ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Through the first 10 games of the season, Joe Girardi has been searching for that all-elusive TTE -- Total Team Effort -- that game where the starting pitching, relief pitching, offense and defense all come together in the same game for a clean, satisfying victory.
He got it from the New York Yankees tonight: A terrific start out of Masahiro Tanaka, timely hitting out of his lineup, no errors in the field and, despite Branden Pinder's near-flameout in the ninth, two innings of scoreless relief. It all added up to a 9-0 win, a modest two-game winning streak and, best of all, a series win over the Tampa Bay Rays with the possibility of a sweep in Sunday's series finale before the Yankees head to Detroit for four games with the big, bad, 9-2 Tigers.
Masterful Tanaka: For the first time since July, before he suffered the partial UCL tear that ripped nearly three months out of his rookie season, the Yankees saw the Masahiro Tanaka they committed $155 million to before last season. Working efficiently, Tanaka mowed through the Rays for seven innings, allowing just two hits -- a leadoff single to David DeJesus and a sixth inning double by Brandon Guyer -- walking none and striking out eight, four of them looking. Tanaka needed just 85 pitches to get through the outing, and for you V-Lo fans, hit 93 mph several times with his fastball.
The Seventh heaven: The Yankees gave Tanaka some breathing room with seven runs in the seventh inning on four hits, three walks, a hit batter, a wild pitch, a pair of sacrifice flies and a long grand slam by Chris Young off reliever Grant Balfour to give them a 9-0 lead. Young's home run came on a 3-2 pitch and sailed far into the second deck in left center, his third of the season. The inning took an interminable 38 minutes.
Rare occurrence: Brian McCann drove in two sixth-inning runs with a triple -- just the fourth of his career in 11 big-league seasons -- that just missed being a three-run homer and only became a triple because Rays RF Steven Souza Jr. tried to make a leaping catch, crashed into the wall, and watched helplessly as the ball caromed off the yellow HR stripe and rolled all the way back to the infield. Brett Gardner and Alex Rodriguez, both of whom walked, scored on the play to stake Tanaka and the Yankees to a 2-0 lead.
Rough night: Souza missed another tough catch in the seventh on Chase Headley's drive to the right-center gap, leaping only to see the ball glance off the heel of his glove. It was scored a double and led to the Yankees' third run of the night on Gregorio Petit's sacrifice fly.
Take a whiff: Starters Tanaka and Jake Odorizzi combined for 17 strikeouts. Home plate umpire Bob Davidson helped some, bringing a generous strike zone with him tonight. He called six batters out on strikes -- three Rays and three Yankees -- in the first half of the game.
The Daily A-Rod: No heroics tonight. Three strikeouts, two walks. Scored twice. Go get 'em tomorrow.
Tomorrow: The series winds up with an afternoon game matching Michael Pineda (1-0, 5.11) and RHP Matt Andriese (0-0, 3.86), first pitch at 1:10 p.m. ET.
