opposition defences.But under the ever-critical eye of Jones, he

NEW YORK -- The last two times the New York Yankees have faced the Tampa Bay Rays, significant events occurred to change the course of their season.In the final weekend of July, the Yankees were swept in a three-game series at Tampa Bay. They had already traded Aroldis Chapman to the Chicago Cubs and the sweep convinced general manager Brian Cashman to go into sell mode and trade off three other veterans and go with younger players.On Aug. 12, Alex Rodriguez had an RBI double in his last game for the Yankees. Rodriguezs exit came a week after Gary Sanchez was promoted and a day before Aaron Judge and Tyler Austin joined the team and homered in their first at-bats.Since those weekends, the Yankees have remained in the race for both the division and wild-card spot and they will look to gain more ground Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series with the Rays at Yankee Stadium.Weve been playing extremely well, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. Weve been playing playoff baseball since about August 1 because we knew the importance of those games. I think we were .500 after the first four months and we knew that wasnt going to cut it.The Yankees have won four in a row and 10 of their last 14 games after completing a three-game sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays with Wednesdays 2-0 victory. Bryan Mitchell pitched effectively into the sixth inning in his season debut, Starlin Castro hit his 20th home run of the season and Brian McCann added an RBI single.Those events helped the Yankees get within 2 1/2 games of the Baltimore Orioles for the wild card. New York is 4 1/2 out of first place but now trails the Boston Red Sox and not Toronto.Right now, were playing really good baseball, McCann said. Were excited for this last month.The Rays (60-79) are starting an 11-game road trip that could impact the AL East as they play four in New York, three in Toronto and three in Baltimore. The Rays are 26-33 against divisional foes after Corey Dickerson had an RBI triple in the seventh inning of Wednesdays 7-6 win over Baltimore.Its going to be a good atmosphere, said Alex Cobb, who starts for Tampa Bay on Thursday. The Yankees are still in (the playoff race) and they are playing good baseball. This series is big for us too. The last month of the season is big for the organization as a whole. This is a chance for us to finish strong and build some momentum for next year.Kevin Kiermaier and Nick Franklin homered for Tampa Bay, which has 184 this season, the fourth-highest total in team history.Despite the power, the Rays have a .244 batting average, a .310 on-base percentage and a .737 OPS. Those numbers cost hitting coach Derek Shelton his job on Tuesday and Chad Mottola will take over Thursday.Evan Longoria is 5-for-33 in his last nine games but often does well against the Yankees. He was 7-for-11 with six RBI in Tampa Bays last trip to New York and is batting .304 (14-for-46) in 12 games against the Yankees this season.Longoria has 74 hits and 47 RBI, tops among visiting players at the current Yankee Stadium, which opened in 2009. His 15 home runs are tied with Boston designated hitter David Ortiz only behind Jose Bautista.CC Sabathia will start the series opener. He has pitched well in recent outings by posting a 2.29 ERA in his last three starts and allowing three runs or less in five of six starts. Sabathia will make his 461st career start in the American League, surpassing Bobo Newsom for 22nd place in league history.Sabathias last start was a tough-luck loss in Baltimore on Saturday and it marked the second straight time the Yankees did not score for him. Sabathia did his part, allowing two runs (one earned) and six hits in two innings while working out of a few jams.I didnt have much. Just trying to make pitches when I had to, and I was able to do that for the most part. But it was a struggle today.The left-hander is 14-14 with a 3.79 ERA in 40 starts vs. Tampa Bay. As a Yankee, he is 7-13 with a 4.35 ERA in 29 games against the Rays.Sabathia is 2-8 with a 5.20 ERA at home this season and one of those wins was against Tampa Bay on Aug. 12Cobb makes his second start since returning from Tommy John surgery. The first outing went well as he retired the final 10 hitters in his five-inning outing against Toronto while allowing two runs and four hits.I was happy in the fact that I felt back to competitive nature on the mound, Cobb said. It wasnt being cautious, wasnt thinking about my mechanics or injury possibilities. I