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NEW YORK -- The last two times the New York Yankees have faced the Tampa Bay Rays, significant events occurred to change the course of their season.In the final weekend of July, the Yankees were swept in a three-game series at Tampa Bay. They had already traded Aroldis Chapman to the Chicago Cubs and the sweep convinced general manager Brian Cashman to go into sell mode and trade off three other veterans and go with younger players.On Aug. 12, Alex Rodriguez had an RBI double in his last game for the Yankees. Rodriguezs exit came a week after Gary Sanchez was promoted and a day before Aaron Judge and Tyler Austin joined the team and homered in their first at-bats.Since those weekends, the Yankees have remained in the race for both the division and wild-card spot and they will look to gain more ground Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series with the Rays at Yankee Stadium.Weve been playing extremely well, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. Weve been playing playoff baseball since about August 1 because we knew the importance of those games. I think we were .500 after the first four months and we knew that wasnt going to cut it.The Yankees have won four in a row and 10 of their last 14 games after completing a three-game sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays with Wednesdays 2-0 victory. Bryan Mitchell pitched effectively into the sixth inning in his season debut, Starlin Castro hit his 20th home run of the season and Brian McCann added an RBI single.Those events helped the Yankees get within 2 1/2 games of the Baltimore Orioles for the wild card. New York is 4 1/2 out of first place but now trails the Boston Red Sox and not Toronto.Right now, were playing really good baseball, McCann said. Were excited for this last month.The Rays (60-79) are starting an 11-game road trip that could impact the AL East as they play four in New York, three in Toronto and three in Baltimore. The Rays are 26-33 against divisional foes after Corey Dickerson had an RBI triple in the seventh inning of Wednesdays 7-6 win over Baltimore.Its going to be a good atmosphere, said Alex Cobb, who starts for Tampa Bay on Thursday. The Yankees are still in (the playoff race) and they are playing good baseball. This series is big for us too. The last month of the season is big for the organization as a whole. This is a chance for us to finish strong and build some momentum for next year.Kevin Kiermaier and Nick Franklin homered for Tampa Bay, which has 184 this season, the fourth-highest total in team history.Despite the power, the Rays have a .244 batting average, a .310 on-base percentage and a .737 OPS. Those numbers cost hitting coach Derek Shelton his job on Tuesday and Chad Mottola will take over Thursday.Evan Longoria is 5-for-33 in his last nine games but often does well against the Yankees. He was 7-for-11 with six RBI in Tampa Bays last trip to New York and is batting .304 (14-for-46) in 12 games against the Yankees this season.Longoria has 74 hits and 47 RBI, tops among visiting players at the current Yankee Stadium, which opened in 2009. His 15 home runs are tied with Boston designated hitter David Ortiz only behind Jose Bautista.CC Sabathia will start the series opener. He has pitched well in recent outings by posting a 2.29 ERA in his last three starts and allowing three runs or less in five of six starts. Sabathia will make his 461st career start in the American League, surpassing Bobo Newsom for 22nd place in league history.Sabathias last start was a tough-luck loss in Baltimore on Saturday and it marked the second straight time the Yankees did not score for him. Sabathia did his part, allowing two runs (one earned) and six hits in two innings while working out of a few jams.I didnt have much. Just trying to make pitches when I had to, and I was able to do that for the most part. But it was a struggle today.The left-hander is 14-14 with a 3.79 ERA in 40 starts vs. Tampa Bay. As a Yankee, he is 7-13 with a 4.35 ERA in 29 games against the Rays.Sabathia is 2-8 with a 5.20 ERA at home this season and one of those wins was against Tampa Bay on Aug. 12Cobb makes his second start since returning from Tommy John surgery. The first outing went well as he retired the final 10 hitters in his five-inning outing against Toronto while allowing two runs and four hits.I was happy in the fact that I felt back to competitive nature on the mound, Cobb said. It wasnt being cautious, wasnt thinking about my mechanics or injury possibilities. I was just out there, wanting to get outs and I felt the groove of the game again.Cobb is 5-2 with a 1.93 ERA in 10 starts against the Yankees. His last start in New York was Sept. 11, 2014, when he had a no-hitter for 7 1/3 innings before Chris Young broke it up and ended a 5-4 Yankees win with a ninth-inning home run. Green Redskins Jerseys . The formidable trio of Canadian receivers -- individually known as Chris Getzlaf, Rob Bagg and Andy Fantuz -- will share the field at Mosaic Stadium one more time on