Series Preview: Yankees @ Athletics

Yankees - Athletics
@ Oakland Coliseum
(three games)

The machine that is the New York Yankees just continues to roll right along as we move into the final month and a half of the season. At 74-44 the Yankees have the best record in baseball and a commanding 7.5 game lead in the AL East.

They go to Oakland after another series win, this time taking three of four from the Mariners in Seattle. Overall they've won 12 of their last 14, 23 of 30 since the ASB, and 36 of their last 48. Like I said, they've been a machine.

I wrote this prior to the Blue Jays series:

After sweeping Boston in four games and extending their lead in the AL East to 6.5 games, the Yankees start a stretch of games that they could potentially help them drive that final nail into Boston's coffin.

That stretch begins tonight as the Yanks start a three-game set with the Blue Jays. Following the Jays series the Yanks head out west to take on the Mariners (4 games) and Athletics (3 games). If everything plays out like planned they will miss both Roy Halladay and Felix Hernandez, so if they can avoid the post-Sox let down there's no reason the Yanks should lose more than two or three games tops.

If they can do that, and build their lead up to 9 or 10 games with 41 left you can go ahead and start printing playoff tickets.

So far they're 5-2 with three games left against the last place Athletics, They still shouldn't lose more than 2 or 3 games.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox head to Toronto to take on Roy Halladay and the Toronto Blue Jays. So maybe the Yanks can sweep and pickup another game before heading to Fenway.

The Wednesday matchup in this series bothers me a little, with Chad Gaudin facing left-hander Brett Anderson , but the other two matchups strongly favor the Yankees. The Yankees have taken five of the six games from the A's this season.

Pitching Matchups

Game 1: Tonight @ 10:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
RHP A.J. Burnett (10-5, 3.71) vs. RHP Brett Tomko (1-2, 5.23)

Game 2: Tomorrow @ 10:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
LHP CC Sabathia (13-7, 3.64) vs. RHP Vin Mazzaro (4-8, 5.54)

Game 3: Wednesday @ 10:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
RHP Chad Gaudin (1-0, 5.13) vs. LHP Brett Anderson (7-8, 4.55)

Players to Watch

YANKEES: Melky Cabrera - In 24 career games against Oakland he's hit .295/.378/.462 with 3 homers and 7 RBI. Those numbers head sharply downward in Oakland where he's hitting just .160/.154/.280, but the way he's been hitting Oakland this year, it shouldn't matter where he's hitting. In six games this year he's hitting .533/.650/1.067 with 2 homers, 3 RBI, and 5 walks.

For the season the Melk Man is hitting .269/.331/.425 with 11 HR and 46 RBI, but he's struggled a lot lately, hitting just .125/.173/.188 with a homer a 6 RBI over his last 12 games, maybe A's pitching will fix that.

Melky vs. Tomko: 0-for-1
Melky vs. Mazzaro: NR
Melky vs. Anderson: 4-for-5, HR, a double, an RBI, and a walk.

ATHLETICS: Kurt Suzuki - The A's catcher has done very well in five games against the Yankees, hitting .500/.500/.773 with a homer, 3 doubles, and 7 RBI in just five games.

His numbers throughout his career against the Yankees are also very good. In 12 games he's hitting .426/.426/.574 with a homer, 4 doubles and 9 RBI.

For the season Suzuki is hitting .277/.314/.408 wih 9 HR and 53 RBI, but like Melky has struggles recently. In August, Suzuki is hitting just .231/.273/.442.

Suzuki vs. Burnett: .333/.500/.333 (3-for-9): RBI, 3 strikeouts
Suzuki vs. Sabathia: .250/.250/.583 (3-for-12), HR, 2B, 4 RBI
Suzuki vs. Gaudin: 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: 60-day DL with a sore shoulder. He has been excused from the team indefinitely due to personal reasons.
- Brett Gardner, CF: 15-day DL with a broken bone in his hand. He had his cast taken off and hopes to be back in a little more than a week from today.

ATHLETICS:
- Dallas Braden, SP/RP: 15-day with a rash on his left foot.
- Daric Barton, 1B/C: 15-day with a strained right hamstring.
- 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.