On a night they raised the first championship banners in franchise history, the Tampa Bay Rays also exhibited why they feel capable of making it to post-season at the first attempt.
Carlos Pena hit a grand slam and drove in six runs Monday night, helping Scott Kazmir beat Chien-Ming Wang and the New York Yankees 15-5 in the home opener for the AL champions.
The Rays homered three times, ran up 17 hits, stole four bases, made some nice defensive plays and impressed manager Joe Maddon.
It got so bad for the Yankees that first baseman Nick Swisher pitched a scoreless eighth inning, the first New York position player to take the mound since Wade Boggs used his knuckleball in 1997.
The Rays toasted last year's achievements by hanging two large blue and white division and league championship banners above the left-field stands during a pre-game ceremony at a sold-out Tropicana Field.
Kazmir (2-0) allowed three runs and six hits in six 2-3 innings, including Swisher's solo homer in the fourth and Melky Cabrera's RBI single in the fifth. The left-hander struck out six and walked none.
Pena had a two-run double in the first off Wang (0-2), while Burrell and Jason Bartlett also homered for the Rays, who got two more RBIs from Evan Longoria.
It was quite a night, here's to many more at Tropicana this season. And perhaps this time next year we will be looking back to another night of banner unfurling.
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