Alright so the Yankees have been essentially floating around for the past couple of weeks. Granted they had a last good home stand against Seattle and Detroit going 5-2. But they just lost a series on the road in Toronto against the Blue Jays, a team that has the Yankees' number this season! Yankees are about to start a three game weekend set in Chicago against the very colorful Ozzie Guillen and his squad. White Sox are fighting for playoff contention in the AL Central while the Yanks are still deadlocked with the Rays at the top of the AL East.
This is a pretty big series for both teams, though I think there's more pressure on the White Sox to make up ground on the Twins and so this series means much more to the White Sox. But there are two very important games coming up for the Yanks. Friday night's (tonight's) game has AJ Burnett on the mound for the Yankees. Burnett HAS TO show the Yankees that they can trust him down the stretch here in the regular season but more importantly in the post season. A great start tonight can and I think will go a long way for AJ!
With A-Rod still on the shelf, the depth of the Yanks will again be tested. We'll certainly see Nunez get some time with "Rakin' Ramiro Pena" probably in there at some point. Quietly Marcus Thames has been on fire again for the Yankees and we'll see if he can continue his hot hitting. Guess who else is hot....I NEVER thought I'd be saying this...but Curtis Granderson has been on a tear ever since he went to school with "K-Long" (Kevin Long) on his new stroke. Austin Kearns as also showed some "Austin Power" as well! It's up to the faithful hands of Mr. Joe Girardi to shuffle up the deck and see what kind of hand he can make with this roster!
Speaking of Girardi, he is scheduled to make a media appearance before Friday night's game to discuss the Cubs' managerial decision. I'll be modestly surprised if he leaves the Yanks to go play for the Cubbies...but keep in mind that Girardi is a Chicago boy and played for the Cubs for all those years before coming to New York, so we'll see which way he leans! I don't anticipate Girardi saying anything earth-shattering Friday night. It'll probably be more of a "focusing on the remainder of this season and I will handle the other business after the conclusion of this season." I'll be 239% shocked if he drops some sort of bombshell tonight before the game! But then again, I've been surprised before.
Sunday afternoon's game will be a BIG one for the Yankees. Yankees will send to the hill their young talent in Ivan Nova. Nova pitched a really good game up in Toronto on Tuesday night. Only mistake he made was to a guy who has been hitting A TON of mistakes this season, and that of course is the newest "friend" of the Yankees, Mr. Jose Bautista. Who by the way hit YET ANOTHER home run on Thursday to bring his total up to 41 HRs! Another good start on Sunday for Nova and we'll start talking about the potential impact Nova can bring to the rotation for the Yankees down the road. By the way....sunday is the 29th....and if Nova pitches very well against the White Sox, then I would not be surprised at all if Brian Cashman puts Javi Vazquez on waivers before the 31st waiver trade deadline! But with a lot of $$$ left on the contract, I find it very doubtful that another team would take him. Only scenario I see is a NL contender taking him since Javi acts like a CY Young candidate in the NL!
Now I just mentioned about Mr. Jose Bautista a minute ago. People have been questioning the integrity of Bautista since he has been playing out of his mind so far this season. All I'm going to say is the following regarding these claims. I personally find it interesting that Bautista has been in the league for a few years now since 2004. His best numbers were in PIT when he hit 16 HRs one season and the following season had a career best 63 RBIs. In 2008 he was dealt to the Blue Jays. Last season in 2009, he hit 13 HRs and 40 RBIs in 113 games. NOW....ALL OF A SUDDEN...he bursts for 41 HRs up to this point AND has 96 RBIs, AND.....HE'S DOING ALL OF THIS IN THE AL EAST! It's not like he put these numbers up when he was in the NL Central! He's doing all of this in the best division in baseball! So I find it HIGHLY suspicious...that's all. But if he's clean, then I give him ALL the props for an amazing season. But he plays in a city and in a country that is known for doctors with access to HGH....so you have to think about that in the back of your minds!
Alright so that's enough to absorb for one sitting. We'll see how the Yanks do this weekend! Again, I'll be looking at three things this weekend:
- AJ's start on Friday night
- The Yankee lineup and offensive production this weekend without A-Rod
- Ivan Nova's start on Sunday
Thanks for taking the time to read this! Enjoy your weekend and Happy Labor Day to all coming up!
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