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The Yankees were able to have a double celebration Wednesday afternoon.  Certainly, Alex Rodriguez's 600th career home has been a long time coming and worthy of celebration.  But, with the Yanks having hit a bit of a mini skid, avoiding the sweep by Toronto and not falling further behind Tampa Bay is even more party-worthy.  A sun-drenched full house at the Big House in the Bronx was treated to baseball history along with a 5-1  NY win.

Tampa Bay has been on a roll.  History books say that they cannot maintain that level throughout the course of the regular season, but the talented, young Rays have made up all of the ground that NY had put between the two teams in June and early July.  Therefore, the matinee win over Toronto got the sour

With two series and a total of seven games still to be played between the Yankees and Tampa Bay it's obvious that pitching is indeed the name of the game for the Rays.

Whereas Saturday night the Yankees topped Matt Garza, he the author of a franchise first no-hitter vs. Detroit earlier last week, Sunday afternoon TB's James Shields turned in his best outing as he led his club to a 3-0 win, with TB now standing just one game behind NY.  In the post-game Rays manager Joe Maddon was asked to clarify if he meant Sundaywas Shields' best performance of 2010, Maddon said, "No, his best performance ever." 

The right-hander had three pitches working.  Although his fastball topped at an average 90 mph, it had incredible movement tailing away

A win, is a win, is a win.  But, when it comes to really meaningful wins beating your closest competitors is what counts the most.

When the Bronx Bombers return from their brief R & R stint (at least for non-all-stars) they tackle a very tough, yet extremely “meaningful” 10-game home stand.  Tampa Bay, nipping at the Yankees’ heels just two games behind, comes in for three.  They are followed by the bothersome Blue Jays for another three.  Hopefully, Toronto struggles with fly balls in the sun as they did last time they were in town.  Boston then comes in for a big four-game set. 

To date the Yanks have played 88 games, leaving 74 for the remainder of the regular season which stretches all the way into the first week of October. 

It's an all-out sprint to the All-Star break for the Yankees as they try to hold off the relentless Tampa Bay Rays.  Both teams are getting it done in hopes of holding their places through the brief respite that starts Sunday night.

Tonight's match-up for the NYY vs. Seattle has an eerie light shining upon it given the strong rumors of the Mariner's lefty ace Cliff Lee possibly switching locker rooms to join the Pinstripes.  If, and that's a big if, if we can  put that aside for a minute, tonight's game is big.  The Yanks have Phil Hughes, trying to shake off more mediocre outings than solid ones here in the last month, going against a strike-throwing lefty who can dominate the best lineups.

The pressure is on Hughes to return to the persona we saw earlier this