Texas Rangers (10-3) at New York Yankees (7-5) Preview Game 2

The Rangers and Matt Harrison successfully shut down the Yankees last night in the first game of this series winning 5-3 moving their record to 10-3, which is the second best record through 12 games in the club’s history posing behind a 1989 season start of 11-2.

The Rangers have lowered their ERA for the season to 2.50 after posting a 1.87 earned run average over the previous six games. This is not just the lowest in the Major Leagues but also the lowest ever for the team over 13 games. The Rangers also have the lowest ERA at 2.32 in the Majors for the starting rotation. Further, the three probably starters in the series against the Yankees – Harrison, Holland and Ogando are now 7-0 combined with a 1.15 ERA over their seven combined starts this year.

The Rangers will look to get yet another win on the Yankees while the Yankees will look to not just redeem themselves from last year’s ALCS loss but last night’s defeat as well.

More after the jump…

Pitching Matchups

The Rangers place LHP Derek Holland on the mound for this afternoon’s game in New York. In both of Holland’s starts this year, he has transpired as a true starting pitcher. In his first start against Seattle, he allowed three runs on seven hits over six innings while striking out five and walking one. He got the win for the game and ended with a 4.50 ERA. In his second start against Baltimore, he allowed no runs on five hits over six innings while striking out six and walking two. He got the win for this game as well and ended with a 2.25 ERA. Against the Yankees, he is 0-2 with a 9.49 ERA but was able to pick up the win in Game 4 of the 2010 ALCS in New York.

The Yankees will counter with RHP Freddy Garcia. This will be Garcia’s first start as a Yankee this season but will be his 22nd start for his career against Texas. He threw one inning of relief against Boston on April 10 allowing one run on one hit while striking out one and walking one. In 2010, Garcia went 12-6 with an earned run average of .464 over 28 starts with Chicago.

Pitchers vs. Hitters

Holland: Derek Jeter is 6-for-10, Robinson Cano is 2-for-6, Alex Rodriguez is 2-for-4 as is Jorge Posada. The only to never get a hit off Holland was Martin and the rest of the batters are below .300 including Mark Teixeira who is 2-for-9.

Garcia: Andres Blanco and Julio Borbon are 2-for-5 and Nelson Cruz is 1-for-2 while the rest of the guys are below .300. Mike Napoli and David Murphy have met Garcia five and six times respectively but have been unable to get a hit. Aside from them, Ian Kinsler is next with the worst batting against Garcia at 1-for-10. However, it is Michael Young and Adrian Beltre who have the most experience against the Yankees’ starter – Young is 12-for-41 and Beltre is 6-for-28.

Rangers Lineup

Mitch Moreland gets time off the field and will DH with Michael Young taking his spot at first base.

2B Ian Kinsler
SS Elvis Andrus
1B Michael Young
3B Adrian Beltre
RF Nelson Cruz
LF David Murphy
C Yorvit Torrealba
DH Mitch Moreland
CF Julio Borbon

Yankees Lineup

SS Derek Jeter
RF Nick Swisher
1B Mark Teizeira
3B Alex Rodriguez
2B Robinson Cano
LF Andruw Jones
DH Jorge Posada
CF Curtis Granderson
C Gustavo Molina

Weather in the Area – Double Header Possible!

Rain is currently expected to be in the Yankee Stadium area around 2 p.m. ET this afternoon – about an hour after the game would start. If rain delays the game, a double header will be played tomorrow – the second for the Rangers this season and on this trip on the road.