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Brandon Webb, RHP (6-3, 3.13) |
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Chien-Ming Wang, RHP (5-4, 3.73) |
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With a deep breath, we plunge into the Heart of Darkness, under the Eye of Steinbrenner as he lurks in his dark tower, preparing the end of civilization as we know it. One ring to bind them all...that'd be the 2001 World Series ring, which ended the Yankee dynasty - and, now, they're struggling to make the playoffs, to the glee of everyone outside of the city, and about half of those inside it. However, never write them off, and they've posted a six-game winning streak, albeit three of them coming against the Pirates, so they hardly count. A nice sweep here would all but bury them; on the other hand, nothing is more dangerous than a wounded monster...
Key to get things off to a good start today, with what should be a fascinating match-up: along with Derek Lowe, perhaps the finest proponents of sinkerball pitching around. Brandon Webb has never pitched in Yankee Stadium, but going by the results in Shea (a 0.31 ERA in 29 innings), he seems to love the Big Apple and its humidity. That will, however, likely also help Wang, whose career ERA at home is 0.79 better than on the road, though this year, curiously, that's been reversed. I think this one will be low-scoring, and it'll be up to our offense to grind out a couple of runs of support for Webb - hopefully, that'll be all he needs.
