So here we are, the halfway point of the season. Well, technically we’re still one game away from the true halfway point, but that’s close enough. Depending on the outcome of tonight’s game, the Yankees will be either 42-39 or 41-40 through the first half of the season, and neither is particularly great. They’ve certainly looked the part of a near-.500 team for long stretches of time.
The last place Rays — like, literally last place, worst record in baseball last place — are in town for three games and I can’t think of a better way to start the second half of the season than by pounding a terrible team. The Yankees have a soft schedule heading into the All-Star break, at least on paper, and they need to take advantage. They didn’t in similar situations earlier this season. Here is the Rays lineup and here is the Yankees lineup:
- LF Brett Gardner
- SS Derek Jeter
- CF Jacoby Ellsbury
- 1B Mark Teixeira
- C Brian McCann
- DH Carlos Beltran
- 3B Kelly Johnson
- 2B Brian Roberts
- RF Ichiro Suzuki
RHP David Phelps
It has been overcast all day in New York and that will continue to be the case tonight, but there is no rain in the forecast, thankfully. First pitch is scheduled for just after 7pm ET and you can watch on YES locally and ESPN nationally. Enjoy the game.
Injury Updates: As expected, CC Sabathia (knee) will make his second minor league rehab start with Double-A Trenton on Thursday. He is scheduled to throw approximately 50 pitches.
All-Star Update: Derek Jeter remains the leading vote-getter at shortstop with a healthy 600k vote lead over Alexei Ramirez. No other Yankees are in line to start the game. Here is the latest voting update and here’s the ballot. Voting ends at midnight Thursday.
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