Boston Red Sox v. New York Yankees
Yankee Stadium, The Bronx, New York
The Red Sox travel to New York for a pivotal four game series against the Yankees (51-36) in the hopes of putting away the American League East before the All Star break. So far this season, Boston is 3-2 against New York, including a split of a two-game series earlier this season. Boston currently leads New York by 8 games in the AL East.
Of course, the Yankees are going to be without star shortstop Derek Jeter for the rest of the season, after the team captain suffered a fractured arm. Jeter joins Phil Hughes, Carl Pavano, Bobby Abreau and Jonathan Albaladejo on the DL. With Jeter in the lineup, New York has led the American League in batting average (.287), slugging (.461), runs scored (496) in addition to being second in the AL in ERA (3.91). Rookie starter Joba Chamberlain has pitched extremely well for the Yankees, running up a 12-6 record along with a 3.11 ERA. With the exception of Andy Pettitte (4.83), the rest of the Yankees pitching staff has an ERA under 4.
The Sox are coming with eight wins in their last 9 games, pushing their lead in the AL East to a season high eight games over New York. A series win will push Boston to atleast 10 games ahead fo New York, a tough position for any team to overcome.
Pitching Probables:
7/3: Daisuke Matsuzaka (11-4, 3.46 ERA) v. Andy Pettitte (5-7, 4.83)
7/4: Tim Wakefield (10-4, 3.51) v. Dan Giese (6-4, 3.69)
7/5: Jon Lester (9-4, 4.08) v. Joba Chamberlain (12-6, 3.11)
7/6: Clay Buchholz (7-3, 4.55) v. Mike Mussina (9-4, 3.94)