Game 40: Da Two

After splitting a rollercoaster two game series with the Red Sox, the Yankees welcome in the division-leading Rays for another couple of games in the Bronx.

Starting for Tampa Bay is Wade Davis. The right-handed Florida native has already faced the Yankees once this year, starting against CC Sabathia during the game the Big Fella took a no-hitter into the 8th inning. The Yankees got seven hits and worked four walks against Davis, the biggest blow coming on a two run homer by Robinson Cano.

Since then, the twenty four year old has been pretty effective, allowing only 11 runs in 34 innings (2.91 ERA). However, he's walked 17 while striking out only 24 during that span, leading to an FIP and xFIP of almost 5.00. Davis is averaging fewer than six innings per start and given that the Yankees are seeing the fifth most pitches per plate appearance in the Majors, if they are patient enough or potent enough tonight, they should be able to get him out of the game relatively early.

That's the good news. The bad news is that the Rays relievers have allowed the second fewest runs of any team in the MLB this season - fewer than one per game. Perhaps some of their effectiveness will rub off on the Yanks bullpen and help them escape the terrible stretch they've been going through.

It's A.J. Burnett's turn to go for the Yankees and if he's right, the bullpen won't need to do very much. After a scintillating start, Burnett has cooled of considerably, thanks mostly to his dreadful start in Boston. He bounced back from that 9 run shellacking with a much more respectable 6 2/3, 2ER effort against the Twins.

Burnett had talked about pitching to contact and throwing his fastball with movement to both sides of the plate during his run of early success, but ever since he dominated the Orioles and supposedly found his curveball, he's been giving out more free passes; he's walked seven batters in his last two starts, where as he only walked 11 in his first six outings.

One of those first six was against the Rays at Tropicana Field and while he struggled early - giving up two runs in the first inning - Burnett held on to throw six scoreless frames after that en route to his first win of the year.

As of now, the Rays have a three game lead over the Yanks and when this quick meeting wraps up tomorrow, the most likely outcome is that the two teams split and the margin is still three games. However, a mini-sweep in one direction or the other could put the Yanks either one or five games back in the standings. While most of the media attention will be devote to the tilts with the Red Sox and Mets throughout the week, these are the two games the Yankees most need to win.

Don't start what you can't finish,
When you bubble with skills that never diminish,
Your best team against mine is a light scrimmage,
So play like popeye and eat spinach.

-Lineups-

Yankees: The same exact lineup as last night, which is not exactly a good thing. Nick Swisher and Jorge Posada are still out, as Swish tried to swing left handed and felt more pain in his biceps and Posada's ailing foot isn't getting any better. Jorge is going for an MRI but no such procedure has been ordered for Swish.

Jeter SS
Gardner CF
Teixeira DH
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Cervelli C
Thames RF
Miranda 1B
Winn LF

Rays:

Jason Bartlett SS
Carl Crawford LF
Ben Zobrist RF
Evan Longoria 3B
Carlos Pena 1B
B.J. Upton CF
Hank Blalock DH
John Jaso C
Reid Brignac 2B

Game 5: Bron Yr Aur

The Yanks won't have to spend too much time thinking about last night's tough loss as they take the field shortly after 3 PM to face the Rays today. The game will be televised on FOX so that means we will be treated to the nonsensical stylings of Tim McCarver and the smarmy proclamations of Joe Buck. On the bright side, we get a day off from Michael Kay.

For the Yanks, CC Sabathia looks to improve upon his 5.2 inning, 5 run outing against the Red Sox facing a Rays lineup that tagged Javier Vazquez for 8 runs last night. Like Vazquez did against the Rays, Sabathia started off strong on Sunday but saw the wheels fall off as the game wore on.

Jorge Posada gets the day off (day game after a night game) meaning that Francisco Cervelli will see his first start of the year. It works out well because Sabathia and Cervelli were an excellent battery last year, holding opponents to a .551 OPS in 10 starts.

Twenty-four year old Florida native Wade Davis (not be confused with the noted Canadian ethnobotanist) gets the start for the Rays. About three quarters of the pitches Davis throws are fastballs, but he can get away with that because the pitch sits in the low-to-mid 90's with considerable sink. He can throw his curveball for strikes and occasionally mixes in some sliders and change ups.

Taken in the third round of the 2004 draft, Davis has avoided injury and steadily worked his way up through the Rays system, pitching a full season in AAA before making his Major League debut late last year. Davis has had consistent success throughout his 5 year minor league career and his time in the Big Leagues last September was no different. He made six starts for the Rays last September, averaged more than six innings per start and tallied up an ERA of 3.72.

The last of those six starts came against the Yankees in the regular season finale. The Bombers plated 5 runs in 5+ innings against Davis that day at the Trop, chasing him from the game during the huge inning that A-Rod hit his 29th and 30th home runs of the season. We went with some Zeppelin for that game and we're going back to the well today.

This tune is a beautiful acoustic arrangement - played in the rather obscure open C tuning - off of the album Physical Graffiti. It doesn't have lyrics but the title roughly translates to "golden hill" which makes me think of the pitcher's mound and the YouTube video below depicts a lovely April day similar to the one we are having here in the northeast.

-Lineups-

Yankees:

Cervelli's presence pushes the hot Nick Swisher up to the #6 slot and keeps Brett Gardner out of the #9 hole for his first start of the season.

Jeter SS
Johnson DH
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Granderson CF
Gardner LF
Cervelli C

Rays:

Bartlett SS
Crawford LF
Zobrist 2B
Longoria 3B
Upton CF
Aybar 1B
Burrell DH
Shoppach C
Kapler RF