(My Sportsbook) - The New York Yankees will attempt to improve their odds of making another postseason appearance when the Bronx Bombers begin their second half with the first of four straight games against baseball's current worst team, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, from Tropicana Field.

New York's string of 12 consecutive playoff berths is presently in jeopardy due to a sluggish first half in which the club compiled a disappointing 42-43 record. The Yankees trail rival Boston by 10 games for first place in the American League East standings and are 8 1/2 back of Cleveland in the wild card race.

The Yankees are under .500 at the All-Star break for the first time since 1995, when they went an impressive 49-29 in the second half to reach the postseason as a wild card that year.

New York is hoping history can repeat itself. The recent schedule appears to be in the team's favor, as the Yankees will not play a team with a current winning record until they visit the Indians on August 10.

The Yanks did close out the first half strong by posting victories in five of their final seven contests. New York easily handled the AL-West leading Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Sunday, as Alex Rodriguez, Hideki Matsui and Robinson Cano all belted three-run homers in a 12-0 rout.

Rodriguez ended 2-for-5 with four runs batted in and smacked his major-league leading 30th homer of the season during a six-run fourth inning. The All-Star third baseman also tops the majors with 86 RBI.

New York also received a strong performance on the mound from Chien-Ming Wang (9-4), who yielded five hits and a pair of walks over 6 1/3 innings to record his sixth straight winning decision.

While Wang has been sensational as of late, teammate Andy Pettitte is enduring a rough recent stretch. The veteran left-hander, who gets the call for the Yankees this evening, has been rocked in back-to-back starts and is 0-2 with an ugly 10.18 earned run average in four outings since his last victory, a June 14 decision over Arizona.

Pettitte was lit up for eight runs on 10 hits over five innings in a no decision against the Angels last Friday. That was actually a great improvement over his previous start, when he surrendered eight runs (seven earned) and nine hits while lasting only 1 2/3 innings in a July 1 loss to Oakland.

The 35-year-old has dominated the Devil Rays over the course of his career, however. In 18 lifetime games (17 starts) against Tampa Bay, Pettitte is 11-1 with a 3.19 ERA.

The Devil Rays will send out their most consistent pitcher of the first half, James Shields, in tonight's opener. The second-year hurler leads Tampa Bay with seven victories and owns a solid 3.82 ERA with 116 strikeouts in 18 starts.

Shields won his first six decisions of 2007 before dropping four straight starts from June 15-July 1. The right-hander was able to get back on track in his final appearance before the All-Star break, as he defeated Kansas City on Friday after giving up four runs over 7 2/3 innings.

The 25-year-old faced the Yankees three times as a rookie last season and went 0-2 with a 5.68 ERA in those games.

Shields' latest win has been Tampa Bay's only triumph over its last 13 games. The Devil Rays are 5-20 since June 13 and bring a major-league worst 34-53 overall mark into tonight's tilt.

In its final game prior to the break, Tampa was routed by the Royals by a 12-4 count on Sunday. Jonny Gomes was the lone bright spot for the Rays, as the outfielder went 4-for-4 with a home run and three RBI at the plate.

Scott Kazmir (5-6) allowed five runs (four earned) on seven hits through five- plus innings to suffer the loss.

The Devil Rays have taken three of their four 2007 meetings with New York and swept the Yankees in a two-game set at Tropicana Field in late April. The Bronx Bombers won six of nine matchups between the teams in St. Petersburg last season.