Yanks miss chance to ensure playoff spot
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SEATTLE — Joe Girardi has been insisting his Yankees will need to go out and earn their playoff spot in the final two weeks of the regular season.
After stumbling twice in Seattle, look where New York is with two weeks left in the season: one win from clinching a postseason spot.
The Yankees' next chance to wrap up the long-expected playoff ticket comes Monday night against the Los Angeles Angels.
Ken Griffey Jr. drove in a season-high four runs with a double and three-run homer, and the Mariners put the Yankees' postseason party on hold with a 7-1 win on Sunday, taking two of three in the series.
"These are important games this week. They are important at any point," Girardi said. "As I said all along, I think this will go right down to the end and nobody is going to hand you the thing."
The Yankees can secure their 14th playoff berth in 15 years with a victory at the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night or a Texas loss at Oakland. The Yankees lead the AL East by five games over Boston with 12 to play.
Seeing Andy Pettitte throw on Monday will be an important step in the postseason preparations for the Yankees. He was scratched from his last start with a tired pitching shoulder and the Yankees hope his final couple of starts before the playoffs show that their most experienced pitcher is prepared for postseason pressure.
"Our guys are frustrated that we aren't winning more games, but everything has went really, really well the second half," Girardi said. "We've run into a bump and we've got to straighten it out."
One of New York's biggest remaining playoff questions only became more vexing on Sunday when Joba Chamberlain struggled from the start and barely made it through three innings.
Chamberlain (8-6) gave up seven runs and six hits, including the double and homer by Griffey, making him the 405th pitcher to surrender a long ball to the aging Mariners' star. Girardi said after the game that he expects Chamberlain to be the Yankees' No. 4 starter in the playoffs, but needs to get the burly right-hander back on track before October arrives.
"I let my teammates down. It was pretty much embarrassing what I did, not being able to pick my team up and get out of here with a series win," Chamberlain said.
Chamberlain gave up consecutive two-out doubles in the first to Jose Lopez and Griffey, then allowed a dribbling grounder to center by Adrian Beltre to score Griffey for a 2-0 Seattle lead.
In the second, Chamberlain had a chance to escape the inning with just two runs, getting ahead of Griffey in the count 1-2. He tried sneaking a down-and-in fastball past Griffey, but the veteran slugger was waiting and dropped the barrel of the bat for his 627th career homer and 16th this season.
"When (Griffey) hits a ball like he did today, you don't see age," Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu said. "That's a beautiful swing."
Tigers 6, Twins 2
In Minneapolis, Placido Polanco drove in three runs, Detroit's bullpen pitched four shutout innings and the Tigers avoided a three-game sweep with a win over the Twins to increase their AL Central lead to three games.
Ryan Raburn homered for slumping Detroit, which won for the second time in six games and fourth in 13.
Minnesota, which had won six straight, got two hits from Joe Mauer, who increased his batting average to a major league-best .374.
The teams meet again for four games at Comerica Park beginning Sept. 28. It will wrap up a 10-game road trip for Minnesota, and begin a seven-game, final-week homestand for the Tigers, who have three games each in Cleveland and Chicago before going home.
Red Sox 9, Orioles 3
At Baltimore, Jason Bay and Jacoby Ellsbury both homered and drove in three runs to lead Daisuke Matsuzaka and the Red Sox past the Orioles.
Bay's 35th homer tied a career high, and the three RBIs gave him a career-best 110. The slugger sat out Saturday's game with flulike symptoms after leaving Friday's game early for the same reason.
The victory, combined with the Texas Rangers' loss to Los Angeles, reduced Boston's magic number to win the AL wild card to seven. The Red Sox have an eight-game lead over the Rangers.
Royals 2, White Sox 1
At Chicago, Robinson Tejeda won his third straight start and Mitch Maier had an RBI single for the Royals, who have won 10 of their last 13.
Since moving from the bullpen to the starting rotation on Sept. 4, Tejeda (4-1) is 3-0. He has allowed just two runs over 22 1-3 innings as a starter.
Angels 10, Rangers 5
At Arlington, Texas, Gary Matthews Jr. snapped out of his September slump with a tiebreaking homer and a two-run single for the Angels.
Howie Kendrick drove in five runs with a two-run homer and a bases-loaded triple for the Angels (89-60), who won two of three in the series. Juan Rivera and Chone Figgins also homered.
Rays 3, Blue Jays 1
At St. Petersburg, Fla., David Price allowed one run over 6 2-3 innings, Carl Crawford hit a two-run homer and the Rays beat Roy Halladay again.
The Rays are 4-1 against Halladay this year, and became the first team to beat the Toronto ace four times in a season.
Athletics 11, Indians 4
At Oakland, Calif., Adam Kennedy had three hits and drove in three runs to help the Athletics tie their season-high seven-game win streak.
Ryan Sweeney added two RBIs as the A's improved to 12-2 in their last 14.
Kennedy had run scoring single in the second, a double in the fourth and two-run home run in the sixth. It was his 11th homer of the season.
Source: The Associated Press
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