As the wild-card Yankees made plans for their postseason opener Thursday at Cleveland, Posada and second baseman Robinson Cano did not play. Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon were all lifted in the fourth inning.

Chien Ming-Wang and Andy Pettitte will start the first two games for the Yankees against C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona. If his elbow and hamstring are ready, Roger Clemens figures to start Game 3 at Yankee Stadium, with Mike Mussina likely to pitch Game 4.

But first, there was the regular-season finale.

Rodriguez went 2-for-2 with a walk before being removed by Posada, designated to manage in a Torre tradition in which he allows a veteran to run the team in the final game if it is meaningless. With an RBI single off Brian Burres (6-8) in the first inning, Rodriguez moved past Joe DiMaggio into sole possession of 10th place on New York's season RBIs list.

Rodriguez, heading toward a third AL MVP award, finished with a .314 batting average and 54 home runs, tied with Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle for the fourth-highest season total in franchise history.

Wilson Betemit had three RBIs, and Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi each drove in two runs for the Yankees, who were 21-29 on May 29 before coming back to finish 94-68 — their fewest wins since 2000. Abreu wound up with 101 RBIs, reaching 100 for the fifth straight time and sixth overall.

Chase Wright (2-0) got the win, pitching two innings of relief after starter Sean Henn allowed one run and one hit in three innings.

In the seventh, Posada went to the mound to remove Ross Ohlendorf and summon standout rookie Joba Chamberlain. The right-hander retired his only batter to finish with an 0.38 ERA in 24 innings.

Kevin Millar and J.R. House hit solo homers for the Orioles, who lost 28 of their last 39 games. They were outscored 208-185 in that span.

Baltimore finished fourth in the AL East at 69-92, their 10th straight losing season since winning the 1997 division title.

New York led 2-1 before batting around during a four-run fourth inning. Doug Mienkiewicz led off with a double and Jose Molina singled before Damon drove in a run with an infield hit. Jeter walked, Abreu hit a run-scoring grounder and Rodriguez walked to load the bases before being replaced by pinch-runner Bronson Sardinha.

When Rodriguez reached the dugout, he was hugged by Torre and slapped high fives with his teammates. Giambi was hit by a pitch to force in a run, and Betemit hit an RBI grounder.