Game 10: Wilson

The Yankees welcome the Rangers to the Bronx tonight for the first of a three game set. The weather isn't looking too promising, but if/when action gets under way tonight, the pitching match up will feature a duo of of double initialed left handers.

CC Sabathia is fresh off an excellent start against against the Rays in which he flirted with a no hitter but had to settle for it's still attractive younger sister, 7 2/3 shutout, one-hit innings. Joe Girardi is looking to keep the magic alive from that last outing as Francisco Cervelli is scheduled to be back behind the plate. It's too early to tell if Girardi is planning on making this a "personal catcher" situation but Jorge Posada is going to need days off and Cervelli and Sabathia have had considerable success together. Now that Burnett and Posada are working together, it might make sense to ride the CC-Frankie wave as long as it will take them.

For the Rangers, famous Twitterer C.J. Wilson will be starting his second game of the year. Wilson was originally supposed to start against the Indians on Wednesday but came down with a case of food poisoning and was pushed back to today.

Wilson has been a reliever for the majority of his Big Leauge career, and a pretty decent one at that. He's thrown 259 innings to a 3.65 ERA out of the 'pen, which is pretty good but certainly not jaw-dropping. Wilson saw his strikeout rates jump over one per inning last year, his ERA and FIP drop to around 2.90 and the Rangers decided to give him a chance to start this spring.

The move was justifiably met with some scrutiny but Wilson shined in his first outing of the year, throwing seven shutout innings against the Blue Jays, allowing just five hits and two walks while striking out nine. Wilson saw a notable decrease in velocity during the start but some of that could be attributable to the fact that the season has barely begun and he obviously found a way to make his diminished stuff work for him. Will he enjoy the same success against much better offense tonight?

You got me back thinkin',
that you're the worst one,
I must inquire Wilson...
Can you still have fun?

-Lineups-

Yankees:

Marcus Thames is in the lineup again after going 2 for 3 last night against Scott Kazmir but he will be playing left field instead of DHing. Nick Johnson gets the start after drawing a walk in his pinch hit appearance last night. Cervelli gets the 9 slot, pushing Granderson up to 8th.

Jeter SS
Johnson DH
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Thames LF
Granderson CF
Cervelli C

Rangers:

Julio Borbon CF

Michael Young, 3B

Josh Hamilton LF

Vladimir Guerrero DH

Nelson Cruz RF

Chris Davis 3B

Joaquin Arias 2B

Taylor Teagarden C

Elvis Andrus SS