New York @ Cleveland preview

Progressive Field

Last Meeting ( Jul 28, 2010 ) NY Yankees 8, Cleveland 0

As the July 31 trade deadline inches closer, the Yankees’ potential need for another starter will become evident again on Thursday.

It sounds preposterous, given a rotation that is headlined by CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Javier Vazquez and Phil Hughes, but the groin injury to Andy Pettitte has left New York searching for a No. 5 starter.

Pettitte is optimistic he can return faster than the original diagnosis of four to five weeks, but in the meantime, Dustin Moseley will make his first start of the season against the Indians as the Yankees go searching for another series victory. Moseley replaces Sergio Mitre in the rotation, which is fitting, since Moseley replaced Mitre in his last start after Mitre was hammered for seven runs in 4 1-3 innings.

Moseley replaced him with 4 2-3 shutout innings and now will make his first start since April 17 of last year when he was with the Angels. Moseley picked a good opponent for his first start, since the Indians continue in their rebuilding efforts for next season and beyond.

Cleveland traded third baseman Jhonny Peralta to the division-rival Detroit Tigers on Wednesday for minor league left-hander Giovanni Soto, who will report to Class A Lake County.

The Indians will pick up a large portion of the $1.8 million in salary Peralta is due the rest of this season, but had no intention of picking up his $7 million option on next season, which made him expendable.

A stable of gloves will replace Peralta at third base, led by Andy Marte, who has been given ample opportunities to latch onto a major league job and has never been able to do it. Once projected as a middle of the order bat, Marte was the centerpiece in a trade with Boston that sent Coco Crisp to the Red Sox.

Marte has never quite figured out major league pitching, though, and enters Thursday batting .198 in limited at-bats.

Thursday also represents Alex Rodriguez’s final chance to hit No. 600 in Cleveland. Rodriguez had gone hitless in the first two games of the series, but delivered a run-scoring single in the first Wednesday and later doubled.

Cleveland is last in baseball in attendance this season, but the four games with the Yankees have been hot draws, in part because of Rodriguez’s quest to become the seventh player in history with at least 600 homers.

Fans have packed the home run porch in left field for every Rodriguez at-bat, but thus far haven’t had a reason to scramble. Rodriguez has gone 28 at-bats since hitting No. 599 against Kansas City on July 22.

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