Yankees Series Preview Podcast

On this episode of the Yanks Go Yard Series Preview Show, brought to you by Knoda.com, I started off the show by talking about the New York Yankees (80-75) taking three out of four from the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend. Despite Jacoby Ellsbury and Mark Teixeira getting injured during these last four games, the Yankees’ offense was still able to average four runs per game. Brian McCann had two home runs in Sunday’s win, increasing his total to 22 on the season and seven for the month. Of course, the two main players during this series were Derek Jeter and Masahiro Tanaka.

On Sunday afternoon, Tanaka had a very good start in his first game back since his UCL injury back in July. He gave up one run on five hits in 5+ innings, striking out four batters and not walking one on 70 pitches. As for Derek Jeter, the Captain had an impressive beginning to his final homestand. Jeter had two hits in each of the four games, which included two doubles, three RBI’s, and his first home run at Yankee Stadium this season (Thursday against R.A. Dickey). New York has now won four of its last five games and are within 4.5 games of the Kansas City Royals for the second Wild Card spot in the American League. With seven games remaining, the Yankees get set to finish off the final four games of their 2014 home slate and in Jeter’s career against the AL East Champions, who are starting to make plans on how their postseason roster is going to look.

For the Baltimore Orioles (93-62), the only thing that the team will be playing for in the next seven games is for the opportunity to have home field throughout every round of the playoffs. Currently, the O’s are 2.5 games behind the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (96-60) for that number spot seed. Since the last meeting between these two teams, Baltimore clinched the AL East for the first time since 1997 and are 14-6 during the month of September. Nelson Cruz, the league leader in home runs with 39, has been on fire this month, hitting .358 with four home runs and 17 RBI’s.

Before the last series, the news broke that first baseman Chris Davis would serve a 25-game suspension for amphetamines when he took Adderall without a therapeutic use exemption this season. Davis had a down year in 2014 after hitting 53 home runs (.196 batting average), but had 26 home runs this season (third on the team), including nine home runs in the second half of the season. Davis will miss the ALDS and the first three games of the ALCS, should the team make it that far.

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As for the starting pitching, the only starter that is confirmed for this week’s series on the Baltimore side is Wei-Yin Chen. Chen, the team’s leader in wins with 16, will get the start tonight against Michael Pineda. The Orioles’ top four starters of Chen, Chris Tillman, Miguel Gonzalez, and Bud Norris are 25-7 in a combined 46 starts since the All-Star Break. The bullpen has also been a strength with Zach Britton is 35-for-39 in save chances. Plus, Dan Duquette’s big acquisition at the trade deadline, lefty reliever Andrew Miller, has a 0.98 ERA since the All-Star Game in 20 relief appearances. The Orioles are 11-4 against the Yankees and they will be team that will be facing the Yankees for yet another Jeter moment to go along with the Jeffrey Maier game in 1997 and Jeter’s speech in the final game at the old Yankee Stadium in 2008.

For this episode, I spoke with Domenic Vadala, the editor of Birds Watcher, to get his thoughts on how he would align the postseason rotation and the reaction in Baltimore to the team clinching the AL East for the first time in nearly two decades. How does the feeling of clinching the division different for O’s fans considering that they were just in the playoffs back in 2012 as a Wild Card team. Here are the other topics that we talked about during the show:

Domenic’s reaction to the Chris Davis suspension – What is the impact of his absence on the lineup in October?
Who should start Game 1 of the ALDS – Wei-Yin Chen or Chris Tillman?
Pitching Matchups
Chen giving up just three runs in the month of September over the course of 18.2 innings
Michael Pineda finally reaches 100 pitches for the first time this season in his last start
Breaking down possible Orioles’ starters in this series – Could Ubaldo Jimenez get a start in the Bronx?
Bud Norris with a 1.48 ERA in September and very dominant vs. New York this season (3-0, 2.12)
Brandon McCarthy (Tuesday’s Yankees’ starter) giving up four earned runs in his last 20.2 innings
What is the role for Kevin Gausman in the postseason: starter or bullpen?
Shane Greene (Wednesday’s Yankees’ starter) with 18 strikeouts in two starts vs. Baltimore this season
Chris Tillman undefeated on the road, but a much better pitcher at Camden Yards
Hiroki Kuroda (Thursday’s Yankees’ starter) ending his season on a very good note
Orioles’ Hitters To Watch Looking To Make Postseason Roster (Domenic: Ryan Flaherty and Kelly Johnson, Me: Alejandro De Aza)
Yankees’ Hitters To Watch: Brett Gardner and Francisco Cervelli
What will Domenic remember the most about Derek Jeter?

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YGY Series Preview Show Rewind: Orioles-Yankees (9/22-9/25)

By Ricky Keeler | Sep 22, 2014