Tonight the Yankees begin a series that will be a battle for the AL’s best record. The Rangers at this point have the best record at 30-20, but the Yankees are right behind them in 2nd with a 30-21 record. This is the lineup via PeteAbethat the Yankees send out tonight against Vincente Padilla and the Rangers:
SS Derek Jeter
LF Johnny Damon
1B Mark Teixeira
3B Alex Rodriguez
2B Robinson Cano
C Jorge Posada
DH Hideki Matsui
RF Melky Cabrera
CF Melky Cabrera
And on the mound, Allan James Burnett
Great D
Lately the Yankees have been playing great defense. Even the pitchers have been good defensively as we saw last night with Joba’s great play that possibly saved the game (even though it was a belly flop). Well, as you might already know the 2009 Yankees now hold the Major League record for consecutive games without an error at 18. In second place on the list are the 2006 Red Sox with 17 consecutive errorless games. The Red Soxappear to popping up in second a lot lately.
Joba
Joba Chamberlain pitched great last night. He showed why he is meant to be a starter as he went 8 innings and allowing only 2 runs while striking out 5. His velocity was also higher last night, the YES gun seemed a little off so I am not going by that. According to PitchFXJobaaveraged around 94 mph last night, while topping out at 97.6. However, no matter how great Joba ever is as a starter the talk doesn’t stop about him being in the bullpen. I heard something funny today about the subject, my dad told me he was listening a sports talk show (I think Mike Francessa, not sure) and a caller called in saying he was a Red Sox fan. This caller supposedly said he would love to see Joba in the bullpen because that way his Red Sox only have to face Joba for an inning or two. The host kept saying that isn’t the reason that Joba should be in the bullpen, but the caller just kept on saying that Joba should be in the bullpen so he doesn’t get to pitch as much. It sounded pretty funny to me.
Austin Jackson
Check out this article by Tyler Kepner on Austin Jackson.
Payback’s a pitch.
The Yankees will not only extend that streak even further but they will also have the best record in the MLB after they finish the beating that they’ve put on the Rangers tonight. The Mets have lost again and have sunk deeper into 2nd place while the Yankees gained a 1 game lead on the Red Sox who didn’t play last night. Hopefully the Sox lose tonight so the Yankees can put some room between them and the SECOND place Red Sox.
Posada has already made an error, and the Sox are losing, but the important thing is that the Yanks are winning.
The Yankees are only 1 game ahead of the Red Sox who beat the Tigers yesterday night!!!
The Yankees are going to hold that lead through hell and high water and the Rays that were red hot this time last year have faded away along with the Toronto Blue Jays. So it’s only Boston & New York this year in the AL East and I think the team with the best record in the AL is going to run away with this division.