Series Preview: New York Yankees @ Toronto Blue Jays (6/1–6/4)
After another
series loss against the Baltimore Orioles in Baltimore, the Yankees will travel
north of the border to face the Toronto Blue Jays in the Rogers Centre. The
Yankees come into the series still in first place at 30-20 and the Blue Jays
are 26-27, which seems bad, but they had a very good May and have won eight of
their last ten games. The American League East is becoming a closer division,
and the Yankees need to come out of this series with at least a split, if they
want to keep pace in their surprise season. The Blue Jays have a ton of
momentum, and if the Yankees don’t approach this series with caution and high
intensity, they could be in trouble. Here are the matchups and game times:
CC Sabathia (5-2 4.42 ERA) vs Marco Estrada (4-2
3.15 ERA)
TV: YES, MLB Network, SNET-1
Game one will feature
two veteran pitchers. The Yankees will send CC Sabathia to the mound who in his
up and down season is currently coming off of three very good starts where he
has not allowed more than two earned runs and even struck out a season high
nine Oakland A’s last week. CC has had some success against the hitters in the
Blue Jays lineup, but they have a ton of right handed power, so CC will need to
avoid giving up the long ball. Troy Tulowitzki has hit .364 in his career against
Sabathia, but his fellow slugger Jose Bautista sports a mere .143 batting
average with eleven strikeouts.
Marco Estrada will
pitch for Toronto. Estrada has found a home in Toronto and has been arguably
their most reliable pitcher in recent seasons. Estrada will not overpower
hitters, but will mix speeds and throw his changeup often to induce weak
contact. His weakness is the fact that he is a fly ball pitcher, which could
play in the Yankees favor, as they are one of baseball’s best home run hitting
teams this season. Starlin Castro and Gary Sanchez have career averages above
.400 against Estrada.
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| Photo Credit: Elite Sports NY |
Michael Pineda (5-2 3.32 ERA) vs Francisco
Liriano (2-2 6.35 ERA)
TV: YES, MLB Network, SNET-1
The Yankees have an
edge in the pitching matchup in game two as Michael Pineda will take the mound
against Francisco Liriano. Pineda has finally found the consistency that the
Yankees have been wanting ever since he was acquired for Jesus Montero. He has
not allowed double digit hits nor allowed more than three runs in any of his
last six starts. Blue Jays hitters are also hitting a combined .199 in their
careers against Pineda.
Liriano will be making
his first start since May 10, when he squares off against Pineda in game two. Liriano
had not pitched well before he landed on the disabled list in early May. He has
a 6.35 ERA and an insanely high WHIP of 1.91. When a pitcher allows almost two
baserunners an inning, that is bad news for his team. Liriano’s Achilles heel is the fact that
he walks a ton of batters and that inflates his pitch count early. While there is no
denying Liriano has the potential to be a serviceable starter, this is a game
where the Yankees need to take advantage of his poor start and come out of the
gates firing. They need to be selective and force him to pitch to the hitters’
zones. Brett Gardner, Matt Holliday, and Gary Sanchez have all had success against
him in the past.
GAME THREE (Saturday, June 3 | First Pitch: 1:07 PM ET)
Jordan Montgomery (2-4 4.11 ERA) vs Joe Biagini
(1-3 3.64 ERA)
TV: YES, MLB Network, SNET-1
Game three will see
the Yankees sending Jordan Montgomery to the mound. Montgomery pitched
extremely well two starts ago against Kansas City, but some poor luck and good
at-bats resulted in Montgomery not making it past the fifth inning for the
first time in May. Montgomery has had some control issues, which hinder his
outings more often than not. The key in this game for Montgomery is to attack
the zone and not be over intimidated by the Blue Jays offense. He needs to keep
the ball in the ballpark and mix his pitches wisely.
Swingman Joe Biagini
will start for Toronto. Biagini was used primarily out of the bullpen in the
beginning of his Major League career, but injuries to most of the Jays rotation
has given him the opportunity to be stretched out as a starter. While his
numbers are not dominant, his 3.64 ERA is serviceable and he has given them
many opportunities to win ball games. He pitched 95 pitches in his last outing,
so he should be stretched out to pitch deeper into games, but the bullpen has been a factor in almost all
his starts this season, as he has not pitched past the sixth inning in any of
his starts. Both teams have had little experience against the two
starters, so it should make for an interesting afternoon for the respective
offenses.
