And then there was done

It's the morning of August 12, and what has been looming like a dark cloud of the New York Yankees all season is now blatantly obvious.  Their season is done.

The Yankees came out strong early in last night's game in Minnesota against the Twins, who led them by two-and-a-half games in the AL Wild Card race going into the day.  Against struggling Twins' lefty Glen Perkins, the Yankees picked up two hits in a scoreless first and then put runners on the corners with nobody out in the second.

In Chicago, meanwhile, the Red Sox, the Wild Card leaders and four games better than the Yankees, were being no-hit by John Danks of the White Sox.  Things looked good.

And by the end of the night, the Yankees--who managed just one hit from the third inning on--had lost, and both the Red Sox and the AL East leading Tampa Bay Rays had won.

The events of the day left the Yankees in third place in both the AL East, where the trail the Rays by nine games, and in the Wild Card race, where they trail the Red Sox by five.

And that spells a wrap for the Yankees, a team whose offense--which just can't seem to get going and, even worse, seems to routinely blow the few opportunities that they do create--and suddenly horrific bullpen ruin good start after good start from a rotation that's pitching way over its head.

A team that's trying to make up that kind of distance in such a short period of time can't rely on Sidney Ponson, Dan Giese, and Darrell Rasner--and they certainly can't squander the games that those guys actually pitch well.  And as the icing on the cake, Andy Pettitte has struggled recently, leaving right-handed veteran Mike Mussina--whom many at the beginning of the season dismissed as being done and a sure bet to be banished to the bullpen--as the only reliable starter in the rotation.

With their experience and the talent of names on the roster, no matter how bad it looked on the field, it was impossible to count the Yankees out--until today.  Today the Yankees are officially done.  For the first time since 1994--the strike-shortened season which the Yankees finished with the best record in the American League--and for the first time since Buck Showalter was the manager, the Yankees will not make the playoffs.

The Yankees, despite all that talent and all that experience, have played themselves right out of the postseason picture.

The teams ahead of them are too good and have built up too much of a lead.  And there's just too little time to overcome the defecit.  No matter what kind of a run the Yankees put together, they just won't be able to make it to October.

The Yankees have put themselves in a bad situation.  And the way they're playing, it might have more of a chance of getting worse than it does of getting any better.