The Magic Carpet

By Matthew

Tampa Bay Rays - 15 (4-3)
New York Yankees - 5 (3-4)

Winning Pitcher: Scott Kazmir (2-0)
Losing Pitcher: Chien-Ming Wang (0-2)

This one looked like a blowout before it began, and lived up to its billing once the teams hit the field.

For the Rays, one of the few things that did NOT go right in 2008 was their play against the Yankees, who handled them 11 of 18 times and did better as the season went on.

On a night when they hoisted their AL Pennant and AL Eastern Division Crown in their mausoleum of a Concrete Box - 'The Trop' (like a wedding in a Mall)...

...and sent out their fire-balling LH Ace, Scott Kazmir, against a Yankee lineup missing its #3 and #4 hitters (Rodriguez and Teixeira) from the Right Side and carrying a left side of the infield (Cody Ransom and Derek Jeter) both from the Right Side, who had combined to go a combined 2 for their last 37 against far more modest arms.

For the Yankees, coming off a brutal loss the day before on an 8th Inning meltdown by reliever Phil Coke (who was horrible again and is, as mentioned yesterday, in need of some AAA time to sort out his delivery from the stretch...) and relying on Chien-Ming Wang to be back in form in his 2nd MLB start since his June 15 broken foot, the chances seemed iffy from the outset.

Ten minutes into the game, those chances had all but evaporated.

Chien-Ming Wang was making his 97th MLB Start and had only lost two in a row ONE time before last night (although he lost 2 straight to Cleveland in the '07 ALDS), but has yet to look comfortable or throw at his accustomed velocity (94-96) or location (D-O-W-N, down, down...) and he had that lost deer look he gets when his stuff isn't there...if you watch as much Yankee baseball as Guru does, and have seen every inning Wang has ever thrown...you knew, and you also knew something ELSE that was important...

'Chuck' was on at 8PM, so there was an alternative...

Wang is proven, so there is time to get him right and, the Yankee minds/hearts were almost certainly not in Tampa Bay but on their historic Thursday date...one of the biggest moments in the history of sports greatest franchise - the opening of the New Yankee Stadium in The Bronx.

On the field, the carnage was mainly inflicted by Carlos Pena (Guru cannot tell a lie, Pena, Upton and Longoria are fantasy stalwarts for his teams...and with the outcome never in doubt, it wasn't such a bad night for some stat-padding at my Yankees expense!). Pena had a Grand Slam off Wang's 'relief' that brought in the final of his 8 runs surrendered in 1 Inning plus, giving him 6 RBI in the first two innings!

BJ Upton is 100% healthy, hit the ball, stole bases and simply made one of the greatest catches you will EVER see in a baseball game running, Willie Mays-like directly into the dead CF wall with his back completely turned to the plate and snatching a monstrous blast off the fence at the last possible second off the bat of Xavier Nady one of the only three Yankees with thump from the RH side in this configuration. Carl Crawford, hit the ball, stole bases and made his OWN masterful play to steal a 2B from Nick Swisher, who continued his torrid hitting with his 3rd HR (10th RBI) and the blast Crawford caught to go with another Walk - he even pitched a scoreless inning in Gar-BAGE time and recorded his first MLB Strikeout off bodybuilding immortal, Gabe Kapler.

Swisher, in 7 games and 20 at-bats, has SEVEN Extra Base hits, replacing a guy, Wilson Betemit, who had 4 HR and 24 RBI in 189 at-bats in 2008. Given the unexpected losses of Alex and Tex, he is an irreplaceable part for a lineup that is designed around those two in the middle. The Yankees are going to have to pitch and catch during the injury period, while those two heal, Matsui and Wang re-acclimate and Jeter finds his stroke.

One player who apparently does not need more time is Jorge Posada, who drove in multiple runs for the 3rd consecutive game, with yet another monster 2B in the gap. Posada, a freak who caught deep into the playoffs every year for a decade without ONCE going on the DL, has now come back from tricky Shoulder surgery looking like his All-Star ass never left. He's got 5 Extra Base hits in his first 20 at-bats, to go with 8 RBI's returning to his spot in place of Jose Molina who managed only 18 RBI in 286 at-bats in 2008 and 20 extra base hits - meaning that Posada, like Swisher, will provide more production by mid-May than his predecessor did all year long.

Yankees have AJ Burnett on the hill next up, facing Matt Garza, which should give the LH-heavy lineup a better opportunity to score some early runs and close the preview series and the road trip with a battle of Andy's, sending Pettitte to face Sonnanstine - who, inexplicably, was retained over Edwin Jackson (shipped to Detroit for a bucket of warm spit named Matt Joyce).

Two more before the big game...we'll be here to chronicle all of them.