Series Preview: Yankees @ Brewers

Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports

The Yankees head to Milwaukee for a weekend series against the best team in baseball. The Brewers have had great pitching AND hitting so far this year, and they look to continue their rampage. Standing in their way are the Yankees, who look for a series win and even better, a sweep of the first place Brewers.

                                           Probable Pitching Match-ups

       Yankees                                            @                                         Brewers

Masahiro Tanaka           Friday, May 9th:  8:10 pm ET            Yovani Gallardo

   C.C. Sabathia            Saturday, May 10th: 7:10 pm ET             Kyle Lohse

    David Phelps            Sunday, May 11th: 2:10 pm ET               Matt Garza

Who’s Hot?: The  Brewers line-up has been struggling collectively over the last week or so. The only hitter putting up decent numbers in that time is Jonathan Lucroy who is 6-for-20 (.286). For the Yankees, it has been Brian Roberts and Mark Teixeira on a tear. Roberts is 8-for-23 (.348) in the span while Teixeira is 8-for-28 (.286) with two homers and seven RBI.

Who’s Not?: Aramis Ramirez is by far the coldest Brewer over the last seven games. He has just two hits in 23 at-bats which translates to an .087 average. Khris Davis is also struggling going 3-for-20 (.150) with just a homer and a couple of RBI. The struggling Brewers line-up can mean one of two things: they are either coming back down to Earth or they are in a slump. Regardless, the Yankees look to steamroll right through the Brew Crew.

                                              *What To Watch For*

Masahiro Tanaka will start the first game of the series against the surging Brewers. It will obviously be the first time Tanaka sees the Brewers and vice versa. Tanaka hopes to continue his success, but the Brewers have a very good lineup. Luckily for Tanaka and the Yankees, Ryan Braun will be on the disabled list for that series.

Pitching the middle game of the series will be a former Brewer, C.C. Sabathia. Sabathia played for the Brewers the second half of 2008 and was amazing for them. Of course, we all know where Sabathia signed that off-season. There is one player on the Brewers who does well when Sabathia picthes. Actually, he owns the Yankees ace. Aramis Ramirez is 10-for-19 (.526). How do the only other four Brewers with experience against the lefty do? They are a combined 6-for-40 (.150) with one homer and three RBI. So out of the five, Ramirez is the only one who hits Sabathia well. Extremely well.

The final game of the series is on Mothers Day as David Phelps will take the ball for the Yanks. Only one guy has faced Phelps and he was on the Yankees last year. Mark Reynolds is 0-for-6 against him. As for the rest of the Brew Crew, it will be their first time against the young right-hander. And that is your Yankees-Brewers series preview!