If you have no idea what I’m talking about, click here.
As for the rest of the series, the A’s are no slouch. They’re second in the AL West (well behind Texas) and hold the best team ERA in the league.
The Athletics pitching really has been phenomenal this year. However, I credit a lot of that success to their pitcher-friendly ballpark. Here are the splits:
Home: 2.86 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 458 Ks
Away: 4.17 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 397 Ks
The Yankees are just 14-13 in August, easily their worst month of the year, but still hold a share of the division lead and a 6.5-game lead over the Red Sox.
Head to Head:
The Yankees have won four of their six games against the Athletics this season, and swept them in Oakland last month. The Yankees need to take two games to secure a season series victory.
Pitching Matchups:
| Date: | Athletics starters | Yankees starters |
| Mon., 7:05 p.m. | Trevor Cahill (14-5, 2.43) | Dustin Moseley (4-2, 4.53) |
| Tues., 7:05 p.m. | Vin Mazzaro (6-6, 3.61) | Phil Hughes (15-6, 4.12) |
| Wed., 7:07 p.m. | B. Anderson (3-5, 3.32) | A.J. Burnett (9-12, 5.17) |
| Thurs., 1:05 p.m. | Dallas Braden (9-9, 3.28) | CC Sabathia (18-5, 3.14) |
Lineup Notes: Mark Teixeira is in the lineup tonight. He was in last night’s originally, but he was a late scratch. We’ll see if he’s healthy enough to play tonight.
Prediction:
The Yankees have a tough matchup tonight against a top candidate for the Cy Young Award, but I like the pitching matchups for the Yankees in the rest of the series. I bet Burnett brings his A-game Wednesday too. I say the Yanks take three out of four.
