Yanks Go Yard Radio Show Rewind: Yankees-Orioles Preview (6/12-6/14)

On last night’s episode of the Yanks Go Yard Radio Show, brought to you by KNODA.com, I started off the episode by talking about the New York Yankees (33-26) splitting their two game series with the Washington Nationals. While the Yankees did get a great outing from Masahiro Tanaka on Tuesday, they were not able to hold a 4-2 lead in Wednesday afternoon’s game. While New York has won seven of their last eight games, they now have to go without their star closer.

On Wednesday, the Yankees place Andrew Miller on the 15-day disabled list due to a muscle strain in his forearm. Dellin Betances becomes the closer and the Yankees will look for someone to take control over the eighth inning. Chris Martin is back with the team and he could get the first crack considering the confidence Joe Girardi had in him earlier this season. Plus, Mason Williams is being called up and will get the start tonight in center field.

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The Yankees are in Baltimore to begin a three game series against the Orioles (29-30). While Buck Showalter’s squad got off to a rocky start, they have won four straight games, including a sweep of the Boston Red Sox this week. Baltimore does have one of its main offensive players in the lineup in catcher Matt Wieters.

Wieters made his return to the lineup on June 5 after missing over a year due to elbow surgery. He is hitting .316 with one home run and four RBI’s in five games. Adding Wieters to this offense will continue to help the Orioles put runs on the board. While they have a team slugging percentage of .406, they are only 19^th In baseball in runs scored (242). However, this is an O’s squad that is fourth in baseball in home runs (65) and has three players with ten or more home runs (Chris Davis, Adam Jones, Manny Machado).

To talk about the Orioles, I spoke with Domenic Vadala, the editor of Birds Watcher to get his take on Baltimore’s recent hot streak and the impact of losing starter Miguel Gonzalez in the rotation. Gonzalez (5-4, 3.33) is on the 15-day disabled list due to a strained groin. This could hurt a rotation that is tenth in the AL in starter’s ERA (4.17). Here are some of the other topics we discussed:

Impact of Matt Wieters returning to the lineup
Baltimore’s rotation concerns
Chris Davis hitting below .200 each of the last two months
Reaction to the Brian Matusz Pine Tar suspension
Having to face Eduardo Rodriguez last week, the pitcher they traded away last July for Andrew Miller
Pitching Matchup Breakdown
How will Michael Pineda handle pitching on extended rest tonight?
Ubaldo Jimenez (tonight’s O’s starter) has been the best pitcher in their rotation
Bud Norris (Tomorrow’s O’s starter) trying to build off a good return to the rotation last time out
CC Sabathia (Tomorrow’s Yankees starter) with 13 strikeouts combined over his last two starts
Adam Warren (Sunday’s Yankees starter) giving up two runs or less in five of his last six outings
Who will start for the O’s on Sunday in place of Miguel Gonzalez
Orioles hitters to watch: J.J. Hardy and Ryan Flaherty
Yankees hitters to watch: Brian McCann and Chase Headley

During the second portion of the show, I spoke with Jacob Hopkins, who is the head of MLB Draft coverage at Pinstriped Prospects about how the Yankees did during this week’s draft. Who are some of the sleepers to keep an eye on and Jacob tells us how soon their first pick (16^th overall), right-handed pitcher James Kaprielian, could be in the big leagues.

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