Yankees vs. RangersNew Yankee Stadium
(three games)
After a successful road trip that saw the Yankees win five of seven games against the Rangers and Indians, the Yanks head home for a seven-game homestand in first place in the AL East with a 30-21 record.
Besides a few remaining bullpen issues and injuries to Xavier Nady and Jose Molina, there isn't much going wrong in Yankeeland these days (knocks on wood). They've won 17 of their last 23, and four of the last five. Most importantly they're getting consistently good starting pitching, and after having a team ERA of 5.79 in April, they came back with a solid month of May posting a team ERA of 4.21. And defensively they have been damn near perfect. After another errorless performance last night they now hold the major league record for errorless games in a row with 18.
After dropping two out of three to the Yanks in Arlington last week, the Rangers took three of four from division rival Oakland and still remain in first place in the AL West, 4.5 games ahead of the Angels. They're currently 30-20 record, which is the best record in the AL and the second best record in the sport behind only the Dodgers. Like the Yankees, they've been pretty hot lately, winners of 13 of their last 18 games.
Everything I said about them last week remains true. They're still one of the biggest surprises in the game, they can hit with anyone, and they're pitching better than they have in a long time. A lot of the credit for their improved pitching needs to go to HOF'er Nolan Ryan, who is trying to get the Rangers away from the babying of pitchers than has become a normal part of the game, so far it looks like it's working.
The Yankees have won two of the three games the two teams have played this year. Last season the Rangers won the season series four games to three.
Pitching Matchups
Game 1: Today @ 7:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS 880
RHP A.J. Burnett (3-2, 4.78 ERA) vs. RHP Vicente Padilla (3-2, 4.71 ERA)
Game 2: Tomorrow @ 7:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS 880
LHP Andy Pettitte (5-1, 4.10 ERA) vs. RHP Scott Feldman (4-0, 3.91 ERA)
Game 3: Thursday @ 1:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS 880
LHP CC Sabathia (5-3, 3.46 ERA) vs. RHP Brandon McCarthy (5-2, 4.35 ERA)
RHP A.J. Burnett (3-2, 4.78 ERA) vs. RHP Vicente Padilla (3-2, 4.71 ERA)
Game 2: Tomorrow @ 7:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS 880
LHP Andy Pettitte (5-1, 4.10 ERA) vs. RHP Scott Feldman (4-0, 3.91 ERA)
Game 3: Thursday @ 1:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS 880
LHP CC Sabathia (5-3, 3.46 ERA) vs. RHP Brandon McCarthy (5-2, 4.35 ERA)
Players to Watch
YANKEES: Mark Teixeira - This guy has just been ridiculously good since April ended. For the month of May he hit .330/.391/.748 with 13 HR and 34 RBI. Overall he's hitting .282/.386/.601, with a team leading 16 home runs and 44 RBI. He also carries a 14-game hitting streak into this series with the Rangers. Not only has he been hitting, but the guy may be the best defesive first baseman the Yankees have had since Mattingly.
In his career against the Rangers he's hit .302/.418/.604 with 4 HR and 13 RBI in 16 games. In the three games last week he also hit well, hitting .357/.438/.857 with 2 homers and 5 RBI.
Teixeira vs. Padilla: .286/.455/1.143 (2-for-7), 2 HR, 4 RBI
Teixeira vs. Feldman: .300/.333/.700 (3-for-10), HR, 3 RBI
Teixeira vs. McCarthy: .250/.333/1.000 (2-for-8), 2 HR, 2 RBI
RANGERS: Nelson Cruz - Cruz has been one of the Rangers hottest hitters for over a month now. In May, Cruz hit .311/.368/.631, with 8 HR and 19 RBI, and over the last seven he's hitting .348//.483/.870 with 3 HR and 5 RBI. For the season Cruz is hitting .296/.360/.592 with 14 HR (leads the team) and 36 RBI.
He has not had much success in his career against the Yankees, hitting just .160/.323/.400 with a homer and an RBI. The numbers get worse in the Bronx, where he's hitting .100/.250/.200. He did have a good series against the Yanks in Texas last week, hitting .375/.583/1.000 with a homer and two doubles.
Cruz vs. Burnett: 0-for-1, 2 BB
Cruz vs. Pettitte: 0-for-6, K
Cruz vs. Sabathia: 0-for-3, 2 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 Molina both had setbacks yesterday and it looks like they'll both be out for a while longer.)
