Yanks Go Yard Radio Show: Tigers-Yankees Preview (6/10-6/12)

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

On last night’s episode of the Yanks Go Yard Radio Show, I talked about the New York Yankees (30-30) sweeping their four game series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The Yankees outscored the Angels 29-14 during the series. Carlos Beltran continued his success from this season during the series as he was 7-for-15 with three home runs and ten RBI’s.

The one concern from this Angels series was that the Yankees lost another first baseman to the disabled list. Today, Chris Parmelee (who hit two home runs vs. the Angels) was placed on the DL due to a hamstring strain. Tonight, Rob Refsnyder will get the start at first base when New York begins their three-game series against the Detroit Tigers (30-29).

Early in the season, everyone was talking about if manager Brad Ausmus was going to get fired. Now, the Tigers are back in the AL Central race as they are three games behind the Cleveland Indians in the AL Central. Since that loss to the Yankees in the makeup game last Thursday, Detroit has won five of their last six games.

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On offense, the Tigers have the second highest batting average in the American League (.269) and they are sixth in runs scored. Miguel Cabrera (.304, 12 home runs, 36 RBI’s) continues to be one of the best hitters in the game and Victor Martinez is hitting .341. However, the player who has surprised everyone this season is third baseman Nick Castellanos (.316, 11 home runs, 35 RBI’s).

In the starting rotation, Jordan Zimmermann continues to lead the way with eight wins. The attention will be on Zimmermann and Justin Verlander (tomorrow’s starter) (85 strikeouts in 12 games), but rookie Michael Fulmer (6-1, 2.83 ERA in eight starts) has excelled in the rotation with Anibal Sanchez now in the bullpen.

Speaking of the bullpen, it continues to be one of the weaker aspects of the Tigers. Even though Francisco Rodriguez is 17-for-18 in save chances, their team bullpen ERA of 4.37 is the third highest in the AL.

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To talk more about the Tigers, my guest was Kristen Bentley, who is the co-editor of Motor City Bengals. Kristin gave her take on whether or not Ausmus is still on the hot seat and who is the favorite right now in the AL Central. Here are some of the other topics we discussed:

• Reasons that Detroit has been playing well as of late
• What’s been behind Castellanos’ strong season?
• Pitching Matchup Breakdown
• Mike Pelfrey (Tonight’s Tigers starter) finally picked up his first win of 2016
• CC Sabathia (Tonight’s Yankees starter) has given up three earned runs in his last five starts
• Verlander has 35 combined strikeouts in his last four starts (3-1 record).
• Masahiro Tanaka (Tomorrow’s Yankees starter) needs to avoid another 15 flyball outing.
• Scouting report on Fulmer (Sunday’s Tigers starter)
• Michael Pineda (Sunday’s Yankees starter) threw 22 first pitch strikes on Tuesday against the Angels
• Tigers hitters to watch: Cabrera and Ian Kinsler
• Yankees hitters to watch: Beltran and Jacoby Ellsbury
• Why Detroit still hasn’t figured out the bullpen and an update on Justin Wilson?

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