Yankees return home for a ten game homestand

By Gary W. Marchese Jr.

Bronx, NY (Aug 30) – The New York Yankees are back home coming off a 3-3 road trip through Toronto and Chicago. They will begin a four game series with the Oakland Athletics.

Dustin Moseley will be on the mound against Trevor Cahill. Cahill is having a CY Young type of year and I am sure most do not even know of him. It is because he pitches for Oakland but you will get a good look at him tonight. He has been dominant in August going 4-1 with a very low ERA.

Here are some news and notes for today.

Joe Girardi said on Friday night after A.J. Burnett was hit hard that he would reevaluate his rotation after the weekend. He did that after yesterday’s game and decided to stick with the same rotation for now. He said Nova will definitely get another start and he will.

Right now the Yankees are hoping Burnett turns it around but Pettitte will not be back for another two weeks so the only option really to replace Burnett would have been Vazquez. I do not know what the Yankees are going to do if Burnett pitches another bad game this week.

Nova has pitched very well in his two starts; yesterday he earned his first career major league victory. He said he was not nervous and he just does what he has been doing all season in AAA. This kid has good stuff and he has a confidence about him that is good to see. He has guts, not being afraid of anyone or anything. He is 23 years old and that is rare from a kid that age, also he throws strikes, which is another key for any pitcher.

Francisco Cervelli had four hits yesterday after having three the whole month of August. Marcus Thames has a hit in 13 of his last 14 starts and a home run in 4 straight starts. He has hit five of his nine home runs against righties this season. Everyone knows he can hit lefties but if he keeps hitting righties, he will get more and more playing time. I think everyone is aware that Nick Swisher played one year for the White Sox and did not get along with their manager Ozzie Guillen. He is hitting 385 this season against the White Sox.

Brett Gardner hit 333 on the road trip and had the decisive hit yesterday. Kerry Wood has a 0.71 ERA over his last 11 appearances. Lance Berkman is headed to Trenton to start a rehab assignment, he shouldn’t need more than a handful of at-bats and he should be back with the Yankees.

The Yankees are set to play five straight day games on this home stand. That is something of a rarity. This will be the first time the Yankees have played five straight day games at home since April 8-14 of 2004. The Yankees right now have the best daytime record in the majors behind the Oakland Athletics.

The Yankees lead the majors with a 283 batting average during the day. The Yankees and Rays have now been tied for first for seven consecutive days. According to Elias, it matches the longest that two teams have been tied for first this late in the season in major league history. The Dodgers and Astros did it in 1980.

Andy Pettitte will throw another bullpen on Wednesday, this one more intense. Girardi said today that Alex Rodriguez would be activated as soon as he is eligible. There will be no rehab assignment for him. He ran a little bit today and was scheduled for some tee and toss work in the bullpen. With all the day games coming up Girardi said he would consider giving Jeter and some of the regulars a day off at some point.

Posted by gmarchesej on August 30, 2010. Filed under MLB News,News and Sports with Gary W. Marchese Jr.,Sports,US Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.