Yankees vs. Blue Jays Series Preview

Yankees vs. Blue Jays

@ New Yankee Stadium
(four games)

After taking two of three (should have swept) from the Mariners, and winning seven of their last eight the Yankees host the Blue Jays in a four-game series at the new stadium. Currently the Yankees are 45-33 and just three games behind the first place Red Sox. They're also two games ahead of Tampa in the Wild Card race.

Besides yesterday's disappointing performance from CC Sabathia, a lot has gone right for the Yanks lately. Hopefully they can keep it up. There are less than two weeks until the all-star break and the Yankees need to play great baseball from hear on out. I know games in July are never must-wins, but it's very important that the Yankees go into the break on a high note.

At 42-38 the Blue Jays are still in the mix. They trail the Red Sox by seven games in the division and the Yanks by four in the Wild Card. They've stumbled a bit lately and head into this series losers of five of their last seven.

The good news for the Jays is they recently got Roy Halladay back from the DL and they have several more quality arms on their starting staff including Ricky Romero and Scott Richmond. Sadly for the Yanks, they have to face all three this series.

Usually when you think of the Jays offense you think of Vernon Wells and Alex Rios, but this year they're being led by a different cast of characters. Scott Rolen leads the team with a .333 batting average, Aaron Hill leads the teams in hits (104), homers (19), and RBI (56), and Adam Lind is also having a great year hitting .315/.389/.556 with 16 HR and 53 RBI.

The Yanks and Jays faced each other earlier in the season in Toronto, and the Yanks took two of three.

Pitching Matchups

Game 1: Today @ 1:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
RHP A.J. Burnett (6-4, 3.93) vs. LHP Brian Tallet (5-5, 4.47)

Game 2: Tomorrow @ 1:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
RHP Chien-Ming Wang (1-6, 10.06) vs. RHP Roy Halladay (10-2, 2.56)

Game 3: Sunday @ 1:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
RHP Joba Chamberlain (4-2, 3.89) vs. RHP Scott Richmond (6-5, 3.69)

Game 4: Monday @ 1:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
LHP Andy Pettitte (8-3, 4.25) vs. LHP Ricky Romero (6-3, 2.85)

Players to Watch

YANKEES: Mark Teixeira - While Alex Rodriguez has been carrying the team, the Yanks number three hitter has been slumping. In his last 16 games he is 15-for-67 (.224) with no homers and 6 RBI. Still, for the season Tex has done a very good job, hitting .274/.381/.559 with 20 homers and 60 RBI.

But the Yanks are going to need Tex to start hitting. Hopefully seeing the Jays will help him get off the schneid. In his career against Toronto, Tex is hitting .309/.409/.704 with 17 homers and 48 RBi in 44 games, but in three games this season he's hitting just .250/.286/.333 with no homers and two RBI.

Teixeira vs. Tallet: .600/.750/1.200 (3-for-5) with a homer and 2 RBI.
Teixeira vs. Halladay: .182/.217/.318 (4-for-22) with a homer and 3 RBI.
Teixeira vs. Richmond: 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI.
Teixeira vs. Romero: He's never faced Romero.

BLUE JAYS: Aaron Hill - The Jays second baseman is having one hell of a season. As of today he's hitting .301/.341/.504 with a team-leading 19 homers and 56 RBI. He also leads the team in hits with 104.

In 52 games against the Yanks Hill is hitting .299/.351/.418 with 2 homers and 20 RBI. In 26 games in the Bronx those numbers improve to .304/.347/.424. This year he has not had much success against the Yanks, hitting .200/.200/.500 with a homer and an RBI in three games.

Hill vs. Burnett: 2-for-4 with a homer and an RBI.
Hill vs. Wang: .588/.611/.941 (10-for-17), 4 doubles, a triple, and 3 RBI.
Hill vs. Chamberlain: 0-for-3 with a strikeout.
Hill vs. Pettitte: .214/.214/.214 (3-for-14).

Injury Report

YANKEES:
- Xavier Nady, RF: Done for year, will have season-ending Tommy John surgery next week. It will take 10-12 month to recover.
- Jose Molina, C: On the 15-day DL with a strained left quad. He's begun playing rehab games for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and the Yanks expect him back sometime next week.
- Damaso Marte, RP: 15-day DL with a sore shoulder. He's played a lot of catch, but is still nowhere close to returning. Will we ever see him again?

BLUE JAYS:
- Rod Barajas, C: Day-to-day with a hamstring injury.
- Scott Downs, RP: 15-day DL with a sprained left big toe.
- Casey Janssen, SP: 15-day DL with right shoulder inflammation.
- Robert Ray, SP: 15-day DL with right shoulder soreness.
- Michael Barrett, C: 15-day DL with a muscle tear in his right shoulder.
- Jesse Litsch, SP: 15-day DL with a right forearm strain.
- Dustin McGowan, SP: 15-day DL as he recovers from right shoulder surgery.
- Shaun Marcum, SP/RP: 15-day DL as he recovers from right elbow surgery.