Missing Key Players, Yankees Drop 3rd in Row

The numerical obstacle facing the Yankees on Tuesday was imposing. They faced a five-game deficit in the American League wild-card standings, with only 21 games left to play.

That was challenging enough, but what made the task even more difficult was that they faced the Tampa Bay Rays without two of their most productive players, Brett Gardner and Martin Prado.

Gardner has a strained abdominal muscle, and Prado has a strained left hamstring muscle. Their absences forced Manager Joe Girardi to start Chris Young, a Mets castoff who made his first start since he was signed as a free agent on Aug. 27.

'It's definitely different,' Girardi said of playing without Gardner and Prado. 'But I've always said it's an opportunity for someone to step up, and they're going to have to.'

Young, a bust for the Mets, who signed him to a one-year, $7.25 million contract, did his part. He entered the game with a .204 batting average and had not had a hit since Aug. 5. His last run batted in came on July 30, when the Mets beat the Phillies.

But he drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single to left that brought the Yankees to within a run in the fifth inning. They could not score again, though, and lost their third straight game, 4-3.

Hiroki Kuroda had his shortest start of the season, giving up four runs and nine hits in three and a third innings. The Yankees did not score until the fourth, when Jacoby Ellsbury hit a bases-empty home run. Then they opened the fifth with three batters in a row reaching base against the hard-throwing Chris Archer. That brought up Young, who whipped a single to left field, scoring Chase Headley and Ichiro Suzuki.

Ellsbury followed with a fourth consecutive single, but Stephen Drew was thrown out at home by left fielder Matt Joyce. The Yankees called for a review, arguing that catcher Ryan Hanigan had blocked the plate without the ball, but the play stood as called. Derek Jeter then lined into a double play, leaving Young's single as the Yankees' most productive hit of the night. His last game with two R.B.I. was on July 13.

Young was released by the Mets on Aug. 15. The Yankees sent him to Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and when they called him up on Sept. 2, they gave him Robinson Cano's old number (24) and Alex Rodriguez's old locker.

He said he could see the novelty in being dumped by a team that was then thought to be completely out of playoff contention, only to be added to a team that was then thought to be in the heat of a playoff race.

But the Mets won their third straight game on Tuesday and are only five and a half games out of a playoff spot not much farther back in their race than the Yankees were in theirs. The bigger difference was that the Mets are five games under .500 and the Yankees were five games over .500 before the day began.

But if Gardner and Prado miss extended games, that situation may change. Gardner has been one of the Yankees most valuable players. He is only batting .269, but he has 16 home runs, 56 runs batted in and 220 total bases, second only to Ellsbury's 226 entering Tuesday's game.

Gardner last played on Friday against the Kansas City Royals. He was scheduled to see Dr. Christopher Ahmad, the Yankees team physician, Tuesday night, but there was no certainty when he would be able to return.

'I'm not sure when we'll get him back,' Girardi said before the game. 'It is a concern of mine.'

Girardi also expressed concern about Prado, who first injured his hamstring Sept. 2. He missed the next three games and then played on Saturday and Sunday, but was unable to play Tuesday.

'There's concern about him playing on that where he could worsen his hamstring to where it becomes serious issue,' Girardi said. 'It's still bothering him. Even though I told him to guard it - and he did, he did a good job - there's concern.'

Prado has a .298 batting average in 31 games since joining the Yankees in a July trade. He has five home runs, nine doubles and 13 runs batted in during that time for a .509 slugging percentage.

INSIDE PITCH

MASAHIRO TANAKA threw 45 pitches in a simulated game Tuesday and Joe Girardi said that if Tanaka feels well in the next few days, his next step will be another simulated game, and then could pitch in a real game after that. 'I think that's possible to look at, yeah,' Girardi said. Tanaka is recovering from a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.

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