GAME FOUR (Sunday, June 4 | First Pitch: 1:07 PM ET)
Luis Severino (4-2 2.93 ERA) vs Marcus Stroman
(6-2 3.28 ERA)
TV: YES, MLB Network, SNET-1
In what will likely be the best pitching matchup
of the series, game four will feature two young, exciting pitchers. Luis
Severino will pitch for the Yankees. Severino has arguably been the Yankees best pitcher
this season and is the only starter in this series with a sub 3.00 ERA. His 2015 form is coming back, and he truly looks like he could be
an ace on this pitching staff. The Blue Jays, however, have owned him, and their
current hitters own a combined .962 OPS against Sevy. If Severino wants to
prove to the baseball world that he should be feared by all teams, this is a
crucial outing for him.
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| SI.com |
Marcus Stroman is coming off a very strong start
against the Reds and for the most part was phenomenal in all of May. His worst
start actually came against the Yankees in the Bronx, when he allowed five runs
in three innings. He had to leave that game with pain in his armpit area but
rebounded in his next start against the Indians. He has pitched historically
well against the Yankees, but if they use the similar attack early in the count
approach that they used on May 3, then they could put some runs up quickly on
the young righty.
Players to watch
Yankees:
Rob Refsynder
Refsynder’s days
as a Yankee could be coming to an end. Jacoby Ellsbury is set to come back soon
as he is progressing well, and Ref will certainly be sent down as the
corresponding move once Ells is activated. The predicament is that Refsynder is
almost out of options, so if he is sent down he must stay on the Yankees roster
for the remainder of the season, if they choose to call him up again this
season. If they do not, he will have to put on waivers and could be snagged by
another team. Nevertheless, Ref is on the team now and has played decently in
his minimal at-bats. After a multi-hit game yesterday, Ref could see more
at-bats at first base over the dismal Chris Carter. He will need to do his best
to prove to the Yanks that he deserves a spot in their future plans.
Brett Gardner
Brett Gardner
has been on a tear since May started as he has hit more home runs in May alone,
than he did all of last season. While some fans are quick to scream “Steroids!”,
Gardner has made noticeable changes to his approach. He is being more aggressive
on pitches in the strike zone early in the count and is not taking lazy swings
at off speed pitches out of the zone like he did in April. His bat speed has been phenomenal
and to go along with it he is running well and playing good defense. Gardner got
snubbed on the first All-Star voting ballot update, as he was out of the top
ten for outfielders. Expect him to continue hitting well and play with a chip
on his shoulder all series.
CC Sabathia
CC Sabathia has
had people say this season that he has been reborn as a pitcher of finesse and at
times had people say that he should be taken out of the rotation. His last three
starts have been in favor of the first predicament, and this start should be a
true test for Sabathia’s season. He is out to prove that he just had a rough
patch at the end of April and that he can provide quality starts in order to
give the Yankees a chance to win.
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| Elite Sports NY |
Blue Jays:
Josh Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki
Part of the
reason the Blue Jays have had early season struggles is the fact that Donaldson
and Tulo have missed extended periods of time with injury. It is pretty
challenging to compete in Major League Baseball, when two perennial All-Stars
are on the shelf with injuries. Both players have already had big hits since
they have returned and should be key contributors to the Blue Jays success this
weekend.
Jose Bautista
Joey Bats got
off to a dismal start to the 2017 campaign, but has been on a tear in the month
of May. He is hitting .320 with nine homers, three of which have been in the
past week. It was only a matter of time until the bat flip king started playing
how he typically does. Bautista has hit fifteen long balls in the past three seasons against
the Bronx Bombers, which is second most among all teams he has played against. Yankees starting
pitching, outside of Masahiro Tanaka, has been strong as of late, but they are susceptible
to the home run, so Bautista needs to be pitched to with extra care.
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| Sportsnet |
Even though the
Blue Jays have not met expectations so far, this season, this series should
contain some fantastic baseball games and be a strong indicator of whether the
Yankees are contenders or pretenders. Expect emotional play and do not be surprised
if these games have a playoff like atmosphere to them as the Blue Jays are trying
their hardest to silence the early season critics.
Article by: Ryan Thoms
Follow @BronxBomberBall
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