For Yankees, October Has an Early End_英文原版

detroit, oct. 7 — they have won almost 600 games over six regular seasons, spending nearly $1 billion on salaries. they have imported some of the biggest stars in baseball, created their own cable network, set attendance records at their ballpark and broken ground on a new one.

but the one thing that used to define the yankees, the boast spelled out across the marquee at yankee stadium, has escaped them. the yankees no longer win championships.

another year is over, and another chance is gone. the yankees shuffled meekly from the postseason stage saturday, falling to the detroit tigers, 8-3, in game 4 of their american league division series at comerica park.

one new york team is alive in the postseason, but it is the mets. there is still baseball on the west coast, where the oakland athletics have clinched a spot in the a.l. championship series.

the tigers have reawakened a dormant midwest baseball town, breezing into their first a.l.c.s. in 19 years. and the st. louis cardinals lead their playoff series against the san diego padres, two games to one.

but the yankees, who have ruled october for much of baseball history, are a first-round casualty for the second season in a row, their season expiring when robinson canó grounded to second base against jamie walker.

the yankees have not won the world series since 2000. two stars from that team, derek jeter and jorge posada, batted .500 this series. the rest of the yankees hit .173.

the yankees’ lineup scored the most runs in the majors this season, and at the start of the series, every player in it had been named to an all-star team. but the tigers, statistically, had the stingiest pitching staff in the game. pitching prevailed.

on saturday, the tigers led by 7-0 before the yankees even put a runner on base. facing elimination, the yankees went down in order in each of the first five innings against jeremy bonderman.

their plight was personified by alex rodriguez, who batted eighth on saturday for the first time since may 7, 1996. he went 0 for 3 in game 4, with a crucial two-out error in the third inning, and was 1 for 14 in the series.

rodriguez realized the fans’ worst fears about him, folding in the very part of the season that mattered most. since the yankees took a three-games-to-none lead over boston in the 2004 a.l.c.s., he has 5 hits in 46 postseason at-bats.

rodriguez has no runs batted in over his last 12 playoff games. he was due up next when the season ended, and he watched from the on-deck circle as the tigers celebrated. rodriguez tapped his cleats with his bat handle and slowly descended the dugout steps.

the winter will be filled with speculation that the yankees might be better off without rodriguez, who can veto any trade. the yankees also could part ways with gary sheffield, who went 1 for 12 in the series and whose contract has expired.

the yankees hit their stride this season without sheffield and hideki matsui, all-star outfielders who missed most of the year with wrist injuries. they returned in september and each reclaimed his lineup spot.

a loaded bench may be a good problem to have, but it is a problem just the same. there seemed to be an intangible missing, and manager joe torre sensed that quickly in this series.

after the yankees lost game 2, when they had just one hit in 15 at-bats with runners on base, torre benched sheffield for an old standby, bernie williams.

williams was hitless in the game 3 shutout. in game 4 on saturday, melky cabrera made a cameo and jason giambi sat.

rodriguez, who began the series deep down in the sixth hole, has become a one-man drama. his presence may finally be wearing down the yankees. in his pregame news conference, torre bristled at a question about rodriguez’s position in the lineup.

“as far as alex hitting eighth,” torre said, “he’s hitting eighth and we’re trying to win a ballgame.”

by the time rodriguez came to bat, with one out in the third, the yankees were already losing by three runs. while bonderman fired fastballs at 96 miles an hour, the tigers all but took batting practice against starter jaret wright.

the tigers did not swing and miss until wright’s 37th pitch. he gave up two home runs in the second inning, the first by magglio ordóñez, who has a special appreciation for this chance.

before last season, ordóñez left his team of eight seasons, the chicago white sox