Bronx, NY - Sunday afternoon the Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 2-0 in front of a packed crowd front of a packed crowd at Yankee Stadium.

Chien-Ming Wang was solid again, in this, his second outing of the year. He didn’t give up his first hit until the top of the 5th. He finished giving up four hits and striking out six as he pitched into the 7th inning.

Hideki Matsui provided the only flare in the game offensivly with a two-run homerun which proved to be enough for Wang and the Yanks.

Joba Chamberlain came into the game in the 7th inning and got a key double play to end the inning. After pitching a scoreless 8th, Mariano Rivera then came in to shut the door and the game was over. He recorded his third save in as many chances. He didn’t record his third save last season until May 3rd, so it’s nice to see him ahead of schedule.

The Yankees have won three games so far this season, Chamberlain and Rivera have pitched in all three at the end to secure each victory.

“It was a little different coming in with runners on base, but it was good to do that,” Chamberlain said. “You don’t want to give up the runs for Chien-Ming. He did such a great job. The bullpen’s got to hold it down.”

The Yankees offense again was minimal but got just enough to get by on Sunday thanks to Wang and company. Maybe it’s the early season low temps but the Yankee offense continues to struggle.

“Hopefully, you’ll see a lot more hitting from us,” Johnny Damon said. “We plan to score some runs here soon.”

The Yanks are 7 for 45 with runners in scoring position (.155) and have only scored 17 runs through their first six games (2.8 a game). It’s only a week into the season but it’s worth noting. A week like this in October and time to go home. But let’s worry about that at a much later date.

The Yanks and Rays conclude their wrap around (Friday-Monday) four game series on Monday night. Mike Mussina goes for the Bombers against Jason Hammel of the Rays.