Preview: Yankees vs Angels (8/13/13)
CC Sabathia (9-10, 4.73 ERA) hopes to continue to climb out of his recent slump and takes on Jason Vargas (6-4, 3.65 ERA) in game two or four against the Angels. After allowing 27 combined runs over his previous four starts, Sabathia bounced back (somewhat) Wednesday against the White Sox. Although the Yankees lost the game, Sabathia gave up just three runs in 7 1/3 innings. "Obviously, we want to win the game," Sabathia said. "It's a tough situation, but, you know, hopefully this good start will help me out." He has a 4.08 career ERA against the Angels and has faced them once this season, limiting them to two runs on five hits in eight innings.
Vargas returns to start for the Angels for the first time since June 17, after a blood clot sidelined him. He pitched a 4 2/3 innings rehab game for Triple-A Salt Lake on Thursday. The Angels are 7-2 the last nine times he has taken the ball, but in three career starts in the Bronx, Vargas has a 9.42 ERA.
Derek Jeter is eligible to be activated from the disabled list when the Yankees travel to Boston Friday, but the team believes it may be a little bit longer than that before the captain is back. "He feels better," Joe Girardi said. "He's not ready to do baseball activities yet, though." Jeter has been on the DL three times this season and has only played in five games since coming back on July 11th.
The young Angels outfielder Mike Trout had a few choice words about PEDs while being interviewed on WFAN's Boomer and Carton Show in New York on Monday. The 22 year old all star chooses his words carefully and stays away from controversial topics. However, when it comes to performance enhancing drugs, he had some strong words
"For me personally, I think you should be out of the game if you get caught. Some people are just trying to find that extra edge, it's tough. As a guy that goes out there and plays hard every day and puts 110 percent effort every time, and you wake up the next day and see there's a list of guys. But it's good that MLB caught 'em and they're moving in the right direction with suspensions and stuff."
It is good to see that the young, future players of the MLB have a good head on their shoulders and want to clean up the game from this constant nuisance/distraction.
First pitch at 7:05 PM (EST) on Yes