67-55 this season

The Sox have an opportunity tonight. Not only have they won the series against the Yankees, they also have won the season series. Tonight, they could do something they haven’t done in forever: sweep! Robin’s lineup to take care of business tonight are the following guys:

Dewayne Wise CF, Youk 3B, Big Donkey 1B, The King DH, Alex Rios RF, AJ Pierzynski C, The Cuban Tank LF, The Cuban Missile SS, Bacon 2B.  

Chris Sale will start for the Sox tonight. Young Mr. Sale will be attempting to earn his 15th win of the season. The Yankees will also get a longer look at Chris for the first time as well. Tonight will be the first time that Chris faces the Yankees as a starter. In three relief appearances covering 3.1 innings worth of work, Chris has allowed just one hit against them.

In his last start, Chris lost against the Royals last week. He allowed four runs on nine hits in just 6.2 innings worth of work. He has while he lost in Kansas City, he has been quite good at home lately. He is 6-0 with a 1.1 ERA n his last seven starts at home.

72-51 this season

Joe Girardi is sending out the following guys in hopes of avoiding the brooms:

Derek Jeter SS, Nick Swish RF, Robin Cano 2B, Mark Teixeira 1B, Andruw Jones DH, Curtis Granderson CF, Russell Martin C, Casey McGehee 3B, Ichiro Suzuki LF. 

Phil Hughes will start for the Yankees tonight. Hughes is trying to really get on track and live up to his promise. He has the dubious distinction of giving up more home runs – 28 – than only two other pitchers. Not just in the American League, but in BASEBALL. His last start was against Boston where he took the loss. He allowed four unearned runs in seven innings. Aside from his throwing error to second base and his allowing a home run to Dustin Pedroia, he actually pitched pretty well.

In his career against the Sox, Hughes is 3-1 with a 1.13 ERA and 29 strikeouts. Of current Sox hitters, only Dewayne Wise and Kevin Youkilis have taken him out of the park (one home run each.) Alex Rios is hitting cover .400 off of Hughes.

*Notes: Dayan Viciedo’s 11-game hitting streak ended yesterday after he went 0-for-four. CC Sabathia had a pain-free bullpen session yesterday. He is on track to start Friday’s game against his old team, the Indians.