Yankees 14 – Rangers 13

Mystique & aura? Try blood, guts & heart.

It wasn’t enough for the Yankees to be without Gary Sheffield, Jason Giambi and Hideki Matsui last night against the Rangers. Nor was having Shawn Chacon working with a badly bruised left shin.

No, the Yankees spotted the visitors nine runs after two at-bats and still had enough to post a scintillating, 14-13, victory in front of 40,757 elated fans at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees tied the franchise record for the largest deficit overcome. It was the fourth time the Yankees have come back from being down nine.

Three hours and 49 minutes after it started with the Rangers torching Chacon, Jorge Posada ended it with a tworun, two-out homer in the ninth that landed in the first row of the right-field bleachers.

“It was a crazy game,” said Mariano Rivera, who gave up a run in the ninth that put the Rangers ahead and who copped the win on Posada’s sixth homer.

“It shows our heart and our character.” While so many hands were in the mix that helped the Yankees crawl out of a 90 ditch, the night belonged to Posada.

Yes, Derek Jeter’s three-run homer and Miguel Cairo’s two-run single fueled a six-run sixth that pushed the Yankees into the lead. Aaron Small gave up two runs in 4 1/3 innings of relief.

Robinson Cano made a nifty play in the ninth to keep the Rangers from scoring more than once.

But it was Posada’s night.

Not only did he homer off Akinori Otsuka to win it, he drove in runs in the third and fifth inning.

And he took a Mark Teixeira shoulder to the chin in a violent collision at the plate to save a run in the third to end.

“That’s probably the hardest I have gotten hit,” said Posada, who was crushed after fielding Jeter’s two-hop relay throw but held onto the ball.

After sitting on the ground for a while, Posada walked to the dugout to collect his thoughts.

The six-run sixth put the Yankees up, 11-10, but when they came to bat in the home ninth they were trailing, 13-12 due to a pair of broken bat hits off Rivera.

“When we got to the dugout [Torre] said, ‘This game is yours, you fought too hard,'” Posada said.

Damon, who went 3-for-5 and scored four runs playing with a chipped bone in his right foot, opened with a bad-hop single off first baseman Mark Teixeira’s glove. Damon went to second on Derek Jeter’s tapper to the mound. After Alex Rodriguez’ laser to center was gloved, the Yankees’ hopes faded.

“At that point you say, ‘We have done everything we can do,'” Torre said.

“Then Jorge got a good count. I turned him loose on 3-0 but he didn’t like the pitch.” But loved the next one, a fastball that was gone the moment hit left Posada’s bat.

“I knew he was going to throw a strike,” said Posada, who familiarized himself with Otsuka on Monday when he flied to left to end the game. “I was trying to hit the ball in the middle of the field.” Instead he deposited it in the bleachers.

“When you talk about the 10 best games you remember, that jumps into the middle of it,” Torre said of the victory, which stopped a two-game losing streak.

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Never say die

The Yankees matched the largest comeback in team history last night, rallying from nine runs down, making it the fourth time they have eclipsed such a deficit and won:

DATE OPP. DEFICIT FINAL

* May 16, 2006 vs. Texas 9-0 14-13

* June 26, 1987 vs. Boston 9-0 12-11

* July 25, 1953 at Detroit 10-1 15-11

* April 18, 1950 at Boston 9-0 15-10