ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Yankees do not fear the Rays. They respect them. The Rays’ success in 2008 taught them that, and their revival in 2010 has reinforced it. Every time the Yankees have won over the last five weeks, the Rays have seemed to match them. That streak ended Friday night, when Tampa Bay outshined the Yankees on all fronts, if only by a drop.
Their starting pitcher lasted a bit longer and pitched a bit better, and their home run knocked in one more run. That supplied the margin of victory for the Rays, who drew to within one game of the Yankees in the American League East with a 3-2 victory in front of a raucous capacity crowd of 36,973 at Tropicana Field.
“We understand that these aren’t the end-of-the-world games,” Manager Joe Girardi said. “But these are important games in our division, and we’re trying to win this series.”
For the first time in their history, the Rays (64-38) have sold out three consecutive regular-season games, and after Matt Joyce’s three-run home run in the sixth inning soared over the right-field bleachers, Phil Hughes said he heard no cowbells or horns — just extended shouts of joy.
“That’s probably the loudest I’ve heard it in there,” Hughes said.
Hughes lamented his one mistake — a two-out, two-strike cutter. But he congratulated his counterpart, Wade Davis, who allowed a leadoff single to Derek Jeter, a two-run homer to the next hitter, Nick Swisher — “That must have really upset him or something,” Swisher said — and little else over seven sparkling innings.
The Yankees (65-37) had only one hit after the first inning, and none came from Alex Rodriguez, who continues to chase career home run No. 600. After Rodriguez went 0 for 4 with a strikeout, a flyout and two popouts, his streak without a home run stood at 34 at-bats.
On nights like this — and at this hectic juncture on the baseball calendar, when weaknesses are magnified in advance of Saturday’s trade deadline — it is easy to understand why the Yankees would want to augment their offense as they gear up for what should be a tense two-month battle with the Rays for the division title.
Although they are the highest-scoring team in baseball, the Yankees lack a full-time designated hitter. They tend to fix small problems with big names, and they were on the verge of adding Lance Berkman from the Houston Astros. Late Friday night, they also acquired the right-handed-hitting outfielder Austin Kearns from Cleveland. Their regular lineup will soon have a glut of switch-hitters with power — Swisher, Mark Teixeira, Jorge Posada and Berkman — who can create late-inning matchup problems for bullpens.
Because of the strong base of Yankees fans living nearby, Tropicana Field is the only visiting ballpark where the reaction to Rodriguez is, at worst, mixed. As he strode to the plate in the first inning, it seemed that entire sections of Yankees fans, assembled near the left-field line, rose and showered him with an ovation. When he struck out, the Rays supporters answered, and the back-and-forth went on all night.
“These series are fun because you know what’s at stake,” Swisher said.
For reasons neither he nor Manager Joe Girardi can identify, Hughes has tended to pitch far better away from Yankee Stadium, where he surrendered his previous 15 home runs. In 11 starts at home, Hughes has a 5.26 earned run average. In seven on the road coming into Friday, his E.R.A. was 2.36. Part of the discrepancy may derive from a scheduling quirk, which had Hughes making six of his last seven starts at home, a stretch that coincided with a drop-off in performance that he attributed to a mechanical flaw.
The pitching coach Dave Eiland noticed that Hughes was having trouble throwing his pitches from a consistent arm slot: his arm would drop, causing his fastball to stray and his curveball to lack depth. Between his last few starts, Hughes has focused on maintaining his release point, and the results of his hard work were on display Friday night. He threw his curveball with conviction and at any point in the count — to get ahead, when he was behind, and to get hitters to chase it in the dirt, as Carl Crawford did to end the third inning.
That strikeout came during a string of seven straight outs, broken up by Willy Aybar’s leadoff single in the fifth. In discussing the Rays on Thursday, Hughes mentioned how relentless their lineup is, how their aggressiveness and opportunism can put constant pressure on a pitcher. The next hitter, B. J. Upton, surprised the Yankees with a bunt up the third-base line that dribbled foul. Hughes got Upton to pop out. Then, in one of his more impressive moments of the night, he came back against Reid Brignac after falling behind by 3-and-0 to catch him looking at a 93-mile-per-hour fastball that grazed the inside corner.
With the Yankees clinging to their 2-0 lead, the Rays threatened in the sixth, and Hughes nearly escaped. A nifty defensive play by Robinson Cano on Carlos Pena’s bouncer resulted in a forceout at second base, putting runners on the corners for Joyce. Hughes threw two straight curveballs, trying to slow Joyce’s bat enough to sneak a fastball inside on him. The cutter leaked over the plate, and Joyce pounced, setting up an intense final two games that could be a prelude for late October.http://jodnet.blogspot.com
“One pitch,” Hughes said, “and that was our night.”
