• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Clemens, surging Yankees look to clinch postseason berth

Sep 25, 2007 - 1:58 PM NY Yankees (90-66) at Tampa Bay (64-92) 7:10 pm EDT

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- The New York Yankees were in bad shape when Roger Clemens joined the team. But the Yankees will find themselves in a much different position when Clemens toes the rubber on Tuesday.

Clemens and the red-hot Yankees look to clinch their 13th consecutive postseason berth Tuesday when they visit the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the opener of a three-game series.

New York owned a 14-15 record when Clemens announced his intention to return to the team on May 6. Despite being in the midst of a season-high nine-game winning streak, the Yankees were just 29-31 after Clemens won his season debut on June 9.

But the Yankees have gone 47-23 since the All-Star break and have won 14 of their last 18 games to essentially vault themselves into the playoffs once again. New York enters Tuesday's contest with a magic number of one and needs a victory or a loss by the Detroit Tigers to clinch a postseason appearance.

The Yankees own a 5 1/2-game lead over the Tigers (85-72) for the American League wild card and trail the first-place Boston Red Sox (92-64) by two games in the AL East Division.

New York closed out its home schedule on Monday, dropping a 4-1 decision to the Toronto Blue Jays. The Yankees could not solve Blue Jays rookie starter rookie Jesse Litsch, who allowed just one run and five hits over 7 2/3 innings.

The Yankees will look for a similar performance out of Clemens (6-6, 4.18 ERA) a day later.

Clemens was stellar in his last outing against the Red Sox despite not factoring in the decision. The 45-year-old righthander surrendered just two hits and one unearned run in six innings as the Yankees went on to the 4-3 victory on September 16.

Jason Hammel (2-5, 2.88) will try to avoid back-to-back losses when he takes the mound for the Devil Rays.

Hammel gave up just two runs and seven hits over six innings in his start last Tuesday. The 25-year-old righthander fell victim to a lack of run support as the Devil Rays were edged, 2-1, by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.