The New York Yankees are struggling on offense and with the Alex Rodriguez drama seemingly building more and more each day, the team needs a win and after losing 3-1 against Texas on Wednesday night after Andy Pettitte started, the two squads will go at it in the afternoon at the Ballpark in Arlington.
The Yankees will be throwing Hiroki Kuroda against Derek Holland for the Rangers and this game comes after Matt Garza made his debut for the team and won to improve to 7-1, while Pettitte fell to 7-8 on the season. Closer Joe Nathan made up for his blown save the night before for his 32nd of the year and it made up for dropping the Rangers to 51-1 while leading after eight innings this season. Holland is 8-5 on the year and the Yankees are desperate for some offense after ranking 22nd in runs, 25th in batting average and 29th in slugging this season.
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The Yankees are facing the super-hot Rays next, so winning is important on Wednesday as they try to stop a losing streak from starting and since they are now seven games back in the AL East, it will be very important to get things moving in the right direction again. Garza allowed only one unearned run after a throwing error and that was all the Yankees could muster as they lost and this all comes as the A-Rod scandal gets worse, including him going to another doctor for a second opinion, something that Brian Cashman surely did not like.
Rodriguez could be facing a lifetime ban or one of over 100 games and that could come any day, as the team is hoping that he can return soon (maybe). The Rangers have been solid this year against the Yanks, winning four of six games and now they can win the four game series with a victory on Wednesday. Holland threw a 2-0 shutout last time he faced the Yankees and he has turned things around from back when he was 0-5 with an 8.85 ERA in his last eight meetings with the team and it will be a chance for him to win at home for the first time in two months.
The Rangers pitching has been fantastic during this series and is under 3.00 while the Yankees are hitting under .200 in the three games and now the team looks even stronger with the addition of Garza. The Yankees are hanging in there with injuries at 53-48, but if they don't start playing more consistently on offense, the team likely won't make the playoffs and they are now relying on Kuroda, who has been one of their most consistent started with a s 2-0 record with a 0.95 ERA over his last three starts and they hope that he can pull that off again.
Kuroda pitched and won 5-2 against the Red Sox on Saturday and the Yankees need another start like that to get back on track again in the division, as Boston is starting to run away with things and the Rays have been playing so well that it might end up being a battle between those two, leaving the Yankees to duke it out for the wild card and that's it, which will be hard in itself with the Orioles, Rangers, Athletics, Angels, Indians and other teams looking to get one of the two spots.
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