Roger Mooney covers the Tampa Bay Rays for The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8. He has covered the Rays since their first season in 1998, including 11 years for the Bradenton Herald. Roger has also covered Florida, South Florida and Florida State football, the Bucs and the Lightning.
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Posted Sep 27, 2011 by Roger Mooney
Updated Sep 27, 2011 at 03:54 PM
ROGER MOONEY
ST. PETERSBURG The Rays can take a step closer to winning the American League Wild Card with a victory tonight against the Yankees at the Trop.
The Rays, having pulled into a tie with the Red Sox on Monday night, control their destiny since they hold a tiebreaker with the Red Sox.
All the Rays need to do is win one more game during these last two nights of the regular season to return to the playoffs.
Should the teams remained tied after Wednesday night’s regular season finale, the Red Sox head here for a one-game playoff Thursday afternoon.
Jeremy Hellickson is on the mound tonight for the Rays. A leading candidate for the AL rookie of the year, Hellickson was named the Rays rookie of the year for 2011 by the Tampa Bay chapter of the BBWAA.
Hellickson will be opposed by Bartolo Colon, who allowed five runs in three innings last Thursday at Yankee Stadium.
Erik Bedard will try to save the season for the Red Sox, who face the Orioles tonight in Baltimore.
Here are the lineups:
YANKEES
Nunez SS
Granderson CF
Cano 2B
Rodriguez 3B
Teixeira 1B
Swisher RF
Posada DH
Martin C
Gardner LF
—
Colon P
RAYS
Jennings LF
Upton CF
Longoria 3B
Joyce RF
Damon DH
Zobrist 2B
Kotchman 1B
Shoppach C
Rodriguez SS
—
Hellickson P
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