The Red Sox come into town for a 3 game series this weekend with a 2 game lead over the Yankees. CC Sabathia is taking the mound tonight against fellow lefty Jon Lester. In CC’s last start against the Rays he gave up 7 runs in 7 innings while Lester has an ERA of 6.23 over his last 2 starts. Clay Buchholz was scheduled to start Friday but has been pushed back but he says he will pitch in this series, most likely Sunday against Hiroki Kuroda.
Coming back to help the Yankees against their rival is first baseman Mark Teixeira and third baseman Kevin Youkilis, who have been on the DL and just finished their second rehab game with Double-A Trenton.
Right on the Yankees tail are the Orioles, 2.5 games out of first, and the Rays 3 games out. This series is huge and could change the whole face of the AL East depending on how well the Yankees play. Manager Joe Girardi knows the importance of Red Sox vs Yankees: “I don’t know if that feeling ever goes away,” he said. “We’ve both played really well, and the summer is coming, and we know those months are really important.”
Robinson Cano has been hitting second in the lineup but leads the team in batting average, homeruns and RBI’s, usually you want a player hitting that well in the third spot so Girardi is considering a move. “Your lineup against a right hander could be different than your lineup against a left hander,” he said. “We could keep him in the two-hole as well. The one thing about Robbie Cano is you want him to have as many at-bats as possible. That’s the bottom line. It’s very possible we could keep him there.”
Some notes on the game:
13 of the 22 Red Sox’s losses have been decided by two runs or fewer, including five of their last six defeats.
Boston’s bats lead the league with 4.08 pitches seen per plate appearance.
The Yankees rank 12th in the AL with a .310 on-base percentage. The Red Sox are at .342.
The last time the Red Sox were in town they took 2 of the 3 games, we will have to wait and see what the Bombers have up their sleeves but needless to say there is nothing better then Yankees Red Sox baseball.
