New York @ Tampa Bay preview
Tropicana Field
Last Meeting ( Aug 1, 2010 ) NY Yankees 0, Tampa Bay 3
First place in the AL East and possibly the Cy Young Award will be on the line as the New York Yankees visit the Tampa Bay Rays in the first contest of three-game series at Tropicana Field on Monday.
Both teams lost on Sunday and New York leads Tampa Bay by one half game in the AL East standings. The Rays are a comfortable 7 1/2 games ahead in the wild-card race.
New York's CC Sabathia (19-6) faces off against Tampa Bay's David Price in Monday's tilt.
Sabathia will take his second shot at his 20th win of the season. The left-hander struggled in his 6-2 loss to the Baltimore orioles last week, his first setback at Yankee Stadium this season. Including this campaign, Sabathia has won 19 games in a season three times but never reached 20 wins.
Sabathia is 8-4 lifetime against the Rays. He lost his last outing against Tampa Bay, 3-0, in a matchup with James Shields.
Price is 2-1 against the Yankees, including a 9-5 loss at Yankee Stadium on July 18. In that game, New York scored seven runs on seven hits and four walks in just five innings. It was the most runs Price has allowed in a game all season.
Tampa Bay had a chance to carry a lead of its own into the series. The Rays were just three outs away from sweeping the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend, but the reliable Rafael Soriano blew his third save in 45 opportunities on the season. Adam Lind belted a walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth on Sunday to give the Blue Jays a 5-4 win.
The prize for winning the AL East pennant may come with one drawback. If the current standings hold, the winner of the AL East would face the Texas Rangers in the first round of the playoffs.
That may not be a good thing.
The Rangers swept the Yankees in a three-game series over the weekend and perhaps more importantly, Cliff Lee returned to the rotation in impressive form. Lee held the Yankees to just two hits in eight innings in his first start since getting an injection in his back.
Nick Swisher is questionable for the series due to a sore left knee. He sat out Sunday's game at Texas.
Swisher had an MRI which showed no break or tear but has noticeably limped when running the bases. The Yankees also plan to have Brett Gardner undergo an MRI on his sore wrist. Gardner is batting just .207 in September.
Javier Vazquez is expected to be available in the bullpen for New York.
The Rays gave both Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena the day off on Sunday to rest them for this series. Pena was dropped to sixth in the lineup on Saturday.