 In July , with the passings of Bob Sheppard , public address announcer for the Yankees , on July 11 at the age of 99 , and principal owner and managing partner of the Yankees , George Steinbrenner , at the age of 80 , both teams opened the second half at their respective stadiums with a moment of silence for Steinbrenner and Sheppard . The Red Sox , struggling to get out of third place , failed to make the playoffs for the second time in five years , but played spoiler during the final series of the season , knocking the Yankees out of first place in the American League East , relegating them to the wild @-@ card for the 2010 season . 
