Yankees-Athletics Series Preview
The Yankees continue their 11-day, 10-game West Coast trip with a three game set in Oakland. New York comes off a successful series in Seattle having won three of four, including the last game in which Felix Hernandez pitched (no-decision for Hernandez). Oakland, meanwhile, comes off a four-game series split with the White Sox. Here is a Yanks-Athletics series preview.
A big problem for the Yanks right now is offense. They have somehow scratched together wins throughout the year, but castoff players Vernon Wells and Travis Hafner have finally hit a wall, and Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano are in brutal slumps. Eventually, New York needs more than two or three runs to win games.
Player to watch: Brett Gardner. Gardner's average is all the way up to .284 and the speedy leftfielder had great at-bats in Seattle, leading to nine total hits.
Pitching match-ups: Tuesday: CC Sabathia (6-4, 3.72) vs. Bartolo Colon (7-2, 3.14). Wednesday: Phil Hughes (3-4, 4.80) vs. Dan Straily (3-2, 4.67). Thursday: Hirioki Kuroda (6-2, 2.84) vs. Jarrod Parker (5-6, 4.84).
Prediction: Yankees win two of three. CC Sabathia shut down the Red Sox and pitched a complete game against Cleveland his last two times out. If CC can set the tone in game one, the Yanks can split the next two at the very least.
By: Mike Lindsley, "Mid-Day with Mike," 1-4, Yankees pre/post game host on 104.5 The Team ESPN Radio. Follow him on Twitter @MikeLSports.