The Series Ahead: Yankees vs. Astros

Yankees - Astros

Yankee Stadium
(3 Games)

And so it begins...the World Cup of course!.....Only kidding. As the world's biggest sporting event kicks off today, it would be easy to forget about a weekend inter-league series with the lowly Houston Astros but we here at SIH must prepare you anyway. After dropping two of three to the Blue Jays, the Yankees bounced back to start the week by taking two of three from the Orioles. While two of three is acceptable, they had their opportunities to make it a sweep and you hope a series like that doesn't come back to haunt you. So the Yankees head back home and finish up a soft spot in their schedule with the Houston Astros who are ten games back in the weak NL Central, and a pitiful eleven games under .500. However, the Yankees can not let up and need to tune up their games as they will face the Phillies and Mets following this three game set.

The Houston Astros are team clearly ready for rebuilding. With aging stars Roy Oswalt and Lance Berkman rumored trade targets for many teams. including the Yankees, it will be interesting to see what their team looks like at the end of the season. With just 204 runs scored this season the Astros have only scored more runs then the Orioles and Pirates. Some of you may be weary when seeing those Astros uniforms this weekend, as the last time the Yankees faced them was in 2008, when ace Chien-Ming Wang was lost for the season and never regained his form. The most important thing is that the Yankees win this series and remain relatively healthy.

It looks as if Mark Teixeira's bat has heated up which will be very important - especially with the status of Alex Rodriguez in doubt. Hopefully A-Rod's groin issues aren't serious, but it may be an ideal time to give the slugger a few days off against a weaker opponent. There is no use risking a more serious injury during a June series against a weak team. Keeping his bat out of the line-up will be made much easier if Jorge Posada can get going. His timing has looked off since coming off of the DL. Luckily the Yanks own a .731 winning percentage at home this year, and we can hope for a sweep and expect a series victory.

So the Yankees head into this series playing good baseball. They sit at 37-23 and just 2 games back in the AL East. This series is an easy health builder and a sweep is a definite possibility, which would give the team some nice insurance with some tougher series' coming up. Sit back and hopefully enjoy some Yankee blowouts.

Matchups

Game 1: Tonight @ 7:05 p.m. | TV: YES | Radio: WCBS
LHP Andy Pettitte (7-1, 2.47) vs. RHP Brett Meyers (4-3, 3.01)

Game 2: Saturday @ 1:05 p.m. | TV: YES | Radio: WCBS
RHP Javy Vazquz (5-5, 5.63) vs. RHP Wandy Rodriguez (3-8, 4.95)

Game 3: Sunday @ 1:05 p.m. | TV: YES | Radio: WCBS
RHP Phil Hughes (8-1, 2.71) vs. RHP Brian Moehler (0-2, 6.12)

Three Questions

• What is the status of Alex Rodriguez?
  
• Can Jorge Posada shake the rust and start swinging a hot bat?
  
• Who will win tomorrow, the US or England?

Injury Report

YANKEES:
- DH/1B Nick Johnson is on the 60-day DL with an inflamed tendon in the wrist. Had surgery on Tuesday out until Late July.
- RHP Alfredo Aceves is on the 15-day DL with lower back discomfort. May be lost for the season depending on the results of some more testing.
- 3B Alex Rodriguez left early in Sundays game with a sore groin. Check back here for a status update.
- OF Brett Gardner will have an MRI on his thumb. Just to make sure everything is alright. He is day-to-day

ASTROS:
- RHP Alberto Arias is on the 60-day DL and out for the season with a torn rotator cuff
- RHP Bud Norris is on the 15-day DL with elbow tendinitis
- RHP Chris Sampson is on the 15-day DL with biceps tendinitis

If you have a twitter account, I have created a personal twitter
account for the blog as an individual writer. Click here to follow SIH
on twitter and here to follow me on twitter. I will be posting
breaking news, occasionally live blogging, as well as posting
photo's from Yankee Stadium when I attend games.