The Rays bats were on fire and no one was hotter than 1B Carlos Pena who went 4-5, driving in three with a double and home run.

Sunday’s game will feature a spectacular pitching matchup with the Rays send AL win leader David Price 12-4 2.42) to the mound against the ageless one, Andy Pettitte (11-2 2.70) for the Yankees. Both pitchers pitched in the All Star game earlier this week.

I now have to address something that was said during Staurdays broadcast by Tim McCarver. I do not like McCarver as an announcer. In the booth, McCarver is to baseball what Joe Thiesman is to football for me. In the top of the 4th inning, McCarver was discussing the Yankees organization and how they have been addressing the passing of George Steinbrenner and former announcer Bob Sheppard.

McCarver goes into another of his long winded rants and mentions that one man who has been absent from the events this week has been Joe Torre. In McCarver’s mind, the Yankees are treating Torre the same way that Nazi Germany or Communist Russia treated generals they had shot, they simply airbrushed them out of photographs. You can listen for yourself in case you missed it.

Has this man lost his mind? The Yankees front office is comparable to two regimes responsible for the death of tens of millions of people? It really is time for Fox to replace him in the booth with someone who is mentally stable. McCarver rambled aimlessly on Saturday, several times losing his place in conversation, he seemed confused at times.

We get it. Networks like to fill the booths up with ex-jocks to give their insight into the game we are watching. Some are better than others, some annoy the hell out of me, and then some even recognize when it’s time to go. Quite frankly Tim, perhaps you should head to the studio, record another album or two and leave the baseball world alone.

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Here’s a quick photo of Burnett waving to the adoring New York fans as he was pulled from the game after serving up virtual batting practice.

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Evan Longoria had a hot bat tonight for the good guys, going 3-4 with 2 RBI’s.  C John Jaso really got back on track with a 3-4 performance and he added a walk, 2 RBI’s and 2 runs scored. Tampa was sluggish last week with the bats, but some Yankee pitching was all it took to get the bats catching fire. Tonight, the Rays had 15 hits and 5 walks. Just for good measure, Tampa added 6 stolen bases.

Rays starter Wade Davis was tough as well. While he did only record 5.2 innings, he had 7 strikeouts and 60% of his pitches went for strikes. Davis did give up 7 hits and 2 earned runs, but the Yankees came into the game leading in many offensive categories.

In a nutshell, Tampa had their way with New York tonight. I watched the game on the Florida Sunshine network, I couldn’t stomach the ESPN crew making excuses for their beloved Yankees. Joe Morgan was likely drinking by the 6th inning. It will be a rough day on Thursday at the ESPN studios in Bristol, CT. At least their beloved Red Sox eked out a 3-2 win tonight, but black arm bands and a somber mood will be the work format tomorrow.

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James Shields takes on Andy “Goat Eyes” Pettitte tonight, can New York withstand yet another smackdown? Who cares if they can withstand it, come on Tampa, administer it!

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Rays relieve got the afternoon off after three straight appearances form May 15th-17th. Soriano continues to be perfect on the season with 10 saves in 10 attempts, a 0.94 WHIP and a 1.59 ERA. Soriano’s day off was needed as the Rays head north for a two game series with the Evil Empire, aka, the New York Yankees.

So here come the Yankees. It’s too early in the season to call a series critical, but it’s definitely important. Tampa has been playing at a blistering pace, recording the MLB leading 28-11 record but have been unable to create distance between the Yankees in the standings. With the Bawsteeen Chowda heads beat NY last night, the Rays currently hold a three game lead over New York, so a sweep in the two game series would be fantastic, giving the Rays a 5 game lead.

This is going to be a great series. New York is playing good ball. They have a 13-4 home record. The Rays are a league best 15-4 on the road. Tampa leads the league in run differential, New York leads MLB with 225 runs scored.

Here’s a little something to get you in the mood for tonight’s game.

The Yankees have a team BA of .278 but Tampa comes in with a MLB leading team 2.69 ERA, 4 shutouts, 294 K’s and opponents are only batting .223 against Rays pitching.  Tampa’s starters are also leading the AL with a combined 21 wins.

Tonight’s pitching match-up features Wade Davis (3-3 3.38 ERA) for the good guys matching up against A. J. Burnett (4-1 3.31 ERA) for the Evil Empire. On May 9th, the Red Sox sent Burnett to the showers after 4.1 innings, lighting him up for 8 earned runs and 9 hits, so the 4-1 record isn’t as daunting as it appears.

Tampa Bay’s bats have been a bit silent as of late but the past two games, many players are starting to find their stroke again. Yesterday, eight of nine starters had at least one hit, with only 2B Sean Rodriguez missing out on the hit parade. Rodriguez did manage to draw a walk and scored a run though and made a phenomenal play behind second base.

Thursday night’s game will match up James “Big Game” Shields (4-1 3.00 ERA) against a surprising Andy Pettitte (5-0 1.79 ERA) Don’t pencil in an automatic win for Pettitte just yet, Tampa is 13-4 against left handed pitching this year.

A series split would maintain Tampa’s 3 game lead, but how sweet will it be with a series sweep?

It’s nice of ESPN to feature the Rays on a National broadcast seeing they have MLB’s best record, but I will be watching on Sunshine Network. ESPN doesn’t seem to know that there are other teams in baseball other than the Yankees and the Red Sox. Let’s show the hacks in Bristol how it’s done tonight.