Yankees vs. Phillies Series Preview

Yankees vs. Phillies
New Yankee Stadium
(three games)

The return of Alex Rodriguez has clearly given this team a huge boost, since his return they've won 11 of 13 and nine in a row. The Yankees nine game winning streak is their longest of the Joe Girardi era and they're now 24-17, a season-high seven games over .500. Their winning streak has also taken them to within one game of the second place Red Sox and just 1.5 games behind the first place Jays.

They're hitting, they're starting to get consistent starting pitching, and the bullpen is slowly rounding into form. Besides that, they're also starting to get healthier; Brian Bruney returned this week, Chien-Ming Wang should be back next week, Jorge Posada could also be back soon, and Xavier Nady has started taking batting practice. I guess it's even better that the Yankees are as hot as they are because they're about to welcome the world champion Phillies to the Bronx for three games at the new stadium.

The Phillies are also heading into this series on a bit of a hot streak. They've won six out of their last seven. The Phillies have also be excellent on the road. They're tops in the NL with 14-5 road record, runs scored on the road with 126, and HRs on the road with 29. They also ranks third in team batting average on the road with a .280 average. More bad news for the Yankees is that Jimmy Rollins is starting to heat up. After struggling for most of the season, Rollins is hitting .438/.500/.625 over his last six games, including a four hit performance against the Reds last night. Chase Utley and Ryan Howard have both had solid starts to the '09 campaign. Utley is hitting .295/.432/.597 with 11 HR and 30 RBI, and Howard is hitting .266/.349/.545 with 10 HR and 30 RBI. But the driving force behind the Phillies' offense so far this season has been the newly acquired Raul Ibanez. There will be more on him in the Players to Watch section below.

Philly has not gotten much from any of their starting pitchers so far this season. Of their five man rotation, only Cole Hamels (4.98) and Brett Myers (4.50) have ERAs under five, and overall their starters are 11-11, with a 6.30 ERA combined. Even with the bad starting pitching they find themselves atop the NL East with a 21-17 record, 1.5 games ahead of the Mets.

The Yankees and Phillies have not met since 2006 when the Yankees took two out of three.

Pitching Matchups

Game 1: Tonight @ 7:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS 880
A.J. Burnett RHP (2-1, 5.02 ERA) vs. Brett Myers RHP (4.50 ERA)

Game 2: Tomorrow @ 4:10 p.m. | TV/Radio: FOX, WCBS 880
Andy Pettitte LHP (4-1. 4.18 ERA) vs. J.A. Happ LHP (2-0, 2.49 ERA)

Game 3: Sunday @ 1:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS 880
CC Sabathia LHP (4-3, 3.43 ERA) vs. Cole Hamels LHP (2-2, 4.95 ERA)

Players to Watch

YANKEES: Robinson Cano: After struggling for a few weeks and seeing his batting average drop below .300, Cano has started to get on another hot streak over the past few games. In the last four games he's 8 for his last 15 with 2 homers, 6 RBI, and 6 runs scored over his last four games. He's now hitting .317/.354/.527, with 8 HR and 25 RBI.

He's played just three career games against the Phillies back in 2006 and he hit .250/.333/.375.

Cano vs. Myers: 0-for-2, BB, K
Cano vs. Happ: NR
Cano vs. Hamels: NR

PHILLIES: Raul Ibanez - The former Mariner has started his Phillies career on a tear. He's currently hitting .349/.410/.724, with a National League leading 15 home runs and 40 RBI. He leads the Phillies in batting, HR, RBI, slugging percentage (.724), hits (53), and runs scored (35). In the last two weeks he's been even hotter, hitting .356/.423/.711, with 5 HR and 15 RBI.

He's done okay against teh Yankees in his career hitting .281/.338/.418 with 6 HR and 38 RBI in 74 games. In his career at the old stadium he was hitting .263/.306/.376, with 3 HR and 18 RBI. Last season he played nine games against the Bombers and hit .212/.297/.333 with a homer and 6 RBI. He was even worse at the Stadium, hitting just .174/.240/.217 with 1 RBI.

Ibanez vs. Burnett: .231/.214/.308 (3-for-13), 2B, 3 RBI, 4 K
Ibanez vs. Pettitte: .278/.316/.333 (5-for-18), 2B, 2 RBI, 5 K
Ibanez vs. Sabathia: .278/.333/.528 (10-for-36), 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 10 K

Injury Report

YANKEES:
- Xavier Nady, RF: 15-day DL with an injured right elbow. It was thought that he would need season-ending surgery, but it is now being reported that he may avoid the surgery and be back by mid June.
- Cody Ransom, INF: 60-day DL with a strained right quad.
- Chien-Ming Wang, SP: Will be in the bullpen tonight as a long reliever, and should make his return to the starting rotation in a week or so.
- Damaso Marte, RP: 15-day DL with a sore shoulder.
- Jorge Posada, C: 15-day DL with a strained right hamstring. He will miss at least 2-3 weeks.
- Jose Molina, C: On the 15-day DL with a strained left quad.

PHILLIES:
- Mike Zagurski, RP: 15-day DL as he recovers from left elbow surgery.
- Mike Cenvenak, 3B: 15-day DL With a broken wrist. He will be out of action for a while.