Granderson's 2 HRs, 5 RBIs power Yanks over Rays

Based on the three one-run, hyper-intense games the Yankees and Rays played last week in St. Petersburg, Fla., Joe Girardi expected more of the same this week, with four games likely to be decided "in the final minute."

It looked that way for six innings last night, but Curtis Granderson made sure the Yankees didn't have to sweat this one out at the wire. At least not quite as much.

Granderson hit a pair of home runs, a two-run shot and a three-run blast, to lift the Yankees past the Rays, 8-6, on an emotional night at the Stadium, one that started with the unveiling of George Steinbrenner's monument in Monument Park.

"It was special for all of us," Derek Jeter said of the pregame ceremony. "We'll all remember we were here and had an opportunity to be a part of it. That's what you remember the most. The game's important, but it was just a special night altogether."

The victory gave the Yankees (91-59) a 1½-game lead over the Rays (89-60) in the AL East.

Granderson's two-run homer in the third gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead and his three-run bomb, which hit near the top of the rightfield foul pole in the sixth, highlighted a four-run inning that made it 8-4.

"Curtis Granderson, huge," said Nick Swisher, who went 2-for-2 with two walks. "Two huge home runs."

The Rays had taken back momentum with four runs in the top of the inning that tied it, for the moment, at 4.

Jeter's RBI single gave the Yankees a 5-4 lead before Granderson's three-run home run, his 21st of the year, made it 8-4. Granderson has 14 homers in his last 53 games after hitting seven in his first 72. He's been particularly hot against lefthanded pitching since hitting coach Kevin Long remade his swing the second week of August, though the damage he did last night was against two righties.

That wasn't supposed to be the case with the second homer, which came off righthander Grant Balfour. Rays manager Joe Maddon said afterward that lefthander Randy Choate was the reliever he wanted up and ready to come in, not Balfour.

"I messed up," Maddon said of the miscommunication that took place. "Write that."

David Robertson allowed a run in the seventh that got the Rays to 8-5 and there were some tense moments in the ninth as Mariano Rivera, who blew just his fourth save of the season Sunday in Baltimore, gained his 32nd save despite allowing a run and two hits in the ninth.

"It's always a battle with these guys," Swisher said. "Whatever team's up, it always seems at some point in the game, it's still always going to be a one-, two- or three-run game."

Ivan Nova, the Yankees' 23-year-old, had a similar start to last Tuesday's game against the Rays.

In that game, Nova shut out the Rays the first four innings before giving up six runs in the fifth inning of what would be an 8-7 Yankees victory in 10 innings.

Last night, Nova went five scoreless innings, and had a 4-0 lead, before allowing three runs in the sixth. Boone Logan replaced Nova, who allowed three runs and three hits in 52/3 innings, and Chad Gaudin's bases-loaded walk to B.J. Upton tied it at 4.

But first Jeter and then Granderson came through in the sixth to push the Yankees ahead for good on a night Girardi said Steinbrenner would have appreciated.

"Grittiness, tough innings, tough at-bats, both teams playing hard," Girardi said. "I think this is something he would have really liked."

The result, of course, most of all.

With Jim Baumbach