Game 98: Athletics at Yankees

After having their 8 game winning streak snapped yesterday afternoon by a strong pitching performance by Gio Gonzalez, the Yankees look to go out today and start a new streak. They will have to do it against Oakland’s young left hander, Dallas Braden, who carries a 3.40 ERA coming into this game. The Yankees will send out the following lineup via PeteAbe to oppose Braden:

SS Derek Jeter

LF Johnny Damon

1B Mark Teixeira

C Jorge Posada

DH Hideki Matsui

RF Nick Swisher

2B Robinson Cano

CF Melky Cabrera

3B Cody Ransom – you have to see the picture and caption that noMass.org made for Cody

And on the mound, Sergio Mitre

Gardner has a broken left thumb

According to PeteAbe, Brett Gardner broke his left thumb yesterday while sliding into 2nd base, and is going on the 15 day DL. Amazingly, he played the rest of the game, and even hit an RBI triple. Gardner will be in a cast for 2 weeks then he will rehab. Jonathan Albaladejo has been recalled to take Gardner’s roster spot, but the move is only temporary as the Yankees will need another outfielder. PeteAbe says the early candidates are Austin Jackson, Shelly Duncan, John Rodriguez, and Ramiro Pena (who has been playing some center field for Scranton). However, if the Yankees want someone who can play center field, the choices are narrowed down to Austin Jackson and Ramiro Pena (and he has only been playing center for a short amount of time). We will just have to wait and see.

“Never in a million years”

If you are a follower of baseball, you probably know that Roy Halladay is on the trading block. You also probably know that he is coveted by several teams, and he has a high asking price. There are many Yankee fans who say they would be willing to do anything it takes to acquire Halladay, well consider this…Jon Heyman tweeted that the Jays suggested to the Yankees that it would take Joba, Hughes, and 2 others to get Halladay. I can’t imagine any right minded Yankee fan would want to make that trade.