Yankees blow big lead, fail to clinch playoff spot
Updated: 2007-09-26 15:33
NEW YORK - The New York Yankees failed to clinch the fourth and final American League playoff spot after blowing a 5-0 lead to lose 7-6 to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 10 innings on Tuesday.
The Yankees remained one game away from clinching a playoff spot and their 13th straight postseason bid after the Detroit Tigers won to stay alive. The Tigers have to win all four remaining games while the Yankees lose all five of theirs to force a one-game playoff.
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The Seattle Mariners were officially eliminated from the race after losing to the Cleveland Indians.
The Yankees also fell three games behind the winning Boston Red Sox in the Eastern Division. Any combination of three Red Sox wins and/or Yankee losses would break New York's nine-year hold on the division and give Boston the title.
"We just couldn't get the job done," Yankees manager Joe Torre told reporters.
Former Yankee farmhand Dioner Navarro led off the bottom of the 10th with a home run off reliever Jeff Karstens to enable the Devil Rays to level the season series with the Yankees at 8-8.
The Yankees walked 11 Tampa Bay hitters and the Devil Rays won with just five hits.
"We walked too many people," said Torre. "It's a helpless feeling, you don't give yourself a chance to get guys out."
Alex Rodriguez's grand slam -- his 53rd homer of the year -- led the Yankees to a 5-0 lead but Tampa Bay went ahead 6-5 on a grand slam by Jorge Velandia, the first home run of a 159-game Major League career that began in 1997. The Yankees tied the game at 6-6 before Navarro homered.
Johnny Damon had five hits, two runs scored and two stolen bases for New York, which will send Wang Chien-ming to the mound on Wednesday.
Roger Clemens had been scheduled to start for the Yankees on Tuesday but a hamstring injury ruled him out.
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