Friday MLB: Minnesota Twins (18-17) at New York Yankees (17-17)
Have the New York Yankees finally figured things out? They have won three of four and just took a series against AL East-leading Toronto to get back to .500.
Now the Yanks begin a 10-game homestand at the launching pad known as the new Yankee Stadium, beginning Friday night against the Minnesota Twins.
New York has opened as a -131 money line favorite on WagerWeb.com behind Phil Hughes, who has been getting steadily worse after a great first start for the big club. Last time out against the Orioles, Hughes (1-2. 8.49 ERA) set a career high with eight runs allowed as Baltimore sent 13 batters to the plate in the second inning. He allowed eight hits, walking two and striking out none in not making it out of the second.
It looks like that April 28 start where he allowed just two hits in six scoreless innings against the Tigers was a fluke. This will be his first career start against Minnesota.
Derek Jeter (strained oblique) and Hideki Matsui (sore hamstring) returned to the lineup for Thursday’s 3-2 victory at Toronto, but the Yankees are still without their top two catchers (Jorge Posada, hamstring; Jose Molina, quadriceps), so Kevin Cash and Francisco Cervelli will handle the catching duties this weekend.
In his first week since returning from hip surgery, New York’s Alex Rodriguez was batting .143 with just a homer and four RBIs. But this will be his first game at the new stadium, where there have been an incredible 47 homers in 13 games. It will be interesting to see how the home fans treat him. But all those homers are not good news for a Yankee pitching staff that has an ERA of 5.64, worst in the American League.
Maybe that it’s the “new” Yankee Stadium will help the Twins, as they were just 5-21 at the old Yankee Stadium under manager Ron Gardenhire (including playoffs).
The Twins start lefty Francisco Liriano tonight. Liriano (2-4, 5.75 ERA) has won consecutive starts since beginning the season 0-4. But last time out he wasn’t that good, allowing five earned runs on six hits and two walks while striking out four in five innings to Seattle. This will be Liriano’s first career start against New York.
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