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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Alex Cobb pitched neatly into the eighth inning and the Tampa Bay Rays became just the fourth team in major league history to reach .500 after falling 18 games under in the same season, beating the New York Yankees 5-0 Friday night. The Rays won their third in a row and sent New York to its fifth straight loss. Tampa Bay also accomplished the comeback feat in 2004 when known as the Devil Rays. The 1899 Louisville Colonels and 2006 Florida Marlins have also gotten back to the break-even point after dropping 18 under. The Rays, now 61-61, were 24-42 on June 10. They are trying to become the first club to finish with a winning record after being so far under. Cobb (8-6) gave up six hits in 7 1-3 innings, striking out eight and walking one. He improved 4-0 in six career home starts against the Yankees. After giving up a single to Derek Jeter that loaded the bases, Brad Boxberger struck Jacoby Ellsbury and Mark Teixeira. Tampa Bay has held its opponents to three runs or less in a club-record 11 consecutive games. Brandon McCarthy (4-2) gave up four runs and seven hits over 6 1-3 innings. New York has scored a total of seven runs during its current skid, which includes a pair of shutouts. The Rays took a 2-0 lead in the first on RBI grounders by Evan Longoria and James Loney. Loney homered in the eighth when Esmil Rogers tried to quick pitch him. Curt Casali singled home a run and Ben Zobrist hit the Rays third RBI grounder of the game during the seventh as Tampa Bay took a 4-0 lead. TRAINERS ROOM Yankees: C Brian McCann could be activated from the seven-day concussion list this weekend. ... RHP Masahiro Tanaka (right elbow) will have his first bullpen session Saturday. Rays: CF Desmond Jennings (sore left shoulder) was back in the starting lineup after missing two games. UP NEXT Rays LHP Drew Smyly (7-10) and Yankees rookie RHP Shane Greene (3-1) are Saturdays scheduled starters. Smyly will make his first home start since being obtained from Detroit in a three-team deal July 31 that sent Tampa Bay ace David Price to the Tigers. Willie Roaf Jersey .Y. -- Major League Soccer has agreed to new measures to protect gay players from discrimination and harassment as a result of meetings with New Yorks attorney general. Morten Andersen Jersey . - Jayden Hart scored once and set up two more as the Prince Albert Raiders downed the host Red Deer Rebels 5-3 on Tuesday to clinch the final Western Hockey League playoff berth. http://www.shoptheofficialsaints.com/Eli...nts-Jersey/.The Williams siblings, with 25 Grand Slam titles between them, will have a couple of Madisons joining them, too.Madison Keys had a 6-4, 7-5 upset win over two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova on Saturday night, and Madison Brengle beat Coco Vandeweghe 6-3, 6-2 in an all-U. New Orleans Saints Jerseys . Halak did not get the start in the Washington Capitals Tuesday night game against the St. Custom New Orleans Saints Jerseys . The Islanders own the fifth pick in the 2014 draft but had until June 1 to decide whether to keep it or defer to 2015. The selection was packaged in the teams deal for Thomas Vanek on October 27, 2013.The most challenging days in the world of sports are those where cold, hard reality intrudes on the fantasy world of games and play. And so it was last Apr. 15 when, while preparing to host the Monday edition of TSN Drive, the mood of that day suddenly turned dark. The Boston Marathon had been bombed. A great number of people had been injured and some had been killed. No one knew whod done it, what their motive was or what else they might have in mind. North Americans arent blind to the possibilities of terrorism, certainly not since Sept. 11, 2001. But the notion of a being maimed or killed by attending a sporting event is about as remote to our sense vulnerability as can be. That sense may in fact be the very reason the perpetrators chose the marathon, an iconic event, a symbol of spring, and something attended by people from various walks of life which attracts an international field and audience. Bomb the Boston Marathon and the message is that anything can be a target, or so those behind it surely hoped. My co-host that day one year ago was Bruce Arthur, with whom I met 30 minutes before air time to discuss that days show. We instantly agreed it felt wrong to open the program talking sports. Instead wed talk about what was unfolding in Boston for the first 30 minutes, follow the breaking news and then reassess. When we got to the bottom of the clock in that first hour, neither of us had the stomach to talk sports. It just felt wrong. And so we stuck to the matters at hand in Boston, believing our listeners understood that sports could wait for at least a day. Everyone knows what happened next. Boston became city in lock-down, sports events were cancelled, a security guard was killed, and eventually two suspects were captured, one of them dead and the other severely wounded. And in the days that followed, the question of societal response began to emerge: How would North Americans react, understanding that this type of thing wasnt restricted to marathons and could happen at any sort of large public gathering? And since the world of sports has more large public gatherings than any other business, how would it affect ballparks, arenas and stadiums? How would this change the experience of attending a sporting event? There was the predictable response from leagues, with enhanced security measures at most venues which, depending on your point of view, is either a good thing or the further erosion of the carefree lives we used to enjoy.dddddddddddd But any sense that the Boston bombing had somehow altered the experience of attending a sporting event in North America, that people would reconsider gathering in public to cheer on their favourite teams? That proved to be a complete myth. No, the sports world is pretty much exactly as it was before the Boston bombing. And thats significant because the most meaningful thing about sports isnt who wins or who loses or who gets paid the most money. Its the manner in which spectator sports are about sharing common experiences with others, producing a sense of oneness that few other things can deliver. Sport in a vacuum is just an empty spectacle of athletic achievement. But surround it with people who have a common perspective and it takes on its own energy and meaning, becoming as much an expression of community and culture as anything else. Thats what we saw in Boston during the weeks and months that followed the bombing, with the Bruins and then the Red Sox as symbols of the citys communal spirit. Lets be clear: a professional sports team winning in the aftermath of a tragedy doesnt make anything better, doesnt heal the wounded or bring back the dead. What it does, however, is give people a way to express their resolve and creates a sense of normalcy in what can be very troubling times. The two men who bombed the marathon sought not just to cause death and destruction but also to affect way people live their lives. In less than a week, the 2014 Boston Marathon will take place with people from Massachusetts and around the world gathering to participate. Some will be running but many, many more will be lining the streets just to be present. Not because theyve forgotten what occurred one year ago, but because they remember it. ' ' '