It’s never going to escalate to the level of Red Sox-Yankees, but when the Rays open a three-game series against the Yankees on Friday night at Yankee Stadium, first place in the AL East will be in the air.
That should be enough to stir emotions between teams that met last weekend in St. Petersburg, Fla., where CC Sabathia, Luke Voit and Aaron Boone were annoyed about Voit getting drilled high on the left arm by Yonny Chirinos on Saturday.
Thanks to well-pitched efforts by Domingo German and Masahiro Tanaka, the Yankees won two of three from the Rays who took advantage of Yankees relievers Jonathan Holder and Nestor Cortes, Jr.