Yanks Go Yard Radio Show Rewind: Yankees-Blue Jays Preview (8/14-8/16)

On last night’s episode of the Yanks Go Yard Radio Show, I started off the show by talking about the New York Yankees (62-51) losing two out of three games to the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field. For the first two games, the Yankees saw Andrew Miller blow his first save of the season in a game that ended up going 16 innings on Tuesday. Then, on Wednesday, CC Sabathia pitched well, but New York’s offense wasn’t able to get the big hit.

Finally, with Greg Bird making his Major League debut last night, New York’s offense broke out. While Bird went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts, the top of the order made the difference as Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner went 5-for-8 with three RBI’s in the Bronx Bombers’ 8-6 win. Even though the Yankees aren’t in first place in the AL East, they trail by just a half game as they get set for a rematch against the new division leaders, the Toronto Blue Jays (64-52).

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Right now, the Blue Jays are the hottest team in baseball. With their sweep this week against the Oakland A’s, John Gibbons’ club has won 11 in a row and they won have won 14 of 15 games since they made the trade for then Rockies’ shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. Last weekend, at Yankee Stadium, the Blue Jays outscored the Yankees 10-1 in a three game sweep.

In the series, the Blue Jays hit a total of six home runs with four of them coming from Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista. However, Toronto’s pitching was the difference as they held the Yankees to only a Mark Texieira solo home run over the course of 26 innings. Since the All-Star Break, the Blue Jays’ team ERA of 2.37 is the best in the American League and second in all of baseball (Cardinals – 2.36).

To get more information on the Blue Jays before tonight’s series begins at the Rogers Centre, I spoke with Shaun Doyle, who is the senior editor of Jays Journal. Shaun told us about the atmosphere that is expected in Toronto this weekend and we each gave our takeaways from last weekend’s series. Here are the rest of the topics we discussed:

• Who needs the series more: the Blue Jays or Yankees?
• What was the main difference in last weekend’s sweep by the Blue Jays
• Pitching Matchup Breakdown
• David Price (tonight’s Blue Jays’ starter) has held opponents to a .186 batting average in his last five starts
• Ivan Nova (tonight’s Yankees’ starter) went 100+ pitches in his last start for the first time this season
• Marco Estrada (tomorrow’s Blue Jays’ starter) has a 2.35 ERA in his last five starts
• Can Masahiro Tanaka (tomorrow’s Yankees starter) avoid giving up the long ball?
• Why Drew Hutchison (Sunday’s Blue Jays’ starter) has had 11 wins, but has had a disappointing season
• Luis Severino (Sunday’s Yankees’ starter) has given up three runs in his first two starts
• Blue Jays Players To Watch: Russell Martin and Ben Revere
• Yankees Players To Watch: Brett Gardner and Mark Teixeira
• The emergence of Roberto Osuna as the Jays’ closer (12-for-13 in saves)
• Should Toronto be seriously interested in hiring Dave Dombrowski as the next president?

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