Yankees Baseball

Yankees (60-38) vs. Rays (54-45)

RHP A.J. Burnett (9-4, 3.74) vs. RHP James Shields (6-6, 3.70)

Yankees lineup:
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Cabrera CF

Rays lineup:
Upton CF
Crawford LF
Longoria 3B
Zobrist 2B
Pena 1B
Burrell DH
Gross RF
Hernandez C
Bartlett SS

The Yankees take their AL leading record into Tampa Bay with the hopes of burying the Rays. So far the series is split 4-4 between the two teams. A lot of folks had the Rays winning the division before the beginning of the season. I think they'll finish in third place. They just simply too young to continue the brutal grind mentally of the season. Last year the Rays had the advantage of surprising a lot of teams. This year they are being played like they are the Yankees.

The Yankees this year look great. It's a shame that Brett Gardner is injured. I don't think that the injury will have that great of an impact, maybe a game difference, but he adds so much versatility to Joe Girardi's roster. No moves yet to bring up minor league phenom Austin Jackson, and I don't think that he will be.

Burnett has been maginificent in the month of July. He's 3-0 with a 3.08 era. Shields has been Burnett's antithesis this month compiling a record of 0-1 with an era of 4.68. Should be an interesting game. The Rays need this series to make up a lot of ground in the AL East.

Great pitching matchups in this series.

Tuesday: LHP CC Sabathia (10-6, 3.67) vs. LHP Scott Kazmir (4-6, 6.69)

Wednesday: RHP Joba Chamberlain (6-2, 3.86) vs. RHP Matt Garza (7-7, 3.68)

7:26 update: Burnett strikes out Upton. Walks Crawford on a questionable (not really it was a strike) ball. Then he throws a wild pick off attempt to first, Crawford makes his way to third with his ill nana speed. Burnett calms himself down and strikes out Longoria and gets Zobrist to line out to swisher. AJ handled himself exactly as he should, by getting the strike out he needed.

7:30 update: Matsui singles and Posada's liner hits the astroturf. Godzilla rumbled across the diamond like a John Deere tractor, before collapsing at home. Reminded me of Wang running across the basepath last year. 1-0 Yanks.

7:32 update: Who said Cano can't hit with RISP? RBI triple.

7:45 update: Burnett's stuff is looking nasty. 4 strikeouts so far. Then he makes a highlight reel play. 3-0 Yanks as we take it to the top of the third.

8:00 update: Texiera plays a spider web first base.

9:00 update: Back to Back, Cano to Swish, 5-0 Yanks