Garza Golden, Rays win 5th Straight

Matt Garza knew he was going to have his work cut out for him opening up a home series against the New York Yankees. Coming off a stellar performance against Toronto, Garza dominated the strike zone with his two seamer and kept the Yankee bats at bay for 7 strong innings. The Rays offense got to Andy Pettitte early, posting one run in the first, and then 4 runs in the 4rth. This series is a big one for the Rays, who need to establish themselves as true contenders, and not just a decent team riding a lucky wave of fortune. The way Garza dialed in was proof, as was the way the Rays tacked on runs throughout the game, that they are serious about playing wining ball.

Matt Garza has shown some maturity in his last three starts since coming off the DL. He has been using his two seam fastball which has tight movement and is mixing up his off speed stuff to keep the hitters on edge. That is what impressed me the most in watching him tonight. He banged the zone with his heat, and then, the third time through the line up, he mixed in his curve and breaking balls knowing that the experienced Yankee line-up would be making the adjustments. It would have been nice to see Garza get a complete game shutout to add to the others in the group, but a high pitch count prevented that. The final line on Matt Garza is impressive: 7 innings, 0 runs, 5 hits, 1 walk and 3 strike outs.

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The Rays kept the bats hot, which is a must to come out of this series alive, banging out 13 hits against 4 Yankee pitchers. Everyone in the line-up had a hit except Hinske, who walked, scored a run and had 1 RBI. Navarro was 3-3 and Longoria was 2-4, but Jonny Gomes was the stud of the night going 2-4, scoring 3 runs and stealing 2 bases, second and third. Aki Iwamura extending his hitting streak to 9 games going 2-5 with a RBI.

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With Boston losing tonight to the Twins the Rays find themselves a half game out of first place. They will have to toughen up as they face the Yankee ace Chien Ming Wang and counter with Edwin Jackson tomorrow night. Jackson will have to bring his "A" game, as Wang has been good for New York all season.

Quote of the Day:

"To this point in the year, those two guys have been as valuable as anyone else"

-Joe Maddon on Jason Bartlett and JP Howell when asked who the team mvp's were.