Calling back-to-back losses a skid may seem premature, but this certainly feels like the beginning of a rough patch. The Yankees are 3-5 since Memorial Day, with all of those games (and the next five) coming against AL East opponents, and first place hangs in the balance tonight. The ship can be righted in a hurry, of course, but a victory tonight would provide a bit of much needed breathing room.
CC Sabathia will be at the helm (this will be the last of my boat metaphors), and he has improved rapidly over his last few weeks. He had a 5.77 ERA/5.21 ERA as of May 9, with below-average strikeout (15.3%) and walk (9.7%) rates. In his last four starts, however, he has pitched to a 1.48 ERA/3.26 FIP, which much improved strikeout (27.1%) and walk (6.3%) rates. Sabathia isn’t this good, but he’s not as bad as his first seven starts suggested, either – I’ll settle for the middle ground. Here’s the Red Sox lineup that he’ll face tonight.
And Red Sox starter Rick Porcello will have to deal with this lineup:
- Brett Gardner, LF
- Aaron Hicks, CF
- Aaron Judge, RF
- Matt Holliday, DH
- Starlin Castro, 2B
- Gary Sanchez, C
- Didi Gregorius, SS
- Chase Headley, 3B
- Chris Carter, 1B
The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM EST, on the YES Network.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.