I always wondered what ballplayers preferred in a situation like this. Take a redeye home, sleep on the plane, get some more Zs at home, and spend the day with the fam, or get a good night’s sleep tonight and fly home tomorrow? I’d opt for the former. I’ll actually be taking my own redeye tomorrow night, at around the same time the Yanks will take theirs (if they take it) tonight.
The Yanks will look to close the season series against the A’s with a win against rookie Brett Anderson, a feat they’ve accomplished twice so far this season. They hit him up for five runs on nine hits in 5.1 innings back in April, and then got him for four runs in 6.2 innings last time, on a night when Joba Chamberlain sparkled.
Anderson has been pretty good lately, though not as good as he was during his string of three straight scoreless appearances — which ended, by the way, in that July game against the Yanks. He’s had decent starts against Boston, Texas, and Kansas City, but Chicago tattooed him five days ago, to the tune of seven runs over five innings. Anderson is already over his career high of 120 innings pitched in a season, and is considerably ahead of his 105 innings from last year.
For the Yanks it will be Chad Gaudin, making his first start in pinstripes. You can read a bit on Gaudin’s history here. He’s appeared for the Bombers twice out of the bullpen, once pitching well and once pitching pretty badly. The Yanks hope to get five innings out of him tonight, at which point they’ll likely turn the ball over to Brian Bruney, Phil Coke, Phil Hughes, and Al Aceves for a tune-up before Boston. None of these guys have pitched in a few days.
As expected, Jorge gets the day off.
Lineup:
1. Derek Jeter, SS
2. Johnny Damon, LF
3. Mark Teixeira, 1B
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
5. Hideki Matsui, DH
6. Nick Swisher, RF
7. Robinson Cano, 2B
8. Melky Cabrera, CF
9. Jose Molina, C
And on the mound, number forty-one, Chad Gaudin.