FLICKER OF HOPE NOT ENOUGH FOR SKIDDING YANKEES

(In Photo: Russell Martin gets excited after beating out a throw to first)
The story coming into this game is the return of Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees just losing ground to both the Orioles and Rays in the American League least...but first Alex. The Yankees have missed his bat in the lineup and I'm glad he is back so he can give that extra punch in the clean-up spot for the Yankees. At least, that's what we hoped for. Today he went 1-4, but more on that in a moment.  Say what you want about ARod...I firmly believe he will be the biggest September call up and will help the Yankees during this playoff push.

The name of the game for the Yankees this series is wins and the Yankees needed to get off to a good start, yet, they didn't. It was another heartbreak loss to start off this truly important series. Tampa got on the board first in the bottom of the 2nd as Jeff Keppinger and Ben Francisco started off with singles and Chris Gimenez scored Jeff Keppinger with a single of his own. BJ Upton lead off the bottom of the 3rd with a home run which put the Rays up 2-0.

The Yankees answered the Rays in the 4th as Robinson Cano started off the inning with a double and ARod followed him with a single which put Cano on third. With runners on the corners, Eric Chavez lined an out into left but Cano tagged up and scored to cut the Rays lead in half. Raul Ibanez then had an RBI off his own as he ripped a triple in front of the diving Francisco and Russell Martin followed with a hustle in-field single which put the Yankees up 3-2. Right then I thought maybe...maybe the Yankees have had enough losing.  Russell Martin looked so punched to beat that in-field hit out, I was convinced momentum was in the Yankees favor.  But no...the Rays would tie the game up in the bottom of the 5th on an RBI ground out by Longoria. CC Sabathia and James Shields both settled down to give up no more runs in their outings. Though, in the bottom of the 8th the Rays would rally as catcher Chris Gimenez hit the game winning single to score giving David Robertson the loss for the game. Fernando Rodney would then shut the door in the 9th to end yet another heartbreaking loss. One thing I didn't like about this loss was the lack of hustle by the Yankees. Yes, Martin was pumped, but they really need to start clicking on all cylinders and hustle through first if they want to win close ballgames. I'm calling out Robinson Cano.  I don't care how many years you've been playing, you need to bust down the line.

On a good note, CC was much better this start, he wasn't great, but better and we're going to need him to be the "Ace" CC for the rest of September.

Key Player of the Game: Chris Gimenez. Gimenez hit in the first run for the Rays and he got the last for them too. He indeed won it for Tampa and also played good "D."

Key Moment of the Game: HUSTLE! It seems like this Yankees team doesn't want to win sometimes and if you hustle, trust me, good things will happen. Let's turn around this funk right now!

Again, the final today...another Yankee loss: Rays 4 - Yankees 3.

W: James Shields (13-8) L: David Robertson (1-5) S: Rodney (41)

--Sam Thaler, BYB Contributor
Twitter: @samt1836

Please comment, we have DISQUS, it's easier than ever. Let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.