was just out there, wanting to get outs and I felt the groove of the game again.Cobb is 5-2 with a 1.93 ERA in 10 starts against the Yankees. His last start in New York was Sept. 11, 2014, when he had a no-hitter for 7 1/3 innings before Chris Young broke it up and ended a 5-4 Yankees win with a ninth-inning home run. Wholesale Jordans From China . Olli Jokinen, Mark Scheifele, and Bryan Little each had a goal and an assist as Winnipeg won 5-2, handing Calgary its record-setting seventh consecutive loss on home ice. Wholesale Air Jordan . Note: The Calgary Flames announced Tuesday that Sean Monahan would not be made available to Canadas World Junior team. https://www.fakejordanwholesale.com/ . PETERSBURG, Fla. Cyber Monday Air Jordan . Louis Blues. Shane Hnidy joins Brian Munz for the broadcast on TSN 1290 Radio at 7pm ct. Clearance Air Jordan . Louis Cardinals. Victorino is batting sixth and playing right field after missing two games because of back tightness. TWICKENHAM -- This was the most curious of matches. The scoreboard showed a record 58-15 win over Fiji; it was job done but England at times looked vulnerable.Rhyme and reason was sometimes thrown into the cold, November air in a quiet Twickenham. For the first 30 minutes England played with a wonderful fluidity, exploiting Fijian lapses and lack of organisation to rack up a point a minute.But then the England systems started to creak, holes opened and suddenly the intensity had gone. The second half was at times played at walking pace with only momentary bursts from the Fijians and Englands back three interrupting the odd half cooked version of Swing, Low.The question hovering over this game is exactly what Eddie Jones would have learned from a match as, with the best will in the world, England were always going to win.The various close-ups of Jones face which appeared on the two big screens at Twickenham showed the characteristic upturned left eyebrow and the odd shake of the head.He will be pleased with their execution when try-scoring opportunities allowed but will be fuming at their defensive lapses. If they were a six out of 10 last week, you imagine hell offer this a lower mark.There were positives for England and if Jones was to take heart from a handful of performances then Elliot Dalys would be high up. In his first start on the wing since March 2013, and his first for England, he showcased his versatility with a performance of supreme assuredness.He drifted between his left wing berth and operating in the midfield with ease and took his try well. With Fijian kicking a little wayward, the ball rarely bounced around him and the way he popped up in the backline moves while also staying patiently on the wing would have pleased Jones.Alex Goode similarly impressed. His first involvement in the match was to, uncharacteristically, let a ball bounce in front of him but that was the only time he really showed nerves.dddddddddddd Like Daly he was patient for his try and again like Daly he slotted into Englands backline as a playmaker, a dummy runner and the man to carry forward.Mike Brown has real competition for that fullback shirt. Completing the back three was Semesa Rokoduguni in his second cap and he showcased his attacking ability in devastating fashion.He is someone who is a ruthless finisher, a man so comfortable under the high ball and someone who manages to exploit any holes in opposition defences.But under the ever-critical eye of Jones, he will look at how Nemani Nadolo crashed through him - stopping the giant wing is no easy task, mind -- and then his positioning in the build up to the lineout which teed up Fijis second try.These positional nuances can be fixed, hes incredibly talented, but it remains to be seen if Jones wants to marshal that in-camp or ask for improvement back at Bath, restoring Marland Yarde in the process.This was more a match where Jones got to test Englands systems. During the week he talked about how the decision to play Daly on the flank and start Goode ahead of Brown was to build strength in depth ahead of the 2019 World Cup.Those are perhaps the most important lessons. You rarely get a free hit in international rugby but in a bizarre sort of way, these are the sorts of matches where Jones may learn the most.The England players focus, positioning and decision-making were all questioned by Fiji. Their scramble defence also had a work out.Up next is Argentina who will offer a far sterner test and it remains to be seen if Jones keeps the faith with those who were offered the opportunity of laying down their England marker. ' ' '