With Farewells to Rivera and Pettitte, the Sun Sets on Forever It ended on Saturday, the day before the Yankees honored Mariano Rivera, who brought a sense of calm to their tense empire as no other pitcher has. When Rivera took the mound Sunday, just a sliver of sunlight remained on the back slope of the hill. "You can't script it better," his former catcher Jorge Posada had said in the early innings, while Andy Pettitte toiled on that mound one last time. I'm super happy for both of them. They're at Yankee Stadium and the best crowd in the world. The scripts were so reliable once, when they were young. The Yankees welcomed four rookies in 1995, and together they won four titles in five seasons and another in 2009. Despite months of evidence that things are different now, Sunday promised something special, as past champions gathered to salute the great Rivera. "Baseball, while you're doing it, you think it's going to last forever," said Joe Torre, the Yankees" manager for 12 seasons. Some guys just drop out and move on, and when you get everybody together, it just conjures up all those memories. A ceremony that felt like Old-Timers" Day and a Hall of Fame induction promised one last gilded outcome. But as hard as these bruised Yankees have fought this season, they just did not have it in them. They lost, 2-1, vanquished by unfamiliar rookies named Adrianza and Noonan and Perez. The Yankees now trail in the playoff race by four games with six to play. "No regrets; it has been wonderful," Rivera said, reflecting after the game with his wife, Clara, by his side. The only thing is I wish we can be in a different position than where we are now. Barring a miracle, Rivera's final games as an active player will come next weekend at Minute Maid Park in Houston. If that seems wrong, remember that in 2008, the old Yankee Stadium closed with a September ground ball to Cody Ransom. Perfect endings are painfully elusive. The last time they missed the playoffs, the Yankees, at least, could expect things to turn. Nothing stopped them from spending wildly for free agents, and Derek Jeter, Rivera, Pettitte and Posada were still around to support Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez. Now, the Yankees want to cut payroll without any impact prospects on the way. Cano is facing free agency and Rodriguez a 211-game suspension. Even Jeter, who missed all but 17 games this season with leg injuries, acknowledged for the first time Sunday that he has thought about the end. "Before today, no," Jeter said. Our team is still trying to win games. But today, when you're standing out there for ceremonies and ovations for Andy, that's when you think about it. Jeter, naturally, had an honored role at Rivera's tribute, escorting his wife and children onto the field. When Pettitte left the mound in the eighth inning, Jeter - done for the season and wearing a sweatshirt - was the first to greet him on the dugout steps. "Jeet standing there when you go in there, it makes it difficult," Pettitte said. You start thinking about it. But then, of course, my head is right there, just going, "I just lost this game for us." " Two innings before, Pettitte had been working on the ultimate Hollywood ending: a no-hitter - what the heck, how about a combined gem with Rivera? - until Ehire Adrianza ruined it with his first career home run. It was 1-1 through seven, and on his final pitch, Pettitte gave up a double to Pablo Sandoval. In all these seasons, even his three with the Astros, Pettitte has never had a losing record. Now, with one start left, he is 10-11, because Sandoval scored when Tony Abreu doubled off Dave Robertson. Abreu almost never hits curveballs, Manager Joe Girardi said, explaining why Robertson, and not Rivera, was pitching then. This time, he did. Rivera came in with the lead already gone and faced Adrianza, who said he brought a different bat to the plate, fearing that Rivera would break the one he used for his home run. Wise move. Rivera snapped Adrianza's bat and struck him out on three pitches. Curtis Granderson made a sliding catch in center to end the inning, and Rivera waited to congratulate him before descending the dugout steps. He worked one more inning, and would have kept pitching had the Yankees tied it in the ninth. The game ended on a strikeout by J. R. Murphy, who was not yet born in 1990, when Rivera first signed with the Yankees out of Panama. "To America, that has given me the pleasure since I left my country 23 years ago," Rivera said, in his closing remarks to the fans. That's why America's a great country. Your Yankees are a great organization, and you guys, fans, are the best. So let's play ball. I love you guys. Thank you very much. Rivera meant that the Yankees had a game to play. But he does have to go, and Pettitte, too, and Jeter soon enough. Nothing lasts forever, and nobody knows what comes next.