The first place Rays make their first visit to Yankee Stadium and have a real opportunity to put some space between themselves and the World Champions. The Yankee team they’ll encounter, however, is a far cry from the one who took two of three in the teams’ first series down in Tampa.
Once again, the Yankee lineup includes a less than intimidating bottom of the lineup, while the bullpen is short on desireable options. In other words, the Yankees will need the good AJ to show up tonight. Otherwise, the game could get ugly fast.
Despite an offense that has struggled for most of May, the Rays continue to win ballgames behind the sterling pitching of their youthful five man staff and resurgent bullpen. The Rays come into tonight’s game with a team ERA of 2.69 (ERA+ of 159), which makes tonight’s starter Wade Davis and his 3.38 ERA one of the weaker links.
In many ways, this short two game series could go along way toward defining the first half for both teams. If the Yankees can manage to beat the Rays despite being depleted, it sends a clear message that the World Champs are not yet ready to turn over first place to the upstart Rays. However, if Tampa is able to take two games from the Yankees in the Bronx, it could set them apart in the division for the foreseeable future.
| vs. Wade Davis | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | HR | RBI |
| Derek Jeter SS | 6 | 0.500 | 0.500 | 0.500 | 0 | 1 |
| Brett Gardner CF | 3 | 0.667 | 0.667 | 0.667 | 0 | 0 |
| Mark Teixeira DH | 6 | 0.400 | 0.571 | 0.800 | 0 | 1 |
| Alex Rodriguez 3B | 6 | 0.500 | 0.500 | 1.000 | 1 | 3 |
| Robinson Cano 2B | 5 | 0.200 | 0.200 | 0.800 | 1 | 2 |
| Francisco Cervelli C | 2 | 0.000 | 1.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Marcus Thames RF | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Juan Miranda 1B | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Randy Winn LF | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 28 | 0.416 | 0.464 | 0.792 | 2 | 7 |
| vs. AJ Burnett | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | HR | RBI |
| Jason Bartlett SS | 26 | 0.250 | 0.280 | 0.417 | 1 | 2 |
| Carl Crawford LF | 51 | 0.340 | 0.373 | 0.447 | 1 | 4 |
| Ben Zobrist RF | 18 | 0.250 | 0.294 | 0.563 | 1 | 2 |
| Evan Longoria 3B | 28 | 0.333 | 0.357 | 0.519 | 1 | 3 |
| Carlos Pena 1B | 37 | 0.103 | 0.297 | 0.207 | 1 | 4 |
| BJ Upton CF | 37 | 0.194 | 0.324 | 0.194 | 0 | 1 |
| Hank Blalock DH | 16 | 0.143 | 0.250 | 0.214 | 0 | 0 |
| John Jaso C | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Reid Brignac 2B | 5 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 213 | 0.245 | 0.305 | 0.367 | 5 | 16 |
| Yankees vs. Rays | |||
| Season: 2010 | Season: 2009 | Season: 2008 | All-Time |
| NYY: 2-1 | NYY: 11-7 | NYY: 11-7 | NYY: 135-70 |
Leave a Reply