The Los Angeles Dodgers don't come to the East coast too often and it is a very rare sight for the team to be playing in Yankee Stadium and that is exactly what is going down on Wednesday as the teams are set to play a doubleheader after Tuesday's game was cancelled for rain.
There are many storylines heading into the matchup between the two teams and one of the biggest ones is the fact that the Dodgers haven't played at the Stadium since the 1981 World Series. Adding to the intrigue is the return of manager Don Mattingly to Yankee Stadium, as well as the fact that both teams are chasing the first place teams in their divisions, although the dodgers are further out than the Yankees.
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The Yanks will throw Hiroki Kuroda in the early game at 1:05 on Wednesday and he will go up against Hyun-Jin Ryu, who has been excellent this season for the Dodgers while going 6-2 with a sub-three ERA on the year. Kuroda is pitching in his scheduled spot and manager Joe Girardi decided to push Phil Hughes into the later game after the game was suspended last night. Kuroda is 6-5 on the season with a 2.78 ERA and he has been pitching well of late and the Yankees need to get some wins going as they come back from a west coast road trip.
The Yankees are 38-31 overall this season and they have a 19-13 home record coming into today's game, while the Dodgers are 10 games under .500 and are 10-19 on the road this season. It would be a huge boost for either team to win one or both games and the dodgers really could use it, as they have lost six of their past eight games, including a loss on Sunday 6-3 against the Pirates.
Mattingly returns to the stadium after playing in six All Star games and winning an MVP and nine gold gloves with the Yankees and he also previously coached under Joe Torre before moving to LA. The day night double header adds some history to the matchup and the two teams will be playing for the first time in the Bronx in many years as the interleague series lasts two games. The Yankees need some offense after Mark Teixeira hit the DL again and the team hit just .199 over the last nine games and perhaps a return home will help spark the offense. The team also will be without Kevin Youkilis for a while, as he needs back surgery and may be out up to 12 weeks.
