This was the perfect ending for the imperfect team. The charade officially is over.
The $62 million Rays blew the doors off the Yankees on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium, 8-3, thanks to two home runs by Evan Longoria.
The Yankees officially were eliminated from postseason play during the eighth inning, when the Indians finished off the White Sox, 7-2. At that moment the 37,260 fans were on their feet cheering as the Yankees had the bases loaded, hoping for a miracle comeback, but the season already was kaput.
It was a strange scene, but this has been one strange season.
There will be no October baseball for the Yankees for only the second time in 19 seasons. This year may be more like 1965 than 2008. This could be a long drought.
Those 2008 Yankees would have been the second wild-card team if there were two wild cards back then, so this is a whole new game the Yankees are playing, and they are in trouble.
After 2008 they were able to reload in a big way, signing CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira. With payroll restrictions ahead, this is a whole new offseason for the Yankees as well. Will they be able to make the moves necessary to become a playoff team again?
Robinson Cano said before the game it is no sure thing he will be back in The Bronx, compounding the Yankees’ woes. Many Yankees players boxed up items to be sent home before the game. There was defeat in the air before the game even started.
After the Yankees lost for the eighth time in the last 11 games, Cano talked about the sadness of not going to the postseason.
“The playoffs are the fun part of the game, I’m really sad right now,’’ Cano said.
The Yankees’ clubhouse was a somber place.
Alex Rodriguez, who was pulled for a pinch hitter in the eighth, never showed his face. His legs were hurting, manager Joe Girardi said, and that is why he took Rodriguez out of the game. You have to wonder if Rodriguez will play any more this season, and with a 211-game suspension looming, when will A-Rod be back in a meaningful Yankees game?
On one side of the clubhouse, Phil Hughes, who was the losing pitcher to drop to 4-14 with a 5.19 ERA in his Yankees’ swan song, talked about the disappointment of not performing well for the team in his free-agent season. “It was not a stuff issue,’’ Hughes said, saying his fastball had more life this year.
Hughes never could get the outs when needed, as opposing hitters locked onto his pitches.
On the other side of the clubhouse, Mariano Rivera, who is certain to make his final Yankee Stadium appearance Thursday night in the Yankees final home game of 2013, talked about how difficult it is to pitch in a meaningless game at Yankee Stadium, something that has not been done during his Hall-of-Fame tenure.
Rivera will do his best Thursday night. He wants to say goodbye to the fans.
“I will be there,’’ he said. “But I’m not used to pitching for something that doesn’t mean anything. I think we did our best, it wasn’t enough.’’
Now there are no more seasons for the great Rivera, and for the Yankees there is no October, just four meaningless games ahead.
“I’m sad because we are not going where we are supposed to go,’’ Rivera said.
The Yankees always have been about October. Now October has slipped through their fingers because they could not come up with enough victories to keep pace with a team like Cleveland.
Girardi was stunned. In his heart of hearts he felt the Yankees would find a way to overcome their problems and make a strong run in the postseason.
“You want to get to the postseason and have the chance to win the World Series,’’ Girardi said. “Yet, you are out before the postseason even starts, it’s extremely disappointing.’’
It’s over for these Yankees in so many ways.