Yankees-Rays: NY Beats Tampa Bay 7-2

The Yankees won a very important matchup tonight at the Trop in St. Petersburg.  They beat the 4-3 Rays 7-2, improving to .500 for one of the first times this year.

The Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the first, and made it 2-0 in the fourth.

A.J. Burnett threw a gem out there tonight, and, in my opinion, is the player of the game.  He let up only a walk through seven innings, when C.C. (Carl Crawford) broke up the bid with a single.

Burnett gave up two runs runs in the seventh, and was almost pulled from the game.  But, Girardi let him pitch the eighth, which turned out a good idea.

On the Yankees side of the eighth, they scored a run thanks to Bret Gardner, and took a 3-2 lead.

In the top of the ninth, Derek Jeter, the POTG runner-up, hit a three-run shot to right center field, giving the Yankees a strong lead, especially considering they had scored a run earlier that inning.

Brian Bruney held the house down in the ninth, giving the Yankees the win.

The Rays usually consistent 'pen was exactly the opposite of consistent, with loser of the game Dan Wheeler giving up a homer, and Howell blowing the game.

Here's the box, thanks to http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2009_04_14_nyamlb_tbamlb_1, and Yankees play tomorrow, same time, same place:

NY Yankees AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG Gardner, CF 5 3 3 1 0 2 0 .296 Jeter, SS 5 1 3 3 0 1 0 .265 Teixeira, 1B 3 0 0 1 1 1 0 .211 Swisher, LF 4 1 2 1 0 1 4 .458 Posada, DH 3 0 0 1 0 0 2 .304 Cano, 2B 4 1 1 0 0 1 2 .367 Nady, RF 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 .286   Cabrera, M, RF 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 .333 Pena, 3B 3 0 0 0 1 1 3 .250 Molina, J, C 4 0 0 0 0 2 4 .273 Totals 35 7 11 7 2 10 15   BATTING 2B: Swisher (4, Garza), Gardner 2 (3, Howell, Wheeler). HR: Swisher (4, 4th inning off Garza, 0 on, 0 out), Jeter (2, 9th inning off Wheeler, 2 on, 2 out). TB: Gardner 5; Jeter 6; Swisher 6; Cano; Nady; Cabrera, M. RBI: Posada (9), Swisher (11), Teixeira (3), Gardner (1), Jeter 3 (6). 2-out RBI: Gardner; Jeter 3. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Cano; Posada; Molina, J. SF: Posada; Teixeira. Team RISP: 3-for-9. Team LOB: 5. FIELDING Pickoffs: Molina, J (Pena, C at 1st base).		Tampa Bay AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG Upton, CF 4 0 0 0 0 3 0 .143 Crawford, LF 4 1 1 0 0 1 0 .281 Longoria, 3B 4 1 1 0 0 3 0 .441 Pena, C, 1B 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 .281 Burrell, DH 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 .231 Navarro, C 3 0 0 0 0 3 2 .207 Zobrist, RF 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 .235 Iwamura, 2B 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 .345 Bartlett, SS 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 .400 Totals 28 2 3 2 1 12 3   BATTING TB: Crawford; Longoria; Pena, C. RBI: Pena, C (10), Burrell (3). SF: Burrell. Team RISP: 1-for-1. Team LOB: 1. BASERUNNING PO: Pena, C (1st base by Molina, J). FIELDING DP: (Pena, C).
NY Yankees IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Burnett (W, 2-0) 8.0 3 2 2 1 9 0 2.70 Bruney 1.0 0 0 0 0 3 0 4.15		Tampa Bay IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Garza 7.0 5 2 2 2 9 1 1.93 Howell (L, 0-1) 1.0 2 1 1 0 0 0 4.91 Wheeler 1.0 4 4 4 0 1 1 12.00
Pitches-strikes: Burnett 103-67, Bruney 10-9, Garza 112-73, Howell 21-12, Wheeler 24-19. Groundouts-flyouts: Burnett 8-6, Bruney 0-0, Garza 7-4, Howell 1-2, Wheeler 1-1. Batters faced: Burnett 27, Bruney 3, Garza 27, Howell 5, Wheeler 7. Umpires: HP: Chris Glycine. 1B: Ed Montague. 2B: Jerry Layne. 3B: Tony Randazzo. Weather: 72 degrees, dome. Wind: Indoors. T: 2:58. Att: 36,973. April 14, 2009 Box score official statistics approved by Major League Baseball Office of the Commissioner