Checking in on the Yankees

Checking in with the team some around here know as the "Evil Empire" as the start of another O's-Yankees series is now a day away. The Yankees began the season with back-to-back series wins at Boston and Tampa. They are now 12-6 on the year. They own a 7-5 road record, including 3-3 on their current road trip. They won their first five series to tie a franchise record. But Sunday's loss to the Angels gave LA that series win, two games to one. Overall, New York has lost 3 of 4 since starting 11-3. Here's a pretty amazing stat. New York has not played a one-run game. Every other AL team has played at least three. The O's and White Sox have played eight, tied for most in the league. Record in one-run decisions: Yankees: 0-0 Orioles: 2-6 New York's 12 wins already matches last April's total when they were 12-10. This month, NY is playing 15 of its 22 games on the road. New York is getting pretty good starting pitching. While Andy Pettitte has an ERA of 1.29, Javier Vazquez has struggled at 9.00. The O's will not see either hurler in this series. On the season, NY starters are 10-4, 3.59. Record when leading after 7 innings: Orioles: 2-4 Yankees: 9-0 Ten AL teams have either just one or no losses when leading after seven while Minnesota is 11-0, Tampa 10-0 and LA is 9-1. Here are some individual hitting notes: Jeter: Has 9 multi-hit games, is 5 for 26 on current road trip. Gardner: Is 9 for 10 stealing bases. Has 11 hits his last 26 at bats. Rodriguez: Has reached base in 20 of last 42 plate appearances. Is 11 for 33. Sitting with 585 career homers and needs one to tie Frank Robinson for 7th all time. Granderson: Has just one hit his last 19 at bats. Cano: Is 8 for 12 and 9 for 21 on current road trip. Teixeira: Is just 3 for 23 on road trip with five hits his last 30 at bats. Began the year with 40 at bats before his first homer. Yankee catchers have thrown out just 3 of 20 trying to steal with Jorge Posada 3 for 12 and Francisco Cervelli 0 for 5. On the other hand, NY has made just six errors, second fewest in the league. The Yankees are 24-12 the past two seasons vs. the O's. They have won six of their last seven and 10 of their last 13 games at Camden Yards. Finally, get used to seeing this team. The O's and Yankees meet 12 times between Tuesday and June 10th.