Yanks take Rays set, close gap in East

For all the hoopla of the night before, Thursday's series finale at Tropicana Field was a bit anticlimactic. Neither Derek Jeter nor Alex Rodriguez were in the lineup. Bobby Abreu, Jorge Posada, Doug Mientkiewicz and Melky Cabrera were likewise absent. The message from this was clear: With a division title possible but no longer likely, New York was going to rest its big names for what it hopes will be a long postseason journey.

"It's kind of a testament to the type of team we are," said starter Phil Hughes. "I think when you go up against a guy who's had a really good year and he's a good pitcher, just the fact that we didn't roll over [was a positive], because it would've been really easy to do the night after we clinched a playoff spot." Continue