Series Preview: Yankees @ Blue Jays

Yankees @ Blue Jays

@ Rogers Centre
(two games)

I'll be honest, I don't have much to say about this series besides that these two pitching matchups scare me a lot. Tonight they have to face Roy Halladay, then tomorrow Sergio Mitre will get the start against Marc Rzepczynski, a left-hander the Yankees have never seen. So with that in mind I'm going into this series hoping for a split. Hopefully Pettitte has a gem in him tonight, cause he'll probably need one if he wants to be Doc. If they can win tonight, tomorrow's start by Mitre won't scare me nearly as much as it does right now.

The Jays come into this after winning their last two against the A's, but prior to that they had lost six of their previous eight games. As most of us expected the Jays have faded in the standings. They're currently 51-54 and in fourth in the AL East, 12 games behind the Yankees. They also trail Boston by 11.5 in the wild card.

The Yanks start this series with a 63-42 record, just a half-game lead over Boston in the division. So far this season they've taken five of the seven games from Toronto.

Pitching Matchups

Game 1: Tonight @ 7:07 p.m. | TV/Radio YES, WCBS
LHP Andy Pettitte (8-6, 4.51) vs. RHP Roy Halladay (11-4, 2.68)

Game 2: Tomorrow @ 7:07 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
RHP Sergio Mitre (1-0, 7.80) vs. LHP Marc Rzepczynski (1-2, 3.25)

Players to Watch

YANKEES: Johnny Damon - JD had a rough month of July, hitting just .235/.369/.376 with 3 HR and 12 RBI. He's also just 1-for-6 this month.

He's had some success against the Jays this season, especially in Toronto, so maybe that will get him going. The Yankees are going to need his bat so hopefully things do work out that way. In 7 games this year against them he's hitting .280/.400/.600 with a HR, 3 doubles, a triple, and 3 RBI. In the three games played in Toronto he's hitting .357/.357/.714. He's also one of the few Yankees who can hit Roy Halladay.

Damon vs. Halladay: .349/.423/.500 (30-for-86) with 5 doubles, 2 homers, 4 RBI, and 11 walks. He's also struck out 13 times against Doc.
Damon vs. Rzepczynski: NR

BLUE JAYS: Alex Rios - It doesn't really matter what his numbers are for the year, when Rios plays against the Yankees he usually plays very well. For his career he's hit .304/.350/.445 with 6 HR and 38 RBI in 87 games against the Yanks.

This year he's hitting .357/.419/.643 with 2 HR and 8 RBI in 7 games against the Yanks, and he's currently riding a 12-game hitting streak against the Yanks.

Rios vs. Pettitte: .333/.360/.500 (8-for-24) with a homer and 4 RBI.
Rios vs. Mitre: NR

Injury Report

YANKEES:
- Chien-Ming Wang, SP: 15-day DL is done for the year after arthriscopic surgery on his shoulder. He will likely be out for 12 months.
- 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's on a rehab assignment with the SWB Yanks and is at least a week away or more.

BLUE JAYS:
- Marco Scutaro, SS: Day-to-day with a sore left heel.
- Scott Downs, RP: 15-day DL with a bruised toe on his left foot.
- 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.