Statement series (of sorts) for Rays

It is May 19 and the teams with the best records in baseball are playing each other in a two-game series at Yankee Stadium. Tampa Bay is 28-11 with a .718 winning percentage. The Rays have a three game lead over the Yankees, who are 25-14 with a .641 percentage. The Rays lost twice to the Yankees in the first week of the season, so Tampa Bay wants to show it can beat the Yanks at some point.   

A guaranteed prediction: Tampa Bay is not going to win 71 percent of its games this season. This charmed start to the season has been built on great pitching, but something less than stellar hitting. Evan Longoria, with nine home runs, 35 runs batted in and a .318 batting average is certainly pulling his weight.

Carl Crawford (A potential Yankee in 2011?) is at .313 with three homers and 17 RBIs and has 10 stolen bases (he’ll have to step on it to match last year’s total of 60), but Carlos Pena is hitting just .191.

The Yankees lead the majors in team batting at .278 (Tampa Bay is at .251). But, as good as the Yankees’ pitching had been before the Red Sox series, their 3.69 staff ERA is a full run behind Tampa Bay’s 2.69

Your pitching matchups: A.J. Burnett (4-1, 3.31) goes against Wade Davis (3-3, 3.38) tonight. Andy Pettitte (5-0, 1.79) opposes James Shields (4-1) tomorrow.