Mark Teixeira’s hamstring just gave out and the Yankees season may face a similar diagnosis.
“The last six weeks have been really tough,” Teixeira said after being diagnosed with a Grade Two hamstring strain that ended his season. “Every ounce of energy I’ve had is to try and get healthy or try to be able to play. My body just said that’s it, that’s enough.”
Funny. That’s what most Yankees fans are saying after a 10-3 Game 4 loss that gave the Rangers a 3-1 AL Championship Series lead.
Teixeira’s hamstring failed in the fifth inning as the Yankees were clinging to a 3-2 lead – their first since the final two innings of the series opener Friday. As he ran toward first, Teixeira grabbed the back of his right leg, winced in pain and walked off the field for an MRI that revealed the injury will keep him out for six to eight weeks.
“Barring some miracle, he won’t be with us and playing,” manager Joe Girardi said.
The Yankees have three chances to make a miracle happen and it starts tonight with CC Sabathia pitching on normal rest. After that, they face two must-wins in Texas, including a second encounter with Cliff Lee on Saturday.
If they even get to that point, it will have to be better than what they showed from the sixth inning and beyond last night.
“Win and then you go from there,” Girardi said. “As I said, it’s a very tough-minded group in there and they have bounced back a lot, not just this year but in their careers and they understand what that’s all about.”
Teixeira’s injury triggered a series of painful events for the Yankees, who tried to push their luck with A.J. Burnett starting after going 10-15 in the regular season and not pitching since Oct. 2 in Boston.
Burnett gave five bend but don’t break innings, allowing two runs in the third. Then the roof caved in.
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The eighth pitcher to be five games under .500 or worse in the regular season and get a postseason start since 1969, Burnett threw the ball well until the sixth.
It started with leadoff single to Vladimir Guerrero (4-for-5) on a 2-2 pitch. After Nelson Cruz advanced to second on Ian Kinsler’s deep fly out to center field, the Yankees decided to intentionally walk David Murphy.
One pitch later the strategy was a failure because Burnett missed the location of a first-pitch fastball and Bengie Molina – the brother of ex-personal catcher Jose – crushed the pitch into the left field seats for a 5-3 lead.
“I missed it. It’s the only one I left over the middle,” Burnett said.
The offense, which has been putrid other than eighth inning in Game 1, knocked out Tommy Hunter after 3 1/3 innings but did little off the righty and even less against four Texas relievers, who combined to give up two hits the rest of the way.
The Yankees were 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position and are 6-for-39 in the series. That problem was spotlighted in a prominent way in the eighth and facing a 7-3 deficit.
With the bases loaded and one out, the Yankees came up empty. Nick Swisher (0-for-9 with runners in scoring position), flied out weakly to center and Lance Berkman, who likely will play first for however long the season continues, grounded into a force.
Then Texas continued their fireworks as Josh Hamilton smoked a home run off Boone Logan in the seventh, then another off Sergio Mitre in the ninth — his fourth of the series. Two batters later Nelson Cruz crushed a pitch to left field and that was that.
In less than 24 hours, the Rangers could be the first team to celebrate anything on the new Yankee Stadium field but that is only if the Yankees continue their putrid path.
“They’ve got a great mojo going right now,” Berkman said. “They’re a cohesive unit. You can tell they enjoy playing together and they’re dangerous.
“I’m biased toward our lineup but outside of our lineup, I feel like they’ve got the best lineup in the game. When you got to navigate that and you’re not perfect, they can hurt you and they’ve done that the last couple of nights.”
YANKEES NOTES:
Girardi said the move to intentionally walk Murphy ahead of Molina was based on numbers.
Murphy was 5-for-17 off Burnett with one home run and four walks. The home run was in one of Burnett’s three starts against Texas this year.
Molina was 1-for-5 lifetime off Burnett with the one hit coming this year.
It is not the first time a Molina has hit a big home run off a New York pitcher in the LCS. Exactly four years ago, Yadier Molina stunned a Shea Stadium crowd with a two-run home run off Aaron Heilman in Game 7. The Cardinals eventually won the World Series and the Mets have yet to recover.
It also continued Molina’s history as a Yankee playoff-killer. Molina has five playoff home runs run and four have been off Yankee pitching. Not only that, 12 of his 19 postseason RBI have been against the Yankees and he is the 16th player to hit at least four postseason home runs off the Yankees.
Hamilton became the second Ranger to have a multi-home run playoff game. The other was Juan Gonzalez in Game 2 of the 1996 ALDS.
Hamilton also is the fourth left-handed hitter in postseason history to hit at least three home runs off lefties in a postseason series.
The previous three were Rusty Staub with the Mets in the 1973 NLCS vs. Reds, Jim Thome for the 1998 Indians against the Yankees in the ALCS and Chase Utley in the 2009 World Series.
