Yankees/Rangers game 2

Kevin Millwood will take the mound for the Rangers on Tuesday, trying to help the Rangers to 3 games over .500 for the season. A win will also guarantee a series win, as the Rangers won last night’s match. New York will counter with Joba Chamberlain, and his big, strong right arm.

Millwood is 5-4 with a 5.08 era on the season. He was roughed up in his last outing against the Astros, allowing 12 hits and 7 runs in just 5 innings pitched. Before that outing Millwood had won his last three decisions. For his career, Millwood has started six times against the Yankees, and is just 1-4, with a lofty era of 4.82. Millwood is also 1-4 on the road this season. A few Yankees hitters with some success in the past against Millwood are:

Bobby Abreu 14-39, 1 homerun, 4RBI
Melky Cabrera 4-9, triple
Jason Giambi, 5-11, 2 homeruns, 3 RBI
Derek Jeter 5-19
Alex Rodriguez 6-14, 1 homerun, 2 RBI

For the Yankees, Chamberlain is coming off his best outing as a starter. On June 25th Joba went 6.2 innings, allowing 6 hits, zero runs, and striking out 7 Pittsburgh hitters. Chamberlain is 2-2 with a 2.02 era during the 2008 season. He has never faced Texas in his career.

Could be a good pitchers-duel, but Joba will out-duel Millwood! Go Yankees!

1. Damon, DH
2. Gardner, LF
3. Abreu, RF
4. Rodriguez, 3B
5. Giambi, 1B
6. Posada, C
7. Cano, 2B
8. Betemit, SS
9. Cabrera, CF

Rangers slow down Yankees bats

Texas Rangers pitcher Scott Feldman threw one of his best outings of the season, and his career Monday night. He got added help from 3.1 innings from his bullpen, allowing no hits to hold on to a 2-1 lead, and win.

Feldman improved to 2-3 on the season allowing just four hits and one run, walking three and striking out three. The only Yankees run came on an Alex Rodriguez solo blast in the bottom of the 4^th, his 16^th of the season. Mike Mussina was the tough luck loser, dropping him to 10-6 on the season. Mussina threw 6 innings, allowing 5 hits, and 2 runs, striking out 8 Rangers hitters, and only allowing 2 walks. Mussina has now dropped two straight tough starts.

Besides Rodriguez- Giambi, Posada, and Molina were the only other Yankee hitters to garner a base hit on the night. The loss dropped the Yankees to 44-39 on the season, falling another game back of first place Tampa, who was a 5-4 winner over Boston.

Yankees set to take on the Rangers

Tonight the Yankees will take on the Texas Rangers at Yankee Stadium. The 7:05 start will feature two teams that are above .500, but both sitting on the outside looking in, in the playoff race.

Texas comes into tonight’s action at 42-41, 7.5 games out in the AL West. The Yankees come in 44-38, third place in the AL East, behind Tampa Bay and Boston. Texas has won 6 of their last 10, and are 21-23 on the road. The Yankees are 5-5 in their last ten and 22-18 at home.<

The Rangers will start the three game set with Scott Feldman on the mound. Feldman is 1-3 on the season, with a 4.60 era. He has not won a start since May 9^th, a 4-0 shut out win against Oakland. Feldman is 0-0 in his career against the Yankees, just throwing 1/3 of an inning, allowing 3 hits and 3 runs in that short appearance.

For the Yankees, “The Moose”, Mike Mussina will take the mound. Mussina is 10-5 on the season, with a 3.93 era. Mussina lost his last outing, 4-2 to the Reds, but pitched 8 strong innings in that start. Mike is 4-1 in his last 6 starts, and 17-12 in his career against Texas.

Some notable numbers for the Rangers against Mussina include:

Hank Blalock: 5-33
Michael Young: 9-35
Milton Bradley: 0-9

Feldman has only faced a couple Yankee batters in his career. Here are their numbers:

Melky Cabrera: 1-1
Derek Jeter: 1-1, homerun
Jose Molina: 0-1

This should be a fun series! Go Yankees!

Mets silence Yankee bats

The Mets avoided a third straight loss at home this afternoon with a 3-1 win over the Yankees. The Mets got single tallies in the second, third and sixth inning, and held the Yankees to just one run in the 7^th, for the win. The win for the Mets moved them one game closer to .500, at 38-39, while the Yankees fell to 44-38.

Luis Castillo got the Mets on the board in the second inning with a RBI single, driving home Endy Chavez. Then, in the third Carlos Delgado hit his 14^th home run of the season to make the game 2-0. David Wright added a sacrifice fly in the 6^th, for the Mets third and final run. The Yankees’ only run was scored in the bottom of the 7^th when Wilson Betemit sent one over the left field wall.

The Mets starter, Oliver Perez went 7 innings, allowing just 3 hits and 1 run, while striking out 8 Yankee batters. Perez is now 6-5 on the season. For the Yankees, Darrell Rasner pitched well, going 6 complete innings, and only allowing 2 runs on 8 hits, but was the tough luck loser. Rasner is now 4-6 on the season.

Billy Wagner picked up the save for the Mets, his 18^th of the season. Derek Jeter picked up half of the Yankee hits for the game, going 2-4 to raise his average to .284 on the year.

The Yankees will host the Texas Rangers for a three-game series starting Monday at the stadium before entertaining Boston over the weekend, for four games.

Yankees go for three straight!

Tomorrow’s game against the Mets (at 1:10EST) will be the last time the cross-city rivals meet in this year’s regular season.

Darrell Rasner will take the hill for the Yankees. Rasner has lost 5 of his last 6 starts, after starting the year 3-0. During his last outing in Pittsburgh, he went 5 innings, allowing 10 hits, and 7 runs in a 12-5 loss. The start before that he was able to pick up a win against the Padres, throwing 5 innings, and allowing just 3 hits and 2 runs. Rasner has never faced the Mets in his career.

For the Mets, Oliver Perez looks to prevent their third straight loss. The lefthander is 5-5 on the year with a 5.29 era. Oliver is coming off a recent loss as well, losing 11-0 to Seattle on June 24th. Perez’s last win was June 13th against Texas. In that outing, he threw 7 innings, allowing 3 hits, and no runs. Perez has some nasty stuff, so if he plays well he has the potential to shut down the Yankees.

Some notable numbers for a few of the Yankee hitters against Perez:

• Robinson Cano, 4-10
• Derek Jeter, 5-14
• Hideki Matsui, 3-10, 3 homeruns

Go Yankees! Time for three straight!

Pettitte bests Santana, Yankees win

Andy Pettitte won for the 9th time this season, pitching 6 innings, allowing 5 hits, 2 runs, and in turn getting the best of Mets ace Johan Santana, who dropped to 7-7 on the season. Santana went 6 innings, allowing 4 hits, and 3 runs, while walking 4 and striking out 8.

The Mets took the lead first on a solo homerun by Ramon Castro in the second. The Yankees then took a 2-1 lead in the fourth on a Jason Giambi RBI, followed by a Jorge Posada RBI.

The game stayed 2-1 until the 6th inning when Robinson Cano drove home A-Rod and gave the Yankees a 3-1 lead. Cano would go on to be the only player to have more than one hit today (he had two). The Mets scored one more run in the bottom half of the sixth off a David Wright solo bomb, but that was it.

Mariano Rivera came in and slammed the door for his 22nd save of the season. The win moved the Yankees to 44-37, while the Mets fell to 39-41.