New York Yankees versus Texas Rangers - MLB Preview
The New York Yankees will take on the Texas Rangers in the first outing of the three-game series at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, on Friday, May 6.
The Yankees’ batting was struggling against the Detroit Tigers without Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter in the last game of the series, in which they lost three-straight games 3-1. The Yankees’ skipper, Joe Girardi has set his eyes on Rodriguez, who will try
his level best to escape the hunch and help the Yankees snap a three-game losing streak.
Both Jeter and Rodriguez were not the part of the line-up on Thursday’s defeat against the Tigers. Jeter was given rest due to problem in his right hip and team officials’ now hoped to have him back on Friday. Rodriguez would make his come-back to elevate
his club above the Rangers.
Girardi has made it obvious to the team-mates to avoid over-estimating Rodriguez as he has just a .167 ERA in his last eleven games. While Rodriguez has hoped of playing for the squad despite having a slumping performance, Girardi considers it difficult
to always accommodate him in the line-up.
"If we run him out there today and run him out there the next couple of days, you're talking about running him out, like, nine or 10 days in a row," Girardi said. "The last thing we want to do is wear him down early in the season. So I think there can be
an advantage, because you come back, you feel fresh going into Texas, you're facing a couple left-handers -- maybe you get going again."
The Yankees’ right-hand pitcher, Ivan Nova will make his sixth start and the seventh appearance of the season. It will be his second career start since last start on May 1 against the Toronto Blue Jays where he earned his second win of the season. On that
day, he allowed just two earned runs, took five batters and allowed one homer over six innings to tie his career high inning.
Allowing a solo home-run to the Blue Jays’ Adam Lind in the second inning of his last start on May 1, Nova has snapped a stretch of 35.1 innings without allowing a home-run. Before this, Nova had last allowed a homer to Carlos Pena, then of the Tampa Bay
Rays, last year in September. He also has splendid pitching against the right-hand batters. He has allowed just one home-run to a right-handed batter in his career, Toronto’s Jose Bautista last year in August.
On the other hand, the Rangers’ strong pitcher, Matt Harrison will try to remove the embarrassment of three-straight losses he tolerated after winning each of his first three outings to begin the season. His last defeat was against the Oakland Athletics
on May 1 and after four days rest, he will make his seventh start.
While the Yankees have advantage of winning the first series in April by 2-1, the Rangers have shown full commitment to take them on at their home soil.
The Rangers’ top slugger, Michael Young has expressed excitement facing Harrison on their own soil. Young has a .548 batting average, the second best in the American League. He also leads the A.L. with 42 hits and 13 doubles and has at least one hit in 27
games in 2011.
"It will be fun," Michael Young said. "Everybody always gets excited when the Yankees come to town. They are obviously a good team. We've played them once and we always know it's going to be a challenge."
It should be worth noting that the Yankees have lost three straight games this week. The Rangers have lost all of their 11 road games in 2011.
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