MLB

BRING ON THE YANKS

ST. PETERSBURG – Expect a few inches of snow today, a smooth commute to the office and Cynthia Rodriguez humming a Madonna tune.

Hey, anything seems possible – the Rays come to Yankee Stadium today in first place, with the best record in baseball at 55-33.

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Tampa Bay has made plenty of these trips to The Bronx through the years when the Rays were the ones floundering and the Yankees were cruising. Now down is up, hot is cold and the Yanks are the team looking for answers while the red-hot Rays have won seven of their last eight to take a 8½ game lead over the third-place Bombers in the AL East.

“We’ve got the Yankees that are kind of, you know, in desperate mode,” said pitcher Scott Kazmir, the former Mets farmhand. “It’s going to be exciting.”

Yesterday’s 7-4 extra-inning loss to Kansas City snapped a seven-game winning streak for Tampa Bay. Carlos Pena tied the game 3-3 in the ninth with a home run, but reliever Dan Wheeler allowed four runs in the 10th, leaving the Rays with a 6-1 record on their homestand.

The Rays are used to beating up on the big boys this season. The Rays, with a $43 million payroll, have swept the Red Sox ($133 million) and the Cubs ($118 million) in recent weeks and feel no fright about playing the Yankees.

“It’s not a big deal anymore,” DH Cliff Floyd said. “It used to be going to play the Yankees was a big deal. It’s not a big deal. We’re just going to play baseball. We put ourselves in a position where there’s no pressure.”

Tampa Bay enters tonight’s game 22 games over .500 and just 15 games shy of a franchise record for wins. They are on pace to win 102 games.

So, how did this happen?

“We’ve grown so much in one year in regards to our professionalism and how we handle moments,” manager Joe Maddon said. “That’s what you’re seeing as the primary difference.”

It starts with Maddon, in his third season with Tampa Bay. He wears funny glasses, has a strange jersey number (70) and his office features a Dr. Seuss quotation and racks of wine. He has infused a winning attitude in a franchise that used to celebrate two-game winning streaks.

“To see all the concepts and the work that we’ve been putting out there the last couple of years starting to come to fruition, theory and reality coming together a bit, it’s nice to see that,” Maddon said. “To the level we’ve been doing it definitely exceeds expectations at this point, but we’ll take it.”

Tampa Bay is playing with a nice blend of youth and experience. The Rays brought in some veterans in the offseason who had been part of a winning team to help along their young guys. Floyd, closer Troy Percival and outfielder Eric Hinske have all been part of championship teams. They’ve been able to guide the young Rays through the new territory of being on top of the division rather than the bottom.

“They’re playing the game right,” said the 38-year-old Percival, who is on the DL with a hamstring injury. “They haven’t played the game right here in 10 years. I know because I used to come in here and say what are they going to do to screw this game up and they always did.”

This team has not relied on any one player. Maddon likes to say they have a “different bus driver every night” with someone new stepping up every night.

As the wins have piled up, so has the team’s confidence.

“They think they can play with anybody,” said Don Zimmer, a senior adviser for the team. “Why shouldn’t they? They have.”

brian.costello@nypost.com