The Tampa Bay Rays fell to the New York Yankees 4-2 in New York Wednesday night and have now lost 8 in a row.  The game itself was overshadowed as the night belonged to Derek Jeter when he got his third hit in the 7th inning, which tied Lou Gehrig’s Yankees club record of 2,721 hits.  Gehrig held that record alone for over 70 years before Jeter tied him Wednesday.

The Rays are now 1-9 in September and blew a 2-0 lead in the 8th inning against the Yankees.  Jeff Niemann pitched seven strong innings for the Rays, allowing only one run on eight hits, with eight strikeouts and only one walk.  That was all forgotten when the Yankees rally started in the 8th when the Rays first basemen, Chris Richard, made a costly throwing error.  Nick Swisher was safe at first on the error, which allowed Alex Rodriguez to score and Jerry Hairston to move to third.  That is when Jorge Posada came up as a pinch hitter and drove everyone in with a 3-run homer off Lance Cormier, who got the loss.

Jeter has added to his long list of accomplishments with his record tying hit.  A name you never hear mentioned with steroid use, Jeter has become one of the best players of his generation.  Cooperstown has a spot waiting for Jeter.

The Tampa Bay Ray’s playoff hopes are pretty much dead as they felt the nail in the coffin with the recent news that their powerful slugging first baseman, Carlos Pena is out for the year.  Pena, who is leading the AL in home runs (39), was hit by a first inning fastball on Monday from the hard throwing Yankee C.C. Sabathia.  The pitch hit Pena in the left hand, breaking his middle and index fingers and will likely require surgery.  Umpires ruled that Pena swung, so he was not awarded first base, and on the next pitch Pena checked his swing and struck out.  The pain was very evident on Pena’s check swing, as he walked back to the dugout holding his hand gingerly and left the game soon after.

X-Rays showed obvious fractures in both fingers and Pena is now done for the 2009 season.  The Rays picked up first basemen Chris Richard’s contract from AAA Durham to replace Pena, however Richard has not seen any major league action since April of 2003 with the Colorado Rockies.  The Rays have now lost five in a row and their best power hitter, so you will not see Tampa Bay in the playoffs this year.

Brendan Harris looked like an All-Star in the first half of the season for the Devil Rays but it seems that the pitchers are catching up to him in the 2nd half.

Greg Norton, Dioner Navarro and Rocco Baldelli are all playing way below par this season.

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays have placed their closer Al Reyes on the 15-day disabled list with a strained rotator cuff.