Jays vs Yankees - April 19-20

Tuesday, April 19 2011 @ 03:22 PM EDT

The Yankees are at the Fabulous ThunderDome for a quick two game series with 7:07 start times for each.  The Yankees have won four of five while the Jays have dropped three in a row to crap, er, cap off a 3-7 road trip.  Toronto won 10 of the 18 games in the season series last season.

Yankee Doodles...

• Russell Martin, who received interest from the Jays during the off-season, has hit .289 with four homers so far this season.  Maybe it has to do with the colour of his fingernails.
• According to the Yankees press notes, Derek Jeter is the career hits leader against the Jays with 282 safeties.
• Eric Chavez, who drove in the winning run during Sunday's game against Texas, is off to a .467 start to the season.  He took over for Alex Rodriguez, who is battling back stiffness.  The team hopes A-Rod will be back for the series opener.
• Righty Lance Pendleton has been called up from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to replace fellow righty Phil Hughes, who is on the 15-Day Disabled List with a dead arm.
• Lefty Pedro Feliciano is trying to avoid the knife as he rehabilitates his sore shoulder...
• Former Cubs pitching phenom Mark Prior is one step away from returning to the bigs.  The righty will be pitching at Triple-A in Moosic, PA. 
• The nephew of the man who created the Yankees Top Hat logo is looking to take the team to court.

Projected Starters...

Tuesday

#34 (3-0, 3.67) will be on the hill for the Yankees Tuesday against Kyle Drabek (1-0, 1.93).  The former Jay has yet to lose in April since defecting for the Evil Empire in 2009.  FanGraphs.com says he is throwing 8 percent more changeups so far in 2011 as compared to last year while decreasing his fastball use by six percent and his curve by nearly three percent.  Burnett's heater is around 93 miles per hour, his changeup is around 88 MPH and his curve is around 82.

• Vs. #34...Hill (6-20, .300), Rivera (3-10, .300), Bautista (4-9, .444), Encarnacion (3-8, .375), Molina (2-6, .333), Nix (1-1, 1.000).
• Vs. Drabek...Jeter, Gardner, Posada, Rodriguez & Teixeira (1-2, .500).

Wednesday

2005 AL Cy Young winner Bartolo Colon (0-1. 3.97) gets the start for the Pinstripes on Wednesday against lefty Brett Cecil (1-1, 6.19).  Colon's been relying on a 90-91 MPH heater over 80 percent of the time while mixing in a slider and change around 82.  Colon did not pitch in the bigs in 2010. 

• Vs. Colon...Lind (2-5, .400), Patterson (1-3, .333), Bautista (1-2, .500).
• Vs. Cecil...Jeter (6-19, .316), Posado & Cano (5-17, .294), Rodriguez (4-14, .286), Gardner (3-8, .375).  

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