- Brian Bruney, RP: 15-day DL with a flexor muscle problem in his forearm. He began his throwing program today.
- Damaso Marte, RP: 15-day DL with a sore shoulder. Still haven't heard anything new on Marte for weeks now.
RANGERS:
- Josh Hamilton, OF: Day-to-day with a strained muscle in his abdominal area.
- Matt Harrison, SP: 15-day DL with left shoulder inflammation.
- Willie Eyre, RP: 15-day DL with a strained right groin.
- Joaquin Benoit, RP: 60-day DL as he recovers from right rotator cuff surgery.
- Eric Hurley, SP: 60-day DL with a torn right rotator cuff. He's done for the year.
- Dustin Nippert, RP: 60-day DL with right shoulder soreness.
this could be a good value night for a game. right now the weather looks kind a crappy, but forecast is for any rain to be over by 5pm, and should only partly cloudy by 7pm with comfortable temp around 72degress and holding to 69 through the evening.
ReplyDeletenot lots of great value on stubhub at the moment and they shut it down in another hour. however there are some value tickets lurking. I just picked up 2 for $30 each in sec 209 row 6 seats 1 & 2. Row 6 anywhere in the main are simply spectacular seats - except low seat numbers in 207 and high seats numbers in 208 where the foul pole is very annoying.
i sound like a stubhub promoter, but Im not. I only buy value, mostly its a rip off, especially its 10% fee which ramps up the price as you decide to upgrade, even just small amounts.
ReplyDeleteI was actually gonna go do that tonight, but I'm kinda broke and the weather blows right now.
ReplyDeleteyah see, people get fooled by the spring time early evening showers - which helps depress last minute ticket interest. then I pounce.
ReplyDeletehere is the hour by hour
http://www.weather.com/outlook/homeandgarden/home/hourbyhour/graph/10019?from=interactive_topnav_home
the interesting thing is there is limited panic selling for yankee games. you'll see a few people sell off in the final hour, but lots of prices stay steady. this always surprises me. I would never buy tickets on the street because Im so afraid they'll be fakes. and I cant imagine all these seats get sold off, so thats a lot of tickets people are eating. i can't figure it out. if I was a season ticket holder I would just want to unload them.
ReplyDeletezoinks! revised forecast - 40% chance of rain now at 7pm. well thats how it goes with scattered spring showers.
ReplyDeleteyou can hedge this kind of gamble by getting seats above row 12 in the main which puts you under the overhang. tho, unless its boston I dont think it matters since there are always no-shows with mixed weather, easy to get a seat further up the section.
in fact, the same is true for lower seats as well. get the cheaper seats in like row 17ish, then move down.
--
just refreshed again - 7pm forecast bounces back and forth, its going to be mixed.
New Yorkers are stubborn and they want what they want. Maybe that's why they don't or won't panic.
ReplyDelete140 tickets have been solid (or pulled off) for the game in the last 45 minutes. not very good numbers for the 1525 hold outs.
ReplyDeleteOk - here we go - $30 a ticket for 212 row 13 - great seats at what i paid for further down the line just an hour ago.
also $30 and $35 tickets within the first 15 rows of 211 - they'll have to drop their prices more. people holding out for $100 in sec 105 are just retarded.
good row numbers in secs 111 and 112 dropping too. down to $60.
ReplyDeleteI find this fun, like the stock market. stubhub really should offer tracking so i could just get real time updates on a handful of seats I want to watch prices on.
YANKEES (30-21)
ReplyDeleteJeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Posada C
Matsui DH
Cabrera RF
Gardner CF
Pitching: RHP A.J. Burnett (3-2, 4.78).
So Swisher starts hitting a bit and gets the night off? Cuz that makes sense...
ReplyDeletethe bargain of the night:
ReplyDeleteField Outfield 112 16 Up to 2 $35.00
but probably priced too late to sell. stubhub will be closed before anyone can find it and buy it.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I hate about living on LI is not being able to take advantage of last minute deals like that, although, on stubhub, I did score some nice tickets a day in advance.
ReplyDeleteGot to 2 games so far. One against the twins. Got Main OF tickets in left, spectacular seats, 22 bucks each. Then my 1st game against the A's. Got main infield tickets, off of the 1st base side for 40 bucks.
Thanks for the lineup... Game thread just went up.
ReplyDelete