Texas Rangers (36-32) at New York Yankees (37-28) Preview Game 2

Well, Alexi Ogando had his second bad outing of the year against the same team that gave him his first bad outing this season – the New York Yankees. While the Yankees are excellent hitters, Ogando is a very dominant pitcher in the starting rotation of the Texas Rangers. Based on his season so far, he seems to just have trouble with the Yankees’ hitters. We’ll see how he does next time out but for now, even with his first loss of the 2011 MLB season, I still think he is among the best.

Tonight, the Rangers will look to attempt to take the second game of this three-game series at Yankee Stadium. After last night, I’m going to say the Rangers have a lot of work to do offensively if they want to take this second game. Hopefully, they’ll have their bats in order.

Until tonight, though, here is a look at your pitching matchups and your pitchers vs. hitters to see how the batters fare up against the opposing team’s starting pitcher.

Pitching Matchups

LHP Derek Holland gets the start for the Rangers tonight. Holland is 5-1 this season with a 4.41 ERA. He has 70 strikeouts and 29 walks over 13 starts and 81.2 innings. Last time out, he didn’t get the decision after allowing four runs on eight hits over 7.1 innings against Minnesota. Prior to his ND, he had two straight wins against Tampa Bay and Cleveland but before that, his last win was back on April 22. He pitched a complete game shutout against Cleveland allowing only five hits. In his last five starts, he has allowed four or more runs in three of those games.

Holland has four appearances against the Yankees during the regular season, all of which are starts, and has gone 0-3 with an earned run average of 8.31. He did earn the win last year in Game 4 of the ALCS in relief. In his three appearances at Yankee Stadium, Holland is 0-2 with a 7.80 ERA. On the road this year, Holland is 3-1 with a 3.02 ERA.

The Yankees counter with RHP Ivan Nova, who is 5-4 this season with a 4.30 ERA. He has 35 strikeouts and has allowed 29 walks in 13 games, 12 of which were starts, over 67 innings. Last time out, Nova got his first win against Cleveland allowing two runs on four hits over seven innings since May 17 at which time he allowed just a single run to Tampa Bay on four hits in 4.1 innings.

Nova has met the Rangers twice with very different performances. At Yankee Stadium on April 15, he allowed five runs in 4.1 innings but then when he traveled to Texas on May 6, he held them to just one run on two hits in 7.1 innings. At home this year, Nova is 3-2 with a 4.54 ERA.

Pitchers vs. Hitters

LHP Derek Holland: As a team, New York is hitting .323 against Holland. Mark Teixeira is 6-for-12 with two homers and six RBIs. Andruw Jones 2-for-5 and Jorge Posada and Alex Rodriguez are both 2-for-7 against the lefty. Nick Swisher is 3-for-10 and Robinson Cano is 4-for-12. Russell Martin is the only who hasn’t been able to get a hit off Holland in three at-bats.

RHP Ivan Nova: The Rangers are hitting .147 against Nova as a team. No Ranger has seen Nova more than seven at-bats. Adrian Beltre is 1-for-7 and Michael Young is 2-for-6 with two RBIs. Ian Kinsler, Nelson Cruz and Elvis Andrus are a combined 1-for-11.