ST. PETERSBURG http://www.falconsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-kaleb-mcgary-jersey , Fla. — in baseball at 50-22, and they’ve rarely been better than against the Tampa Bay Rays this season.

The Yankees won their first five meetings with the Rays this season by a combined margin of 31-10 before losing Sunday, and they’re back again for a weekend series at Tropicana Field, having won seven of eight overall after a sweep of the Mariners.

New York has been dominant for many reasons, but a strong bullpen is certainly one of them, with a collective ERA of 2.86, second only to Houston among American League teams. Part of that has been solid starting pitching requiring less use of relievers. The Yankees’ relievers have thrown close to 70 innings fewer than the Rays have in grinding out a 3.73 ERA in a league-high workload.

“They’ve been terrific,” manager Aaron Boone said of New York’s relievers. “They protect each other, because many guys have stepped up. … It’s a big reason. We’re built in a lot of ways around that great bullpen. They continue to deliver.”

The Rays (34-40) have lost five of seven and have sorely missed that continuity in their starting rotation, continuing to rely on relievers working as “openers” on patchwork bullpen days. Such will be the case in Friday’s opener, with right-hander Ryne Stanek (1-1, 2.21 ERA) getting the ball first, but expected to go little more than the first inning.

Stanek has pitched exceptionally well in that role, however. In eight June appearances, he has an 0.00 ERA in 10 2/3 innings Kendall Sheffield Jersey , having allowed only three hits with 12 strikeouts against three walks. Until their recent skid, the Rays had continued to hover around .500 baseball despite trading away major parts of last year’s team in exchange for prospects.

Stanek started last Saturday’s game against the Yankees, and allowed one hit and no runs in 1 1/3 innings in a game New York won 4-1. He has faced the Yankees five times in his career, inclding that one start, and is 0-0 with a 2.08 ERA over 4 1/3 innings.

The Rays got one key player back after missing two months with injury in center fielder Kevin Kiermaier, whose defense is among the league’s best. His bat has yet to come around this season, though. He is 0-for-9 in two games since returning from the disabled list, lowering his season average to .135.

“He’s fine. He’ll get going,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Unfortunately, KK got off to a rough start. Those numbers are going to be ugly for a little while, but I’m confident he’ll get going … I’m very confident.”

The Rays will face a familiar face Friday in Yankees starter C.C. Sabathia, who is 4-2 this season with a 3.30 ERA, with one of those two losses coming Sunday against the Rays in New York. Sabathia pitched into the eighth but gave up a season-high 10 hits, allowing three runs in a 3-1 loss while striking out a season-high 10 batters and walking only one.

Sabathia has faced the Rays 46 times in his career, and no opponent has more wins against him than the Rays — he’s 16-15 all-time http://www.falconsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-john-cominsky-jersey , with a 3.76 ERA.

New York goes into the series with a considerable head of steam. They’re 17-4 in their last 21 games, putting them on pace to challenge the best starts by any team at this stage in the season.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants begin a stretch of six meetings in nine days Tuesday night when they hook up in the opener of a three-game series at AT&T Park.

The National League West contenders also will square off three times in Denver next week.

The Rockies (38-40) and Giants (40-39) begin the sequence separated by just one game in the loss column. Each would like to head north in the National League West standings while sending the other south at the same time.

“We obviously need to make a run before the All-Star break,” Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez proclaimed after Sunday’s 8-5 home loss to Miami. “We need to finish the first half strong, just the way we started the season. We have a good group, but it just seems like we are going through a rough time.”

That surely can be said of Colorado’s starting pitcher in the series opener, right-hander Chad Bettis (5-1, 5.23 ERA). He has allowed 28 earned runs in 26 innings in his last five starts, yet has somehow managed to go 1-0 during that span.

He had a similar dynamic earlier this season in a matchup with the Giants. He did not pitch particularly well, allowing five runs and 10 hits in six innings, but the Rockies found a way to pull out a 6-5 win.

Bettis has faced the Giants 13 times in his career, nine times as a starter. He has gone 3-4 with a 4.79 ERA in those games.

The 29-year-old right-hander is 1-1 with a 4.71 ERA in five career games, including three starts, in San Francisco.

He has been stung by the long ball this season, allowing 14 home runs in his 15 starts, and has given up homers in his career to six current Giants Qadree Ollison Jersey , including outfielder Gorkys Hernandez, who had a home run and three doubles in his last three games against the San Diego Padres.

Hernandez had a nice week — eight hits, including four doubles and two home runs — but nothing like the one experienced by Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado, who smacked five homers among 11 hits last week.

Arenado was rewarded with National League Player of the Week honors.

He has a homer in nine career plate appearances against left-hander Derek Holland (5-7, 4.48), who will open the series for the Giants. Arenado also has a double, a single and two walks in those nine head-to-heads, giving him a .556 on-base percentage in the matchup.

Holland has struggled in general in his career against the Rockies, going 1-2 with an 8.40 ERA in three starts.

Two of those three starts came earlier this season, including the lone win in his most recent meeting, when he allowed four runs in five innings in a 7-4 victory last month.

He had earlier given up four runs in six innings in a 6-1 loss.

The 31-year-old has pitched well in June, going 2-1 in four starts, allowing just seven earned runs in 20 innings.

The Giants enter the series having won five of six. The Rockies are coming off a 4-3 homestand during which they suffered consecutive weekend losses to the Marlins.