The Rays come to the Bronx tonight for a three game weekend set against the Yankees. Although the Rays are most likely out of contention for the post-season since they are 8 ½ games back for the wild card spot, this series can still be exciting to watch. The Rays will have their top three pitchers on the mound this weekend and will look to extend their 4 game winning streak, following a four game sweep against the Royals this past week. The Rays are 7-2 in their last 9 but only 12-13 since the All-Star Break.
The Yankees just finished taking 2 of 3 from the Angels this past week, and if Mo hadn’t blown the save on Tuesday they would have the sweep. Speaking of Mo, he also blew the save on Sunday against the Red Sox in the rubber game of that set, and nearly blew another save Thursday against the Angels but managed to give up a few runs but not the save. You can read more about Mariano & The Bullpen HERE.
PITCHING MATCHUPS
FRIDAY: David Price (9-10, 3.89 ERA) vs. CC Sabathia (16-6, 2.81 ERA)
-CC is coming off a tough loss against Boston allowing 7 runs over 6 innings. 4 of CC’s 6 losses have come against Boston. Although he didn’t look good the other day against Boston, I don’t think it had much to do with the Red Sox as much as it had to do with CC just not having his good stuff. Since tonight is a home game, I have a feeling that Sabathia will pitch a gem since his last 5 home starts are all wins with a 1.40 ERA.
-Sabathia is 1-1 with a 1.06 ERA against the Rays this season in the 2 starts he pitched. He only has allowed 2 runs over 17 innings.
-CC needs to watch out for Longoria who is 8 for 24 against the big man with 3 home runs.
-I am not sure what has happened to David Price in his last four starts but he went 0-3 with a 4.74 ERA. Price’s last start was against the A’s and he got beat up pretty good allowing 4 runs on 7 hits on only 4 2/3 innings pitched.
-Price is 0-1 with a 5.71 ERA in his 3 starts against the Yankees this season. His last start against the Yankees was on July 9 when he allowed Derek Jeter’s 3000th hit. It seems like he hasn’t been the same since.
-Price will likely be using a mix of 4 seam & 2 seam fastballs, with a slider and changeup. He has also been using a curveball more as the season progresses.
SATURDAY: Phil Hughes (2-4, 7.11 ERA) vs Jeremy Hellickson (10-7, 3.05 ERA)
-I don’t really know what more to say about Phil Hughes other than he continues to be an enigma, similar to AJ, but I continue to have faith that Hughes will bounce back, unlike AJ. Hughes had a great start against the White Sox last week and pitched 6 scoreless innings before the rain shortened the game. He looked good in the start and his velocity is back up where it needs to be. Now its about executing pitches consistently throughout the game.
-Hughes is 2-3 with a 4.55 ERA since coming off the DL, and will be making his first start of the season against the Rays tonight.
-Hughes is 1-2 with a 2.19 ERA and 7 strikeouts over his last 3 games
-Hellickson is a possible Rookie of the Year candidate for the American League and you can read more about that HERE. He has allowed 7 earned runs over his last 26 innings pitched and is 1-0 with a 2.33 ERA and 11 strikeouts over his last 3 games.
-Hellickson is 2-0 with a 2.39 ERA since the All Star Break.
-Hellickson has only pitched one game against the Yankees this season and held them to 2 runs over 7 innings. He will use a mix of 2 and 4 seam fastballs that sit in the low 90’s, to set up the batter before using a changeup for his ‘out’ pitch as it sits in the mid to low 80’s. Hellickson also has a curveball that he throws as well to keep batters off the fastballs.
SUNDAY: James Shields (11-9, 2.80 ERA) vs. Freddy Garcia (10-7, 3.16 ERA)
-Garcia is coming off a strong start against the Red Sox. Although he only pitched 5 innings, he kept the tough Boston lineup guessing all day and only allowed 1 run. It was a fairly impressive start for Garcia.
-Garcia pitched against the Rays last month and had 6 2/3 shutout innings.
-Garcia is 3-0 with a 2.13 ERA in his last 4 starts
-Shields is an absolute beast who has the Yankees number. He has pitched a total of 22.2 innings against the Yankees this season and allowed only 4 runs, equaling a 1.59 ERA against them. The only pitcher with a lower ERA against the Yankees is Beckett with a 1.0 ERA.
-Shields has pitched 8 complete games this season and two of them have come within the last 6 games he’s pitched including a complete game against Kansas City this past week to help the Rays sweep the Royals.
-Shields will throw a low 90’s fastball along with a cutter, to set up batters for his devastating changeup. He throws a curveball as well, but his big weapon is the changeup.
YANKEES NOTES
-The Yankees have won 5 of the 9 games they played against the Rays this season
-Brett Gardner is hitting .370 against the Rays this season
-Cano is 10-23 against the Rays with 2 home runs and 6 RBI’s this year
-The 9th inning has been a little tricky for Mo lately, but I dont think anybody is really that concerned with the late innings as they have been locked down by Mariano, Robertson & Soriano. READ MORE HERE
RAYS NOTES
-The Rays called up Desmond Jennings from Triple-A about three weeks ago and he has been their new leadoff batter. Although he has only played in 19 games, he is hitting .333 with a .422 on base % and .597 slugging % with 8 stolen bases.
-Looking at the Rays lineup they have a decent offense:
Ben Zobrist is hitting .279 with a .371 OBP
Casey Kotchman is hitting .337 with a .398 OBP
Matt Joyce is hitting .283 with a .345 OBP
Johnny Damon is hitting .262 with a .317 OBP
