Sep 07, 2008 8:34 AM EST

The Yankees may be 7 1/2 games behind the Red Sox for the AL Wild Card, but they refuse to give up just yet, according to Newsday.

"You phrased it like we were dead. We're not dead yet," Manager Joe Girardi told a reporter. "Obviously, it's a big hill, and we understand that. But we still have life and we're still playing baseball, and it's meaningful baseball."

"We haven't given up. I haven't given up," Hideki Matsui added.

The Yankees have twenty games left, including three against the Red Sox to end the season. That means New York will need to gain at least five games on Boston over their next seventeen contests.

Via Newsday