What looked like typical Yanks rally just fizzles

The Yankees' resolve is usually as unbending as the laws of physics, which made the late innings so perplexing Monday. It was just as hard to fathom how Marcus Thames' shot didn't make it over the fence as it was to figure out how the Yankees came up short three times.

Thames' double off the top few inches of the wall in right-centerfield was both pivotal and symbolic of the 2-1 loss to the Red Sox, who are holding on to postseason hope by their fingernails. It looked as if Thames actually had tied the game with a two-run shot in the seventh inning, but the ball scraped off the wall, went for a double and contributed to a frustrating bases-loaded, no-outs scoreless inning. That was prologue to a blistering effort by relievers Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon.

"I hit it hard. I can't guide it after it leaves my bat," Thames said. "It was just a few inches away."

Jorge Posada, who was on first base after having led off the seventh with a single against starter Jon Lester, said: "I have no idea where it hit or anything. I thought he hit it good enough to go out."

Not quite. But it looked good enough to set up a patented Yankees rally. "You expect that from this team," said Austin Kearns, who followed Thames' double by reaching first as a hit batsman. "I think you take your chances with this lineup. It just didn't happen today."

What happened instead was Bard came in throwing smoke; darting, diving smoke at that. After Lester struck out Curtis Granderson, Bard struck out Derek Jeter and Nick Swisher each on three pitches, each on fastballs in the high 90s, each leaving the bases full.

"I had some success against [Jeter] in the past, fortunately, and just kind of stuck with what had worked. I pitched him down and in and elevated," Bard said. "Swisher has kind of had my number. It really felt good to get him in that situation, too."

Swisher said, "That last pitch he threw me, man, 99 miles an hour, it's not supposed to move like that."

And Yankees games aren't supposed to end like this: Mark Teixeira did hit a home run against Bard in the eighth and the Yankees did get two runners on base, but Bard retired pinch hitter Lance Berkman on a short pop to leftfield and Papelbon came in and retired Kearns on an inning-ending groundout.

The Yankees did have the tying run on second in the ninth - Jeter walked and stole second - but Papelbon struck out both Swisher and Teixeira.

"I had three chances and I couldn't make it happen," said Swisher, who also struck out with two on in the fifth. "You'd like to tip your cap, but we should have at least tied the game and see what happens from there.

"Marcus' ball didn't go over the wall. Sometimes that's going to happen."

Teixeira said that Bard and Papelbon might represent the best eighth-and-ninth inning combination in baseball. "They made some big pitches when they needed to," he said. "It was kind of a bend but don't break attitude."