Yanks Go Yard Radio Show Rewind: Yankees-Rangers Preview (4/25-4/27)

On this episode of the Yanks Go Yard Radio Show, we look ahead to the Yankees’ upcoming series against the Texas Rangers. 

On last night’s episode of the Yanks Go Yard Radio Show, I started the episode by talking about the New York Yankees (7-10) taking two out of three from the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium over the weekend. There were some exciting moments during this series, which included Jacoby Ellsbury stealing home on Friday and Brett Gardner’s walk-off home run on Saturday.

However, Michael Pineda gave up four home runs yesterday and New York has a couple key injuries to their lineup with Aaron Hicks’ left shoulder injury and Alex Rodriguez’s oblique injury.

Now, the Yankees begin a nine game road trip tonight at Globe Life Park in Arlington when they take on the Texas Rangers (10-9). The Rangers lost all three games to the White Sox over the weekend and their ace, Cole Hamels (3-0, 2.52 ERA), is missing his start tonight because of a groin injury.

As far as the Rangers offense goes, they are tied for 10th in baseball in runs scored with (81). Even with Shin-Soo Choo on the disabled list, one player who has stepped up is one of their prospects, Nomar Mazara. In the first 12 games of Mazara’s career, he is hitting .356 with two home runs,six RBI’s and has a .404 on-base percentage. Plus, after a slow start, Ian Desmond, who is now a member of the Rangers’ outfield, is 6-for-12 in his last four games with two home runs, four RBI’s, four walks and three stolen bases.

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On the mound, the big struggles for Jeff Banister’s team have been in the bullpen. The Rangers’ 5.40 bullpen ERA is the worst of any team in the American League. However, closer Shawn Tolleson is 6-for-7 in save chances. The problem has been Tom Wilhelmsen. Wilhelmsen, who was acquired in the Leonys Martin trade this winter, has a 15.00 ERA in seven games with opponents hitting .464 against him.

Next: With A-Rod Hurt, Time To Give Judge A Shot

To talk more about the Rangers, I was joined by Kenneth Nash, the editor of Nolan’ Writin. Kenneth gave his thoughts on the Rangers’ first few weeks of the season and whether or not the early woes of the bullpen should be a big concern. Here are some of the other topics we discussed:

• Takeaways from Rangers’ first 19 games
• What has been the impact of Mazara on the lineup?
• Ian Desmond starting to bounce back
• Any concerns for Hamels missing his start tonight?
• Pitching Matchup Breakdown
• Nathan Eovaldi (Tonight’s Yankees starter) had a rough fourth inning in his last start
• Reasons for Cesar Ramos getting the start tonight for the Rangers
• Luis Severino (Tomorrow’s Yankees starter) making his first start against Texas
• What have been Rangers’ fans seen from A.J. Griffin so far (Tomorrow’s Rangers starter)
• C.C. Sabathia (Wednesday’s Yankees starter) has not finished five innings in each of his last two outings
• Martin Perez (Wednesday’s Rangers starter) has walked 13 batters in his first four starts
• Rangers Hitters To Watch: Nomar Mazara and Elvis Andrus
• Yankees Hitters To Watch: Carlos Beltran and Starlin Castro
• Bullpen off To A Slow Start
• Prince Fielder hitting just .181 with two home runs to start the year

Plus, last night was the 200th episode of the show since it re-launched back in December 2013. I would like to thank everyone who has helped this show reach 200 episodes and I would like to thank all of the listeners for tuning in to all of the episodes.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE YANKEES-RANGERS PREVIEW SHOW!!!