Yankees @ Indians Series Preview

Yankees @ Indians
Progressive Field
(four games)

After taking two of three from the AL West leading Texas Rangers, the Yankees head to Cleveland for a four-game series against the Indians. The Yankees and Tribe faced off in the opening series at the new Yankee Stadium with the two teams splitting four games.

The Yankees have won 14 of their last 19 games and are now 27-20, a half game behind the first place Red Sox in the AL East. Besides the Joba-to-the-pen arguments and the injuries, things are looking pretty good in Yankeeland.

They're still having some trouble in the bullpen, but they're hitting (on pace for 923 runs), they're starting to get consistently good starting pitching, and they're playing stellar defense (no errors in a franchise record 14 games) which is something we haven't seen in a while. Things are even improving on the injury front. Jorge Posada will return to the lineup tonight, Xavier Nady is playing in extended spring training games and is on his way back, and the Yanks avoided serious injuries with Brian Bruney and Melky Cabrera.

The Indians had a very rough beginning to their year, going 8-14 in April and then beginning May by going 6-12 to drop their record to 14-26 on May 19th. But since then they've gone 7-2, including a four-game sweep of the Rays in Cleveland prior to this series with the Yanks.

Offensively Cleveland has been led by Victor Martinez who leads the team in batting (.359), RBI (36), on-base % (.434), slugging % (.557), hits (69), and doubles (15). Asdrubal Cabrera has also gotten off to a good start, hitting .321/.385/.439 with 2 HR, 27 RBI, and a team-leading 36 runs scored. On the other side is Grady Sizemore whose gotten off to a cold start. He's hitting just .223/.313/.411, with 8 HR and 30 RBI. The power numbers and walks are there, so it's just a matter of time before he starts to get that average up, hopefully it doesn't happen this weekend.

Here's something that should frustrate and annoy most Yankees fans; Carl Pavano leads the Indians with five wins. That's also more wins than any Yankee. He does have a 5.50 ERA, but it's still annoying. Their best pitcher has been Cy Young award winner Cliff Lee, who's followed up his Cy Young '08 season with a solid beginning to the '09 campaign. He hasn't gotten the run support so he's only 2-5, but he leads the team with a 3.04 ERA and 49 strikeouts.

Cleveland is currently 21-28 and in last place in the AL Central and trail the first place Detroit Tigers by 6.5 games.

As i said before, the two teams split their four games so far this year and last year the Indians won four of the seven games the two teams played.

Pitching Matchups

Game 1: Tonight @ 7:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS 880
LHP Andy Pettitte (4-1, 4.30 ERA) vs. LHP Cliff Lee (2-5, 3.04 ERA)

Game 2: Tomorrow @ 7:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS 880
LHP CC Sabathia (4-3, 3.42 ERA) vs. RHP Fausto Carmona (2-4, 6.42 ERA)

Game 3: Sunday @ 12:40 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, TBS, WCBS 880
RHP Phil Hughes (3-2, 5.16 ERA) vs. RHP Carl Pavano (4-4, 6.10 ERA)

Game 4: Monday @ 7:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, ESPN, WCBS 880
RHP Joba Chamberlain (2-1 3.70) vs. TBA

Players to Watch

YANKEES: Jorge Posada - After missing 22 games with a pulled hamstring, Posada returns to the lineup and is my player to watch. Before the injury Posada had gotten off to a very good start, hitting .312/.402/.584, with 5 HR and 20 RBI.

He hasn't been great against the Indians in his career. He's hitting.251/.370/.481, with 14 HR and 53 RBI in 79 games. In the four games played at the new stadium this year he hit just .231/.333/.692 with 2 HR and 3 RBI, one of the homers was the first ever at the new stadium. At Progressive Field he's hitting .234/.338/.430 with five homers and 24 RBI. But last year his numbers were better as he was able to hit .333/.333/.667 with 3 RBI in two games.

Posada vs. Lee: .222/.211/.611 (4-for-18), 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI
Posada vs. Carmona: .200/.200/.800 (1-for-5), HR, RBI, 2 K
Posdada vs. Pavano: 0-for-1, BB

Cleveland: Mark DeRosa - I was gonna go with Sizemore or Martinez but I already spoke about them above, so why not DeRosa? Not only has he been included in some recent trade talks, but he been hot lately - hitting .333/.400/.556 with 2 HR and 6 RBI over the last week - and he pounded Yankees pitching in the first series this two teams played this year. In the four games he hit .350/.409/.700 with 2 HR, a double, and 8 RBI.

He hasn't had the same sort of success in his career against the Bombers, hitting just .234/.315/.359m with 2 HR and 10 RBI in 20 games.

On the season DeRosa is hitting .266/.333/.446, with 8 HR and 32 RBI.

DeRosa vs. Pettitte: .143/.333/.143 (1-for-7), BB, 3 K
DeRosa vs. Sabathia: .273/.333/.273 (3-for-11), BB, 2 K
DeRosa vs. Hughes: NR
DeRosa vs. Chamberlain: .667/.667/1.000 (2-for-3) HR, 2 RBI, K

Injury Report

YANKEES:
- Xavier Nady, RF: 15-day DL with an injured right elbow.
- Cody Ransom, INF: 60-day DL with a strained right quad.
- Jose Molina, C: On the 15-day DL with a strained left quad.

(Nady, Ransom, and Molina are down in Tampa to rehab. Nady and Ransom have been playing in extended spring training games. Molina has not played in an extended spring game yet.)

- Melky Cabrera, OF: Day-to-day with a bruised shoulder. He won't start in the Cleveland series but is available off the bench if the Yanks get desperate.
- Brian Bruney, RP: 15-day DL with a flexor muscle problem in his forearm. He'll rest and then begin a throwing program.
- Damaso Marte, RP: 15-day DL with a sore shoulder. Still haven't heard anything new on Marte for weeks now.

INDIANS:
- Aaron Laffey, SP: 15-day DL with a right oblique strain - out 6-8 weeks.
- Anthony Reyes, SP/RP: 60-day DL with right elbow inflammation.
- Joe Smith, RP: 15-day DL with a strained right rotator cuff.
- Travis Hafner, DH/1B: 15-day DL with right shoulder soreness.
- Scott Lewis, RP: 60-day DL with a left elbow strain - out 2-4 weeks.
- Jake Westbrook, SP: 60-day DL as he recovers from right elbow surgery.