The Boston Red Sox will try to make the AL Wild Card race relevant as they open a four-game series at Yankee Stadium. Boston needs to take three out of four from the Yankees to set themselves up for the stretch run. Clay Buchholz faces Javier Vazquez. Despite striking out fewer batters and giving up more home runs on the road than at home, Buchholz allows a lower batting average away from Fenway. That’s because opponents are just 4 for 43 against him with men in scoring position away from Boston. Vazquez’s season can be divided into two halves. In April and May, he allowed a 6.86 ERA. He cut down his walks and strikeouts since then, and posted a good 3.28 ERA since the start of June.

Another team that could benefit from a strong Boston weekend is the Twins. They open a series in Cleveland as they stand a game behind the Red Sox in the wild card. A good series against the last place Indians can raise Minnesota in the wild card standings as well. Ace Francisco Liriano takes on rookie Jeanmar Gomez. Liriano is now at 136 innings, after throwing 136 2/3 last year. The improvement is impressive. He struck out 28 more batters, walked 27 fewer and allowed 19 fewer home runs, just two on the season. His ERA dropped from 5.80 to 3.18. Both those home runs came on the road. Gomez makes his third start at the major league level. Left-handed batters are hitting just .150/.277/.200 against the righty so far.

Finally, Oakland hosts the Rangers as the Athletics try to climb back into the AL West race. Cliff Lee battles Dallas Braden in the opener. Lee pitched extremely well for Texas so far, posting a 2.91 ERA. He’s only 1-2, however, and Texas is 2-3 in his five starts. He gives the bullpen a rest, however, as Lee stayed on the mound for 43 1/3 innings. Braden’s pitched on a roller coaster this season. He won with a high ERA in April, lost with a low ERA in May, lost with a high ERA in June and won with a low ERA in July. Maybe August will be his month to be okay with a .500 record. 🙂 He’s in control, however, only walking four batters in his last 20 innings while striking out 16, so he should match up well with Lee.

Enjoy!