New York @ Oakland preview
Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
Last Meeting ( Apr 20, 2010 ) NY Yankees 7, Oakland 3
The bat of Eric Chavez showed signs of life on Tuesday night and the Oakland Athletics are hoping that the former hitting star is about to find his groove.
That initial homer of the season remains elusive but Chavez had hits in his first two at-bats against the New York Yankees during a 2-for-4 night that raised his average to .244.
Oakland Athletics management showed faith in Chavez with the demotion of Jack Cust on the eve of the season-opening contest against the Seattle Mariners. The move opened up the designated hitter’s role for the oft-injured Chavez, who totaled just 119 at-bats over the previous two seasons and can no longer regularly play his natural position of third base.
Back woes have robbed the 32-year-old Chavez of the hitting prowess he regularly displayed early in his career. Chavez hit 22 or more homers in seven straight seasons from 2000-2006 and has four 100-RBI seasons to his credit - the most recent one coming in 2005.
But it has been slow going for Chavez this season, beginning with a 1-for-10 start. He recently began sharing at-bats with Jake Fox.
Tuesday’s multiple-hit game was Chavez’s second of the season.
Chavez was Oakland’s first round pick in 1996 and reached the majors late in the 1998 campaign. He had a career-high 114 RBIs in 2001 and hit a career-best 34 homers the following season.
His production began declining in 2006 and he was limited to 90 games in 2007 before seeing action in just 31 games over the past two seasons.
Yankees right-hander Phil Hughes will attempt to keep Chavez in check during Wednesday’s second game of the three-game series in Oakland. New York takes a five-game winning streak into the contest.
Hughes went five innings in his lone start this season, recording the victory over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Hughes allowed just two runs and three hits but walked five batters. He struck out six.
Being more economical with his pitches is going to be important for Hughes now that he’s back in a starting role. He made just seven starts among 51 appearances last season; all 21 appearances in his first two seasons were as a starting pitcher.
Ben Sheets will be on the mound for Oakland. He’s thrown 17 innings in three starts in his return from an elbow injury that forced him to sit out the entire 2009 campaign.
Sheets’ last outing was his best. He pitched six shutout innings against the Baltimore Orioles, allowing just five hits to lower his earned-run average to 2.65.
Sheets has more walks (10) than strikeouts (eight) so far this season as he attempts to fine-tune his location.
The Yankees had just five hits in the opening game of the series despite scoring seven runs. Alex Rodriguez’s homer netted three of the runs.