Yanks Go Yard Radio Show Rewind: Blue Jays-Yankees Preview (8/7-8/9)

By Ricky Keeler | Aug 7, 2015

On last night’s episode of the Yanks Go Yard Radio Show, I started off the episode by talking about the New York Yankees (61-45) taking two out of three games in a series against the Boston Red Sox. In last night’s win, CC Sabathia struck out eight batters while giving up only one run and Jacoby Ellsbury’s solo shot in the seventh inning lifted the Bronx Bombers to a 2-1 win.

However, the big story in that series was in a Yankees’ loss. On Wednesday night, Luis Severino made his Major League debut. While he did lose the game, the 21-year-old starter handled himself well, giving up one earned run over five innings of work while striking out seven batters.

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The Yankees have 56 games left in the regular season, but 13 of them come against the team they will be facing tonight in the Bronx. The Toronto Blue Jays (58-52) are 4.5 games behind New York in the AL East and have won five consecutive games. Of course, this is a different Blue Jays’ team than the one that faced New York back in May.

John Gibbons’ club was one of the teams that made a big splash at the trade deadline. First, they traded away Jose Reyes and three pitching prospects to acquire shortstop Troy Tulowitzki from the Colorado Rockies. A few days later, the Blue Jays bolstered their rotation by dealing for Tigers’ ace David Price. They gave up three prospects, including Daniel Norris. Price struck out 11 batters over eight innings in his Toronto debut on Monday against the Twins.

The Blue Jays’ offense has scored the most runs in baseball (587) and they have the highest on-base percentage and slugging percentage in the league. One of the key players on their team is third baseman Josh Donaldson, who has emerged as a favorite for MVP. Donaldson is hitting .295 this season with 29 home runs and 81 RBI’s. Donaldson, who has four home runs and 12 RBI’s over his last seven games, is one of five players on the team with double-digit home runs.

As for the rotation, Toronto’s starters’ ERA is 4.21 (eighth in the AL), but the addition of Price should lower that number over time. The Blue Jays also made changes to their bullpen last week when they acquired Mariners’ reliever Mark Lowe and Rockies’ closer LaTroy Hawkins. Currently, the Blue Jays’ relievers have an ERA is 3.33, which is right behind the Yankees (3.29).

To get more insight on the Blue Jays in this series, I spoke with Greg Wisniewski, who is one of the hosts of The Blue Jays Plus Podcast. Greg gave his take on the Tulowitzki and Price trades as well as his reaction to what happened between the Royals and Blue Jays this past weekend:

Toronto’s trade deadline approach different from this time last year
Blue Jays going all in with Price, but looked long term with the Tulowitzki move
Pitching Matchup Breakdown
R.A. Dickey (tonight’s Blue Jays starter) has given up two runs over his last 23.1 innings
Nathan Eovaldi (tonight’s Yankees’ starter) has given up three runs or fewer in eight straight starts
Could David Price (tomorrow’s Blue Jays’ starter) take a different approach after his recent struggles against the Yankees?
Ivan Nova (tomorrow’s Yankees’ starter) getting his fastball velocity up and racking up the strikeouts
How Marco Estrada (Sunday’s Blue Jays starter) has been sneaky good for the Jays this season
Masahiro Tanaka (Sunday’s Yankees’ starter) only threw 88 pitches against Boston, but showed some good signs
Blue Jays hitters to watch: Josh Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion
Yankees hitters to watch: Jacoby Ellsbury and Chase Headley
Impact of Aaron Sanchez being moved to the bullpen.
Did the Blue Jays make enough moves to bolster the bullpen?

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