The Yankees are in Minnesota for a 4 game weekend series which begins Thursday night with a battle of the lefties, CC Sabathia vs. Brain Duensing. With the Twins having a bad season, the Yankees should be able to get some wins this weekend and maybe even take a bigger lead over Boston for 1st place in the AL East. Right now the Yankees are only a half game up on the Red Sox, but Big Papi hasn’t been playing the last few games and the Red Sox haven’t been scoring during these games, so the Yankees have an opportunity to claim the lead. The Yankees just took two of three from the Royals during this road trip and following this series against the Twins will return back home to face the A’s, before hitting the road again against Baltimore and Boston. It’s time to beat up on the weaker teams!
The Twins are not having a good season and currently have the 3rd worst record in the American League. They did just take 2 of three from Detroit which was their first series win since early July, but prior to that series they lost 11 of 13 games. They are currently 10.5 games and in 4th place in the AL central. The last time the Twins met the Yankees was in the Bronx during the first two weeks of the season and the Yankees took 2 of 3. The one win was due to Soriano who blew the lead in the 8th inning.
YANKEES NOTES
Arod will return to the Yankees Thursday night in Minnesota but it doesn’t seem as though he will be activated for the game. From the interviews he has given, it seems like he is still a little weak with his knee while fielding and running and needs a bit more time. This will allow the Yankees to hold off on any decisions to drop a pitcher back to the minors. I have a feeling by the end of the weekend Arod will be activated, and playing DH while Hector Noesi gets sent to Scranton as the odd man out in the bullpen. This would allow the Yankees to continue holding Cory Wade since he has been excellent at working out of jams, and Luis Ayala who has earned his spot in the bullpen the whole season.
There is still no word yet from Girardi as to how long the 6 man rotation will be used. This is partly due to Freddy Garcia’s injured finger. Although it was a minor cut to his finger, he has trouble gripping the ball when throwing a splitter which is his signature pitch. Garcia was skipped last time through the rotation, which helped push the rotation decision off, but a decision will be made shortly. Garcia will throw a bullpen session Thursday night and if he can throw the splitter, he will start this weekend.
I think Jeter will have a big series against the Twins as they are starting two lefties this series and Jeter has been destroying lefties the whole season. Not only has he been hitting the ball hard against lefties, but since coming back from the DL he is hitting .336 with a .861 OPS. He’s hitting for average and power now. I think the Twins could be in trouble especially with his strong numbers against their two righties, Slowey and Blackburn.
TWINS NOTES
Michael Cuddyer may be placed on the DL Thursday as he’s been out of the lineup with a neck problem for the last week. This may be a big problem for the Twins as he leads the team in basically every offensive category from Batting average at .295 to Home runs with 18 and 61 RBI’s. He’s the big bat in their lineup. (along with Mr. 600, Jim Thome)
There is a chance that Cuddyer’s neck may not be that injured and he could play during this series. If he isn’t put on the DL, the Twins will likely place Denard Span on the DL as he has been suffering from lingering concussion symptoms. With Span and Cuddyer injured, the Twins will be calling up infielder Luke Hughes to provide an extra bat for their sluggish offense.
There is also a chance that Jason Kubel may not play in Thursday night’s game as he is only recently healed from an ankle injury that kept him on the DL. This would be another big loss for the Twins as Kubel is hitting .294.
Congratulations are in order for Jim Thome who just hit his 600th home run this past week. As always, Thome is a threat at the plate as he has a .513 slugging percentage and .878 OPS. And just for the record, I think he is a first ballot hall of famer.
STARTING PITCHING
Thursday: CC Sabathia (16-7, 2.93 ERA) vs. Brian Duensing (8-11, 4.53 ERA)
-CC has struggled with his fastball commands in his last two starts against the Rays and Red Sox allowing12 runs over 14 innings. Opponents in these last two games are hitting .333 against Sabathia with 19 hits and 6 home runs. This game against the Twins may be just what CC needs to get himself back in the groove.
-Prior to these two bad outings, CC pitched on July 26 and had a perfect game interrupted by the rain. Over his last 3 starts, Sabathia is 1-2 with a 5.73 ERA and 19 strikeouts.
-Joe Mauer is the only player on the Twins with more than 3 plate appearances who has anything close to respectable numbers against CC as he is hitting .267.
