Devil Rays, Yanks set to play two in the Bronx

Baseball Betting Lines

07/21/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Already 18 1/2 games out of contention in the American League East and just 10-17 versus division foes, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays try to follow up their impressive effort on Friday as they play two versus the New York Yankees in the Bronx on Saturday.

The stars aligned for the Devil Rays on Friday night as they thrashed New York in a 14-4 decision in the opener of a four-game set. Dioner Navarro punched his first career grand slam and B.J. Upton posted his first career multi-homer game in the lopsided decision.

Even more impressive was the fact that Tampa Bay starting pitcher Edwin Jackson picked the Yankees to record his first road win in nearly four seasons. Jackson shut out the Yankees over six innings, giving up only four hits and walking four, while striking out four for the visitors. The victory was just the second of the season overall for Jackson, who last won on the road in September of 2003.

While Jackson was showing signs of life for the visitors, Mike Mussina was continuing to struggle as he suffered his seventh loss, against just four wins this season. Mussina was touched for six runs on seven hits over 4 2/3 innings. The meeting was supposed to work in favor of Mussina, who entered the game a perfect 7-0 versus the Rays in Yankee Stadium, but it just wasn't meant to be.

Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano and Andy Phillips each had a pair of hits for New York, while Bobby Abreu offset those efforts with three strikeouts in five at- bats. Johnny Damon snapped the longest hitless drought of his career (0- for-20) with a single, while Hideki Matsui had his hitting streak snapped at 14 games.

Heading out to the hill for the Devil Rays in the first game of today's doubleheader will be youngster Jason Hammel, who began his career with six straight losses before earning his first-ever victory at the major league level earlier this season versus Arizona.

Unfortunately, that win in relief is still the lone victory in his career at this point as he gets ready to start his first game of 2007. Last weekend he faced the Yankees for the second time in three days, retiring just a single batter before heading to the dugout.

The Treasure Valley Community College product has thrown a total of just 61 2/3 innings in his major league career, resulting in a lofty 7.30 ERA.

The second game of the day will see left-hander J.P. Howell take the hill for the Rays, getting the call up from Triple-A Durham. Howell, now in his third year of major league experience, last threw at this level on July 5 versus Boston at Fenway Park, where he was battered for six runs in a mere 2/3 innings of action.

Howell as a career mark of 1-0 versus the Yankees but is still just 5-11 overall.

Left-hander Kei Igawa stands to see action today for the Yankees, yet another youngster who is in his first year of major league play. Igawa, who turned 28 just over a week ago, has not won a game since the end of April. Since then he has appeared in five contests, the most recent being a 6-4 victory over Toronto on Monday. In that game the lefty surrendered three runs on seven hits, two of which were home runs, and walked four while striking out seven in five innings of work.

In his only other appearance against Tampa Bay this season, Igawa was touched for seven runs on eight hits over 4 1/3 innings back in April.

Later in the day, rookie hurler Matt DeSalvo gets his first-ever look at the Devil Rays in the second game trying to improve upon his 1-3 record.

DeSalvo, a 26-year old from the Keystone State, last pitched in the majors back on May 28 versus Toronto on the road, allowing three runs on five hits and three walks over 4 2/3 innings.

Over the last seven games Alex Rodriguez, who leads the AL in both home runs (32) and RBI (92), has knocked in five and scored five times, but is hitting a mere .185 during that span for the Yankees. Abreu is tied for the team-lead with seven knocked in over the last week, despite hitting a paltry .167 for the club, currently eight games behind Boston for first place in the division.

Over the last six games Upton has 11 hits and eight runs scored for Tampa Bay, both team highs, while Carlos Pena has knocked in 11 on just eight hits, six of which have gone for extra bases.

In the three previous seasons the Yankees have gone 20-8 against Tampa Bay at home, posting a perfect 10-0 mark in 2004, but this season NY has already dropped two of three meetings to the Devil Rays in the Bronx and are just 4-5 versus today's visitors overall.