Tampa Bay @ New York preview

Last Meeting ( Jul 8, 2011 ) Tampa Bay 0, NY Yankees 0

THE STORY: With so much attention focused on Derek Jeter’s pursuit of 3,000 hits, it is almost easy to lose track of that fact that there’s a stirring race taking place in the American League East. The Tampa Bay Rays hope to continue inching toward the top of the division when they visit the New York Yankees on Saturday afternoon in the second game of what has become a three-game series. Round 1 went to the Rays, who held Jeter to one hit Thursday and left New York’s captain two shy of 3,000. Tampa Bay’s 5-1 victory also knocked New York out of first place, one-half game behind Boston. Both teams used Friday's rainout to realign their starting rotations. The Rays will send ace David Price to the mound to face New York's A.J. Burnett on Saturday.

TV: 1:05 p.m. ET, SunSports (Tampa Bay), YES (New York)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Rays LH David Price (8-7, 3.56 ERA) vs. Yankees RH A.J. Burnett (7-6, 4.12).

Based on his 19-win season a year ago, the Rays were expecting more from Price to this point. He has not won back-to-back starts since May 5 and 11, going 3-4 in 10 starts since. Though overpowering at times with four double-digit strikeout games, Price has also allowed at least four runs in seven of his 18 starts. He is 3-1 with a 3.88 ERA in nine career appearances (eight starts) against the Yankees. Jeter is 6-for-25 against Price, but Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira and Jorge Posada are a combined 7-for-59 against him. Although he has pitched better than last year's 10-15 debacle, Burnett still struggles to maintain consistency. Example: He was mowing down Cleveland in his last outing, carrying a shutout into the seventh inning before two walks, a wild pitch, a single and three-run homer doomed him to a 4-2 loss. He is 12-8 with a3.36 ERA in 26 lifetime starts against the Rays, getting 67 runs of support in 10 starts with New York since 2009. Evan Longoria is 13-for-35 with a homer against him.

ABOUT THE YANKEES (51-35): Jeter admitted he thought he had a chance to become the first Yankee to collect 3,000 hits when he doubled on the first pitch he saw Thursday night. But he grounded out in his next four at-bats, leaving him needing two hits to become the 28th major leaguer to reach the magic number. Since reeling off seven consecutive wins, New York has stumbled to four losses in its last five. The Yankees have scored three runs or fewer in each of the losses. Robinson Cano extended his hitting streak to 11 games and ended a homerless drought of 19 games with his 15th blast Thursday night.

ABOUT THE RAYS (49-39): Kicking off a stretch in which it will play 11 straight games against New York and Boston, Tampa Bay got some solid production throughout its lineup. With Johnny Damon sitting out Thursday's game with a swollen hand, Ben Zobrist led off and came within a double of hitting for the cycle. B.J. Upton hit a three-run homer and leads the team in homers (14) and RBIs (48). Casey Kotchman is 11-for-25 during a six-game hitting streak, raising his average to .345. Longoria is 5-for-11 with five RBIs in his last two after collecting only three hits in his previous seven games.

FINAL PITCH: Jeter and Alex Rodriguez have both decided to skip next week's All-Star Game. Jeter wants to use the time to rest his calf, which sidelined him for three weeks before he returned Monday. Rodriguez will use the extra time to let his knee heal.