Irabu, Yankees Shutout D'Rays

The New York Yankees responded to a tongue-lashing from manager Joe Torre with the kind of performance he has come to expect from the team with baseball's best record.

The AL East champions were relentless in beating the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 4-0 Thursday night, hardly resembling the club that lost to the expansion team 7-0 in the opener of the two-game series.

Torre admonished his players for sloppy play Wednesday night, then tried to play down his role in a sharper effort in the series finale.

"I think we played tonight the way we have become used to playing. But the difference tonight was that we pitched, and I think that makes everything else appear better," Torre said.

"It's tough to look decent when you lose." "But when you look the way we did (Wednesday night), that upsets me. It upset them, too."

Hideki Irabu, perhaps improving his chances of winning a spot in Torre's playoff rotation, allowed just two hits in eight innings to win for the first time since Aug. 10.

Irabu (12-10) struck out four and walked two in stopping a personal four-game losing streak. He gave up an infield single to Aaron Ledesma in the second inning and Randy Winn's bunt single in the third.

Jorge Poada hit a two-run homer off Julio Santana (5-5), and Bernie Williams hit a solo shot off Esteban Yan to pace a 16-hit Yankees attack.

Tim Raines also had a RBI single for New York, which had 11 hits but scored just one run through five innings.

"I thought we were going to have to get 33 hits to get three runs," Torre joked. "But everything is based on our pitching, and Irabu was terrific."

At 105-46, the Yankees need to win six of their last 11 games to match the 1954 Cleveland Indians' AL record of 111 victories.

New York clinched the East Sept. 9, but has not played well since. On Wednesday night, Torre warned the players about becoming complacent with just over a week left in the regular season.

"I think it was important for him to make a stink about the way we've been playing," Raines said. "We hadn't lost a series for like six months ... I think it was important to remember how we got here."

New York stranded 11 runners a day earlier, and squandered opportunities every inning Thursday night before finally pulling away against Santana.

The Yankees had at least one runner on in each of the first five innings, but were just 3-for-13 with men in scoring position. They failed to build on a 1-0 lead when Chili Davis was thrown out trying to score from second on Scott Brosius' fourth-inning single.

Raines drew a leadoff walk in the sixth before Posada chased Santana with his 17th homer. Williams hit a long drive to right off Yan with one out in the seventh.

Torre was noncommittal about his plans for Irabu in the post-season. Regardless of how he decides to use the right-hander, he thinks the pitcher will benefit from Thursday night's performance.

"It's a confidence builder," the manager said. "I thought his command was as good as it's been all year."

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