Yankees-Rays; MLB Notes (5/3)

The Yankees flew last night from chilly Boston to the warm sun in Tampa, Florida for a 2 game series with the Devil Rays. The Bombers took 2 of 3 from the Rays at Yankees Stadium last week. Jaret Wright faces Casey Fossum in the opener with Randy Johnson squaring off against Doug Waechter on Thursday.

The Yankees come into the series one game behind Boston, though even in the loss column. The Devil Rays have dropped 8 of 11 to fall to the AL East basement with an overall mark of 11-16. The Rays batting order is seriously hurting with regulars Jorge Cantu, Aubrey Huff, and Julio Lugo on the DL. Tampa recently acquired Tyler Walker to help strengthen the bullpen and compete with Doug Miceli for the closer's job. So far Walker has struggled.

The Yankees will most likely be without Gary Sheffield again tonight. Joe Torre could not give an answer when asked how much longer Sheffield would be out of the lineup.

Notes

Carl Pavano continues to slowly make progress towards coming back to the big club. Pavano threw 5 innings in an extended Spring Training game on Tuesday and is set to make an appearance in a single-A game on Sunday.

Octavio Dotel is back throwing after suffering an expected setback in his recovery from Tommy John surgery.

The Yankees signed veteran left-hander Tommy Phelps to a minor league contract. Phelps made 29 appearances for the Milwaukee Brewers last season.

Recently acquired Jesus Colome has begun throwing on flat ground as he recovers from a shoulder injury.

Jason Giambi was named the American League player of the month for April. The Giambino hit .344 with 9 home runs and a league high 27 RBI. He also walked 26 times and had an OPS of over 1.400.

Don Mattingly feels he has found a flaw in Hideki Matsui's swing. Watching DVD copies of games over the last few years, Mattingly found that Matsui's hands were currently much further away from his body. Godzilla has not homered in 73 at-bats.

MLB Notes

Barry Bonds grew closer to Babe Ruth with his 712th career home run against San Diego yesterday. I hope you get stuck on 713!

Houston Astros officials met with the agents for Roger Clemens and reportedly made an offer of $12 million for the remainder of the season. That would pro-rate to $18 million for a full season.

With Derek Lee on the DL, the Chicago Cubs have approached the Baltimore Orioles about Jeff Conine. The Orioles are not interested in making a move right now, and Conine isn't sure he'd want to go anyway.