ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- Expect the New York Yankees to give their regulars plenty of rest today as they face the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in their final game of the regular season.

	SEASON SERIES
	Jun. 22 Jun. 23 Jun. 24 Jul. 21 Jul. 22 Sep. 24 Sep. 25 Sep. 26 Sep. 27 Oct. 1 Oct. 2 Oct. 3	NY Yankees 7, at Tampa Bay 0 NY Yankees 12, at Tampa Bay 4 NY Yankees 7, at Tampa Bay 3 at NY Yankees 4, Tampa Bay 3 at NY Yankees 5, Tampa Bay 4 at NY Yankees 4, Tampa Bay 3 Tampa Bay 2, at NY Yankees 1 Tampa Bay 6, at NY Yankees 5 Tampa Bay 10, at NY Yankees 6 NY Yankees 11, at Tampa Bay 7 NY Yankees 3, at Tampa Bay 2 NY Yankees at Tampa Bay, 1:35pm ET

The Yankees assured themselves of home-field advantage throughout the American League playoffs with a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Saturday.

New York will open the Division Series on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium against the Texas Rangers. The Yankees beat Texas in both the 1996 and 1998 playoffs en route to the franchise's 23rd and 24th World Series titles.

With today's game essentially meaningless, Jeff Juden (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will replace Hideki Irabu as the Yankees' starter. Juden made his first New York appearance on Monday, allowing three unearned runs in two innings of relief in a 10-6 loss to the Devil Rays.

Tampa Bay has lost its last four games after winning three straight against the Yankees. The Rays have already improved five games on last season's 63-99 finish.

Cory Lidle (1-0, 6.00) makes his first major league start in over two years for the Devil Rays. The righthander has not started since facing Pittsburgh for the New York Mets on June 22, 1997. He gave up two runs and two hits while retiring two batters against Toronto on Tuesday.

NY YANKEES 10-game log	TAMPA BAY 10-game log
Sep. 28 Sep. 29 Sep. 30 Sep. 30 Oct. 1 Oct. 2 Oct. 3 @ Baltimore @ Baltimore @ Baltimore @ Baltimore @ Tampa Bay @ Tampa Bay @ Tampa Bay W 9-5 9-5 L 0-5 W 12-5 W 11-7 W 3-2	Sep. 26 Sep. 27 Sep. 28 Sep. 29 Oct. 1 Oct. 2 Oct. 3 @ NY Yankees @ NY Yankees Toronto Toronto NY Yankees NY Yankees NY Yankees W 6-5 W 10-6 L 2-8 L 2-6 L 7-11 L 2-3

New York regulars

POS

NO

PLAYER

HT

WT

B/T

AB

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

AVG

C 1B 2B 3B SS LF CF RF DH

20 25 24 11 18 2 47 28 51 21 45

Jorge Posada Joe Girardi Tino Martinez Chuck Knoblauch Scott Brosius Derek Jeter Shane Spencer Chad Curtis Bernie Williams Paul O'Neill Chili Davis

6-2 5-11 6-2 5-9 6-1 6-3 5-11 5-10 6-2 6-4 6-3

205 200 210 170 202 195 210 185 205 215 240

B-R R-R L-R R-R R-R R-R R-R R-R B-R L-L B-R

376 209 589 603 473 627 201 192 591 597 474

92 50 155 176 117 219 48 50 202 170 127

19 16 27 36 26 37 8 6 28 39 25

2 1 2 4 1 9 0 0 6 4 1

12 2 28 18 17 24 8 5 25 19 19

57 27 105 68 71 102 20 24 115 110 78

.245 .239 .263 .292 .247 .349 .239 .260 .342 .285 .268

Complete New York roster

Tampa Bay regulars

POS

NO

PLAYER

HT

WT

B/T

AB

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

AVG

C 1B 2B 3B SS LF CF RF DH

6 29 13 12 4 50 14 30 33

John Flaherty Fred McGriff Miguel Cairo Wade Boggs Aaron Ledesma Terrell Lowery Dave Martinez Jose Guillen Jose Canseco

6-1 6-3 6-1 6-2 6-2 6-3 5-10 5-11 6-4

200 215 200 197 210 195 190 195 240

R-R L-L R-R L-R R-R R-R L-L R-R R-R

442 529 461 292 292 183 514 285 430

123 164 137 88 77 48 146 73 120

18 30 15 14 15 15 25 16 18

0 1 5 1 0 1 5 0 1

14 32 3 2 0 2 6 3 34

71 104 36 29 30 16 66 31 95

.278 .310 .297 .301 .264 .262 .284 .256 .279

Complete Tampa Bay roster

Regulars Statistics source: STATS, Inc.

Copyright 1999 STATS, Inc. Commercial distribution without the express written consent of STATS is prohibited.