On Friday night, the Tampa Bay Rays open up a three-game series with the New York Yankees. It will be a showdown between baseball’s two best teams that features many interesting subplots. The one possibly getting the most attention is Alex Rodriguez’s quest for his 600th career home run.
The Yankees are listed as baseball odds favorites by the narrowest of margins paying -115 to the Rays -105. The total is 9 runs.
The New York Yankees (65-36, 31-20 away) have won 17 of their last 22 games and owns a two-game lead over their AL East counterparts. This marks their first trip to Tampa Bay since owner George Steinbrenner, who resided in Tampa, passed away on June 13.
Alex Rodriguez has been stuck at 599 home runs for the past seven games. He is trying to become the sixth player in major league history to hit 600 career home runs. Rodriguez appears to be much less concerned with hitting his 600th than he is about winning. “We’re winning, so this is fun,” said Rodriguez. “I’m focusing on something more important: a pennant race.”
While the Yankees own the best record in baseball, they have to look no further than their own division to find the team with the second-best record. The Tampa Bay Rays (64-38, 30-20 home) have won six consecutive games and is 18-5 in June. All three games of the series have been sold out, marking the first time Tropicana Field will be sold out for three consecutive games.
Rodriguez will try to get his 600th home run off of Rays starting pitcher Wade Davis (8-9, 4.32 ERA). He is 4 for 8 with two home runs in his career against Davis, who has posted a 2.11 ERA en route to winning his last three starts.
Phil Hughes (12-3, 4.04 ERA) will make his first start against the Rays of the season. For his career, Hughes is 2-1 with a 4.20 ERA against them in seven appearances, including two starts,