On Deck (Game 19): Yanks at Manta birostris

A familiar face will be making his season debut for the Yanks tonight in Tampa. Just in case you've forgotten what Chien-Ming Wang can do, here’s the most relevant stat from last year:

In 34 starts last year, regular and post season, Wang pitched 6+ innings 26 times.

Hopefully, Wang’s start against the D-Rays tonight will be the first step in stabilizing the whole pitching staff.

Scott Kazmir will take the hill for Tampa, and he’s been roughed up a bit in the early season. Under normal circumstances, I’d say pitching a lefty against the Yankee lineup is your best bet, but with the way A-Rod is swinging the bat right now, the Yanks are stout vs. lefties and righties.

In a nutshell: No word on the lineups yet, but it’ll be interesting to see if Joe gives Abreu a day off and puts Melky in right. Also, Wang is the definition of a ground ball pitcher, does Joe keep with the righty/lefty platoon of Phelps/Doug, or does he put Doug out there for his defense?

The Yanks are trying to avoid their first 5–game losing streak since May of 2005. The Yanks will also try to avoid falling behind the D-Rays, into last place in the A.L. East.

Key to the game: Innings, and plenty of them, from Wang.

D-Rays blog-of-the-day: DRaysBay

And finally, a video tribute to the return of Chien-Ming Wang...