Friday, April 25, 2008

Yanks @ Indians Series Preview

Yankees - Indians
@ Progressive Field

(4 games)

The Yankees and Indians meet for the first time since last year's ALDS (sorry for bringing that up). The Yankees did win all six of their regular season meetings last year.

The Indians have not gotten off to the fast start they were hoping for going 10-12 in their first 22 games. But they are coming off a series sweep of the Kansas City Royals.

The Yankees have won 3 of their last 4, and look to end this 10 game road trip on a high note.

Matchups

Game 1 - Friday @ 7:05 p.m. (EDT) on MY9, Andy Pettitte - LHP (3-1, 2.45 ERA) vs. Paul Byrd - RHP (0-2, 4.43 ERA)

Game 2 - Saturday @ 3:55 p.m. (EDT), on FOX, Ian Kennedy - RHP (0-2, 9.64 ERA) vs. Jeremy Sowers - LHP (NR)

Game 3 - Sunday @ 1:05 p.m. (EDT), on YES/TBS, Chien-Ming Wang - RHP (4-0, 3.94 ERA) vs. C.C. Sabathia - LHP (1-3, 10.13 ERA)

Game 4 - Monday @ 7:05 p.m. (EDT), on YES/ESPN Mike Mussina - RHP (2-3, 4.94 ERA) vs. Aaron Laffey - LHP (NR)

PLAYERS TO WATCH
Yankees - Derek Jeter: Jeter hit a HR on opening day of his rookie season in Cleveland and never looked back. He has always killed the Indians. In 97 games against the Tribe, he's hit .353 with 9 HR, 55 RBI and a .908 OPS. At Jacobs/Progressive Field he's even better hitting .383 with 5 HR, 26 RBI, and a .987 OPS.

Jeter vs. Byrd: .407 (11-27), 0 HR, 3 RBI, 1.021 OPS
Jeter vs. Sowers: none
Jeter vs. Sabathia: .545 (12-22), 0 HR, 2 RBI, 1.220 OPS
Jeter vs. Laffey: none

Indians - Victor Martinez: Always a dangerous hitter, Martinez has done well against the Yankees in his career hitting .292 with 5 HR, 26 RBI and an OPS of .846. After missing 5 of the first 6 games of the year with a hamstring injury Martinez gotten off to a good start hitting .367 with no HR and 8 RBI.

Martinez vs. Pettitte: .333 (2-6)
Martinez vs. Kennedy: none
Martinez vs. Wang: .222 (2-9), 2 RBI, .556 OPS
Martinez vs. Mussina
: .105 (2-19), 3 RBI, .340 OP

Injury Report


Yankees
- Brian Bruney
may be headed to the DL. The Yankees right-hander wore a protective boot on Thursday because of a sprained mid-foot. He injured the foot while covering first base two nights ago.
- Kyle Farnsworth hurt his elbow yesterday when he slipped on the mound, he doesn't think it's serious, but they will know more today.
- Alex Rodriguez is day-to-day with a strained quad, but he will most likely play at some point this series, and could even DH as soon as tonight.
- Wilson Betemit is on the 15-day DL with a bad case of pink eye.

Indians
- Jake Westbrook is on the 15-day DL with a strained muscle on the left side of his lower back.
- Joe Borowski is on the 15-day DL.

6 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Do u think Hughes could possibly pitch an inning or 2 on Saturday or Sunday since he only threw 2 yesterday?

Greg Cohen said...

He probably could, but I doubt Girardi would take the risk. He already has a reputation (rightfully so or not) about ruining young arms so I don't think he's going to do anything out of the ordinary with any of these kids.

Greg Cohen said...

By the way, I forgot to add the injuries to Farnsworth and Bruney to the "injury report", but they are now posted.

Unknown said...

Haha look at Moose... first Orlando Cabrera couldnt hit him now Victor Martinez has poor numbers against him?

Modern Day Dragon-Slayer sans anyone named Ramirez...

Greg Cohen said...

Moose has actually handled a lot of the good Indians hitters, as a team they only hit .216 off him in 97 ABs.

Sizemore is hitting .133, Martinez .105, Hafner .200. The only guys that hit him of Blake and Peralta.

Unknown said...

J-Honny is a big trouble maker in this lineup... gives me edgar martinez feelings when he comes up.