might change next season, the manager was reminded the Yankees, technically, were still alive.
“You’re darn right we are,” Girardi said.
Not for long.
With Tuesday night’s 7-0 loss to the Rays in The Bronx — coupled with the Indians beating the White Sox — the Yankees’ tragic number was cut to one.
There was more resignation after the listless performance.
“It’s definitely hard,” Girardi said. “Because you work hard for a long time to put yourself in a good spot to get into the playoffs and right now, we need a ton of help and we need to win every game or we’re not going to get in. … It’s not a good feeling. It hurts.”
With one more loss — or one more win by Cleveland — the Yankees’ postseason hopes will be done, and they will sit out the playoffs for the first time since 2008 and the second time in 19 years.
On Tuesday, the culprits were another terrible first inning by Hiroki Kuroda and more missed opportunities by the lineup — not to mention a snafu on Mariano Rivera bobblehead night, when multiple transportation issues caused some fans to wait for hours to get their figurines.
They were the lucky ones, since they got to miss at least some of the lowlights on the field.
“We had opportunities, but runs have been tough for us lately,” said Girardi, whose team was shut out for the 11th time this season — the most for the Yankees since 1990.
“These guys carried us the first half of the season and they’re not going to be perfect,” Girardi said of the pitching staff. “At a time when we’ve needed to score some more runs, we haven’t been able to do it.”
They didn’t do either in this latest defeat.
Kuroda (11-13) gave up three runs in the top of the first, raising his first-inning ERA to 5.91. He has been unable to get out of a rut over his last eight starts, going 0-6 with a 6.56 ERA.
“Personally I don’t really feel that different, but I should’ve known what’s causing it and should have adjusted it,” Kuroda said through a translator. “But at this stage, I can’t really figure out why.”
Kuroda was a major reason why they are all but certain to fall short. Incredibly reliable over his first season and a half has been just the opposite lately.
His slippage seemingly came out of nowhere. Kuroda was brilliant in July, going 3-0 with a 0.55 ERA in five starts that month.
The 38-year-old will be a free agent and said he hadn’t thought about next season yet.
Despite Kuroda’s early-game issues, Tampa Bay starter Matt Moore (16-4) did his best to get the Yankees back in the game.
The left-hander walked six batters in the first four innings, but the Yankees were held hitless in 10 at-bats with runners in scoring position.
It started in the bottom of the first when Mark Reynolds whiffed with two on to end a threat.
The Yankees loaded the bases with one out in the third, but Reynolds and Eduardo Nunez were unable to get any runs in.
They added multiple baserunners in the fourth and fifth, but failed to score in either inning.
Now, after two straight losses they couldn’t afford, what little hope they may have had is fading fast.
“I think we all know the situation,” Vernon Wells said.