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Yanks Go Yard Radio Show Rewind: Angels-Yankees Preview (6/5-6/7)

ByRicky Keeler|

On last night’s episode of the Yanks Go Yard Show, brought to you by KNODA.com, I started off the show by talking about the New York Yankees (29-25) and their successful series in Seattle. After losing three out of four games in Oakland, the Bronx Bombers made a statement in Seattle by scoring seven runs against Felix Hernandez in the series opener. This included a grand slam by Mark Teixeira in the fifth inning that broke the game open for Michael Pineda.

In the final two games, New York found timely hitting from Stephen Drew and Garrett Jones on Tuesday. Then, in the series finale, Masahiro Tanaka was able to hit 96 miles per hour on the fastball and strike out nine Mariners over seven innings in a 3-1 win. After sweeping Seattle, the Yanks head home for a five game homestand, which starts tonight against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

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The Angels (28-26) got off to a rocky start, but they head into New York having won five of their seven games. On offense, they rely mainly on two players: center fielder Mike Trout and first base Albert Pujols. Pujols has six home runs and nine RBI’s in his last eight games. He is .258 this season with 14 homers and 28 RBI’s.

As for Trout, he continues to be the all-around player for the Halos. The 23-year-old is hitting .289 with 14 home runs and 31 RBI’s. He does have eight stolen bases this season, but he has had to do a little more for Mike Scioscia’s club on offense because that is the weak point of this team. They are 24^th in batting average (.241), 27^th in on-base percentage (.299), and 20^th in runs (214).

That being said, what is keeping them in second place in the AL West (5.5 games behind the Astros) is their starting pitching. Led by Garrett Richards (Saturday night’s starter), the Angels have a starters’ ERA of 3.71 and have an opponents batting average of .238, which are both third in the American League.

For this episode, I spoke with Trey Hannula, one of the writers over at Halo Hangout to get his take on the Angels offensive struggles and if Los Angeles should regret trading Josh Hamilton and not taking the same approach the Yankees took with Alex Rodriguez? Here are the other topics we discussed:

Reasons behind the Angels getting back on track
Trout and Pujols carrying the team on offense
Bigger need at the trade deadline: offense or starting pitching?
Starting Pitching Matchup
Jered Weaver (tonight’s Angels starter) starting to succeed without velocity on his fastball
Nathan Eovaldi (tonight’s Yankees starter) coming off giving up 11 hits against the A’s.
Garrett Richards struggling with his command (12 walks in his last five starts)
Adam Warren (tomorrow’s Yankees starter) given up a total of five runs in his last three outings
J. Wilson (Sunday’s Angels starter) hasn’t lost against the Yankees since 2010
Michael Pineda (Sunday’s Yankees starter) with 76 strikeouts on the season
Angels Players To Watch: Kole Calhoun and Erick Aybar
Yankees Players To Watch: Mark Teixeira and Garrett Jones
Huston Street getting it done as the closer of the Angels
Rest of the bullpen a concern for the Angels?

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