-Brian Duensing is coming off a strong start against the Indians last weekend, but took the loss after allowing 3 runs over 6 2/3 innings. He struck out a career high 9 batters during the game though. Duensing has the second highest strikeouts on the Twins with 101 behind Scott Baker with 120.
-Over his last three starts, Duensing is 0-3 with a 5.68 ERA and 16 strikeouts.
-Duensing is basically a fastball pitcher who only hits the low 90’s. He has been relying on his 2 seam fastball all season and uses it more than any other pitch, although he does use his 4 seamer frequently as well. He also throws a changeup, slider and curve.
Friday: Phil Hughes (3-4, 6.55 ERA) vs. Kevin Slowey (0-0, 4.91 ERA)
-Hughes is coming off a big win in his last game allowing only 2 runs over 6 innings pitched. Hughes has his velocity back and looks like the pitcher we saw last year, although maybe not quite as dynamic as the first half of 2010.
-Since returning from the DL, Hughes is 3-3 with a 4.28 ERA over 7 starts, and is 2-1 with a 2.19 ERA and 10 striekouts over his last three games.
-Hughes better watch out for Justin Morneau, who is 2 for 3 against Hughes with both hits being home runs.
-Slowey has been back and forth between the bullpen and the minor leagues this season and only recently came back to make his first start with the Twins. Unfortunately, his first start was cut short by the rain this past weekend and he was only able to pitch two innings before the game was called.
-Slowey’s problems stem from his lack of control with his fastball, which cause too many walks and too many fly balls. He relies on his 2 seam fastball similar to Duensing, but also throws a slider and curveball. If his fastball isn’t working, it will likely turn into an ugly game for Duensing quickly.
-Slowey needs to be very careful with Granderson and Jeter as they are hitting .357 and .333 against him respectively.
Saturday: AJ Burnett (9-9, 4.61 ERA) vs. Francisco Liriano (8-9, 5.12 ERA)
-The Yankees rotation isn’t set in stone just yet for this weekend, but if Freddy Garcia’s bullpen goes well tonight, I think we can expect to see AJ Saturday and Garcia Sunday.
-I don’t even know what to say about Burnett anymore. He’s a complete enigma to me. Just when I think he is done and the Yankees should skip a start or two with him, he goes out and pitches a decent game reclaiming a place in the rotation for me. In AJ’s last start he went 5.2 innings and allowed only3 runs but he still did allow 10 hits. Somehow this performance was actually the best of all the Yankees starters who faced the Royals this past week… go figure!
-Liriano who had a very good 2010 season, has been hit or miss this year. He is coming off a win against the Tigers this past week after allowing 5 runs on 9 hits over 6 innings. Not great by any stretch of the imagination, but it was enough for the win and he leads all Twins pitchers with 8 wins.
-Liriano will throw a 4 seamer and 2 seamer mixed with his big slider. He also uses a changeup but mostly to neutralize righty batters.
-The Yankees have some good numbers against Liriano as Jeter is hitting .385 off him with 1 home run; Swisher is hitting .357 and Gardner is hitting .333 off him.
Sunday: Freddy Garcia (10-7, 3.16 ERA) vs. Nick Blackburn (7-10, 4.53 ERA)
-Like I previously said this weekend’s rotation is still ‘TBA’ for the Yankees as it depends on Garcia’s injury to his pitching finger. Assuming all goes well in the bullpen session Thursday night, I think he will pitch Sunday’s game.
-Garcia hasn’t pitched since early August up in Fenway when he held the Red Sox to 1 run on 5 hits over 5 innings. He took the loss that day, but pitched well against a hard hitting lineup. Prior to the Red Sox game, Garcia won his previous 3 games allowing only 5 runs over 20 innings.
-Blackburn had a tough outing in his last game this past Tuesday against the Tigers allowing 5 runs on 11 hits over 4 2/3 innings. It was the 7th time this season that Blackburn allowed 10 hits or more which is the highest in MLB.
-Blackburn is 0-2, with a 4.86 ERA and 6 strikeouts over his last 3 starts.
-I think it’s fair to assume that we will see a lot of groundballs against Blackburn due to him relying on his signature sinker. His sinkerball doesn’t even hit low 90’s but used together with his cutter and changeup, he induces lots of swings that get on top of the ball for lots of infield ground outs.
-Jeter is hitting .400 off Blackburn and Texeira is hitting .769 with 1 home run and 6 RBI’s against him.
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