While Brian Cashman was putting the finishing touches on the deal for Bobby Abreu his team was on the field at Yankee Stadium taking on the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. It was a day after a belittling 19-6 rout at the hands of the paragons of mediocrity but thanks to Mike Mussina and Johnny Damon the memories of Randy Johnson's latest opus were quickly forgotten. Moose threw seven strong innings for his 13th win, striking out eight Rays in the process, while Damon drove two balls into the rightfield upper deck to lead the bats in a 4-2 win.
The two solo blasts were big for Damon who felt responsibility for the previous day's loss when he dropped a fly ball in the second inning that opened up the gates of hell for the Bombers. His fifth inning dinger snapped a 2-2 tie and his seventh inning shot gave Mariano Rivera another run to work with, not that he needed it, en route to his 26th save. The last game of the prebreu era was a successful one for the Yankees but come Tuesday there will be two new faces in town to keep up the playoff run.
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