New York @ Los Angeles preview
Dodger Stadium
It promises to be an interesting weekend in Los Angeles as the New York Yankees invade Dodger Stadium to face the Dodgers and former manager Joe Torre.
This will be the first time Torre has managed against the Yankees since leaving after the 2007 season and taking a similar position with the Dodgers.
Several Yankees stars under Torre have been looking forward to the three-game series that begins Friday night since the 2010 schedule was released.
Players like shortstop Derek Jeter, catcher Jorge Posada, starting pitcher Andy Pettitte and closer Mariano Rivera can’t wait to see their former manager, who guided the Yankees to four World Series championships between 1996 and 2000 during 12 seasons as manager.
Current Yankees manager Joe Girardi, who played for Torre, also is a huge admirer.
On the other side of the fence is third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who has had little to say about Torre this week. Rodriguez is apparently still upset about criticism in a 2009 book authored by Torre.
One thing is clear – Torre’s former squad is playing much better than his current one.
New York has won four of five games, while the Dodgers ended a six-game losing skid on Thursday night with a 10-6 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.
The Dodgers are in third place in the National League West, three games off the pace. The Yankees lead the American League East by two games.
CC Sabathia starts the opener for the Yankees. The big left-hander has won four consecutive starts.
Sabathia (8-3) pitched eight shutout innings against the New York Mets in his last outing to lower his earned-run average to 3.68.
Sabathia has allowed eight earned runs in 29 innings during his winning streak.
Vicente Padilla makes his second start for the Dodgers since spending nearly two months on the disabled list with a forearm injury.
Padilla (1-1, 6.67 ERA) gave up four runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings against the Boston Red Sox last Saturday but wasn’t involved in the decision.
Padilla was the Dodgers’ Opening Day starter this season and got his only win back on April 16 against San Francisco.
Jamey Carroll and Casey Blake each had three hits during Thursday’s victory against the Angels, the first for the Dodgers in six meetings against their freeway rivals this season.
Mark Teixeira has been swinging a hot bat for the Yankees. He has hits in 13 of the past 15 games to raise his sagging batting average to .229.
Teixeira has four homers and 11 RBIs during the stretch.
Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano leads the majors with a .362 batting average. Cano has 14 homers and 50 RBIs.
This is the second time the Dodgers and Yankees have met in interleague play. Los Angeles hosted New York in 2004 and took two of three games.