Yankees @ White Sox Series Preview

Yankees - White Sox
@ US Cellular Field

(3 games)

The White Sox have been one of the major surprises of the young season. They've been getting outstanding pitching (2nd in the AL with a team ERA of 3.45) and are currently leading the AL Central with an 11-7 record.

The Yanks come into this series after dropping two out of three to the Baltimore Orioles in Baltimore, and sitting at a mediocre 10-10. All three Yankees pitchers are trying to bounce back from previous rough outings; Chien-Ming Wang and Mike Mussina got knocked around by the Red Sox, and Phil Hughes pitched five good innings again the Orioles before giving up 4 runs in the 6th and taking the loss in his previous start.

This will be the first time these two teams meet in 2008. Last season the Yankees won the season series, winning six of the ten times the two teams met.

The weather in Chicago doesn't look too good for the series (what else is new?) with highs in the low 70's and a 60% chance of T-storms tonight and a 30% chance on Thursday.

MATCHUPS

Game 1 - Tonight @ 8:11 p.m. (EDT), pn YES, Chien-Ming Wang RHP (3-0, 3.81 ERA) vs. Jose Contreras RHP (1-1, 4.34 ERA)

Game 2 - Wednesday @ 8:11 p.m. (EDT), on YES, Mike Mussina RHP (1-3, 5.75 ERA) vs. Javier Vazquez RHP (3-1, 3.20 ERA)

Game 3 - Thursday @ 8:11 p.m. (EDT), on YES, Phil Hughes RHP (0-3, 8.82 ERA) vs. Gavin Floyd RHP (2-0, 1.40 ERA)

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Yankees - Bobby Abreu and Hideki Matsui: With Alex Rodriguez likely to miss the series with a strained quad, Matsui and Abreu are going to have to step up. Besides A-Rod these two have been the best Yankees hitters so far this season with Abreu hitting .306 with 2 HR, 10 RBI and a .825 OPS, and Matsui hitting .323 with 3 HR, 9 RBI and a .928 OPS.

Abreu has always killed the White Sox, for his career he's hitting .408 with 7 HR, 22 RBI and an OPS of 1.297 against the Pale Hosers. He's even better at Us Cellular where he's hitting .417, with 5 HR, 15 RBI, and an OPS of 1.353. On the other hand, Matsui has not had much success against White Sox pitching hitting just .220 with 2 HR, 14 RBI and an OPS of .624. He's a little better at Us Cellular where he's hitting .236 with 10 RBI, and an OPS of .659.

Abreu vs. Contreras: .444 (4-for-9), HR, 4 RBI, 1.222 OPS
Abreu vs. Vazquez: .273 (18-for-66), 7 HR, 12 RBI, 1.037 OPS
Abreu vs. Floyd: 1-for-1 with a double

Matsui vs. Contreras: .286 (4-for-14), HR, 4 RBI, .905 OPS
Matsui vs. Vazquez: 0-for-1
Matsui vs. Floyd: .500 (1-for-2), HR, 2 RBI

White Sox - Joe Crede: Crede had been one of the hottest hitters in baseball to start the season, but has slowed down a little bit as of late. So far he's hitting .286 with 5 HR, 18 RBI and a .905 OPS, and for his career vs. the Yanks is hitting .271 with 7 HR, 15 RBI and a .724 OPS.

Crede vs. Wang: .400 (2-for-5), HR, RBI, 1.400 OPS
Crede vs. Mussina: .185 (5-for-27), HR, 2 RBI, .600 OPS
Crede vs. Hughes: Never faced him.

INJURY REPORT

Yankees
- Alex Rodriguez is day-to-day with a strained quad.
- Jorge Posada still suffering from a shoulder injury but could catch at some point this series.
- Wilson Betemit is on the 15-day DL with a bad case of pink eye.

White Sox
none