The Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees both enter a four game set against one another coming off wins the previous day. For the Rays, they were able to take care of business against AL East-leading Boston behind a big day at the plate for the middle of the order. The three through seven hitters all tallied at least one RBI as the Jeremy Hellickson paced the Rays to a 6-2 victory. The Yankees secured both a win and a loss against the Dodgers in a doubleheader, which was scheduled after game one of the series was rained out on Monday. It was the first time since the 1981 World Series that the Dodgers had faced the Yankees in New York and the quick two day series did not disappoint. The Yankees won game one 6-4 with help from the bat of Ichiro who went three for four at the plate including a blistering home run and three RBI’s. New York needed nearly every hit they got as Hanley Ramirez went four for four at the plate with a home run and two RBI’s for the Dodgers. Game two of the series went drastically different, as the Yankees were only able to record three hits as the Dodgers dominated 6-0 behind a great six-inning outing from Chris Capuano.
Both the Yankees and Rays are seeking to keep pace within the division, as the Red Sox lead over the teams is 3.5 and 6 games respectively. Game one of the series will get underway around 7:05 at Yankee Stadium and will feature lefty Matt Moore for the Rays against long-time Yankee Andy Pettitte. Both guys are having solid years as Moore is 8-3 with a 4.12 ERA and Pettitte is 5-4 with a 3.95 ERA. Despite these productive numbers both pitchers have struggled as of lately. Moore has given up 19 runs over the previous 13 1/3 innings while Pettitte has allowed 9 runs in 19 innings since returning from the DL. Yankees tickets are still available for game one with the average ticket costing $57 and a get-in price of $9.
In game two the Rays are expected to send Roberto Hernandez to the mound to face the Yankees’ David Phelps. Both players have struggled at times this year but Phelps has historically fared well against the Rays as he has a 2.50 career ERA against the club. Phelps guided the Yankees to a 9-4 win on May 24. The average ticket for game two is $63 with a get-in price of $14.
As usual tickets will become more expensive as the weekend rolls in, particularly because Sunday is Old Timers Day at Yankee Stadium. Old Timers Day consists of many veteran Yankees returning to the stadium to take in a ball game and be honored by the crowd and is always a huge success at the ticket office for the Yankees. While tickets for Saturday are going for an average of $91, the price on Sunday for Old Timers Day is $114. The get-in prices for these two games are $14 and $16 respectively. The series average for this weekend is $88 a ticket that is 2% below the Yankees 2013 home average of $90 per ticket.
If either the Rays or Yankees are going to make a run at the Boston Red Sox they will need to win critical
intra-division matchups like the series this weekend. Any Yankees fan that is free should get down to Yankee Stadium for great weather and great baseball in this critical AL East matchup.
