Pettitte Takes Sting out of Rays

The Yankees brought out their 'A' game to the Trop tonight with a 5-3 win, completing a 2-game sweep of the Rays in the process. Andy Pettitte gave them Bombers a solid 7 innings and the Yankees offense avenged an April 5th loss to Rays starter Edwin Jackson.

Jackson limited the Yankees to 1 run on 5 hits in their prior meeting, but the Yankees knocked him out tonight with 5 runs in 5 innings. Hideki Matsui got things jump started in the 2nd inning with his third home run of the year, all against the Rays.

The Rays took the lead in the 3rd inning on RBI singles by Jonny Gomes and Mike Defilice, but Pettitte struck out rookie Justin Ruggiano with runners on the corners to end the threat. The Rays lead was short lived as the Yankees jumped on Jackson in the 4th.

Bobby Abreu drew a lead off walk and moved to 3rd on Alex Rodriguez's double. Matsui drove in his second run of the night with a ground out to 1st and A-Rod came home on Jackson's wild pitch.

Jackson (2-1) retired the first two batters in the 5th, but a walk to Johnny Damon proved costly. Damon stole his third base of the season, and the Yankees entire team total, and scored on Derek Jeter's single to center field. Jeter advanced to 2nd on B.J. Upton's throw home, and scored on Abreu's single to center for a 5-2 lead.

Pettitte (2-1) settled down after a rocky start, retiring the side in order in three of his final four innings. He allowed a 2-out RBI single to Jason Bartlett in the 6th, but retired Carl Crawford with two men aboard to end the inning.

Kyle Farnsworth, pressed into the 8th inning set up role by the absence of Joba Chamberlain, retired the side in order to bridge the gap to Mariano Rivera. The Yankee closer sealted the deal by retiring Crawford and Carlos Pena with a man aboard to earn his 5th save of the season.

News and Notes

Derek Jeter hasn't shown any rust at the plate after sitting out for a week. The Yankees captain went 5-9 in the two game series with 3 RBI, a run scored, and a walk. He's now batting .303 on the season.

Hidkei Matsui didn't hit his third home run last year until May 18.

Mariano Rivera has not allowed a run in 6.1 innings over six appearances. He's allowed just 3 hits, hasn't walked a batter, and has struck out 7. He didn't pick up his 5th save last year until June 3.

The Rays employed the "martini glass" defense to perfection against Jason Giambi. He twice bounced into the bottom of the upside down "glass", losing what would normally be two singles for anyone else.

Andy Pettitte picked up his 203rd career win and his 166th as a Yankee. That puts him two wins behind Bob Shawkey for 5th place on the all-time franchise list.

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, LF	3	1	0	0	2	1	3	.200
Jeter, SS	4	1	3	1	1	0	0	.303
Abreu, RF	3	1	1	1	2	0	4	.296
Rodriguez, 3B	5	1	1	0	0	2	5	.300
Matsui, DH	5	1	2	2	0	0	3	.314
Giambi, 1B	4	0	0	0	1	1	3	.094
Cano, 2B	3	0	0	0	1	0	2	.175
Cabrera, CF	4	0	1	0	0	2	1	.300
Moeller, C	2	0	0	0	2	1	0	.167
Totals	33	5	8	4	9	7	21
BATTING 2B: Rodriguez (5, Jackson). HR: Matsui (3, 2nd inning off Jackson, 0 on, 1 out). TB: Jeter 3; Abreu; Rodriguez 2; Matsui 5; Cabrera. RBI: Matsui 2 (8), Jeter (4), Abreu (7). 2-out RBI: Jeter; Abreu. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Rodriguez 2; Damon 2; Giambi. GIDP: Abreu. Team LOB: 10. BASERUNNING SB: Damon (3, 2nd base off Jackson/DiFelice). CS: Abreu (2, 2nd base by Jackson/DiFelice). FIELDING DP: (Cano-Jeter-Giambi).

