Yanks Go Yard Radio Show Rewind: Yankees-D’Backs Preview (5/16-5/18)

On last night’s episode of the Yanks Go Yard Radio Show, we looked ahead to the upcoming Yankees-Diamondbacks series

During last night’s episode of the Yanks Go Yard Radio Show, I gave my takeaways from the New York Yankees (16-20) taking two of three games from the Chicago White Sox over the weekend. The Bronx Bombers ended up going 7-3 on their ten game homestand. In their two wins, the late inning trio of Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller, and Aroldis Chapman combined to give up one earned run and struck out 12 batters.

Even though the Yankees are still seven games back of the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East, it’s good to see them have a strong homestand and get back to winning series. Tonight, the Yankees will begin a seven game road trip with a three game series against one of the most disappointing teams in baseball, the Arizona Diamondbacks (17-23).

Arizona comes into tonight in last place in the NL West standings, but they are only five games behind the first place San Francisco Giants. Their offense is seventh in runs scored, but they are without two of their key outfielders from last season, A.J. Pollock and David Peralta.

But, the Arizona offense still has first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, who is the co-leader on the team in home runs (seven) and leads in RBI’s (20). One of their offseason acquisitions, second baseman Jean Segura, is seventh in the National League in batting average (.331).

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The main problem for Chip Hale’s team has been their starting pitching and their pitching at home in general. The Diamondbacks only have five wins at home in the 21 games they’ve played. Plus, their home ERA of 5.83 is the second worst in all of baseball (Colorado Rockies – 6.55).

This offseason, the Diamondbacks made two big starting pitcher moves in Zack Greinke and Shelby Miller. But, neither move has been exactly how the D’Backs have planned so far. Greinke has a 5.26 ERA in eight starts and Miller only has one win and a 6.94 ERA.

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To get more insight on the Diamondbacks’ struggles, I spoke with Chris Lacey, who is a writer over at NCSG Sports. Chris gave his thoughts on Arizona’s struggles at home and whether or not Hale is on the hot seat after a slow start. Here are some of the other topics we talked about:

• Takeaways from the Diamondbacks’ first 40 games?
• The maturation of Didi Gregorius as a shortstop in New York
• How big of a loss are Pollock and Peralta to the outfield?
• Pitching Matchup Breakdown
• What to expect from Chad Green tonight in his Yankees’ debut?
• Robbie Ray (Monday’s D-Backs starter) has only one home win in the last two years
• Teams are hitting .307 this season against Greinke (Tomorrow’s D’Backs starter)
• Michael Pineda (Tomorrow’s Yankees starter) has given up five home runs in the first inning this year.
• Miller (Wednesday’s D-Backs starter) leads the NL in walks (23).
• Nathan Eovaldi (Wednesday’s Yankees’ starter) had 12 flyball outs in his last outing (most all season)
• Yankees hitters to watch: Chase Headley and Mark Teixeira
• Diamondbacks hitters to watch: Brandon Drury and Chris Owings
• Thoughts on the Arizona bullpen and the State Of The NL West

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE YANKEES-D’BACKS PREVIEW SHOW!!!