Chicago @ New York preview
Yankee Stadium
Last Meeting ( Aug 30, 2009 ) Chi. White Sox 3, NY Yankees 8
Secure in the knowledge that they're not the least-liked franchise in Major League Baseball, the New York Yankees are now free to return to the fans that love them.
The Yankees will look to push their current streak to three straight wins when they host the Chicago White Sox in the opener of a three-game series tonight.
A much-publicized report made the rounds Thursday in which the Yankees emerged as only the fifth most-hated team in the game.
With their high payrolls and 27 championships, the Yankees generally are seen as the enemy, but a formula created by the Nielsen Company and published in the Wall Street Journal measuring "sentiment ratings" among fans pegged the Cleveland Indians as the most-disliked team in the majors.
The Boston Red Sox – the Yankees' arch-rival - came in second while the Cincinnati Reds and Houston Astros rounded out the top four.
Whether or not the Nielsen ratings are accurate probably matters little to New York and its fans, who are more concerned with when Mark Teixeira will turn it around than how they are viewed by the rest of the country.
Teixeira, who eats up about $20.6 million of that league-high payroll, owns a .139 batting average with two homers and nine RBIs. His struggles have not been in the spotlight, however, because of the uncharacteristically hot start by Robinson Cano, who leads the majors with a .407 average and paces the Yankees with eight homers and 17 RBIs.
Cano homered twice and added a double Thursday in New York's 4-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles, but it was right-hander A.J. Burnett who stole the show with eight scoreless innings.
Cano and Teixeira will be swinging in support of veteran Andy Pettitte tonight. The left-hander has gotten off to a hot start in 2010, leading the New York rotation with a 1.29 ERA. Pettitte put together his strongest start last time out against the Angels, allowing one run in eight innings while striking out six and not walking a batter.
He made one start against the White Sox in 2009, allowing one earned run in 6 1/3 innings while notching eight strikeouts.
Chicago will counter with right-hander Freddy Garcia, who has sandwiched two strong starts around one dud. He allowed two runs on two hits in seven innings against the Seattle Mariners on Saturday but did not factor in the decision.
The White Sox are coming off a 7-5 win over the Texas Rangers on Thursday and boast a hitter almost as hot as Cano in veteran slugger Paul Konerko. The first baseman leads the majors with 10 homers after belting a pair in Thursday's victory.
Konerko has handled Pettitte well is his career, going 12-for-33 with a home run and eight RBIs.