NY Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Pettitte (W, 2-1)	7.0	9	3	3	3	5	0	3.38
Farnsworth (H, 1)	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	4.91
Rivera (S, 5)	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0.00

Tampa Bay	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Bartlett, SS	5	0	2	1	0	0	3	.191
Crawford, LF	5	0	1	0	0	0	3	.226
Pena, 1B	4	1	1	0	1	1	1	.196
Upton, CF	4	0	0	0	0	0	3	.288
Longoria, 3B	3	1	0	0	1	2	2	.333
Gomes, DH	4	1	2	1	0	0	0	.296
DiFelice, C	4	0	2	1	0	0	1	.429
Ruggiano, RF	2	0	1	0	1	1	2	.333
a-Hinske, PH-RF	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.313
Johnson, 2B	4	0	1	0	0	2	2	.200
Totals	36	3	10	3	3	7	17
a-Struck out for Ruggiano in the 8th.
BATTING TB: Bartlett 2; Crawford; Pena; Gomes 2; DiFelice 2; Ruggiano; Johnson. RBI: Gomes (6), DiFelice (4), Bartlett (4). 2-out RBI: Gomes; DiFelice; Bartlett. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Longoria; Ruggiano; Crawford. GIDP: Bartlett. Team LOB: 9. FIELDING DP: (Longoria-Johnson-Pena).

Tampa Bay	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Jackson (L, 2-1)	5.0	4	5	5	4	4	1	2.84
Howell	2.0	2	0	0	2	3	0	3.52
Miller	0.2	0	0	0	1	0	0	3.38
Glover	1.1	2	0	0	2	0	0	2.70

WP: Jackson.
Pitches-strikes: Pettitte 100-66, Farnsworth 10-7, Rivera 13-10, Jackson 94-55, Howell 43-27, Miller 12-7, Glover 40-18.
Ground outs-fly outs: Pettitte 8-8, Farnsworth 1-1, Rivera 1-1, Jackson 8-2, Howell 2-1, Miller 1-1, Glover 1-3.
Batters faced: Pettitte 32, Farnsworth 3, Rivera 4, Jackson 21, Howell 10, Miller 3, Glover 8.
Inherited runners-scored: Glover 1-0.
Umpires: HP: Charlie Reliford. 1B: Greg Gibson. 2B: Chris Guccione. 3B: Brian Runge.
Weather: 72 degrees, dome.
Wind: Indoors.
T: 3:01.
Att: 20,923.

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Tonight's Lineups (4/15)

Jason Giambi and Robinson Cano return to the starting lineup. Morgan Ensberg takes a seat on the bench.

Yankees
Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
A-Rod 3B
Matsui DH
Giambi 1B
Cano 2B
Melky CF
Moeller C
Pettitte P

Rays
Bartlett, SS
Crawford, LF
Pena, 1B
Upton, CF
Longoria, 3B
Gomes, DH
DeFelice, C
Ruggiano, RF
Johnson, 2B
Jackson, P

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Yankees vs. Rays - April 15

The finale of this quick two game series has Andy Pettitte facing Edwin Jackson at "The Trop". Jackson has been phenomenal this season, going 2-0, 0.64. He beat Pettitte and the Yankees back on April 5th, 6-3. Jackson allowed a run on 5 hits in 6 innings. He blanked the Mariners on 2 hits over 8 innings his last time out.

Pettitte bounced back from that loss to the Rays with a very effective performance against the Royals in Kansas City on April 10. Pettitte allowed 1 run on 5 hits in 6.2 innings to earn his first win of the year.

Alex Rodriguez's RBI double was the only run producer off of Jackson in the Yankees previous meeting with the right-hander. The Yankees will be glad to have Derek Jeter back in the lineup since he's 4-11 with a home run and 3 RBI against the Neu-ulm, Germany born right-hander. On the flip side, Bobby Abreu is hittless in 11 at-bats.

Jonny Gomes had the big blow against Pettitte in the early April meeting, a 3-run shot that broke it open for the Rays. Despite being a lefty, Pettitte has had trouble with Carlos Pena, who is 7-18 with 2 HRs and 5 RBI. But Pettitte has eaten up Aki Iwamura to the tune of 2-14.

The Yankees made room on their 40-man roster for Chad Moeller yesterday by moving pitcher Humberto Sanchez from the 15-day DL to the 60-day list.

Alex Rodriguez said he and his wife Cynthia will be deciding within the next day or so if she should have labor induced. The A-Rods would prefer to have the baby while Rodriguez is in Tampa, but of course that ends this evening.

Mark Healy of Gotham Baseball Magazine had started a rumor that the Yankees are considering bringing in Mike Piazza. According to a "insider", Brian Cashman and the front office are discussing whether or not its a good idea. We give it 10 thumbs down.

We'll post lineups when we steal get them.

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