Alex Rodriguez failed to hit his 600th* home run Friday night and the Tampa Bay Rays failed to show up offensively until the bottom of the sixth, looking early-on like they may have shot their load sweeping the Detroit Tigers earlier in the week. Or maybe their bats did make it through the luggage check; oh wait, we’re in the middle of the longest home stand of the year… Must have left them at home instead. Fortunately, Tampa-native Matt Joyce found his in the bottom of the sixth. With two outs and John Jaso and Carlos Pena already aboard, Joyce popped his fourth homer of the year on a 2-2 pitch to take a 3-2 lead (check out the Yankees fan around the 14-second mark; thank you, sir). The Yankees’ Derek Jeter had led off the game with base hit, followed by a Nick Swisher long ball to give New York a lead they held for the better part of the game. Both teams were held to four hits apiece in the Rays' 64th win, putting them 26 games over .500.
This article appears in Jul 29 – Aug 4, 2010.