YGY Series Preview Show: Yankees-Rockies (5/7-5/9)

The end to the 10-game homestand for the New York Yankees was not exactly what the fans would have hoped for. Even though the team went 7-3 over those stretch of games, New York still lost two of three to the Oakland Athletics and saw two of their top pitchers, CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte get outpitched by the young and talented Oakland rotation. That being said, Phil Hughes still had one of his best performances of the season on Saturday pitching eight scoreless innings. As for the offense, the hits keep on coming in the injury department as New York was without David Robertson for the weekend and shortstop Eduardo Nunez is day-to-day after feeling tightness in his rib cage. The lineup that New York will throw out in Denver this week might have the look of a National League lineup with Jayson Nix and Chris Nelson near the bottom of the order in front of that night’s starting pitcher.

and the Rockies’ offense try to continue their hot start as they host the Yankees this week at Coors Field. (Photo Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports)

To begin the Yankees’ eight game road trip, they will go to Denver to take on the surprising Colorado Rockies. Coors Field has always been known as a place for offense to be discovered and Colorado has proven that as they lead the league in batting average and slugging percentage as well as being second in runs scored. First-year manager Walt Weiss has done a good job so far in his ability to get something out of his starting pitching (3.87 ERA) as opposed to last year where Jim Tracy‘s club was using two starting pitchers per start.

As for the offense, it has the usual mainstays in outfielder Carlos Gonzalez and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, but also has solid role players in catcher Wilin Rosario as well as outfielders Michael Cuddyer and Dexter Fowler (15 combined home runs). The last time the Yankees went to the Rocky Mountains was 2007 and they didn’t feel so high afterwards considering they were swept in that series. Does it happen again?

On this episode of the Yanks Go Yard series preview show presented by BaldVinny.com, I recapped the Yankees’ series against the Oakland Athletics and preview this week’s series against the Colorado Rockies. To help me preview the Rockies, Joel Dill from RoxPile.com  joined me to talk about their surprising start and whether or not it can last the whole season. Also, we discuss the X-Factors in their lineup, the pitching matchups, and update the status on some of the key Yankees’ injuries so far. Finally, how does Joe Girardi structure this lineup in terms of using Travis Hafner at first base in one or two games this series?

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