Previewing The Yankees And The Tigers

Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Game 3

Normally when a team hear’s the name Justin Verlander, they know they are most likely in for a long day. Not in 2014 however, as Verlander is having one of the more disappointing seasons of his big league career. He comes into Wednesday night’s match-up against the Yankees, sporting a 10-9 record with a paltry 4.66 ERA. The ten victories isn’t as much about Verlander’s dominance as it has been the product of a potent Tigers’ offense carrying him.

Life hasn’t been kind to Verlander in the Bronx either. In 5 career starts, which spans 31 total innings, the hard-throwing right-hander has yielded 7 long balls, including 2 each in his last two visits to New York. If the Yankees had any depth at first base, it might be smart to sit Mark Teixeira. In 31 career ABs, Tex has only 3 hits, one of those being a home run. That equates to a 0.097 batting average. As with the previous starters in the series, Derek Jeter has had the most sustained success, which is what makes him a Hall of Famer. In 36 career at-bats, Jeter has 13 hits, including a home run, along with 8Ks.

This is where is could get ugly for the Yankees. Chris Capuano will be forced to take the mound yet again. The Red Sox and Rockies throw-away cut down his walks from 4 to 0 over his last two starts, but he allowed 4 runs on 8 hits against Boston at Fenway over the weekend. This was the game we predicted the Yankees would lose, and we were spot on.

This current group of Tigers OWNS, and we mean OWNS Capuano. In 64 career at-bats, the Tigers have 27 hits, including 7 home runs, 15 runs batted in, is hitting .422, slugging .844, and has an OPS of 1.300. This is one of those games where the Yankees might want to forfeit or pray for a rain out and a reschedule down the road. Hunter is 9-for-21 against Cap, while Miggy Cabrera is 9-for-23. Enough said.