Yankees-Orioles Preview
It's easy to look at Alex Rodriguez's brutal offensive numbers and say the Yankees won't be missing much without him, but given the state of the rest of the lineup there's little New York can afford to lose.
There's been nothing reliable about the rotation either other than Masahiro Tanaka, who gets the ball in Thursday night's finale against the Baltimore Orioles looking to help the Yankees win their first road series.
Rodriguez went on the disabled list Wednesday with a strained right hamstring suffered while running out a grounder in Tuesday's 4-1 loss to the Orioles (15-11). He's one of two New York regulars hitting under .200 - Chase Headley is at .153 - but there seemed to be early signs of a renaissance with six extra-base hits in Rodriguez's last 19 at-bats.
''I thought I was seeing the ball better, and the quality of my at-bats were better,'' he said.
''I can't think of a worse time to go on the DL. The whole offense has been struggling. I talked to the team (Tuesday) and I said there is no reason we can't score five runs per night.''
It seems like the Yankees (9-16) believed him. After recording one hit through five innings Wednesday, New York scored three runs in the sixth and four in the eighth in a 7-0 rout.
''Something like this can get a team going,'' manager Joe Girardi said. ''Hopefully it does.''
The Yankees don't figure to need a ton of offense with Tanaka (1-0, 2.87 ERA) on the mound. The right-hander has been both good and consistent through his five starts, giving up two earned runs in each and pitching at least into the seventh in the past three. The rest of the rotation has a 5.45 ERA even after CC Sabathia's seven scoreless innings Wednesday.
Tanaka was one out away from getting through seven without any damage Friday in Boston before allowing a two-run double in a game New York went on to lose 4-2.
"It's obviously tough," Tanaka said. "I thought I pitched really well tonight. Balls were coming out of the hand really good, but it was that last out that I needed to get. That's on me."
Tanaka has been fantastic early in starts, holding hitters to a .119 average (5 for 42) the first time through the order.
This will be his first outing at Camden Yards after making four starts against Baltimore in the Bronx. He's 1-1 with a 3.03 ERA, striking out 33 in 29 2/3 innings. Tanaka has made it through seven in each outing, but he's surrendered six homers - two to Jonathan Schoop and one apiece to Chris Davis, Manny Machado, the injured J.J. Hardy and Ryan Flaherty.
Kevin Gausman (0-1, 2.45) probably is happy he won't have to deal with Rodriguez, who's 4 for 8 with two homers in their matchups.
The right-hander has made two starts after opening on the disabled list with shoulder tendinitis. Opponents are hitting .175 against him in 11 innings after he gave up four hits and three runs over six Saturday against the White Sox.
The Orioles have totaled five runs in their last three games after scoring 23 in the previous three, but Machado has shown no signs of slowing down. He doubled twice Wednesday, raising his average to .355 and tying him for the major league lead with his 13th multihit game.
Machado's .456 average at home is easily baseball's best among hitters with at least 40 plate appearances.