Time To Get Hot

The Yankees have a 9-game test ahead of them, as they’ll be facing the Texas Rangers for 3 games, the Boston Red Sox for 4 games and then they’ll see Tampa Bay for 2 games. The Rangers are an offensive powerhouse right now and while Josh Hamilton and Milton Bradley are both All Star caliber producers, let’s not forget names like Michael Young (he’s turning it on right now) and David Murphy, as this is a team that can really swing the bat. The Yankees are pretty lucky though since their pitching is dreadful and they’ll see Scott Feldman (4.60 ERA), Kevin Millwood (5.08 ERA) and Luis Mendoza (5.74 ERA). The Yankees HAVE to take this series before facing Boston and TB in order to pad their record a bit. Tampa Bay and the Red Sox aren’t pushovers and they lead the AL East (TB is in first, Boston second). Any wins against these two teams will be absolutely huge for the Yanks as they’ll climb the ladder while simultaneously knocking their opponents down a few notches. This stretch of games will define the 2008 season.

Mike Mussina, Joba Chamberlain, and Sidney Ponson will square off against Texas and they’ll hopefully start us off on the right foot (Moose needs to set the tone and get this thing going).