Series #6: Yankees (8-5) @ Blue Jays (7-9), April 19-21

[CrymeTime]

@

AT:


AL EAST Standings: W/L, (W/L by series)
Boston: 11-4, (4-1)
New York: 8-6, (2-2, 1 delayed)
Baltimore: 8-7, (3-2)
Toronto: 7-9, (1-3-1)
Tampa Bay: 5-10, (1-4)


Game 1, April 19, 7:07PM

Andy Pettitte, 2-0, 1.20 ERA, Career vs TOR: 22-13, 4.10 ERA

Yankees Lineup
CF- Gardner
2B- Cano
3B- Youkilis
DH- Hafner
LF- Wells
RF- Susuki
SS- Nunez
1B- Overbay
C- Cervelli
VS

Brandon Morrow, 0-1, 4.60 ERA, Career vs NYY: 5-2, 3.68 ERA

Blue Jays Lineup
RF- Davis
LF- Cabrera
DH- Bautista
1B- Encarnacion
C- Arencibia
3B- Lawrie
CF- Rasmus
2B- Isturiz
SS- Kawasaki

----------

Game 2, April 20, 1:07PM

Hiroki Kuroda, 2-1, 2.87 ERA, Career vs TOR: 2-1, 4.67 ERA
VS

Mark Buehrle, 1-0, 7.31 ERA, Career vs NYY: 1-8, 6.38 ERA

----------

Game 3, April 21, 1:07PM

Ivan Nova, 1-1, 5.59 ERA, Career vs TOR: 3-2, 4.00 ERA
VS

Josh Johnson, 0-1, 6.91 ERA, Career vs NYY: 1-0, 1.29 ERA

[hyper316]

Time to be above .500!!! Positive thinking people!!

[Raps in 4]

Must sweep series.

[Indiana Jones]

Would be nice to take 2 of 3 from these guys...

[Santoki]

Wouldn't have thought this going into the season, but the Yankees currently have the pitching advantage. I think we'll be lucky to take 2 of 3 especially if Bautista isn't back in the lineup.

[vctmac]

OH NO, NOT THIS GUY

[BigLeagueChew]

Wouldn't have thought this going into the season, but the Yankees currently have the pitching advantage. I think we'll be lucky to take 2 of 3 especially if Bautista isn't back in the lineup.

Are you thinking of the Yankees starting and/or bullpen pitchers?

I think our pitching has the advantage this series. I would rank Kuroda over Buerhle ,however, the advantage going to us with Morrow over Pettite and Johnson over Nova.Our bullpen can cover just about every situation that would come up as well.

[Santoki]

Wouldn't have thought this going into the season, but the Yankees currently have the pitching advantage. I think we'll be lucky to take 2 of 3 especially if Bautista isn't back in the lineup.

Are you thinking of the Yankees starting and/or bullpen pitchers?

I think our pitching has the advantage this series. I would rank Kuroda over Buerhle ,however, the advantage going to us with Morrow over Pettite and Johnson over Nova.Our bullpen can cover just about every situation that would come up as well.

Their starting pitching. It's been much more solid and Pettite always pitches well against us. We have the bullpen advantage, so ideally we can get the pitch count up and into the tired pen with the game close. But, as we all know, we're not quite capable of doing that (outside of Kawasaki).

[Winggfly]

Please win 2/3 and shut down those former Jays.

[Wo1verine]

JoeyBats returns tonight. Will DH and likely do that thru the weekend.

[MGD24]

Bautista is back

Tonight's lineup;

Rajai Davis (R) RF
Melky Cabrera (S) LF
Jose Bautista (R) DH
Edwin Encarnacion (R) 1B
J.P. Arencibia (R) C
Brett Lawrie (R) 3B
Colby Rasmus (L) CF
Maicer Izturis (S) 2B
Munenori Kawasaki (L) SS

[hyper316]

Yes!! Bats is back!

[jaymeister15]

Obviously the lineup would look better with reyes instead of Kawasaki in there...but at least it looks a lot better than the last couple games.

[RapsFanInVA]

No Lind, no Boni, no worries! We got this.

[Schad]

Remarkable how much better than lineup looks.

Interesting to see Rasmus starting over Boni in CF...guess they feel that having a guy who can field the position (especially flanked by two that can't) is worth having him strike out 3-4 times. And I agree.

