Yanks Go Yard Radio Show Rewind: Yankees-Red Sox Preview (5/1-5/3)

By Ricky Keeler | May 1, 2015

On last night’s episode of the Yanks Go Yard Radio Show, brought to you by KNODA.com, I started off the episode by talking about the New York Yankees (13-9) recent series win over the Tampa Bay Rays. While they did lose the series finale in 13 innings on Wednesday, you have to give New York credit for winning their fourth consecutive series win. One of the main reasons for that was their starting pitching. The trio of Adam Warren, Chase Whitley, and Michael Pineda gave up a combined four earned runs over the course of three games.

However, while the Yankees are winning series, that task may be a little more difficult going forward with their latest injury. On Tuesday night, they placed their ace, Masahiro Tanaka, on the 15-day disabled list due to wrist tendinitis and a mild strain in his forearm. He is expected to miss at least one month of action because of the injury.

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This means that pitchers such as CC Sabathia and Nathan Eovaldi will need to step up to give the bullpen a breather on some nights. That objective starts this weekend as New York heads up Fenway Park to take on their bitter rivals, the Boston Red Sox (12-10).

This season, the Red Sox have been one of the best offensive teams in baseball. They are third in the league in runs, sixth in on-base percentage, and seventh in home runs. One of their offseason acquisitions, Hanley Ramirez, is off to a great start with 10 home runs in the first month of the season. It was known that the Red Sox could swing the bat coming into the year, but the aspect of their team that remains a concern is in the rotation.

The rotation that continues to lack an ace has the worst starter’s ERA in the game at 5.75 and they have given up the second most runs (80). Only the Brewers have given up more runs as a staff. With Boston’s rotation struggles, that puts more pressure on the bullpen on a nightly basis. Their bullpen has thrown the second most innings in baseball, behind only the Texas Rangers.

To discuss this weekend’s series at Fenway Park, I spoke with Drew Peabody, a writer over at BoSox Injection about whether or not the Red Sox rotation struggles will make them trade for Cole Hamels or will they stick with their internal options? Here are some of the other topics that we discussed

Takeaways from the last Red Sox-Yankees series
Is Boston’s bullpen more of a concern than their starting rotation?
Internal rotation options down in Pawtucket (Boston’s triple-A affiliate)
Pitching Matchups
Justin Masterson (Friday’s Red Sox starter) coming off a good start against Baltimore
CC Sabathia (Friday’s Yankees starter) continuing to struggle with his location
Nathan Eovaldi vs. Wade Miley rematch on Saturday
Miley’s high walk rate a big concern as he can’t avoid the crooked inning
The need for Eovaldi to give the Yankees six innings on a nightly basis
Boston’s success vs. his fastball the first time around
Joe Kelly vs. Adam Warren rematch on Sunday
Kelly shows great flashes, but has averaged two walks per start
Adam Warren with more strikeouts in his last start than the previous three
Red Sox players to watch: Pablo Sandoval and Mookie Betts
Yankees players to watch: Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann
What’s been the key to Hanley Ramirez’s hot start?
How has catcher Blake Swihart been doing in Pawtucket?

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