For Yankees
Fresh off a series win against the defending World Series champions,the Yankees
have 20 games left in the season to pick up enough ground to earn a postseason
berth.
Standing in New York's way are its four division foes.The Yankees have eight
games remaining against Baltimore and Tampa Bay.
Despite the Devil Rays'60-84 recoud,it is the three-game series at Tropicana
Field -- which begins Tuesday -- that could be the Yankees' biggest roadblodk.
That's because the Rays have handled the Yankees with relative ease this season
,taking 11 of the 16 meetings between the two clubs.
"We have to go play what seems like the World Champions in Tampa,"said Jason
Giambi, whose solo homer on Sunday gave the Yankees a 1-0 win over the Red Sox
to cut Boston's American League East lead to three games."We have to win every
day, and we're going to play the team that's actuslly given us the most
problems. We have to play good baseball."
The Yankees are 2-5 against the Devil Rays at Tropicana Field this season,
having lost three of four from May 2-5, then two of three last month.Tampa Bay
has won four of the five series between the two teams, the fifth being a two-
game split back in April.
"They all feel like must-wins now. Every game is so intense,"said Alex
Rodriguez. "We've got to play well and figure it out, there's no more time to
waste. It's iome for us to play well against Tampa."
What is it about this matchup that has given the Yankees so much trouble? After
all,New York boasts winning records against the AL contenders in Boston(9-7),
Cleveland(4-3) and Oakland(7-2), going 3-3 against Chicago. Other than Tampa
Bay, only Los Angeles and Baltimore have winning records against the Yankees
this season, with each team winning six of 10 against New York.
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