Yanks Go Yard Radio Show Rewind: Yankees-A’s Preview (5/19-5/22)

On last night’s Yanks Go Yard Radio Show, we looked ahead to the Yankees’ upcoming four game series against the A’s.

At the beginning of last night’s Yanks Go Yard Radio Show (before the Yankees took on the D’Backs), I gave my take on the New York Yankees (17-22) losing the first two games of the series to the Diamondbacks. Plus, I talked about my thoughts on the comments Hal Steinbrenner gave to the media yesterday.

With the Yankees 1-2 on this West Coast trip, they will finish up the trip with a four games in Oakland when they take on the A’s (19-22), who swept New York at Yankee Stadium last month. Bob Melvin’s club was 3-10 this month before sweeping the Texas Rangers this week at home. Oakland enters tonight’s game 4.5 games behind the Mariners in the AL West

This month, the A’s have hit 20 home runs, but nine of them have come from left fielder Khris Davis and six of them have come from Danny Valencia. Both players had three home run performances this week during Oakland’s four game winning streak.

More from Yanks Go Yard

• Yankees announce corresponding move, make Carlos Rodón signing official
• Aaron Judge puts more pressure on Yankees after being named Captain
• Carlos Correa-Giants-Mets bombshell makes Aaron Judge’s return to Yankees even better
• Did Yankees troll Jon Heyman with Aaron Judge contract tweet?
• Matt Carpenter leaving Yankees for massive raise is hard to argue with

On the mound, the A’s team ERA this month is 6.52, which is the second worst ERA of any team in the American League (6.71). The only starter who has an ERA under three in May is Rich Hill (2.66), who will not be pitching in this series. As for their ace (Sonny Gray), he has a 9.37 ERA in three starts this month.

In the bullpen, the A’s have a 4.00 ERA, which is the third worst in the AL, but they have thrown more innings than any other bullpen in the AL. Even though Ryan Madson blew his first save this week, he is still 11-for-12 in save chances with a 1.93 ERA this season.

Next: Recap: Eovaldi Allows One Hit In Yankees Win Over Arizona

To talk more about the Athletics, I was joined by one of the writers over at Swingin A’s, Rylan Edwards. Rylan gave his take on the rest of the AL West and whether or not the Stephen Strasburg contract extension affects what the A’s will do with Gray going forward. Here are some of the other topics we discussed:

• What changed for the A’ s this week against the Rangers?
• Takeaways from the last series against the Yankees?
• Josh Reddick hitting .400 with a .476 on-base percentage in his last 16 games?
• Pitching Matchup Breakdown
• Ivan Nova (Tonight’s Yankees starter) has given up two runs in two starts
• What’s been behind Kendall Graveman (Tonight’s A’s starter) losing his last four starts?
• What to expect in CC Sabathia’s return to the Yankees’ rotation tomorrow?
• Reasons for Gray’s slow start (Tomorrow’s A’s starter)
• Masahiro Tanaka (Saturday’s Yankees’ starter) is 2-0 with a 1.32 ERA against Oakland
• Scouting report on Sean Manaea (Saturday’s A’s starter)
• Michael Pineda (Sunday’s Yankees’ starter) with a 7.02 ERA in three May starts
• Jesse Hahn (Sunday’s A’s starter) making his fourth start of the year
• Yankees hitters to watch: Brett Gardner and Jacoby Ellsbury
• A’s hitters to watch: Danny Valencia and Khris Davis
• Jed Lowrie getting closer to his return?

 CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE YANKEES-A’S PREVIEW SHOW!!!