After an off day on Sunday, the Yankees will be back in action on Monday night when they face Freddy Peralta and the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 2 of the ALDS on at Tropicana Field.

New York will aim to secure a win and not fall behind 0-2 in the best-of-five series, and in order to do that it will have to get through Peralta who totally turned his season around after getting traded by the Mets at the trade deadline and joining the Rays.

In 10 starts since leaving Queens, the veteran right-hander is 5-2 with a 3.25 ERA (1.01 WHIP) compared to a 4.99 ERA (1.48 WHIP) in 22 starts during his first season with the Mets.

So what's been the difference?

"This is baseball. Everything changed when I got traded. I said it before that I've been treated here as a king, and I feel really good about it. They're working me really well here," Peralta said.

The 30-year-old made sure to mention that he was "happy" with the Mets, but that the results just didn't come.

Now, Peralta has a chance to give his team a resounding lead in the series in a ballpark where he's pitched to a 1.69 ERA in four starts this year.

"I feel amazing on the mound, and in general here, but I'm looking forward to finding a way to give the opportunity to the team to get the win," Peralta said. "No matter how. Don't matter what I have to do or how I have to do it. Just to find a way to get it done."

Despite Peralta getting his season back on track and pitching his best at just the right time, the right-hander hasn't had the most success in the postseason -- something the Yankees would love to exploit.

In nine games (six starts) during the playoffs, all with the Milwaukee Brewers, Peralta is 1-3 with a 4.32 ERA. His team's record in playoff games he's pitched is a surprising 1-8. Meanwhile, in two career outings against the Yankees, Peralta is 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA, including a start this year in which he allowed three earned runs on two hits and six walks as a member of the Mets.

A lot has changed for Peralta since then and he enters the playoffs with a 1.76 ERA over his last seven starts for Tampa Bay. He credits his teammates for their energy and welcoming him from the start and believes this opportunity to fight for a World Series with the Rays is "very special."

"Since I got here I felt something I was looking for, which is the energy, the way that the boys play the game, how they -- when they get into -- like, when I talk about the defense, they are amazing, the way they come into the field, the way they take their bats, too, when I talk about the offense," he said. "It's amazing, and I just -- we just need to keep it that way. Simple."

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