Sabathia, Yankees Look To Snap 3 Game Losing Streak Against The Red Sox

(Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
Russell Martin, who homered last night, will look to continue
his hot bats tonight as the Yankees look to get even with the Red Sox

The New York Yankees hosted the Boston Red Sox for the first time this season last night, and the results were not good. The Yankees held in there for most of the game, but Joba Chamberlain gave up some late inning runs, and despite a comeback by the Yankees in the eight and ninth innings, the Red Sox claimed Game One 5-4.

That makes it three straight losses for the Pinstripes, who lost the last two games of a series against the Royals. The Red Sox, despite having a terrible start to the season, have rebounded since and find themselves only a few spots back behind the Yankees, who now trail the Rays by two games.

It seems like the roles have reversed between the Red Sox and Yankees, who are now 3-7 in their last ten games. The bats have definitely been there for the Yankees, and the starting pitchers have been great, especially AJ Burnett, who has redeemed himself from some bad baseball last year. It has been the middle and late relief that has been sub-par for the Yankees. Boone Logan, Rafael Soriano, Buddy Carlyle, and Joba Chamberlain all need to step it up for New York.

Good news for the Bombers though is that they have their ace, C.C. Sabathia, on the mound tonight. Sabathia's last start was fine, where he gave up only three runs in six innings, and received the win vs the Texas Rangers.

Sabathia has been spectacular vs the Red Sox at home, since joining the Yankees. C.C. is 3-0 with a ERA under 1.00 inside Yankee Stadium, when playing the Red Sox.

The Red Sox will have their ace, Josh Beckett, on the mound as well. Beckett is 2-1 this season with a 1.99 ERA. This game will definitely be a battle between the two fireballers.

Jorge Posada, who has struggled this season, was a late scratch by the Yankees and has been replaced by Andruw Jones. Posada's successor behind the plate, Russell Martin, has been terrific this season. Martin hit a two run homerun last night that tied the game at 2-2.

The rest of the Yankee bats have been the best in baseball. The Yankees have three of the top five home run hitters in the American League right now. Granderson leads the league with 12, while Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano have nine each.

The Yankees are second in the MLB for runs per game with a little over five.

The Red Sox will start Carl Crawford at left field and will have him bat eighth.

Carl started off the season terrible, and even had to cancel his cell phone plan to stop receiving calls from angry fans. Crawford has come back from his slump though, and is now batting more then .075 better then he used to. Crawford had a key RBI in last nights game that gave the Red Sox a 5-4 win.

If the Yankees want to snap their losing streak tonight, they need a great pitching performance by Sabathia. The Yankees need Sabathia to pitch at least seven innings tonight, so they can have one inning of relief and then have the MLB's save leader, the sandman, Mariano Rivera, finish off Boston.