Yankees notes : who's hot/not , pitching match ups & postseason presale

The bombers have just a game and a half lead in the division with just four home games left during the regular season. The Yanks and Rays have lived up to the expectation of a race till the end, and tonight it gets even better. CC Sabathia and David Price will be on the hill, two potential Cy Young award winners battling for the division. Last Monday the pair of lefties faced off and each proved why they each deserve consideration for the award, throwing a combined 16 innings and allowing just five hits combined. So expect a pitchers dual tonight at the stadium. The Yankees win and the lead goes back up to 2 1/2 games but if they lost it will be just 1/2 game with nine games remaining.The Yankees magic number to clinch a playoff birth is three.        

The pitching match ups for the final Yankees vs Red Sox series in the Bronx for 2010 :

Friday 7:05 YES Network: Andy Pettitte (11-2) vs Josh Becket (5-5).

Pettitte will make his first start at home since suffering the groin injury in July. While Josh Beckett, who has been beat up by the Yankees over his career (except in the 2003 World Series) attempts to prevent the Yankees from clinching a playoff birth.  Beckett has a career 6.23 ERA against the Yankees and needs to watch out for Robinson Cano who has hit .341 against him along with three homers.

Saturday 4:05 Fox : Jon Lester(18-8) vs Ivan Nova (1-0).
Looks like a mismatch for the Yankees who will go with the inexperienced Nova. Nova has pitched well the first two times through the line up and then hits a bump in the road. Lester on the other hand never hits bumps against the Yanks (5-1 3.63 ERA ). Cano (.227), Posada (.231) and Nick Swisher (.133) all had had their struggles with Lester over their career. This one looks like a win for the BoSox.

Sunday 8:05 ESPN : Daisuke Matsuzaka (9-6) vs Phil Hughes (17-8)
You know its a Yankees-Red Sox weekend when Fox and ESPN each have a game that they are airing, even if the Red Sox are out of it. The Yanks have hit Dice-k hard (ERA 6.31) but the Red Sox have done the same to Hughes (5.81) , so expect a slug fest for the final regular season home game.

Who's hot
Curtis Granderson may be only hitting .256 but his four home runs and 12 RBI have helped the bombers beat up on the Rays in the first two games of the series. Curtis also has drawn seven walks.

Shh don't look now but Derek Jeter has an 11 game hit streak and over that time is hitting .357. So much for Jeter being finished for his career, the hot streak comes at the perfect time. Lets hope he can keep this up during the post season.

Could Cano pick a better time to continue his hot hitting ? Over his last 10 games hitting .350, while driving in nine. Josh Hamilton has been sidelined since September 4th, suddenly Cano could really make a fight for why he should be MVP.


Who's not
Tex has been battling injuries since the end of August and it has shown hitting just .176 during this month with out a home run.

Austin Kearns had looked like a great pick up when he first came over for Cleveland but recently has cooled off , hitting just .214 and battling a few nagging injuries.

Last thing don't forget that if you are a Yankees partial season ticket plan holder that the pre-sale is tomorrow starting at 10:00 AM. Your password for the sale can be found in you Yankees account manager page.

Sunday Preview : A.J Burnett vs Josh Beckett

It seems that every time the Yanks and Sox get together, A.J Burnett and Josh Beckett face off. Well once again tonight on ESPN sunday night baseball the two former Marlin teammates will face each other at the stadium. Its always a good match up on paper but when its game time it turns into a slug fest. Burnett was brought to the Bronx for many reasons, one was for his dominance over the Red Sox. Well since coming to the Bronx, Burnett has had his struggles with the Sox. The same could be said about Josh Beckett, the pitcher that dominated the Yanks in the 2003 World Series. Outside of the 2003 World Series, Beckett has had his struggles against the bombers, although his record is 9-6 he has an ERA of 5.95.  So with that all said lets take a look at what tonight's game could be like, from past times that Burnett and Beckett have faced off.

April 25,2009 Fenway Park

It would be the first time that A.J Burnett would face the Red Sox wearing the pinstripes. The Yankees jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first off Beckett and didn't stop their, tacking on 4 more runs, giving Burnett a 6-0 lead. In the bottom of the fourth is when Burnett would run into some trouble giving up 5 runs, and then gave up another three in the bottom of the fifth. That would be all for A.J for the day and he would leave with a line of 5 innings pitched , 8 hits, 3 walks and 8 earned runs. Lucky for A.J although he blew a 6-0 lead the Yanks would get him off the hook with a 2 run homer by Johnny Damon off Josh Beckett. Beckett would also only pitch 5 innings and gave up 8 earned runs. The Yankees managed to let this game slip away from them when the bullpen blew up just as bad as Burnett. The final was Boston 16 New York 11.

June 9, 2009 Fenway Park

The Yanks had been rolling high heading into Fenway winning 6 out of their last 8 games and managed to find themselves going into the game in first with a one game lead over the Red Sox. A.J Burnett was unable to keep the momentum going just 2.2 innings and getting knocked around for 5 runs (3 ER, 2 runs scored due to a A-Rod error). Burnett's main issue was command, walking five batters. Beckett on the other hand had no issue with command giving up just two walks and while striking out eight. Beckett had the advantage on this one and pitched like it was the 2003 World Series giving up just one hit. The final score from Fenway Park ,Boston 7 New York 0

August 7, 2009 Yankee Stadium

A year ago yesterday Burnett and Beckett faced off in a classic pitchers dual in the Bronx. Burnett pitched 7.2 scoreless innings while only allowing a single hit. Josh Beckett was also matching zero's pitching seven innings, giving up just four hits and zero runs. Many Yankees fans remember this game because the game would go on for 15 innings ! Finally the bombers prevailed when Alex Rodriguez hit a 2 run home run off Junichi Tazawa to deep left field. The final Yankees 2 Red Sox 0

August 8 , 2010 Yankee Stadium

So tonight's game could go either way. We have seen the pair toss up zero's, but also get roughed up. Some players that each pitcher has to watch out for tonight.

A.J Burnett has struggled against : Marco Scutaro is hitting .316, and David Ortiz has 3 home runs and 8 RBI

Josh Beckett has struggled against : Robinson Cano .341,3 HR, 10 RBI , Derek Jeter .314 2 HR , 4 RBI and Alex Rodriguez .279 2 HR 10 RBI.