Yankees @ Marlins Series Preview

Yankees @ Marlins
Land Shark Stadium
(three games)

After thoroughly embarrassing themselves against the Nationals this week at the new stadium, the Yankees set out on a nine-game road trip through the NL East. The trip begins with three games in Florida against the Marlins starting tonight.

The Yankees head into this trip with a 37-29 record, and in second place in the AL East, three games behind first place Boston. They lead the wild card by just one game over the Angels and Blue Jays, and two games over the Rays.

Since getting swept by Boston again the Yankees have no been the same. They're not getting the same consistent starting pitching and most importantly they're not hitting. In 26 innings against the worst pitching staff in baseball the Yanks were able to score just seven runs. They've lost six of their last nine heading into this trip, and if it wasn't for Luis Castillo's dropped pop up it would have been seven of nine.

Florida heads into this series after dropping two of three to the Red Sox in Fenway. They are currently 33-35 and are in third place in the NL East. They've had an up and down season so far, they went 14-8 in April, then struggling in May going 9-20, and now they've rebounded in June with a 10-7 record.

Their lineup is not as potent as it was last season but they still have guys some very good hitters. Players like Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla, Cody Ross, Jeremy Hermida, and Jorge Cantu have all had pretty good seasons so far. Uggla currently leads the team with 12 homers and 41 RBI, while Ramirez leads in pretty much everything else. As a team they rank fifth in the NL in runs (312) and home runs (67), third in hits (598), but just eleventh in batting average (.255), tenth in OBP (.328), and tenth in slugging (.398).

On the pitching side they have some very good young arms in their rotation, and the Yankees will be seeing three of them this weekend. Josh Johnson is their ace, he's 6-1, with a 2.76 ERA, and the Yanks will be facing him in the Saturday game. Sean West, who starts in the opener, has also been pretty impressive over his first five starts. And Chris Volstad, who goes in the third game, started the year strong by going 4-3 with a 3.69 ERA over his first 10 starts, but has struggled lately going 0-4 with a 7.66 ERA in his last four. But even with those three good arms overall their pitching hasn't been great. They have a team ERA of 4.50, which ranks 13th in the National League. The bad thing about this series is the Yankees have to face all three of them, three guys they've never seen before.

The last time these teams met was in 2006 in the Bronx when Joe Girardi was in the process of winning manager of the year with the Marlins. The Yanks took two of the three games.

Pitching Matchups

Game 1: Tonight @ 7:10 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
LHP Andy Pettitte (6-3, 4.52 ERA) vs. LHP Sean West (2-1, 3.00 ERA)

Game 2: Tomorrow @ 7:10 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
RHP A.J. Burnett (5-3, 4.46 ERA) vs. RHP Josh Johnson (6-1, 2.76 ERA)

Game 3: Sunday @ 5:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
LHP CC Sabathia (6-4, 3.67 ERA) vs. RHP Chris Volstad (4-7, 4.75 ERA)

Players to Watch

YANKEES: Mark Teixeira: After being one of the Yankees hottest hitters in May, and getting off to a good start this month Teixeira is starting to struggle a bit. He's 4-for-21 in his last five games, and 5-for-27 with a homer and 3 RBI in his last seven. Overall he's had a very solid first season in pinstripes, he's currently hitting .283/.387/.608 with 20 HR and 55 RBI. He leads the team in homers, RBI, OBP, SLG, and doubles (18).

I picked him as the player to watch because it's very important that he starts hitting the ball a bit better. The offense has been asleep since he's fallen into his slump, and they need him to get back into a grove.

Teixeira vs. West: NR
Teixeira vs. Johnson: NR
Teixeira vs. Volstad: 2-for-3, 2B, RBI

MARLINS: Hanley Ramirez: The Marlins short stop is one of the best young players in the league. The 25-year-old can hit for average, power, and steal bases. He's coming off a season that saw him hit .301/.400/.540 with 33 HR, 67 RBI, and 35 stolen bases. So far this he's hitting .325/.393/.506 with 8 HR, 34 RBI and 9 stolen bases. He also leads the team in hits (79), stolen bases, doubles (20), batting average, OBP, and slugging %.

Ramirez has played four games against the Yankees, and in those games he's gone 4-for-12 with a run scored and a walk.

Ramirez vs. Pettitte: .714/.714/.857 (5-for-7), 2B, 3 RBI
Ramirez vs. Burnett: NR
Ramirez vs. Sabathia: NR

Injury Report

YANKEES:
- Xavier Nady, RF: 15-day DL with an injured right elbow, headed back to Tampa this week to continue his rehab. He will play in an extended spring game today. The Yankees want to wait until he can throw at 100% before activating him.
- Cody Ransom, INF: 60-day DL with a strained right quad, he's playing games for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
- Jose Molina, C: On the 15-day DL with a strained left quad. He's begun baseball activities but still thinks he's a little while away.
- Damaso Marte, RP: 15-day DL with a sore shoulder. He saw Dr. James Andrews yesterday and the Dr. said he doesn't need surgery, but there's no reason to believe we'll see him back on the mound anytime soon.

MARLINS:
- Anibal Sanchez, SP: 15-day DL with right shoulder soreness
- Dave Davidson, RP: 60-day DL with a left shoulder strain.
- Renyel Pinto, RP: 15-day DL with left elbow inflammation
- Alfredo Amezaga, CF/SS: 15-day DL with a left knee contusion
- Scott Proctor, RP: 60-day DL after having right elbow surgery - He's out for the year.