Phil Hughes looks to follow-up on his solid first outing of the season and continue a stretch in which Yankee starters have earned the victory in all five games of the current winning streak. In his first game, Hughes unveiled a slightly different arsenal that relied more on a cutter and less on a curveball. He also mixed in a couple of change-ups, something he may use a lot more tonight against the A’s lefty laden lineup.
The A’s counter with the often injured Ben Sheets, who has a strong 2.65 ERA in 17 innings over three starts this season. The more telling statistic, however, may be his BB/K ration of 10 to 8. If Sheets is unable to get ahead and pound the strike zone, he’ll be ripe for another early exit by an opposition starting pitcher.
In other prominent news, Chad Jennings reported that Joba Chamberlain is now the official 8th inning setup men. Of course, had he been in that role yesterday, he wouldn’t have been available to strike out Ken Kouzmanoff with the bases loaded in the 7th. Hopefully, Girardi will be flexible enough to use Joba earlier in the game when the situation dictates it. According to Jennings, Chamberlain is available tonight.
| vs. Ben Sheets | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | HR | RBI |
| Derek Jeter SS | 4 | 0.333 | 0.500 | 0.333 | 0 | 0 |
| Nick Johnson DH | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Mark Teixeira 1B | 4 | 0.250 | 0.250 | 0.250 | 0 | 0 |
| Alex Rodriguez 3B | 3 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Robinson Cano 2B | 3 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Jorge Posada C | 3 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Curtis Granderson CF | 3 | 0.000 | 0.333 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Randy Winn RF | 7 | 0.167 | 0.286 | 0.167 | 0 | 0 |
| Brett Gardner LF | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 27 | 0.125 | 0.2222 | 0.125 | 0 | 0 |
| vs. Phil Hughes | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | HR | RBI |
| Cliff Pennington SS | 1 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Daric Barton 1B | 1 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 2.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Ryan Sweeney RF | 1 | 0.000 | 1.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Kurt Suzuki C | 2 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Eric Chavez DH | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 1 |
| Kevin Kouzmanoff 3B | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Gabe Gross CF | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Adam Rosales 2B | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Eric Patterson LF | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 5 | 0.250 | 0.400 | 0.500 | 0 | 0 |
- Robinson Cano is 0 for his last 29 at the McAfee Coliseum.
- Alex Rodriguez’ 585 home runs leave him one behind Frank Robinson for 7th place on the all-time list.
- Ben Sheets only career start against the Yankees was a 7-inning shutout effort on June 7, 2005, when he was a member of the Milwaukee Brewers.
- With another victory against the A’s, the Yankees will notch their fifth consecutive series win to start the season, a franchise record matched only by the 1926 ball club.
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