Tonight gives C.C. Sabathia and David Price. That alone is worth the price of admission.

Alex Rodriguez begins a rehab assignment today and the Yanks look, once again, to gain ground on the Sox, and put some space between themselves and the Rays.

Cliff has the preview:

The Rays enter this weekend’s three-game series in the Bronx 8 1/2 games behind the Yankees in the Wild Card race and a half-game behind the Angels, who just left the Bronx having dropped two of three to the Bombers. I don’t really see either of those two seems as a significant threat to the Yankees’ chances of making the postseason. However, the Yankees and Rays do have nine games remaining against each other, so, at the moment, it is possible for the Rays to sweep their way into the Wild Card spot. A single win in this series, however, puts the Yankees in charge of the Rays’ destiny as the Yankees’ lead over the Rays would then exceed the number of games they have remaining against each other.

Thus far this season, these two teams have been pretty closely matched. The Yankees hold a slight 5-4 game advantage in the season series and have outscored the Rays by just four runs, but the Rays took four of their seven head-to-head contests in July and have since upgraded their roster by finally calling up top prospect Desmond Jennings and installing him in left field in place of the overextended Sam Fuld.

Fuld caused a sensation in April with a hot bat and circus catches, but has hit just .202/.267/.310 dating back to April 28. Jennings, long tabbed as Carl Crawford’s replacement, has hit .333/.422/.597 with eight stolen bases in 19 games since being called up in late July, a promotion that was delayed slightly by a broken finger. That’s a significant and overdue upgrade, though one that might prove to have come too late to salvage the Rays’ postseason hopes.

1. Jeter SS
2. Granderson CF
3. Teixeira 1B
4. Cano 2B
5. Swisher DH
6. Jones RF
7. Martin C
8. Nunez 3B
9. Gardner LF

Never mind the analysis:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!