This is the series many of us have been waiting for!
General: The Yankees and Jays are both battling with the Red Sox for the AL East division title as well as with the A's for the AL wild card. A sweep by either one of these teams could greatly change the balance of power in the American League. Right now the Yankees are 4.5 back of the Red Sox and 3 back of Oakland, while Toronto is 7 back of the Sox and 5.5 behind Oakland. Both the Yankees and the Jays are starting 2 lefthanders this weekend. The Yankees are 16-15 against left-handed pitching while the Jays are 11-11.
Neither team comes into this series particularly hot, as both are 6-4 in their last ten. The Yankees are coming off of a win against the Indians to avoid a sweep while the Jays are coming off of a loss against the White Sox which prevented the White Sox from getting swept.
The Yankees are 24-29 on the road this season while the Jays are 30-22 at home. The Yankees have won 3 of 5 this season against the Jays. They'll be seeing a lot of each other over the final two months of the season, which could make for a very interesting pennant race. They're very different clubs, with the Yankees relying on a strong batting order to compensate for a weak rotation and bullpen, while the Jays are more of a pitching and defense sort of club.
* John Flaherty: Homered yesterday in game against Cleveland. Often gets starts on Sundays, so he may get the start against Josh Towers. The sixth lowest VORP in the AL at -7.1, though ahead of catchers Huckaby (-8.2) and Olivo (-12.7). Flaherty is a flyball hitter who could give Towers fits. In 51 AB against the Jays has never hit a home run.
* Jorge Posada: Last year Posada was a fairly extreme groundball hitter, this year he's been hitting a lot more flyballs. Has struggled with the bat this year, hitting just .249. The Jays will want to keep him away from Justin Speier - Posada has 2 homers in just 7 at-bats against Justin.
* Robinson Cano: Has struggled both at the plate and on the field over the last two weeks. Cano misplayed a pop-up on Wednesday and made a late throw to Jeter on a grounder, causing Jeter to make a wild rushed throw to first. Torre has kept his faith in Cano, giving him the majority of the starts at 2B. His thirteen game hitting streak earlier in the season is the longest for the Yankees this season. Likes to hit the ball on the ground, so hits into a high number of GIDPs for a left-handed hitter with his speed. Has never faced the Blue Jays.
* Jason Giambi: Has been on fire as of late, earning honors as American League player of the month for July. Led the league with 14 homers for the month - no Yankee had hit 14 in a single month since Mickey Mantle did it in July 1961. Has been splitting his time nearly equally between 1B and DH, but will likely see most of his time at DH now that Ruben Sierra is on the DL. Tied for second on the Yankees with Gary Sheffield with 21 home runs. Leads league in OBP with .447 mark, 30 points ahead of second place Travis Hafner. Leads league in OPS with 1.021, 21 points of second place A-Rod. Extreme flyball hitter that gives righties fits. Doesn't bode well for Josh Towers. Has only hit 5 home runs in his career against current Blue Jay pitchers, 3 of those off of Roy Halladay. 0 for 11 lifetime off of Pete Walker.
* Derek Jeter: Has been playing with a sore hamstring for the past week. Has been the starting shortstop in all but three of the Yankees games, with Rey Sanchez (who is on the DL) making the other three. The Yankees has 4 players in the AL Top-10 for walks, with Giambi (3rd, 60), A-Rod (4th, 59), Sheffield (5th, 57), and Jeter (10th, 49). Only 2 for 16 lifetime against Miguel Batista.
* Tino Martinez: 13th in AL in VORP for a 1B, one position behind Eric Hinske. Led the AL with 10 homeruns in May; has cooled off considerably since then. Has become a pure power hitter, with low AVG and OBP. Hitting just .195 outside of Yankee Stadium this season. Has struck out twice in three career at-bats against Gustavo Chacin.
* Andy Phillips: Has seen time at both DH and 1B; may see action this series due to the injury to Ruben Sierra. Is 2 for 13 lifetime against the Jays. He's 0 for 1 against Josh Towers and has never faced Chacin or Downs.
* Alex Rodriguez: Started every game this season at his position (third) - the only Yankee to do so. Leads the American League in VORP at 60.1, just ahead of Miguel Tejada. Next closest 3B is Jorge Cantu at 24.6. Tied with Manny Ramirez for league lead in homers with 30. Is only 2 for 13 lifetime against Josh Towers, but one of those hits was a homerun.
* Bubby Crosby: Has started at all three outfield positions this season, but is mainly used as a pinch hitter and occasional backup to Bernie Williams. Hasn't seen a lot of time against the Jays, going 1 for 10 against them in his career. His only hit was a double against Miguel Batista.
