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.