Blue Jays at Yankees Preview: To Pitch or Not to Pitch

After the Yankees took 2 of 3 from the city rival New York Mets, another AL East team who the Yankees have fared well against comes to town for a three game series. The Toronto Blue Jays (23-23) are 2-3 against the Bombers this year, but the $64,000 question is how many home runs will OF Jose Bautista hit in this series? Bautista is shocking the entire baseball world with 18 home runs and a .353 average on the season along with an astonishing nine home runs in his last thirteen games!

Other than Bautista, there is not really much to talk about on this Blue Jays team that would excite the casual baseball fan. However, I am surprised that first year manager John Farrell has them playing at a strong level even with a back injury to their second best power hitter Adam Lind. Farrell was the pitching coach for the Red Sox last season and he has brought that expertise to a young Blue Jays’ staff that is 8^th in the AL in ERA at 3.85. They have a lineup that depends on the home run, but surprisingly are just 2.5 games back in the division coming into the series Monday night.

Here are the pitching matchups for this series:

Monday, 7:05, YES: Carlos Villanueva (1-0, 1.48 ERA) vs. Bartolo Colon (2-2, 3.16)

Tuesday, 7:05, My9: Ricky Romero (4-4, 3.10) vs. CC Sabathia (4-3, 3.06)

Wednesday, 1:05, YES: Jo-Jo Reyes (0-3, 4.07) vs. Freddy Garcia (2-4, 3.12)