Yankees Game 3 Preview

Tonight's Lineup

With the series between the Yankees and Orioles tied at 1-1, tonight is a must win for the Bronx Bombers. The pitching matchup for tonight's game will be Yankee Hiroki Kuroda (16-11 3.32 ERA) vs rookie Oriole Miguel Gonzalez (9-4 3.25 ERA). Whoever comes out on top tonight will set themselves up with two chances to put away their opponents, so tonight's game is paramount in winning this series. Here are a few keys to tonight's game.

Power Struggle
Through two games of this series so far the Yankees, who led the entire MLB in home runs with 245 of them during the regular season, have hit just one off the bat of catcher Russell Martin in the 9th inning of Game 1. The Orioles are no stranger to the long ball as well, as they finished second in the entire MLB in home runs with 214, but they have yet to hit one in this series.


The "small ball" game plan of manufacturing runs though singles, sacrifices, and stolen bases should play less of a role tonight in the hitter friendly Yankee Stadium. Whoever uses the home run to their advantage better, whether it be at a timely moment, with men on base, or both, will walk away with the victory tonight.

A-Rod This, A-Rod That....What About Everyone Else?
Yankee third baseman and three-hitter Alex Rodriguez has struggled in the first two games going just 1-9 (.111 AVG) with one single and five strikeouts. The three-hitter is right smack in the middle of the lineup and is a spot in the order that needs to generate runs and even though A-Rod isn't producing, manager Joe Girardi will stick with his guns tonight and leave him in the three hole.

Despite A-Rod having a tough series, it is hard to single him out when everyone around him is having a lackluster time at the plate as well. Curtis Granderson, Nick Swisher, and Russell Martin are a combined 3-19 (.158) and without A-Rod and this group of guys producing it will be very hard to win ballgames. All four must step up in order to get a win tonight.

Bullpen?
So far the Yankees starting pitching has gone at least seven innings in each of their two outings, meaning that the bullpen is more than rested for these next three games. In fact, David Robertson was called on in both games to get the remaining outs and has pitched 1.1 innings thus far. This means guys like Joba Chamberlain and Rafael Soriano have yet to throw even one pitch.

The extra rest may be a curse since these guys haven't faced live batters in about a week now, but with Soriano and Chamberlain, guys with live fastballs when rested, the time off should only help.

One Last Thing: First pitch tonight will be at 7:37 PM ET on TBS, GO YANKEES!!!!!