Yankees at Jays

The Yankees begin a 2 game set in Toronto tonight with Andy Pettitte on the mound against Roy Halladay. This is going to be a really tough game to win tonight even though the Yankees actually hit him pretty hard last time they faced him at Yankee Stadium. I don't think they will but the Yankees can't look ahead to the Red Sox they have to win at least one of these games, the Red Sox will have their hands full down in Tampa with the Rays. Here are the pregame notes and lineup from the Lohud Yankees Blog- http://yankees.lhblogs.com Peter Abraham does a great job so please check him out if you don't already do so. The Yankees are 5-2 against the Jays this year. Roy Halladay is 16-5 in his career against the Yanks with a 2.90 era. He is 8-0 with a 2.10 era in his last 10 starts against them. I don't know what the strategy really is but I think I would try to bunt on him a little and get guys on base and steal. The only good thing is he doesn't get run support so if you can scratch out a couple maybe you can win the game. Andy Pettitte is 13-5 with a 3.95 era in 19 career starts at the Rogers Centre. He is 1-1 with a 5.25 against the Jays this year. Andy since the break has been good, in 3 starts he has a 2.70 era. In 20 innings he has struck out 23 while only giving up 3 walks and 16 hits. Mo has not allowed a run since June 12th and Hughes has a 0.95 era in 20 relief appearances so the back end is very very solid. The Yankees with RISP on this road trip are batting 233, this is the one thing I don't like. Yes the Yanks lead in many offensive categories but they are not consistant at all. Melky is 15 of 35 in his last 11 games with 10 xbh, 5 rbi's, 6 walks and only has struck out twice. Derek Jeter is 6 stolen bases away from 300 in his career. The Yankees pitching has to get back on track, in their last 3 games they have given up 41 hits in 25 innings with 29 earned runs, 13 walks and 20 strikeouts. Alfredo Aceves has not done well since having his shoulder fatigue. He has given up 10 earned runs in his last 8 1/3 innings. He has only pitched twice since July 21st which is probably part of the problem. Mark Melancon has not allowed a run in his last 4 1/3 innings, could he start getting more important work, maybe but maybe not this week. Joe Girardi has been great with the bullpen in most peoples eyes. I would say this is his biggest strength. In the time since he has been manager the Yankees are 110-5 when leading after 6 innings, 120-5 when leading after 7 innings and 129-1 when leading after 8 innings. It is pretty safe to say if the Yankees have a lead after 6 they are going to win. A-rod has gone 53 at bats without a homerun. This could be the place he breaks out of his homerun drought. He has hit 303 with 31 homeruns in his career at the Rogers Centre. Jorge Posada has had a miserable road trip going 3 for 23. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Matsui(DH) Posada(C) Cano(2B) Cabrera(CF) Hinske(RF)