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Mariners-Rays Preview

Sep 24, 2010 - 4:16 AM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

Seattle (58-93) at Tampa Bay (90-61), 7:10 p.m. EDT

The Tampa Bay Rays didn't make up any ground in the AL East race in their last series, but a favorable schedule over their final 10 regular-season games could help the wild-card leaders take over the division's top spot.

Tampa Bay opens its final homestand of the season Friday night against the lowly Seattle Mariners.

After dropping two straight to the division-leading New York Yankees, Tampa Bay (91-61) won the final two in the Bronx to pull back within one-half game of the East lead. The Rays also won the season series versus the defending World Series champions, giving them the edge should the teams finish tied.

"Everybody in that clubhouse wants to win the division," said Carl Crawford, who was 5 for 10 with a homer and four RBIs in the last two games, after Thursday's 10-3 win. "It will be interesting to see what happens this next week."

The Rays, who own a seven-game lead over Boston for the wild card, close the season with series against Seattle (58-94), Baltimore and Kansas City - a combined 92 games below .500. The Yankees, meanwhile, have two series remaining against Boston and a three-game set in Toronto.

"I know on paper it looks good, but from my perspective I don't take anybody for granted," manager Joe Maddon said. "We just have to keep playing the kind of game we played the last two nights."

Jeff Niemann (10-7, 4.48 ERA) will try to deliver a quality start for Tampa Bay. The right-hander, though, is 0-4 with a 14.43 ERA in five starts since returning from a strained right shoulder on Aug. 25.

Niemann was tagged for five runs over 4 1-3 innings of Sunday's 6-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels.

"He still was not able to get his fastball where he wanted to," Maddon told the Rays' official web site following his team's first series loss at Tropicana Field since June 25-27.

Niemann, 2-0 with a 3.20 ERA in four career starts against the Mariners, threw seven innings of four-hit ball in an 8-0 win at Seattle on May 6.

While Niemann seeks his first victory since Aug. 3, left-hander Jason Vargas (9-11, 3.75) tries to win his first game for the Mariners since Aug. 14. Vargas, who has a 6.14 ERA while losing his last six starts, yielded five runs and nine hits in a 6-1 loss to Texas on Saturday.

"That was probably the biggest thing - when they put themselves in a position to score and when I made a mistake they capitalized on it," he told the Mariners' official website.

Vargas, 0-1 with a 3.29 ERA in two starts against Tampa Bay this season, is trying to reach 10 wins for the first time.

Rays third baseman Evan Longoria, 2 for 5 with a homer against Vargas, is batting .348 with a homer and five RBIs while hitting safely in six straight. In 15 career games versus Seattle, Longoria is hitting .328 with three homers and 12 RBIs.

Ichiro Suzuki, who became the first player with 10 consecutive 200-hit seasons in Thursday's 1-0 loss at Toronto, is batting .412 over the last eight games. He is 9 for 25 versus the Rays in 2010.

Tampa Bay is 5-1 against Seattle this season, winning two of three from May 14-16 in Florida.