GAME 99: Yankees @ Rays

YANKEES (60-38,First Place AL East)
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Cabrera CF
Pitching: RHP A.J. Burnett (9-4, 3.74).

RAYS (54-45, Third Place AL East)
Upton CF
Crawford LF
Longoria 3B
Zobrist 2B
Pena 1B
Burrell DH
Gross RF
Hernandez C
Bartlett SS
Pitching: RHP James Shields (6-6, 3.70).

The Season Starts Today: The Yankees begin a 9-game road trip which will include facing the rising Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago White Sox. Then they return home to face the Boston Red Sox for four games. What the Yankees do over this stretch will be a huge indication on where they will be October. A sweep of the Rays will bury them in the division race, but they can't let the Rays start to gain ground along with confidence and hope.
A.J. Keeps on Burnin': A.J. Burnett is 5-0 with a 2.43 ERA and 26 strikeouts in his last 5 starts.
Hot Bats: Derek Jeter is 6 for his last 13 with 6 RBI. Mark Teixeira is 6 of 16 with 5 RBI and Jorge Posada is 7 of 17 with 5 RBI, 5 runs scored, and four extra base hits.
Birthday Boy: Today is Alex Rodriguez'a 34th birthday. He will be in the lineup after getting the day off yesterday.
Rumors Swirlin: MLB FanHouse reports that the Yankees and Reds are discussing a deal that would send RHP Bronson Arroyo to the Yankees. I'm not too excited, because I am looking at Arroyo's numbers and comparing them to someone like Jarrod Washburn. The price for Washburn can't be too high, can it?

UPDATE 7:14: Pete Abraham of the LoHud Journal News is saying that the rumors with Bronson Arroyo are NOT true. Phew. The Yankees can definately do better.

UPDATE 7:33: Pretty good second inning going for the Yankees. Matsui motored from first to home on a double by Posada. Then Cano fell just short of a HR, but Zobrist must have thought it was a HR and fell back into play as he hesitated to pick it up. So Cano gets an RBI triple and scores on a groundout and it is 3-0 Yankees.

UPDATE 8:35: It's the fourth inning and Michael Kay has yet to talk about anything about this very important divisional game and instead is talking about emotions in football, steroids, the Hall of Fame, and the Tony Bernazard/Omar Minaya/ Adam Rubin fiasco.

UPDATE 8:59: Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher just went back-to-back and Swisher's HR was an absolute BOMB! 5-0 Yankees in the top of the 6th.

UPDATE 9:18; So the Yankees exchange the run for a double play so the lead is cut to 5-1. I know our pitching is better than the Blue Jays, but this Rays team came back down 8-0 to them the other day so you can''t count them out. Then agains they were also no-hit the other day too, so uhm, not sure what that means. Maybe the Blue Jays just really suck.

UPDATE 9:23: News is out saying the Indians have traded Ryan Garko to the San Francisco Giants. What this has anything to do with the Yankees you may ask? Well it marks the firesale the Indians are about to go on, but the Red Sox are the team that has been in contact with Cleveland alot lately so we have to keep an eye on what they do. They have the possibility of obtaining Victor Martinez or Cliff Lee.

UPDATE 9:26: It's official. The apocalypse is near. Robinson Cano has walked twice in a single game. Oh look, there goes a pig flying by my window.

UPDATE 9:49: A-Rod just fell short of a birthday home run but he still drives in two and it is 7-1 Yankees.