Their starting pitcher lasted a bit longer and pitched a bit better, and their home run knocked in one more run. That supplied the margin of victory for the Rays, who drew to within one game of the Yankees in the American League East with a 3-2 victory in front of a raucous capacity crowd of 36,973 at Tropicana Field.
“We understand that these aren’t the end-of-the-world games,” Manager Joe Girardi said. “But these are important games in our division, and we’re trying to win this series.”
For the first time in their history, the Rays (64-38) have sold out three consecutive regular-season games, and after Matt Joyce’s three-run home run in the sixth inning soared over the right-field bleachers, Phil Hughes said he heard no cowbells or horns — just extended shouts of joy.
“That’s probably the loudest I’ve heard it in there,” Hughes said.
Hughes lamented his one mistake — a two-out, two-strike cutter. But he congratulated his counterpart, Wade Davis, who allowed a leadoff single to Derek Jeter, a two-run homer to the next hitter, Nick Swisher — “That must have really upset him or something,” Swisher said — and little else over seven sparkling innings.
The Yankees (65-37) had only one hit after the first inning, and none came from Alex Rodriguez, who continues to chase career home run No. 600. After Rodriguez went 0 for 4 with a strikeout, a flyout and two popouts, his streak without a home run stood at 34 at-bats.
On nights like this — and at this hectic juncture on the baseball calendar, when weaknesses are magnified in advance of Saturday’s trade deadline — it is easy to understand why the Yankees would want to augment their offense as they gear up for what should be a tense two-month battle with the Rays for the division title.
Although they are the highest-scoring team in baseball, the Yankees lack a full-time designated hitter. They tend to fix small problems with big names, and they were on the verge of adding Lance Berkman from the Houston Astros. Late Friday night, they also acquired the right-handed-hitting outfielder Austin Kearns from Cleveland. Their regular lineup will soon have a glut of switch-hitters with power — Swisher, Mark Teixeira, Jorge Posada and Berkman — who can create late-inning matchup problems for bullpens.
Because of the strong base of Yankees fans living nearby, Tropicana Field is the only visiting ballpark where the reaction to Rodriguez is, at worst, mixed. As he strode to the plate in the first inning, it seemed that entire sections of Yankees fans, assembled near the left-field line, rose and showered him with an ovation. When he struck out, the Rays supporters answered, and the back-and-forth went on all night.
“These series are fun because you know what’s at stake,” Swisher said.
For reasons neither he nor Manager Joe Girardi can identify, Hughes has tended to pitch far better away from Yankee Stadium, where he surrendered his previous 15 home runs. In 11 starts at home, Hughes has a 5.26 earned run average. In seven on the road coming into Friday, his E.R.A. was 2.36. Part of the discrepancy may derive from a scheduling quirk, which had Hughes making six of his last seven starts at home, a stretch that coincided with a drop-off in performance that he attributed to a mechanical flaw.
The pitching coach Dave Eiland noticed that Hughes was having trouble throwing his pitches from a consistent arm slot: his arm would drop, causing his fastball to stray and his curveball to lack depth. Between his last few starts, Hughes has focused on maintaining his release point, and the results of his hard work were on display Friday night. He threw his curveball with conviction and at any point in the count — to get ahead, when he was behind, and to get hitters to chase it in the dirt, as Carl Crawford did to end the third inning.
That strikeout came during a string of seven straight outs, broken up by Willy Aybar’s leadoff single in the fifth. In discussing the Rays on Thursday, Hughes mentioned how relentless their lineup is, how their aggressiveness and opportunism can put constant pressure on a pitcher. The next hitter, B. J. Upton, surprised the Yankees with a bunt up the third-base line that dribbled foul. Hughes got Upton to pop out. Then, in one of his more impressive moments of the night, he came back against Reid Brignac after falling behind by 3-and-0 to catch him looking at a 93-mile-per-hour fastball that grazed the inside corner.
With the Yankees clinging to their 2-0 lead, the Rays threatened in the sixth, and Hughes nearly escaped. A nifty defensive play by Robinson Cano on Carlos Pena’s bouncer resulted in a forceout at second base, putting runners on the corners for Joyce. Hughes threw two straight curveballs, trying to slow Joyce’s bat enough to sneak a fastball inside on him. The cutter leaked over the plate, and Joyce pounced, setting up an intense final two games that could be a prelude for late October.http://jodnet.blogspot.com
“One pitch,” Hughes said, “and that was our night.”
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