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YGY Series Preview Show Rewind: Yankees-Orioles (9/12-9/14)

By Ricky Keeler

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On this episode of the Yanks Go Yard Series Preview Show, brought to you by Knoda.com, I started the live episode minutes after Chris Young‘s walk-off, three-run homer off of Jake McGee to give the Yankees the series win over the Tampa Bay Rays. After being no-hit by Alex Cobb for seven innings, the Yankees found their way back with a Young double in the eighth, followed by a Martin Prado pinch-hit, two-run homer to cut the lead in half. Then, New York rallied in the ninth against Jake McGee. After Chase Headley was hit in the chin with a 96 mile-per-hour fastball, Ichiro Suzuki doubled to left center to set Chris Young up for the walk-off two batters later. Young had an excellent series against the Rays, going 6-for-11 with two home runs and seven RBIs.

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With the New York Yankees (75-69) taking two out of three from the Rays, it keeps their slim playoff hopes alive as they are now four games behind the Detroit Tigers for the second Wild Card spot with 18 games remaining in the season. The problem for Joe Girardi‘s team, is that the schedule gets tougher from here on out. Starting with today’s doubleheader, the Yankees will play eight of those final 18 against the Baltimore Orioles, a team who has the largest lead of any division leader in the game and has been playing great baseball as of late.

As I mentioned before, the Baltimore Orioles (86-59) have separated themselves from the pack in the AL East. Their magic number is eight to clinch the AL East as they lead the Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays by ten games in the division. The O’s have won 13 of their last 17 games, and since August 1, they are 26-12. One of the keys to this Baltimore offense is Nelson Cruz. Cruz has the capability of carrying the offense as we saw last week when he had seven RBIs in an extra-inning win over the Rays. Cruz, who has 39 home runs and 101 RBIs, is hitting .366 this month, with four home runs and 12 runs batted in. He is one of the main reasons why Baltimore is in the top ten in runs, batting average, slugging percentage, and home runs in baseball.

As for the pitching staff, the Orioles don’t have the ace that you would normally see for a division winner. However, as a team, Baltimore’s ERA is one of the better ones in the game. The team’s 3.05 ERA is fifth in all of baseball since the All-Star Break. Wei-Yin Chen leads the team in wins with 15, but the three pitchers with ten or more wins and Bud Norris (Friday’s Game 2 starter) has a chance to make it four this weekend. As for the bullpen, Zach Britton still is closing down games for Buck Showalter. Britton has 34 saves in 38 chances and a 1.79 ERA on the season. Can Baltimore continue their season long success against the Yankees at Camden Yards this weekend, considering the O’s are 8-3 against the Bronx Bombers this season?

For this episode, I spoke with Steve Katz, a writer over at Birds Watcher, to get his thoughts on the Orioles’ dominant play of late and whether or not he is surprised that Baltimore has the largest lead of any first-place team in baseball when we were all talking about how close this division could be in the offseason. Here are some other topics that Steve and I discussed during the show:

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE YANKEES-ORIOLES SERIES PREVIEW SHOW!!!

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