Pitching Matchup: NYY @ MIN

Kevin Slowey just threw a complete game of 1-run ball (which happened to come the 9th with two outs) against the Royals. He gave up six hits and struck out as many, walking none. And the effort took only 101 pitches. Very very nice. Not to mention, Carlos Gomez went 4-5 with 2 RBIs, and Alexi Casilla went 3-4 with a number of spectacular plays at second. With that 5-1 victory, the Twins go back home on a 4-game win streak and a three games over .500. Nicely done.

(Oh, and the Royals have lost 11 straight. How did the Yanks drop a series to them again?)

Also, watching other pitchers makes you realize how much of a thing of beauty Mariano Rivera's fastball really is. For example, Slowly tried to get a strikeout on the high heat today, but it failed miserably; it was thrown high, stayed high, and wasn't fooling anyone. But when Mo does it...geez. The thing creates the illusion of moving upwards, so the batter swings at something that looks like it it's in the zone before he realizes it's too fast and too high. It's takes some HOF-type skill to be able to do that.

Alright. So onto a pre-series analysis of the pitching between the Yanks and Twins for the upcoming 4-game series at the Metrodome. Let's see here:

Friday: Mike Mussina @ Glen Perkins
Moose is off his late April/early May revival streak, when he collected 5 straight decisions (all W's) across five starts while going at least five innings in each and giving up no more than three runs. His last start against Seattle was rocky (five innings and four runs), but he was still able to get the win. Thus, we have reason to believe that Moose will not be perfect tomorrow, but will be able to keep the Yanks in the game.

Glen Perkins came to fill-in for the injured Scott Baker, but he's been more than a replacement. Perkins has a 2-1 record across four starts this season with a 2.77 ERA. His only loss came from a quality start against the Red Sox where he collapsed in the 6th. But since then he's been stellar, going at least six innings and giving up no more than two runs (he's actually coming off of a 7.2IP, 1ER victory against Detroit). He's got solid stuff and is vicious on lefties (.125 BAA). If the Yanks keep up their trend of failing against young pitchers who they've never seen, the Bombers will definitely have their work cut out for them.

Predicted winner: Twins

Saturday: Chien-Ming Wang @ Boof Bonser
Wang's the Yankee ace, but he hasn't picked up a win since May 2nd. In two of the cases since then it was due to a lack of run support, but his past outings have been all on him--he's given up seven and five runs respectively. If you believe in everything averaging out, then you can say that Wang is due for a quality, ace-like start. He has a 1.29 ERA on turf and a 6-2, 3.80+ ERA against Minnesota, so the field is set for a return to glory.

Also, let it be known that if the Yanks DON'T win this game, they have some soul searching to do. Boof Bonser has just been awful. He hasn't won since April and has a 9.59 ERA in May. Hell, he lasted only 3 innings after giving up 8 runs in his last outing against Detroit. The sad thing is that he would have okay stuff...if he had any sort of command. He's going to be sent down when Baker returns, and the Yanks don't need to give Gardenhire and the FO any reason to question that decision.

Predicted winner: Yankees

Sunday: Darrell Rasner @ Nick Blackburn
This one should be good. In fact, on paper, it should probably be the best pitched game of the series. Rasner's been an amazing breath of fresh air for the Yanks. Filling in for the injured Hughes, he's 3-1 across four starts with a 1.80 ERA. And that record is incredibly misleading, because he only gave up 1 run in his "loss" to the O's during his last time out. All in all, Rasner's been good. Very good. And there's no reason to believe he'll falter anytime soon.

And on the other hand we have Nick Blackburn, who's quickly emerging as one of my favorite pitchers in the game. Blackburn's coming off an 8.1 IP, 2ER outing against the Royals. He's 4-3 with a 3.39 ERA on the season, but more notably, he has a 2.41 ERA at home. He's got great stuff (control, curveball, and fastball movement), and although he gives up a good amount of hits, his defense always seems to be able to back him up. He's also beaten the potent Tigers and Red Sox offenses, so the Yanks shouldn't bring him any new type of trouble.

Predicted winner: I hope it's a good game, but I'm going to say Twins. (This is mainly because, again, the Yanks have trouble with new young pitchers.)

Monday: ??? @ Livan Hernandez
It would be very very interesting for those question marks to be filled with the name "Joba Chamberlain." He's scheduled to throw 70 pitches, after all. I don't know about you, but I'm excited to see what the guy can do in a starter's role. But I'm concerned about what Girardi does if things don't go too well for him. Can he really put a game into the hands of the bullpen? Urgh...

Livan is the "ace" of the Twins staff in experience only. His past two outings have been pretty poor (a combined 11.1 IP and 11ER), and his season ERA is a nice fat 4.60. He throws a lot of pitches but keeps them in the zone. If the Yanks do what they can do, this one shouldn't be a challenge to overcome.

Predicted winner: Yankees (unless the bullpen has to pitch more than three innings...)

Series prediction: A split

That seems like a cop-out, doesn't it? But I honestly think it will happen if every pitcher is on his game. Of course, there's always the chance that the Yankees learn to hit young pitchers, Boof Bonser has a revival, Joba doesn't get the start, or that Perkins comes down to Earth. But in that case, oh well. I'm probably an idiot for trying to predict baseball, anyway.