Lee outduels Moseley, beats Yankees, 4-1

ARLINGTON, Texas - The Yankees arrived in Texas having lost three of their last four, but still with a 2½-game lead over the Rays.

They left here fortunate to have any lead at all.

The Rangers completed a three-game sweep of the suddenly teetering Yankees, 4-1, Sunday behind one of Cliff Lee's best performances since he was traded to Texas in July.

After putting together an eight-game winning streak, the Yankees (87-56) have lost six of their last seven. Only Toronto's comeback win over Tampa Bay Sunday kept the Yankees in first place - by a half-game.

"We were in pretty good position to win a couple and we didn't," Joe Girardi said. "We lost some tough games. You find a way to bounce back."

The Yankees will need to do so quickly; they start a three-game set in St. Petersburg, Fla., Monday night against the Rays.

"It was a tough three games," said Derek Jeter, who had one of his team's two hits yesterday, a sixth-inning double that gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead. "But we're right in the position that I think every team wants to be in."

Which would be in the division lead, and still with the best record in baseball.

All of which could change as soon as tonight.

"It's not going to get any easier tomorrow," said Jorge Posada, who started behind the plate for the first time since Tuesday, when he took a foul ball off his mask and suffered concussion symptoms. "We just have to go and forget about this series and look forward to tomorrow and put this behind us."

Dustin Moseley nearly was the unlikeliest of heroes, matching Lee zero for zero through five innings.

Because the Yankees used a combined 13 relievers in the first two games of the series, both of which were walk-off one-run victories for Texas, Girardi was without Kerry Wood, David Robertson, Chad Gaudin, Boone Logan and Mariano Rivera yesterday. That left him with Jonathan Albaladejo, Sergio Mitre, Joba Chamberlain and Javier Vazquez.

Girardi needed length from Moseley, and he went 62/3 innings, allowing only one run through the first six. "He gave us exactly what we needed," Girardi said.

Moseley (4-3) allowed three hits through five shutout innings. Lee (11-8) no-hit the Yankees through 51/3 and didn't even allow a ball to reach the outfield until Eduardo Nuñez lined a single to center with one out in the sixth. Nuñez went to second on Greg Golson's grounder and scored on Jeter's double down the rightfield line.

But leadoff walks in the sixth and seventh innings cost Moseley, who had pitched only one-third of an inning in the previous 12 days.

The Rangers tied the score in their half of the sixth without managing a hit, as Elvis Andrus walked, stole second, reached third on a fly ball by Michael Young and beat Mark Teixeira's throw to the plate on David Murphy's grounder to first.

Texas again did the little things to break the tie in the seventh, scoring three runs after two were out. Ian Kinsler walked on a 3-and-2 pitch and reached third on fly balls to right by Mitch Moreland and Matt Treanor. Julio Borbon then dragged a well-placed bunt to the first-base side of the mound. Teixeira fielded it and flipped to Moseley, but Borbon beat the play with a headfirst dive to give Texas a 2-1 lead.

"Derek came up to me and said even though there's two outs, be ready for this guy to bunt," Moseley said. "I think we were ready for it. He just put it in a perfect place."

Borbon stole second and scored on a single to center by Andrus, who took second on the throw home. Young's RBI single off Albaladejo made it 4-1.

"I feel good about this team and I still believe we're going to play extremely well down the stretch," Girardi said.

Jeter said of the Tampa Bay series: "They're all big now. We have 19 games left, we're basically tied and that's the team we're tied with. So this is the position you want to be in. You don't have to worry about what another team is doing. You don't have to look at any scoreboards. We control what happens."