What an exhausting past week of baseball this has been. The Yankees have engaged in a succession of nail-biting games, struggled mightily to put runs on the board, and failed to make an upgrade at catcher as the Rays and white-hot Red Sox both made upgrades behind the plate ahead of the trade deadline. The deadline itself passed ahead of the Yankees’ matchup with the Cardinals, it remains to be seen just how much the roster has improved in its wake.
And yet, the Yankees remain in the fight. That frustrating
road trip in which the bats largely flailed aimlessly? They finished 6-4, splitting a four-game set with the White Sox and riding outstanding pitching performances to take a weekend series from the Cubs. Despite the Boston’s newfound invincibility, New York maintains a 2.5-game edge on the Red Sox while only sitting another 2.5 games back of Tampa for the division lead. Luis Garcia Jr., who sported the best slugging percentage in the National League before the Nationals traded him to New York, is in the starting lineup. And the best pitcher in the American League this season will toe the slab in the Boogie-Down.
Cam Schlittler will kick off the homestand for the Bombers. His recent starts at Yankee Stadium have been rockier than the unflappable ace which has continued to dominate on the road. A few weeks back, the Dodgers gave him everything he could handle, spoiling his pitches and waiting him out in a frustrating 4.1-inning losing effort. He still leads the AL in ERA and WAR, largely on the strength of only surrendering 11 earned runs in 89.2 innings away from the Bronx. Tonight he’ll face a Cardinals lineup which has run cold since the All-Star Break.
Michael McGreevy is a pitcher very of-his-era for the Cardinals, who have generally preferred ground-ball pitchers over high-strikeout hurlers. McGreevy sports a perfectly respectable 3.57 ERA through 21 starts, with a seven-pitch mix which doesn’t miss bats but can generally clip his opponents’ wings. Like many of his teammates, however, the start of the second half has been unkind to the former first-rounder out of UC Santa Barbara. Last time out, the Cubs sent him to the showers early, stacking seven runs on eight hits before the end of the second inning. The Yankee offense, reinforced by the addition of Garcia, will hope to make him labor tonight.
How to Watch:
Location: Yankee Stadium — Bronx, NY
First Pitch: 7:05 pm EDT
TV broadcast: YES / Cardinals.TV
Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9FM, WADO 1280 / KMOX 1120 AM/104.1 FM
Online stream: MLB Network (out-of-market-only)
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