Monday, April 25, 2011

Struggling Sox Come To The Bronx

The Yankees come back to the Bronx today and begin a 7 Day Homestand.  The first games are against the struggling White Sox before the Blue Jays come to town this weekend.  The Yankees are on a three game winning streak.
The White Sox have lost 10 of their last 11 games, and are in last place in the AL Central.  During these past 11 games, the Sox are batting only .193.  They were just swept in a three game series in Detroit and are now 8-14 on the year.
The Yankees have won 18 of the past 26 games against the White Sox (going back to 2001)
The Yankees won 4 of the 6 games they played the White Sox in 2010.

Here are the pitching matchups
Monday Night
AJ Burnett (3-0, 4.37 ERA) vs.  Phil Humber (1-2, 4.42 ERA)
Humber began the season in the bullpen for the Sox and will be making his 4th start tonight.
Humber’s last outing was at Tropicana Field last week against the Rays where he allowed 4 runs over 5 1/3 innings.  He pitched well except for allowing a home run.
Humber has never started against the Yankees before.
Humber has pitched a total of 21 innings this year in 5 games allowing 9 earned runs and 19 hits.
Humber has a 7.36 Career ERA in Road Games
AJ would be 4-0 if it wasn’t for Mo’s blown save last week.  (As I read this back to myself, I almost started laughing as it sounds so bizarre)
AJ still hasn’t pitched beyond 6 1/3 innings.
Tuesday Night
Ivan Nova (1-2, 7.63 ERA) vs. Gavin Floyd (2-1, 4.00 ERA)
Floyd won his last start against the Rays at Tropicana Field striking out 7 batters.
Brett Gardner has a .600 batting average against Floyd in 6 appearances.
Nova is making his 4th start of the season and hoping that his fastball can stay down in the zone.  If he can keep his fastball down, he may actually make it into the 6th or 7th inning.
Nova has not started a game since April 15.  He was called for one inning of relief work last week.
Wednesday Night
Bartolo Colon (1-1, 3.50 ERA) vs. Mark Buehrle (1-2, 5.40 ERA)
Buehrle is the only lefty the Yankees will see this series
Buehrle is attempting for the 5th time, to get his 150th win.  He has not gotten a win since Opening Day.
Buehrle’s last game was Friday in Detroit where he took the loss allowing 6 runs over 5 2/3 innings.  He allowed 8 hits and struck out 5.
Robinson Cano’s batting average is .455 against Buerhle over 11 at bats.
Bartolo Colon is still high from his first start last week allowing only 2 runs over 6 2/3 innings.  Colon looked great in his last start and is again trying to claim a spot in the rotation.
Colon has already struck out 20 batters in 18 innings.
Thursday Night
CC Sabathia  (1-1, 2.73 ERA) vs. Edwin Jackson (2-2, 4.48 ERA)
Jackson is not having a good year and has already given up 39 hits over 31 innings, but he has struck out 30 batters.
Jackson has given up 23 hits in his previous two starts.
Sabathia finally got his first win of the season on Saturday after pitching 8 innings and allowing only 3 runs. 

SIDE NOTES:
Robinson Cano has a 13 game hitting streak and is batting .345 in that period.
Adam Dunn is struggling this season.  He has only two hits in his last 30 at bats with 15 strikeouts!
Curtis Granderson has an 8 game hitting streak and is hitting .424 in that period with 9 RBI’s.  Granderson has 4 home runs in the last 5 games!
Hughes threw a bullpen session today before batting practice began and was shut down early.  This doesn't look good for Hughes.
Rafael Soriano was not available yesterday due to a sore back.  No word yet as to whether he is available today.  All we know is that it’s not considered serious.
Countdown to 3000
Derek Jeter now has 2945 hits and needs only 55!  Jeter had 4 hits Sunday against the Orioles.
Jeter is batting .519 in his last 7 home games against the White Sox.

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