TORONTO — The Rays aren’t the Red Sox when it comes to each game being a separate chapter of Baseball Armageddon. However, four games starting tonight in St. Petersburg carry significant weight for the Yankees.
That’s because the Rays are 5½ games behind the Yankees in the AL wild-card race.
“They are an important four games. They are going to be there all year long,” manager Joe Girardi said of the Rays.
The Yankees are 3-2 against the Rays this year; 1-1 at Tropicana Field.
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Mark Teixeira went 1-for-4 in yesterday’s 7-2 win over the Blue Jays. Teixeira is in a 6-for-30 (.200) funk and has three RBIs in 13 July games. . . . The Yankees haven’t homered in the last three games, matching a season-high.
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The Yankees haven’t given any signs they can’t live with Eduardo Nunez playing third base until Alex Rodriguez returns from the disabled list, but they are keeping on top of what third basemen will be available before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.
The one concern about Nunez is that he leads the team with a dozen errors and is a natural shortstop.
The Athletics’ Kevin Kouzmanoff, currently at Triple-A Sacramento, has been discussed internally by the Yankees.
After playing his way out of Oakland by hitting .221 (30-for-106) with four homers and 17 RBIs in 46 games, the 29-year-old Kouzmanoff is hitting .300 (36-for-120) with six homers and 32 RBIs in 28 games at Sacramento.
From 2008 to 2010, the right-handed career .255 hitter averaged 19 homers and 81 RBIs for the Padres and A’s.
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Girardi gave Derek Jeter his first rest yesterday since the shortstop returned from the DL on July 4.
“We were going to give him a day off at some point because of the turf,” Girardi said of the first eight games after the All-Star break being played on the synthetic surface.
Girardi started Nunez at shortstop and Ramiro Pena at third.
It was a move designed to keep Nunez sharp at short so he won’t feel lost if he has to play there when Rodriguez returns sometime around Sept. 1.
As for Rodriguez, Girardi said the third baseman, who had right knee surgery last Monday, will remain in Miami for two weeks. He also said Rodriguez is riding an exercise bike and lifting weights.
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Rafael Soriano will make his first minor league rehab start tomorrow in Tampa. Girardi said he believed the outing will be for the Single-A Tampa Yankees of the Florida State League.
“Soriano is going to have to have a few appearances. We have to talk about does he need to go back-to-back,” Girardi said. “Let’s take it one day at a time.”
Soriano has been on the DL since May 17 with an inflamed right elbow.
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The Yankees sent outfielder Greg Golson to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and promoted outfielder Chris Dickerson.
The right-handed hitting Golson was chosen when Rodriguez was put on the DL because the Blue Jays started two left-handed pitchers in the four games series that ended yesterday.
Now, with the Rays going with three righties in the four-game series that opens tonight, Girardi believed his bench needed the left-handed hitting Dickerson.