Next Two Weeks Are Crucial For Yankees

The New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays continue to battle atop the American League East. As New York heads to Tropicana Field tonight to start a three game series with the Rays, the Yankees hold a 1/2 game lead in the division. The two teams will play seven times in the next two weeks.

It will be three games in Tampa starting tonight and a four game series in the Bronx next week. The Yankees have a three game series with the Baltimore Orioles thrown in between.

New York has been struggling of late, losing six of their last seven games. They have only won four of their last ten. Luckily the Rays have only been one game better in that span.

The Yankees must find a way to get on track, especially on the road. New York is just 38-31 on the road this season and coming off a sweep at the hands of the Texas Rangers. With Tampa playing 43-26 baseball at home, it will not be easy.

The first game pits a potential playoff pitching matchup. If the Yankees and Rays were to meet in a playoff series, tonight’s starters, CC Sabathia and David Price would be the likely pitchers. Both are Cy Young candidates and their teams aces’.

For the second time this season, CC Sabathia is looking for his 20th win of the year. It would be the first time in his career that Sabathia reached the 20 win mark. He is 19-6 this season with a 3.14 ERA.

Price is 17-6 with a 2.87 ERA in 2010 and holds an impressive 16-5 career record at Tropicana Field. The Yankees have had trouble against Price. Alex Rodriguez is the only Yankee with a batting average over .300 against the Rays lefty. A-Rod is batting .333 with one home run against Price in nine at bats.

Derek Jeter who walked twice and added an RBI double in the Yankees loss to Texas on Sunday has just one hit in ten at bats against Price.  That one hit was a home run. The Yankees need Jeter to jump out of his slump and provide a spark at the top of the order. Maybe yesterday was a sign of that.

Sabathia is 8-4 with a 3.08 ERA against Tampa Bay but the Rays do have some players that have gotten to him. Evan Longoria is batting .500 with two home runs in six at bats against Sabathia. B.J. Upton and Ben Zobrist also have batting averages over .400 against the Yankees lefty.

The Yankees will send Ivan Nova (1-0, 2.92) to the mound in the second game of the series. He will oppose Rays starter Matt Garza (14-8, 3.68). In the series finale, Phil Hughes (16-7, 4.26) will make the start after being skipped his last time through the rotation. Hughes will go against James Shields (13-12, 4.98).

The seven games between these two teams during the next two weeks could go a long way in determining the outcome of the American League East. Will they basically split the games and stay close or can one of these teams pull away??