Yankees & Angels Preview

The 1st place Yankees are rolling now following their 3 game sweep of the Oakland Athletics this past week. This was their first 3 game sweep of the season!  They have now won their last 4 games in a row (season high win streak), against strong starting pitchers including Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez & Brett Anderson.  Prior to their 4 game streak they dropped 2 games to Seattle which were both 1 run losses.  The bright side to the losses was how the Yanks lineup worked Seattle's beasts - Pineda & King Felix. Overall, the Yankees are looking much better than they were two weeks ago during their 6 game losing streak.  Since then, they have won 11 of 15 games and are hoping this momentum carries them through the final stretch of their west coast road trip.



I still want to kill this monkey!

 The Angels are returning from the road to begin a 9 game homestand.  Until yesterday the Angels had not had a day off for 20 days, so they could be a bit ragged.  The Angels are playing .500 ball which keeps them 2.5 games out of first place in the AL West.  During their last ten games, they are 5-5, and went 3-3 on their 6 game road trip.  They just lost 2 of 3 to the Royals and are looking to come back home and continue their domination of the Yankees.  The Angels have won 20 of the past 28 games against the Yankees!

PITCHING MATCHUPS

Friday:  Ivan Nova (4-3, 4.67 ERA) vs. Jered Weaver (6-4, 2.10 ERA)
-Nova had a rough outing last week.  During Saturday's game he had a 3-1 lead facing off against King Felix, but then allowed 4 earned runs on 5 hits in only 3 2/3 innings pitched, for the loss.  Nova had no command of his fastball during this game.
-Nova has never faced the Angels
-Over his last 3 games, Nova is 1-0 with a 4.60 ERA and only 7 K's
-Nova has not gone a full 4 innings in 2 of his last 4 starts
-Nova has a high walk ratio: 4BB/9IP and a low strikeout ratio: 4.5K/9IP
-The silver lining for Nova is the bullpen has a 1.38 ERA in relief of his games

-Weaver is coming off a strong outing against the Twins, holding them scoreless over 9 innings allowing only 2 hits.  The lack of run support led to the Angels loss that day and Weaver took another no-decision.
-Weaver started the season dominant going 6-0, but has not won a start since!  In the month of May he went 0-4!
-The silver lining for Weaver is his June numbers over his career are strong:  15-5 with a 2.84 ERA.

Good Stats For The Yanks Against Weaver
-Cano is hitting .400 against Weaver over 15 at bats
-Granderson is hitting .429 in 14 at bats with 4 home runs
-Martin is hitting .368 in 19 at bats
-Arod is hitting .333 in 15 at bats with 4 home runs

Saturday:  CC Sabathia (6-3, 2.98 ERA) vs. Dan Haren (5-3, 2.29 ERA)
-CC is going for his 4th straight win and has been heating up throughout May.  He has gone at least 8 innings in his last 3 starts with a 1.80 ERA, 17 strikeouts in that period, going 3-0!
-Nobody on the Angels with more than 10 at bats against CC is hitting over .230 against him!

-Haren is questionable to start the game Saturday as he tweaked his back in Kansas City while working on a bullpen session.  This might be a blessing for the Yankees as haren has a 2.29 ERA which is 5th best in the AL, and he has pitched more innings than any pitcher in the AL.
-Haren is 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA over his last 3 starts with 13 strikeouts.

Good Stats For The Yanks Against Haren
-Arod is hitting .400 against him in 15 at bats

Sunday:  Bartolo Colon (3-3, 3.26 ERA) vs. Ervin Santana (3-4, 4.34 ERA)
-Colon is coming off his first complete shutout of the season, allowing only 4 hits in the start!  He has been totally dominant lately striking out 21 batters in the last 3 games. 

-Santana gave up 6 runs in his last start, but only in the first two innings.  Following his rough start, he pitched 4 scoreless innings.  He is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA in his last 3 starts, with an impressive 18 strikeouts. 

Good Stats For The Yanks Against Santana
-Cano is hitting .333 in 21 at bats
-Jeter is hitting .385 in 26 at bats
-Martin is hitting .357 in 14 at bats
-Arod is hitting .318 in 22 at bats

YANKEES BY THE NUMBERS
The Yankees were 4-4 against the Angels last year, and went 1-2 in Anaheim
The Yankees are 14-3 in day games this season
The Yankees have hit a home run in 42 of 53 games this season (I'm still undecided whether this is a good or bad thing)
The Yankees rank 1st in the American League for

• Home Runs - 83
• RBI's - 275
• Slugging Percentage - .445%

The Yankees team ERA is 3.52, ranking 4th best in the American League
Their batting average needs some work as they have a meager .253!