Sunday. Cheap Redskins Jerseys . In the lead up - which seemed to begin the moment Mike Geiger blew the whistle in Houston last Thursday night - the Impact rumour mill went into overdrive. The speculation went into meltdown mode, of the golden nugget variety. http://www.officialredskinsnflauthenticshop.com/ . -- Lou Brocks shoulder-to-shoulder collision with Bill Freehan during the 1968 World Series and Pete Roses bruising hit on Ray Fosse in the 1970 All-Star game could become relics of baseball history, like the dead-ball era. Pink Redskins Jerseys . Coach Mike Munchak says Fokou stretched ligaments in his left knee Oct. 13 against Seattle, which could keep out up to five weeks even though the linebacker didnt need surgery. Youth Redskins Jerseys . -- The Bishops Gaiters are showing they belong among the countrys top varsity football teams. STILLWATER, Okla. -- After a dominating victory last week over Southeastern Louisiana, No. 22 Oklahoma State knows it will face a much more difficult test on Saturday against Central Michigan.The Cowboys also faced the Chippewas last season, and rallied for a 24-13 victory on the road. Coach Mike Gundy acknowledged that experience will help get the point across to his players that this is an opponent they cannot afford to overlook.I dont think theres any question that we have respect for that league, theyre notorious for upsets, Gundy said. Us playing them last year and realizing that theyve got good players, the world that they live in is pretty competitive. It helps out with preparation during the week.Central Michigan (1-0), from the Mid-American Conference, boasts an NFL quarterback prospect in senior Cooper Rush and a stingy defense that returned eight starters from the unit that ranked 16th in the nation last year in total defense.Coach Mike Bonamego, whose squad opened with a 49-3 win over FCS school Presbyterian, believes his group has prepared the right way and will be ready.Your preparation, when you commit yourself to the process, isnt going to be any different if youre playing Presbyterian or Oklahoma State, Bonamego said. If you dont prepare well, you cant expect to play well, bottom line. Its going to be a big challenge for us. I dont see any dropoff from Oklahoma State from last year to this year. I actually think in a lot of ways, they are better.Some things to watch for on Saturday:NO OFFENSE: After scoring two non-offensive touchdowns last week (one by Madre Harper on a fumble recovery just 1:45 into the contest following a punt, and another on a fumble return by cornerback Ramon Richards), Oklahoma State leads the nation with 39 such scores since 2010. The Cowboys (1-0) forced four turnovers to run their total to 179 since 2010, ranking third over that timeframe, behind just Houston and Oregon.RUSH HOUR: Rush is highly regarded, by NFL scouts and Gundy. After a strong 2015 in which he completed 66.3 percent of his passes and ranked 14th in the nation with 3,848 yards, with 25 touchdowns and just 11 inteerceptions, Rush threw for 237 yards and one touchdown on 16-of-26 passing last week, along with two interceptions.dddddddddddd Ive always been a big fan of the quarterback, Gundy said. Hes a potential NFL player. When you have a quarterback of that caliber, you certainly have the opportunity to score some points.SPREAD THE BALL AROUND: Oklahoma State is still sorting through its depth chart at running back, with four different backs carrying the ball at least four times in its season opener, and none more than six times. Sophomore Jeff Carr led the group with 42 yards and a touchdown on six carries, while freshman Justice Hill gained 33 on six rushes. And thats not counting the Cowboys most experienced ball carrier, senior Rennie Childs, who rushed three times for 21 yards. Offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich credited running backs coach Marcus Arroyo for managing the group. Its not easy sharing all that playing time, Yurcich said. And those guys all want to be the guy, so for them to have the attitudes that they have, and unselfishness, I think you have to give coach Arroyo a lot of credit for his leadership and management of that room.SPREAD IT, PART 2: Central Michigan also employed a running back-by-committee approach in its opener, although Devon Spalding was the clear leader of the group, gaining 135 yards and one touchdown on 15 carries. Freshman Jonathan Ward rushed seven times for 79 yards, including a 45-yard touchdown, and Jahray Hayes ran for 43 yards and three scores on nine rushes. All three of the backs ran very well, Bonamego said. I think our offensive line executed at a high level. They opened up some nice lanes for the runners.O-LINE EXPERIENCE: Oklahoma State returned all five of its starters from last seasons offensive line, a group that had combined for 106 career starts, the highest total in the Big 12. Still, one of the incumbents, Jesse Robinson, was beaten out for a starting role by All-American junior college transfer Larry Williams, who has taken over at right guard. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '