Win is nothing to laugh about

Though it may seem the Yankees treat the Rays as a joke, there is relief and talk of a "huge" win afterward.

ST. PETERSBURG - Just a few days ago, Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens was cracking jokes and making fun of the Devil Rays with David Letterman.

Strange, then, that Tuesday's go-way-ahead and then come-from-way-behind 10-9 victory against the Rays was considered a big deal in the Yankees clubhouse. The upbeat mood could be seen at about, oh, the time Letterman was coming on after the 3-hour, 52-minute marathon.

Call it one of the Yankees' Top 10 victories of the season.

"This was huge," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "This was big."

Huge, big and all that jazz as the Yankees, with owner George Steinbrenner stewing just across the bay and the Red Sox and Blue Jays breathing down their necks, came dangerously close to losing to the Rays for the fifth time in 10 games this season.

They squandered a 4-1 second-inning lead, then overcame a 9-6 deficit with a four-run ninth to win. In the end, it wasn't so much that the Yankees won as it was they didn't lose.

After all, they left 15 runners on base and had the wind knocked out of them when Marlon Anderson hit a grand slam in the seventh to give the Rays the lead and the emotional swing. It was the type of game you lament during the heat of a September pennant race.

"I think this is a good hashmark on our side," Torre said. "With the way they came back and jumped all over us ... to come back and win that ballgame is important. You basically have to pick yourself up, and that's what we did."

Leading the way was a former Ray and an almost-former Yankee. Original Rays catcher John Flaherty started the Yankees night with a two-run homer in the second.

"Well, I was kind of surprised I was in the lineup tonight," Flaherty said. "I've been feeling good at the plate and, obviously, it's nice to come back here and help by contributing some runs."

That was the early rocket. The late one came from Juan Rivera, the subject of trade rumors in recent weeks. Rivera hit a Lance Carter pitch to dead center for a three-run homer to tie the score at 9 in the ninth.

Then the Yankees won what was, yes, a big game when Derek Jeter was hit by a pitch and Todd Zeile doubled. It all started, though, with Rivera's blast.

"I was trying to hit the ball in the air and it just went out," Rivera said through an interpreter.

As far as the trade winds swirling around him, Rivera shrugged and said, "It's a waste of time to think about it because management is going to do what they want to do."

What they probably wanted to do Tuesday was kiss him.

In fact, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman emerged from the clubhouse doors with a smile as wide as Manhattan and said, "This was a good win."

Imagine that. The Yankees celebrating a victory over the Rays.

"The whole game was a feeling of missed opportunities," Flaherty said. "Any time that happens you have a feeling that it might catch up with you, and it did. But it was nice to get a big knock from Juan to get us back in the ballgame. It was almost a sigh of relief when this one was over."