Series Preview: Yankees vs. Orioles

Yankees - Orioles
@ New Yankee Stadium
(three games)

You couldn't have asked for a better start to the second half of the season for the Yanks. They sweep three games from the first place Tigers, including 2-1 victories over Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson, both of whom have had great seasons. They Yankees sweep along with the Jays taking two of three from the Sox puts the Yanks just one game back in the division.

CC Sabathia and Joba Chamberlain both pitched great games and A.J. Burnett did enough to help the Yanks win the opener. The bullpen was great all series, especially Phil Hughes who seems to get better and better out there. Mo saved all three games and did so fairly easily. And on the offensive side, both Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira are starting to get into a groove at the same time, which obviously would be a huge lift for this team. As we saw yesterday, those two alone can win you some ballgames.

I don't have much to say about Baltimore, and why should I? Another year of cellar dwelling for Peter Angelos' sorry franchise. They enter the series with a 41-50 record, 14 games behind Boston. They have a decent lineup with guys like Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, Aubrey Huff, and Luke Scott leading the way, but once again they have no pitching, and you can't win if you can't pitch. As a team they have an ERA of 4.96, which ranks as the third worst in baseball, and their bullpen isn't much better at 4.50.

The Yankees have won six of the nine games between the two teams this year, including the last four in a row.

Pitching Matchups

Game 1: Tonight @ 7:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
LHP Andy Pettitte (8-5, 4.85) vs. RHP David Hernandez (2-2, 3.94)

Game 2: Tomorrow @ 7:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: MY9, WCBS
RHP Sergio Mitre (season debut) vs. LHP Rich Hill (3-2, 6.92)

Game 3: Wednesday @ 1:05 p.m. | YES, WCBS
RHP A.J. Burnett (8-4, 3.81) vs. RHP Jason Berken (1-7, 6.44)

Players To Watch

YANKEES: Robinson Cano - Cano has destroyed Oriole pitching this year. In 9 games he's hitting .471/.526/.941 with 4 HR, 4 doubles, 10 RBI, and he's scored 11 runs. Through his career he's also done well against them, hitting .310/.338/.525 with 12 HR, 23 doubles, and 45 RBI in 72 games.

He's also had a red-hot month of July. In the first 15 games of the month he's hitting .350/.381/.517 with a homer, 4 RBI, 7 doubles, and 13 runs scored.

Cano vs. Hernandez: NR
Cano vs. Hill: 0-for-0, BB
Cano vs. Berken: NR

ORIOLES: Luke Scott - Surprisingly it's Scott and not Nick Markakis or Aurbey Huff who has been the O's best offensive player this year. Coming into today he's hitting .298/.380/.579 with 18 homers (leads team), and 53 RBI.

He has not had much success against the Yankees in his career. In 23 games he's hitting just .197/.299/.342 with 3 HR and 6 RBI. In the Bronx those numbers actually get worse. He's putting up a hitting line of just .094/.171/.188 with a homer and 2 RBI in 9 games in the Bronx. But this season things have changed. In five games he's hitting .375/.444/.562 with a homer and 2 RBI against the Yanks in '09.

Scott vs. Pettitte: 0-for-3, K.
Scott vs. Mitre: NR.
Scott vs. Burnett: .500/.600/1.125, HR, RBI, 2 doubles.

Injury Report

YANKEES:
- Chien-Ming Wang, SP: 15-day DL with a strained right shoulder. He recently reported that he's pain free. The Yanks are hoping for an early August return.
- 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 GCL Yanks.

ORIOLES
- Chris Ray, RP: 15-day DL with right biceps tendinitis
- Koji Uehara, SP: 15-day DL with right elbow tendinitis
- Lou Montanez, LF: 15-day after having right thumb surgery - out 6-8 weeks
- Dennis Sarfate, RP 15-day with numbness in his right hand
- Alfredo Simon, RP 15-day after having right elbow surgery - out for season