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Yanks Go Yard Radio Show Rewind: Rays-Yankees Preview (7/3-7/5)

By Ricky Keeler

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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 (42-37) losing two out of three games against the Los Angeles Angels this week and going 3-4 over the course of their seven game road trip. While the Yanks were not get swept by the Angels, their offense managed to score five runs in three games.

During the Los Angeles series, Joe Girardi and the Yankees made the decision to move Adam Warren to the bullpen as the six-man rotation is now back to five. As far as the offense is concerned, Carlos Beltran will not be in the lineup for the foreseeable future. Today, the Yankees place Beltran on the 15-day DL due to a left oblique strain. The injury occurred on Tuesday night. The Yankees have re-called Ramon Flores and Gregorio Petit.

Now the New York Yankees are back home, where they will play 12 of their next 15 games. Tonight, they will begin a three game series against the Rays, who have had their offensive struggles recently. The Bronx Bombers are 6-4 against Tampa this season.

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The Tampa Bay Rays (42-39) did get Matt Moore back to their rotation yesterday, but they are struggling to find any offense right now. In their recent series against the Cleveland Indians, they managed to score only eight runs. Plus, Carlos Carrasco was one strike away from throwing a no-hitter against them on Wednesday night.

Despite losing five games in a row, Tampa Bay is getting some reinforcements back to the lineup tonight. First baseman James Loney will be playing in his first game since May 24 tonight after having a broken left middle finger. In 30 games this year, Loney is hitting .275 with two home runs and 11 RBI’s. Right now, the Rays are 26th in baseball in runs scored. Some players to keep an eye on are veteran third baseman Evan Longoria (.272, 8 HR, 34 RBI’s) and designated hitter Joey Butler (.314, 6 HR, 21 RBI’s).

Even with the Rays’ pitching injuries, a star has emerged at the front of their rotation in Chris Archer. The 26-year-old right-hander, who will start for Tampa Bay tonight, is 9-5 with a 2.31 ERA. He is coming off of a bad start against Boston last time out, but he is still a strong candidate to start for the American League in the All-Star Game.

To get more information on the Rays, I spoke with Robbie Knopf, the editor of Rays Colored Glasses about Tampa Bay’s recent offensive struggles and an interesting strategy manager Kevin Cash has used this season to help some of his young starting pitchers. Here are some of the other topics we discussed:

  • Takeaways from Matt Moore’s 2015 Debut
  • How big of an impact will new outfielder Grady Sizemore have on the roster?
  • Pitching Matchup Breakdown
  • Archer with four 10+ strikeout games in his last eight starts
  • How concerned should Yankees’ fans be about Masahiro Tanaka’s recent struggles (tonight’s Yankees starter)
  • Nate Karns (Tomorrow’s Rays’ starter) with a 2.25 ERA on the road despite 36 walks
  • Michael Pineda (Tomorrow’s Yankees’ starter) looking to build on his last great start in Houston
  • Erasmo Ramirez (Sunday’s Rays’ starter) making great progress as a starter
  • Rays Hitters To watch: Asdrubal Cabrera and Steven Souza
  • Yankees Hitters To Watch: Brian McCann and Chase Headley
  • Will the Rays have a different trade deadline strategy now that Andrew Friedman is the GM?

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