BOSTON -- The Yankees' 2008 season came to its end late Sunday with luggage cart wheels rolling through the damp concrete corridors of Fenway Park. It was a conclusion they had known for days would be reality, but now there was finality.

Players shook hands and exchanged promises to keep in touch over the winter after their 4-3 loss to the Red Sox in 10 innings, completing a day-night doubleheader on the season's final day.

It was a scene echoed in clubhouses across the league but ultimately foreign for the Yankees, who will have no October games scheduled for the first time in 13 seasons.

"If you don't win, it's a wasted year," captain Derek Jeter said. "That's the bottom line. It was a failure. We didn't do what we wanted to do. That's the only way you can pretty much look at it. We didn't accomplish anything we set out to accomplish."

In the season's final game, Jonathan Van Every's 10th-inning single off Jose Veras plated Alex Cora with the winning run, after Cora had tripled past a diving Melky Cabrera in right-center field to open the frame.

Sean Casey had given the Red Sox a 3-1 lead with a hit to center field off Darrell Rasner in the eighth, but Juan Miranda hit a sacrifice fly and Robinson Cano came through with a game-tying single in the ninth, part of a 5-for-9 doubleheader for the second baseman.

The Yankees had been officially eliminated from postseason contention since Tuesday, in Toronto, where they learned their fate by watching the scoreboard as Mariano Rivera worked the ninth inning of a win.

In a twist, the Yankees actually played their best baseball late in the season, when it was almost too late to make amends. New York won 12 of its final 15 games to finish 16 games above .500 at 89-73, good for third place in the American League East.

"All of a sudden, we started playing better, and it seemed like we were getting the big hits when we had to," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "We were winning some close games. I don't think it was a different effort -- it was just a different result. We played very good, and some young players came up and did a nice job for us."

Most of the roster will return home to clean out its Yankee Stadium lockers on Monday, having missed the postseason for the first time since the strike-shortened 1994 campaign.

"We showed signs of it throughout the season," Jeter said. "Right before the All-Star break, we played well, but we weren't consistent enough. That's the bottom line. It was an up-and-down season for us, and we don't deserve to be going to the playoffs."

In the first game of Sunday's twin bill, Mike Mussina added a long-sought line to his resume, tossing six scoreless innings and completing the first 20-win season of his career by defeating the Red Sox, 6-2, to become the oldest pitcher in history to record the achievement for the first time.

The victory gave Mussina 270 for his career, and the right-hander acknowledged that Sunday may have been his final Major League start. Mussina is a free agent after the season, and though he has some interest in continuing to pitch for the Yankees, he plans to discuss the issue with his family after returning home to Central Pennsylvania.

"It's my last game in my last year [under contract], and I don't know what the future holds," Mussina said. "It could be my last year; it may not be my last year. When you get to your 18th season, it could always be your last season."

In the nightcap, Yankees starter Sidney Ponson allowed one run in six innings to take a no-decision in his 15th start since joining the Yankees in June.

The right-hander helped pick up New York's starting rotation after ace Chien-Ming Wang was lost to a foot injury while running the bases at Houston in June, but the right-hander had struggled of late, prompting Girardi to remove him from the rotation.

Ponson, also a free agent after the season, finished the season with four wins and a 5.85 ERA since returning to New York, for whom he also pitched briefly in 2006. With the Yankees promising to make starting pitching a priority for next season, hinting at pursuits of top-flight free agents, a return for Ponson appears unlikely.

Boston touched Ponson for a first-inning run as Coco Crisp doubled, moved up on a groundout and scored on a Chris Carter grounder. He scattered five hits, striking out five, before yielding to Rasner for the seventh.

Red Sox right-hander Tim Wakefield allowed two hits in five scoreless innings, striking out three. New York touched Justin Masterson for a run in the sixth inning, as Cano singled, moved up on a hit and came around on a fielder's choice.

The Yankees played a doubleheader on the season's final day for the first time since 1976, when they swept the Indians at the newly remodeled Yankee Stadium by scores of 6-5 and 4-3. The Yankees will open 2009 by moving across 161st Street in the Bronx, attempting again to fulfill their goals in a new home.

"It was a tough season for us," Girardi said. "It's not where we want to be, and we didn't reach our goals. When you go into a season and you prepare, you prepare to win a World Series. We didn't do that. It's a motivating factor for next year."