Yes, the "Big Green Machine," aka the Devil Rays, finally boarded their charter and mercifully left the Big Apple after winning two out of three to collect their fourth series win of the season against the Yankees, to go along with one split of a two-game set.

On Thursday night, the Rays took a 7-4 win in front of a Yankee Stadium crowd of 49,673 to move to 11-5 against the Yankees this season.

"I'll tell you, I've never seen a team play us as tough as that team over there," said Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez. "I think that those guys are going to head out of town is a good thing."

Everything fell into place for Tampa Bay, like it seemingly has all season when the Rays see pinstripes.

Mark Hendrickson started for the Rays and brought along the fifth-worst ERA among Major League starters at 6.09. The 6-foot-9 left-hander also brought a four-game winning streak to the party, and he had not lost since July 20 at Fenway Park -- the day he didn't retire a batter.

Hendrickson continued his hot streak against the Yankees, holding them scoreless for six innings before allowing four runs in the seventh. The big blow came on Rubin Sierra's two-run homer that cut the Rays' lead to 6-4.

Chad Orvella came on to get the last out of the seventh and the first two outs in the eighth before giving way to Danys Baez. And Baez did what he does best. First, he retired Rodriguez on a grounder to end the eighth, then he finished the Yankees off with a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his 35th save.

Baez's save was his seventh against the Yankees in 2005, tying him with Bobby Thigpen for the most saves against New York in a season. Pitching for the White Sox, Thigpen tallied seven saves against the Bombers in 1990.

"Tonight, I felt pretty good," Hendrickson said. "The first inning, I didn't feel like I had a good fastball going. But I made some adjustments and really concentrated on locating my pitches. I was on a pretty good roll there, but as you know, the Yankees have a quick-strike offense. And I blink my eyes and it was 6-4.

"The bullpen did a good job, came in and settled things down. And we came away with another good victory."

The Rays had been troubled for most of the road trip by an inability to add on runs to early leads. That wasn't the case Thursday, thanks to Carl Crawford, Jorge Cantu and Jonny Gomes, who were in the middle of everything offensively.

Crawford doubled with one out in the first, then Cantu doubled to drive him home. Cantu then scored on a Gomes single.

Cantu's RBI gave him 100 for the season, making him the third player in Rays history to reach that plateau. Only Fred McGriff and Aubrey Huff have reached the milestone.

"It's a great accomplishment," Cantu said. "I couldn't have done it without [my teammates]. They got on base for me; and I try to drive them in. And at the same time, we got the win. It was a tremendous effort as a team."

Crawford got things going again in the fifth with a one-out single, and Gomes drove him home for a 3-0 lead.

Crawford's third hit of the game came in the sixth, when he doubled off Yankees reliever Scott Proctor to score two runs.

"The big hit to me was Crawford's two-out base hit, which added the fourth and fifth runs," Tampa Bay manager Lou Piniella said. "We were ahead, 3-0, and squandered a couple of opportunities. Then all of a sudden there are two outs, and he hits a ball off the wall. I thought that was the big hit of the ballgame."

Cantu followed with his second double of the game to drive home Crawford for a 6-0 lead.

"It was huge [that we added on runs]," Cantu said. "We were selective. We got on base and we got into scoring position. And we had the opportunities and we came through."

Travis Lee doubled home Gomes in the top of the ninth for an insurance run.

"We added some runs tonight," Piniella said. "That was the difference -- jump out in front and tack on. When you play good teams, you just can't wait on them. You've got to make them feel that you can add runs. If not, they'll get back into the game."

Even though the Rays finished the road trip with a 4-6 mark, there is reason to feel good about what they accomplished.

"They started off 0-5 [after losing four to Boston and the first game at Toronto] and ended up 4-6, so you've got to be pleased," Piniella said. "Now, let's see if we can have a good homestand and go from there."