The Yankees

We did this two years ago, the Pirates were 30-30, the Yankees were, well, I don't remember, something slightly worse. Everyone was really excited about the Pirates chances in the series and maybe even a strong finish. We flamed out in the three games and got swept and lost something like 21 of 25. Last year we had an awful start, then played even worse in interleague play (check out my Fanhouse post about our interleague struggles).

This year? We're 26-34 and the Yankees are 27-31. We're going to Yankee Stadium again and we're going to be the focus of national attention tomorrow when Roger Clemens makes his comeback against us. The Yankees need a jump start to get back to .500 and back into the AL Wild Card race. They're better than that record (315 runs scored, 278 allowed) and eventually they're going to play better. I've got a sinking feeling it's going to be against us.

Our best chance to take one in this series might be tonight. Gorzelanny will take the mound for us tonight and he'll face off against Andy Pettitte. You've probably heard rumblings all year that Pettitte isn't nearly the pitcher he once was, but he's the only Yankee pitcher to stick in the rotation all year and his ERA is 2.96 on a very rough schedule. Still, his WHIP is at 1.34, which is a bit high, and he's striking out less than five batters per nine innings, which is pretty down for him. It should be a good pitching match-up to watch, if nothing else.

ETA: I forgot to put this in the gamethread, but since a ruling on Matt Capps' suspension appeal isn't expected until Monday, he's going to be allowed to pitch this weekend.