Ack! Just when I was in gloat mode over the Rays' fine 14-4 walloping of the Yanks in the series opener, the Yankees stormed back to take three straight in dominating fashion, 7-3, 17-5, and (ouch!) 21-4.
I was going to write something about how starting out with a 10-run win made it seem like one of those series where you might want to use some of those runs in one of the other games, but when you lose games by 12 and 17 runs, 10 runs isn't much good. Probably the Yankees are wishing they could apply a few of those 21 to the first game.
The Rays were out of the three games primarily because of pitching. Tampa Bay had more hits than New York in the second game, but a bad inning by reliever Jae Kuk Ryu (1.2 innings, 4 hits, 5 earned runs) gave the Yankees the win when combined with missed offensive opportunities (24 runners left on base compared to 12 for New York).
In the final two games, the Yankees' offense was just too much for the Rays' pitching. Starter J. P. Howell improved modestly on his previous start--a first-inning exit against Boston--as he allowed 7 runs on 10 hits in just 4 innings of work. Building confidence with that type of improvement can be a drawn-out process.
In the finale, Rays' ace James Shields came out flat. When Shields is on, he throws first-pitch strikes. Shields walked the first batter and was never able to regroup.
A tip of the hat to the hated Yankees. Raspberry to follow.
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