Yankees-Rays: 2012 Opening Day Podcast Preview!!!!

Yankee fans, tomorrow will be the day that the Quest for 28 will officially  be underway. The New York Yankees will begin their 2012 season with a six game road trip against bitter American League East rivals. It starts with what most experts presume to be their toughest test in the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays boast one of the pitching staffs in baseball and even though Tropicana Field does not draw the best of crowds, it still will have a short playoff series feel to it.

For the Yankees, it begins to provide answers to a lot of questions. How will new pitcher Hiroki Kuroda respond in his first American League start? Will Phil Hughes be 2010 dominant or 2011 disappointing? How will the changes in the Yankee batting order improve their offense?Plus, will they ultimately win it all?

As we started here at Yanks Go Yard last year around June, this site will provide all of you guys with series podcast previews for every Yankee series this year. In these podcasts, we will break down the pitching matchups and get some insight on the Yankees’ opponents, including from their own bloggers on the Fansided Network on what to watch for.

Here are some of the points I touch across on the first podcast of 2012

• Pitching Matchups for this weekend
• My take on the Yankees’ pitching acquisitions
• Why I like Sabathia to shake off last year’s end of season swoon
• A historic start for James Shields and the Rays’ organization
• Kuroda with something to prove
• Price’s fastball dependency
• Why I was wrong on Hughes so far
• Sophomore jinx for Hellickson?
• SERIES PREDICTION
• Closer Issue in Tampa
• Rays’ Notes
• MY 2012 SEASON PREDICTIONS – WHY YANKEE FANS WON’T LIKE IT

Yankees-Rays Preview

We also want you to contribute to the podcast above. For future shows, feel free to send in your questions, predictions, or thoughts on the series either to my Twitter: @Rickinator555 or my e-mail: Rickinator555@aol.com.

I also host a show now called Kickin’ It With Keeler on the What’s Brewin’ In Sports Network on Blog Talk Radio every Tuesday night that we will try to feature top Fansided baseball bloggers on as well. On that note, enjoy the podcast and post your comments below!