Yankees-Orioles Preview: Will the Bats Beat the Storm?

The Yankees sure do know how to end a series. After a historic 22-9 win over the Oakland Athletics, New York heads down to Baltimore to take on the last place Orioles.  This is a big series for the Bombers as they prepare to take on the Red Sox early next week at Fenway Park. They come in one game behind Boston, but the question is not about what will happen on- the-field, but more of an off-the-field problem. Hurricane Irene is on its way up the Northeast and is threatening possible cancellations of the games this weekend. The Yankees already have so many games to make up in September that they can ill afford to waste an off day.

This podcast may be a fast one, but I was able to talk about all five matchups within the allotted time. Here are some Orioles’ tidbits I left out on the podcast

Team Notes

• 3B Mark Reynolds – 29 Home Runs this season, but he is just hitting .224 this month with six home runs
• SS JJ Hardy has 24 Home Runs, but he is dealing with some ankle issues.
• C Matt Wieters – very good with RISP and is batting .306 with 3 HR’s and 10 RBI’s this month
• They are a team that’s all about the power (9th in slugging), but they have the worst ERA in the league (4.83)

Here is what I talk about on this podcast

• Recap of Yanks-A’s
• Pitching Matchups
• ALCS re-match
• Burnett’s inconsistencies on and off the field
• Tommy’s Hunter expectations
• Nova’s number two role
• Matusz not living up to hype unlike Nova
• Garcia’s back and should be more featured
• Britton’s low stranding rate
• Does Colon have a better role on this team?
• Simon the starter
• CC’s dominance of Baltimore
• Guthrie good vs. Yanks in 2011?
• Potential cancellations – pros and cons
• Prediction!

Yankees-Orioles Preview