[Wo1verine]

New York Yankees

CF Gardner (L) [.200/.237/.600, with 2HR, 2BB, and 8Ks in 20 ABs vs. Morrow]
2B Cano (L) [.267/.371/.367, with 5BB and 6Ks in 30 ABs vs. Morrow]
3B Youkilis (R) [.143/.368/.143, with 2BB and 4Ks in 14 ABs vs. Morrow]
DH Hafner (L) [.273/.385/.727, with 1HR, 1BB and 4Ks in 11 ABs vs. Morrow]
LF Wells (R) [.100/.182/.400, with 1HR, 1BB and 3Ks in 10 ABs vs. Morrow]
RF Ichiro (L) [.308/.308/.308 in 13 ABs vs. Morrow]
SS Nunez (R) [.417/.417/.417 in 12 ABs vs. Morrow]
1B Overbay (L) [.167/.286/.167, with 1BB and 3Ks in 6 ABs vs. Morrow]
C Cervelli (R) [0/4, with 1K vs. Morrow]

SP - Pettitte (2-0, 1.20 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, .261 BABIP, 3.82 FIP) [L]

[Wo1verine]

JoeyBats is pretty much the only bat in our lineup whose had success vs Andy.

Bautista [.310/.394/.621, with 2HR, 4BB and 3Ks in 29 ABs vs. Pettitte]

EDIT:

Rajai has been pretty good as well..

Rajai Davis [.583/.583/.833, with 1HR and 2Ks in 12 ABs vs. Pettitte]

[torontoaces04]

Bautista is back

Tonight's lineup;

Rajai Davis (R) RF
Melky Cabrera (S) LF
Jose Bautista (R) DH
Edwin Encarnacion (R) 1B
J.P. Arencibia (R) C
Brett Lawrie (R) 3B
Colby Rasmus (L) CF
Maicer Izturis (S) 2B
Munenori Kawasaki (L) SS

The difference Bautista makes to the lineup is enormous. Gone is the nightmare of seeing JPA hitting in the 3 spot. Melky will hopefully start to see better pitches, with Joey behind him again. It also allows Lawrie, and Rasmus to move farther down the order. Until Lawrie proves that he can hit again, it'll help to have him lower in the lineup.

I like the fact that they are playing Rasmus over Bonifacio tonight. Gibbons had preached before the season that Rasmus was the Jays everyday starting centre fielder. This is his one last crack at that, before he's used as trade-bait to shore up other weaknesses. If we're going to have a centre fielder starting for us, who can't hit worth a lick, and strikes out all the time, it might as well be Anthony Gose. Gose plays better defense, and has world-class speed on the basepaths.

The following lineup would be just fine by me...

Rajai Davis (R) RF
Melky Cabrera (S) LF
Jose Bautista (R) DH
Edwin Encarnacion (R) 1B
J.P. Arencibia (R) C
Brett Lawrie (R) 3B
Maicer Izturis (S) 2B
Munenori Kawasaki (L) SS
Anthony Gose (L) CF

[Santoki]

Bautista is back

Tonight's lineup;

Rajai Davis (R) RF
Melky Cabrera (S) LF
Jose Bautista (R) DH
Edwin Encarnacion (R) 1B
J.P. Arencibia (R) C
Brett Lawrie (R) 3B
Colby Rasmus (L) CF
Maicer Izturis (S) 2B
Munenori Kawasaki (L) SS

The difference Bautista makes to the lineup is enormous. Gone is the nightmare of seeing JPA hitting in the 3 spot. Melky will hopefully start to see better pitches, with Joey behind him again. It also allows Lawrie, and Rasmus to move farther down the order. Until Lawrie proves that he can hit again, it'll help to have him lower in the lineup.

I like the fact that they are playing Rasmus over Bonifacio tonight. Gibbons had preached before the season that Rasmus was the Jays everyday starting centre fielder. This is his one last crack at that, before he's used as trade-bait to shore up other weaknesses. If we're going to have a centre fielder starting for us, who can't hit worth a lick, and strikes out all the time, it might as well be Anthony Gose. Gose plays better defense, and has world-class speed on the basepaths.

The following lineup would be just fine by me...

Rajai Davis (R) RF
Melky Cabrera (S) LF
Jose Bautista (R) DH
Edwin Encarnacion (R) 1B
J.P. Arencibia (R) C
Brett Lawrie (R) 3B
Maicer Izturis (S) 2B
Munenori Kawasaki (L) SS
Anthony Gose (L) CF

I know it's super early, but Lawrie's struggles at the plate date back to September of 2011. I know he can't match that hot start he had as a rookie, but I projected him to better than a 5th or 6th in the lineup. What's his issue been? I remember during that streak he just had such good discipline and awareness and now he seems overanxious and swings at anything within a foot of the plate.

[Avenger]

Brett has a pretty average strikeout rate, he could draw a few more walks but his real problem is all the weak groundballs he hits. He was never gonna be a superstar hitter but he's an all star if he can hit 16-18 homeruns and 35-40 doubles over the course of a season, he had 11 and 26 in 125 games last year. I don't expect him to be an elite bat but he'll hit better than he did last year and that's probably enough.