Two teams with high expectations. Two teams in last place in their divisions.
That’s the situation tonight when the Yankees play host to the Mariners for the first of a three-game set (7:05, My9, WCBS).
The Yankees will be without manager Joe Girardi, who was suspended for his tirade during the ninth inning of last night’s 2-1 win over the Orioles.
In a season with many letdowns, the Yankees find themselves looking up at everyone in the AL East. Yet after taking two of three from the Orioles, the Yankees finally will be riding some momentum when Andy Pettitte takes the hill to square off against M’s ace Eric Bedard.
Starting pitching has been an issue for the Yankees all year, with young guns Phil Hughes (now the disabled list) and Ian Kennedy not producing up to the high standards set for them.
But Kennedy went out Thursday and pitched a solid game against the Orioles, going six innings and giving up one run.
Though not a dominating performance (four strikeouts, four walks), Kennedy set the stage for a dramatic walk-off single by struggling Robinson Cano, giving the Yanks a much-needed 2-1 win.
“Every good outing feels good,” Kennedy told mlb.com. “It’s a lot better feeling when you know that you pitched well and you did your job.”
That’s exactly what Pettitte (3-5, 4.42 ERA) is going to try to do tonight. The 36-year-old left-hander is in the midst of his worst streak at Yankee Stadium since 1996, going 0-4 in his past four starts dating to last year.
Leading the way of high expectations for the Mariners is the man taking the mound tonight, Bedard. After being traded from the Orioles in the offseason, Bedard has been one of two bright lights (along with Felix Hernandez) in an otherwise very dim Mariners rotation.
In seven starts this year, Bedard has a 3.24 ERA, 13th in the American League.
“He knows what he’s doing out there,” said catcher Jamie Burke, who will regularly catch Bedard instead of starter Kenji Johjima. “There is nothing I can really tell him about pitching. When I go out there to say anything to him, it’s usually just to give him a break or ask him what pitch he would want to throw.”
Bedard will try to stop the bleeding with the Mariners coming off a three-game sweep in Detroit caused by disastrous starting pitching and inept offensive production.
The M’s have scored 196 runs this year, which places them 22nd in the majors. It’s not too tough to correlate that to their MLB-worst 18-30 record, but what is hard to imagine is that the Yankees (21-25) are below them, having scored 191 runs in 47 games, placing them 24th.