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NEW YORK — It was a dribbler that barely caught wood and approached Nate Robertson. Plays that look this simple are often messed up for a variety of reasons. Usually the culprit is thinking too much. Or he's overzealous with the stakes so high. Or he's already lost half the battle because the batter possesses speed. And if speed doesn't kill, it veers your thought pattern off course. Or in the heat of the moment, you trip, which is what happened to Robertson.

Johnny Damon, who finished the season on a 3-for-30 slide, was begging for a break, and what helped him was the speed that gives fielders fits on slow rollers. First baseman Sean Casey admitted as much, noting that Damon's motor is always in the back of their minds. But in what was a recurring theme later in the Tigers' clubhouse, Robertson received the benefit of the doubt.

"When you're a left-handed pitcher, you're going to end up the opposite way of the diamond," said catcher Ivan Rodriguez. "That's what happened. He had to turn around and go get the ball."

Robertson said his left ankle gave way and all he remembers is falling down. He ended up on his hands and knees, trying in vain to pick up the baseball and throw to first base in one motion. By the time Robertson turned around, Damon reached the bag, the beneficiary of a cheap infield single to open the third inning.

"I thought I was a little better athlete than that," Robertson said. "Those kinds of balls are tough. The ball comes off a little funny and you have to judge the speed and the spin of it. If I just make a play and make an out, that inning could have been totally different. It's a very fragile game, especially in the playoffs. One little situation could trigger off something big. It changes a lot of different things."

Tuesday, a little slip changed the course of a ballgame, as Robertson was tagged for five runs on six hits in an explosion that sparked an 8-4 Yankee win that put Detroit in an 0-1 hole. True to their sunny disposition, the Tigers put a positive spin on Robertson's performance and their own. They noted the bulldog mentality they love about him and defended him to a fault, blaming a few hits that found holes for the end result. They were quick to note how they never give up, rallying for three runs in the fifth and another in the seventh on Curtis Granderson's home run off Mike Myers.

"We showed grit and played a good game," Robertson said.

But there's no camouflaging the Tigers' current predicament. A team 40 games over .500 and 10 games ahead in the AL Central on Aug. 7 finished 19-31 down the stretch and has lost six in a row. They've lost six of eight to the Yankees and are 4-18 at Yankee Stadium since 2001. Before Robertson got pounded, his offense did him no favors by blowing scoring chances in the second and third innings, a frustrating sequence that ended with Placido Polanco grounding into a double play.

"The big thing you learn right away is you have to manufacture as much as you can and get those runs across," Granderson said. "We get a couple of runs across in the first, second and third innings, it's a little different story. We put a little edge and different momentum on the game as we continue to go from that point."

The chain reaction had begun and the Yankees' volcanic offense erupted. Two pitches Robertson wished he had back were a slider that Bobby Abreu smoked for a two-run double and a fastball up and in that Jason Giambi, who is 6-for-10 vs. the left-hander, clobbered over the right field fence.

"Most people can't hit that out of the park," Robertson said. "It wasn't even a strike. He's a strong guy and he lifted it to the short porch in right."

Robertson was stingy against left-handers, holding them to an AL-best .181 average and allowing just two home runs during the regular season. But Abreu got him again in the sixth with a single that found a hole between first and second and plated two insurance runs. Robertson in all allowed seven runs on 12 hits in 5 2/3 innings.

"If it goes two feet to the left, Polanco makes an easy play and we're out of it, and it's 5-3 and you never know what happens," Robertson said. "I didn't feel like I threw terrible tonight, but they're dangerous. They just find a way to get hits."

And now the Tigers have to find a way to steal a game and new ways to parlay their optimism. Only the 1987 Twins and 2000 Yankees have entered the playoffs on losing streaks of at least five games. Both won the World Series, but both had the right mix of youth and experience.

All the Tigers have right now is perspective.

"We look at it as now 0 and 1 versus 0 and 6 because the season's done with," Granderson said. "And at the same time we can come back and even this thing out in one day. That's the fun part about being in the playoffs. Everyone is positive about that."