Series Preview: Yankees vs. Athletics

Yankees - Athletics
@ New Yankee Stadium
(four games)

For the first time this season the Yankees are 20 games over .500, and for the first time this year the Yankees are two full games ahead of the Sox for first place in the division.

The Yanks are coming off of a sweep of the Orioles, their third sweep in their last four series. They've won six in a row, and 19 of their last 24 games, and in July they're 13-5. They've also been dominant at home where they're 26-9 in their last 35 home games. Oh, and since Alex Rodriguez came back they're 44-22, the best record in baseball over that time.

Suffice it to say things are going well for the Yanks.

Their are obviously some problems, Brian Bruney still hasn't regained his early season form, Chien-Ming Wang may be done for the year, and they still haven't seen the consistency they were hoping for from Andy Pettitte or Joba Chamberlain. But still the Yankees seem to be hitting their stride at the right time. And with the trade deadline looming the Yankees could even improve themselves over the next 8 days.

As for Oakland, they come into this series in last place in the AL West with a 40-53 record. Like they have been lately, the A's will probably be sellers at the deadline, with Matt Holliday being their biggest piece of trade bait. And by the way he's playing it looks like he wants to get out of their as quickly as possible. More on his recent hot streak in the "Players to Watch" section below.

They don't hit much, ranking 20th in the league with 408 runs, and 26th in baseball with a .250 team batting average. Adam Kennedy leads the team with a .289 batting average, Jack Cust leads the team with 16 homers. And Orlando Cabrera and Kurt Suzuki are having OK years. Besides that they really don't have much offensively.

They have a decent pitching staff, ranking 16th in baseball with a 4.26 team ERA. Their ace has been left-hander Dallas Braden, who leads the team with 7 wins, a 3.40 ERA, and 78 strikeouts. Vin Mazzaro (4.09 ERA) and Brett Anderson (4.25 ERA) have also had solid years.

New York took the first two meetings of the season against the A's, and really should have no problems taking this series as well. Boston has lost five in a row and starts a three-game set with the O's tomorrow. Hopefully the Yanks can maintain this lead for awhile (the rest of the season).

Pitching Matchups

Game 1: Tonight @ 7:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
LHP CC Sabathia (9-6, 3.66) vs. RHP Vin Mazzaro (2-6, 4.09)

Game 2: Tomorrow @ 7:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
RHP Joba Chamberlain (5-2, 4.05) vs. LHP Brett Anderson (5-7, 4.25)

Game 3: Saturday @ 1:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
LHP Andy Pettitte (8-5, 4.62) vs. LHP Gio Gonzalez (1-2, 9.33)

Game 4: Sunday @ 1:05 PM | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
RHP Sergio Mitre (1-0, 4.76) vs. LHP Dallas Braden (7-8, 3.40)

Players To Watch

YANKEES: Melky Cabrera - Overall Melky is having a pretty good year, hitting .274/.333/.418 with 8 HR and 35 RBI. But that doesn't tell the whole story.

He's been two offensive players this season, the one who started .328/.374/.492 with 5 HR and 20 RBI over his first 128 at-bats, and then the guy who hit .222/.296/.348 with 3 HR and 15 RBI over his next 135 at-bats. It's a similar story to the one we saw last year with Melky. It seems he has trouble making adjustments through the year as pitchers adjust to him. And with Brett Gardner playing so well every chanceh he gets it may cost him his job. Obviously Joe Girardi likes running him out there so it will be interesting to see how he plays over the next few weeks.

Melky had a very good series against the A's the first time around, going 2-for-6 with 2 HR including a walk-off, and 3 RBI. But in his career he's just a .246/.312/.406 hitter in 20 games against the A's.

Melky vs. Mazzaro: NR
Melky vs. Anderson: 1-for-2, HR, RBI, BB
Melky vs. Gonzalez: NR
Melky vs. Braden: 0-for-1

ATHLETICS: Matt Holliday - On the year Matt Holliday is hitting .287/.379/.453 with 11 homers and leads the team with 54 RBI. But he may be trying to play himself off of a last place because for the month of July he's hitting .344/.421/.578 with 3 HR and 14 RBI. And over the last nine he's hitting .405/.439/.784.

In 8 games against the Yankees Holliday is hitting .345/.441/.483 with a HR and 7 RBI. This year he's 3-for-10 with a RBI.

Holliday vs. Sabathia: .500/.571/.500 (3-for-6), RBI
Holliday vs. Chamberlain: NR
Holliday vs. Pettitte: .222/.222/.556 (2-for-9) with a homer and 2 RBI
Holliday vs. Mitre: .182/.250/.273 (2-for-11), RBI

Injury Report

YANKEES:
- Chien-Ming Wang, SP: 15-day DL with a strained right shoulder. He recently had a setback when he felt pain playing catch and people are speculating that he could be done for the year. There were also a couple reports that said the pain he felt was normal. As of right now he's been shutdown until Friday.
- Xavier Nady, RF: Done for year, season-ending Tommy John surgery. 10-12 months to recover.
- Damaso Marte, RP: 15-day DL with a sore shoulder. He has begun a rehab assignment with the SWB Yanks and is at least a week away.

ATHLETICS:
- Jason Giambi, 1B/DH: 15-day DL with a strained right quad.
- Josh Outman, LHP: 60-day DL after having left elbow surgery - out for season.
- Dan Giese, RHP: 60-day with right elbow ulnaritis.
- Eric Chávez, 3B/DH: 60-day DL with a strained right forearm, and a herniated disc.
- Joey Devine, RHP: 60-day DL after having right elbow surgery - out for season.
- Justin Duchscherer, RHP: 60-day DL as he recovers from right elbow surgery.