* Hideki Matsui: Has made 25 starts in center for the struggling Bernie Williams. Tied with Manny Ramirez for 1st in AL LF VORP at 38.4. Has played in every game since arriving with Yankees, before then he played 1,250 consecutive games with the Yomiuri Giants. Tied for fourth in AL with 29 doubles. Leads Yankees in GIDP with 12. Has struck out 3 times in 5 ABs against Vinnie Chulk, but 6 for 9 lieftime off of Miguel Batista.
* Gary Sheffield: 1st place overall in AL RF VORP, ahead of Vlad Guerrero. Needs 2 more homeruns to pass Andre Dawson for 31st on the all-time homerun list. Tied in second place on Yankees with Hideki Matsui with 81 RBIs, only A-Rod has more. Has hit 4 homeruns in his career off of Miguel Batista, but is hitting only .167 lifetime off of Justin Speier.
* Bernie Williams: Nearing the end of a Hall-of-Fame career. Normally a .300 hitter; batting .247 this season. Five for 9 lifetime off of Josh Towers with 3 homeruns.
* Tony Womack: The only player other than Jeter to hit out of the leadoff spot this season for the Yankees. Has made 22 starts at second, 38 in left, and 7 in center. Third lowest VORP in the American League at -8.4. Ken Huckaby has the fourth lowest at -8.2. Only compulsive base stealer on the Yankees with 23 swipes, though A-Rod and Jeter have 10 each. Extreme groundball hitter. In 46 career ABs against the Jays has never collected an extra-base hit.
* Shawn Chacon: Recently acquired from the Rockies for prospects. Will not be making a start this series.
* Alan Embree: The 44th different player and 26th different pitcher used by the Yankees this season - the 26 figure leads MLB. First player to play with both the Red Sox and the Yankees in the same season Joe Oliver in 2001. Replaced Buddy Groom as pen lefty for the Yankees. Given up 8 homeruns in only 38.1 innings. Has owned Frank Catalanotto, with Frank going 1 for 9 with 4 strikeouts against Embree.
* Wayne Franklin: Signed as a free agent with the Yankees on April 4th after appearing in spring training as a Giant. Token second lefty out of pen. Has only faced Hillenbrand, Koskie, and Cat only the Jays roster. Hillenbrand has a double and a homer in 4 career ABs against Franklin.
* Tom Gordon: Probably the best set-up man in baseball, with apologies to Justin Speier. The Jays have hit Gordon well in the past - Koskie is 5 for 7 lifetime against Flashand Zaun is 3 for 8 with 2 doubles.
* Randy Johnson: Second in the league in strikeouts, behind Johan Satana of the Twins. Third in the league in saves, behind Bob Wickman and Joe Nathan. Has hit 9 batters this season - I can only imagine how much it hurts to be plunked by Randy Johnson. Has allowed 23 homeruns this season, the most since 2002. Vernon Wells is 0 for 7 with 3 strikeouts against Randy.
* Al Leiter: Averging 20.34 pitches per inning since becoming a Yankee. Has 75 walks vs. 66 strikeouts, so the Jays will need to be patient against Leiter (this means you, Vernon Wells). Since he's spent most of his career in the NL, most of the Jays have not seen him before. Shea Hillenbrand is slugging .636 against Leiter in 13 career ABs.
* Mike Mussina: Will not be making a start this series.
* Scott Proctor: Pretty generic 28 year old righty reliever. The Jays are 4 for 16 against Proctor lifetime, with one of those 4 being a homerun by Vernon Wells.
* Mariano Rivera: Unfreaking hittable. The secret to beating Rivera is to have a lead late in the game so he stays on the bench. Or have Reed Johnson or Shea Hillenbrand lean into a pitch to get first. Only pitcher with over 20 IP to have an ERA under 1 (0.95) in the American League. The only Jay to hit over .250 against Rivera is Eric Hinske who is 2 for 5 lifetime against him. Mind you, Eric has also struck out his other 3 times he's faced Mariano.
* Felix Rodriguez: Missed 55 games with a "torn medial meniscus of the left knee". Has been moderately successful since his return. Has spent most of his career in the NL - only Shea Hillenbrand has more than 3 ABs against Rodriguez.
* Aaron Small: Pitched in one game for the 1994 Blue Jays. Before this season had 3 career starts, all for the 1996 Oakland A's. Is 2-0 for the Yankees in 2 starts (3 appearances) this season. No current Jay has ever faced Small. Success this season seems to be largely smoke and mirrors, as he has walked as many batters as he's struck out (4).
* Tanyon Sturtze: Called one of "Torre's guys" along with Gordon and Rivera by Buddy Groom. Mainly used as the long man in the pen, but has also made one start this season. Tanyon has been pretty effective for the Yankees this season with 13 walks, 31 strikeouts and 5 homers in 58.1 IP. Shea Hillenbrand has only a 632 OPS in 26 AB against Sturtze.
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