Going into last week's series against Pittsburgh, the Yankees' record was 1/2 game worse than the Pirates'. Now, three days after sweeping the Pirates', the Yankees are 4 1/2 games ahead of Pittsburgh.

Going into this weekend's series against the Cubs, the Yankees record was 1 1/2 games worse than the Chicago's. Now, after sweeping them in three games, the Yankees are 1 1/2 games ahead of the Cubs.

Tonight, going into a four game series against Tampa Bay, the Yankees have won six in a row, are 8-2 in their last ten games, are just five games out of first place and a whopping 13 1/2 games ahead of the Devil Rays, with whom they were once tied for last in the AL East. But that's nothing compared to the discrepancy between the Yankees' home record and the Devil Rays' road record:

Yanks Home: 22-13 (.629)
Rays Road: 5-28 (.152)

Wow! That's a 16-game difference over a sample of 35 games (33 for the Rays). One has to assume the Rays will find a way to win one of the next four games, but given those home and away records, it would be a major upset for them to do any better than that. Of course, that's how we all felt when the Yankees headed to Kansas City three weeks ago. Let's not forget that the Devil Rays have a 4-2 record against the Yankees on the season. This is how that happened:

The Yankees and Devil Rays split a two-game series in the Bronx back in late April. In the first game, the Yankees won 19-8, behind a shaky Jaret Wright, abusing Rob Bell, who less than a month later was put on the DL for "personal and psychological issues." The next night, Hideo Nomo stifled the Yankee bats, while Randy Johnson gave up a pair of homers to Eduardo Perez as the Rays won 6-2.

Two weeks later in Tampa, the Yankees hit what appeared to be their nadir, dropping 3 of 4 to the lowly Rays. In the first game, Andy Phillips struck out five times in a 6-2 win over Scott Kazmir. That would be the highlight of the series for the Yankees. Following that game, Brian Cashman dropped the bombshell that Tony Womack would move to left field, pushing Hideki Matsui into center field, giving the second base job to rookie Robinson Cano, and benching Bernie Williams for the forseable future.

With their new line-up in place, the Yankees proceeded to drop the next three games to the Rays by a combined score of 28-14. In the third game of the series, the Yankees skipped Randy Johnson in the rotation due to concerns over the sore groin that resulted from his complete game loss to Roy Halladay in his previous turn. In his place, they started a rookie straight out of double-A Trenton named Sean Henn. Henn was rocked for six runs (five earned) on seven hits and a pair of walks in just 2 1/3 innings. Throwing just 58 percent of his 72 pitches for strikes, Henn--despite showing some potential with a live fastball and movement on his pitches--failed to strike out a batter. After the game, Henn confessed that his knees were shaking on the mound. He was then sent down to triple-A Columbus.

Since then, Henn has picked up right where he left off with the Trenton Thunder, going 4-2 with a 3.19 ERA in eight starts (frustratingly, minor league stats vanish once a guy is promoted and I failed to snag Henn's expanded triple-A numbers this weekend), and with Kevin Brown landing on the DL due to back spasms suffered during his last start, the Yankees have again turned to Henn, who will again face the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, the team responsible for his 19.29 career major league ERA. Methinks it's time for some payback.

Here's the team Henn will face tonight:

Tampa Bay Devil Rays

2005 Record: 23-46(.333)
2005 Pythagorean Record: 25-44 (.357)

Manager: Lou Piniella
General Manager: Chuck LaMar

Ballpark (2004 park factors): Tropicana Field (96/96)

Who has replaced whom?

Jonny Gomes has replaced Josh Phelps (minors) at DH
Nick Green has replaced Alex Gonzalez in the line-up, pushing Jorge Cantu to third base
A platoon of Damon Hollins and Reggie Taylor has replaced Alex Sanchez (DFA) in center field and Chris Singleton (released) on the bench
Kevin Cash has replaced Charles Johnson (released) as back-up catcher
Casey Fossum has replaced Dewon Brazelton (minors) in the rotation
Chad Orvella, Lee Gardner, Franklin Nunez and Tim Corcoran have replaced Rob Bell (DL - personal reasons), Trever Miller (DL), Seth McClung (minors) and Fossum in the bullpen

Current Roster:

1B – Travis Lee
2B – Nick Green
SS – Julio Lugo
3B – Jorge Cantu
C – Toby Hall
RF – Aubrey Huff
CF – Damon Hollins
LF – Carl Crawford
DH – Jonny Gomes

Bench:

L - Reggie Taylor (OF)
R – Eduardo Perez (1B)
R - Alex S. Gonzalez (IF)
R – Kevin Cash (C)

Rotation:

L – Scott Kazmir
L – Mark Hendrickson
R – Doug Waechter
L – Casey Fossom
R – Hideo Nomo

Bullpen:

R – Danys Baez
R – Lance Carter
R – Travis Harper
R - Chad Orvella
R - Lee Gardner
R - Franklin Nunez
R - Tim Corcoran

R – Franklin Nunez

DL:

R – Rocco Baldelli (OF) (60-day)
L – Trever Miller
R – Jesus Colome
R – Rob Bell

Typical Line-up

L – Carl Crawford (LF)
R – Julio Lugo (SS)
L – Aubrey Huff (RF)
R – Jorge Cantu (2B)
R - Jonny Gomes (DH)
L – Travis Lee (1B)
R – Toby Hall (C)
R - Nick Green (2B)