Los Angeles @ New York preview
Yankee Stadium
Last Meeting ( Jul 20, 2010 ) LA Angels 10, NY Yankees 2
A day after one of its All-Stars pitchers was hit hard by the light-hitting Maicer Izturis and the Los Angeles Angels, the New York Yankees send Javier Vazquez to the mound in hopes of gaining a split in the finale of a two-game series at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
The Angels hit a pair of two-run homers off Phil Hughes (11-3) and then former Yankee Hideki Matsui greeted Chan Ho Park with another two-run homer in Los Angeles’ 10-2 romp on Tuesday night.
Hughes suffered his second loss in his last four starts. He also took the loss in the All-Star game, and on Tuesday he was hurt by a homer from an unlikely source in Izturis. The infielder hit his third home run of the season in the fourth inning on Tuesday.
Izturis had recently come back from the disabled list after missing 27 games with a left forearm strain.
Hughes has suddenly struggled to prevent the long ball. He has allowed home runs in five of his last six outings, a grand total of nine.
Vazquez (7-7) has won just once in his last five starts. He’s lost to the Angels twice this season, both coming in April.
Alex Rodriguez failed to homer on Tuesday and remains two home runs shy of the 600 mark. Rodriguez will be the youngest player in major league history to reach the milestone.
Will A-Rod reach the number today?
Consider that Rodriguez has just one homer in his last nine games. He went homerless in his first 41 at-bats to start the season and has just one multi-homer game this season. He also has not homered in consecutive games this season.
Rodriguez has been hampered by the effects of hip surgery from last year and has complained of a sore thumb recently.
Joel Pineiro will start for the Angels a day after spot starter Sean O’Sullivan quieted the Yankees.
O’Sullivan (1-0) made the start in place of Scott Kazmir, who was put on the disabled list Monday because of shoulder fatigue. O’Sullivan surrendered two runs on two hits in the first inning, including a home run by Nick Swisher, but settled down to retire 12 straight batters.
He finished six innings, allowing just the first-inning damage, and struck out four in the game.
Pineiro (10-6) is 3-4 lifetime against the Yankees. After defeating New York in his first meeting against them this year, he was roughed up for 11 hits and six runs in a 7-1 loss in April.