Oakland A's at New York Yankees

The New York Yankees begin a 4 game set with the Oakland A's tonight at the stadium. CC Sabathia will be on the mound against local product Vin Mazzaro, he hails from Rutherford and will have plenty of friends and family on hand. Rajah Davis will have plenty of support also as he is from the area. Here are the pregame notes and lineups via Peter Abraham of the Journal News. The Yankees are 6-0 since the All Star break thanks to a 2.17 era. The pitchers have only allowed 13 runs and 44 hits over 54 innings. Pitching is always the key for any team and it really does win. The Yankees have only outscored the opposition by a score of 23-14 in their 6 game winning streak. They have played three one run games and two, two run games. This bodes well as it is how you win in the postseason. Mo has converted 97 of 101 save chances since April 21, 2007. He has not allowed a run in his last 15 appearances which spans 14 2/3 innings. He has given up 4 hits while striking out 15 in that stretch. His era dropped from 3.38 to 2.18. I guess he is still pretty good huh, so much for his demise. Phil Hughes has a 0.81 era in 16 relief appearances. He has allowed no runs in his last 14 appearances. He has struck out 22 in his last 17 2/3 innings. The Yankees are 7-1 against Oakland over the last 2 seasons outscoring them 38-25. Brian Bruney has to get it going, his last 8 appearances he has allowed 11 hits, 8 earned runs, 8 walks, 6 strikeouts and 3 homeruns. Right handers are hitting 345 against him this season. Nick Swisher has 6 errors in RF, only Justin Upton of Arizona has more and he has 7. Melky is 2 for 20 since the break and is batting 223 since June 1st with a 299 obp and 15 rbi's. I guess Brett Gardner got his job back for now. A-rod is 6 for his last 18 with 2 homeruns, 5 rbi's, 4 runs scored and 2 stolen bases. The Yankees have the best record in baseball since he came back at 44-22. Yankees lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Matsui(DH) Posada(C) Cano(2B) Hinske(RF) Gardner(CF) Oakland lineup: Davis(RF) Cabrera(SS) Hairston(CF) Holliday(LF) Garciaparra(1B) Suzuki(C) Cust(DH) Crosby(3B) Ellis(2B)