Yanks Go Yard Series Preview Show: Yankees at Blue Jays (8/10 – 8/12)

The Yankees’ road trip started off rocky in Comerica Park and had chances to become a disaster. However, the New York Yankees were able to find a way to salvage a split from Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder, and company. The game yesterday was epic. You had Joe Girardi’s ejection to liven up the team and then you throw in back-to-back home runs from Mark Teixeira and Eric Chavez. Finally, Rafael Soriano was able to close out the game despite falling into a big jam in the 9th inning. Now, the Yankees maintain a 5.5 game lead on the Baltimore Orioles as they go north of the border for the weekend.

Yes, the Yankees will be traveling to Canada this weekend to take on the Toronto Blue Jays. While New York has been ravaged by injuries all season, the Blue Jays have had it worse. They have lost most of their starting rotation to shoulder injuries with some including Tommy John surgery. Plus, they are without two of their power bats in outfielder Jose Bautista and third baseman Brett Lawrie, who just went on the disabled list before yesterday’s loss to the Rays.

Their general manager, Alex Anthopolous, was very active at the trade deadline. He traded for relievers Brad Lincoln and Brandon Lyon plus starting pitcher J.A. Happ. Also, they dealt young outfielder Eric Thames to the Mariners and Travis Snider to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Clearly, Toronto is looking to the future and manager John Farrell has built up a team with a lot of young talent and some power. They can play spoiler in the AL East to somebody, but can they actually get some healthy bodies onto the field first? If the Yankees could sweep this series, they would get some nice momentum going into the homestand with the Texas Rangers and the Boston Red Sox.

For this show, I went a different route. I talked with Chuck Booth from MLBReports.com. Chuck is famous for touring all 30 Major League ball parks in 23 days. Also, he is from Canada, so he gave us some great insight on the Blue Jays’ series including the pitching matchups, players to watch, AA’s approach, as well as some debate on the hot Yankees’ topics.

CLICK HERE FOR THE YANKEES-BLUE JAYS SERIES PREVIEW SHOW!