NEW YORK – What to expect from the Yankees in the second half, you ask? Well, if you read my midseason report, I gave you my take on the Yankees so far. They have some room to grow, but I think the current roster is still a Wild Card kind of a team. I haven’t been impressed by the Yankees against the American League’s elite, most notably their 0-8 mark against Boston.
After getting swept by Anaheim, the West division leader, just before the All-Star break, the Yankees will try to get back on track against another when they open a three-game home series with the Detroit Tigers on Friday night.
New York (51-37) lost all three games to the Los Angeles Angels last weekend, giving up 29 runs in the series after coming in with an eight-game road winning streak.
Detroit will be facing a New York club that has struggled badly against division leaders. The Yankees are 5-15 against the Tigers, Angels, Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies – the first-place teams they have faced in 2009.
Despite that stat, the Yankees lead the race for the wild card and trail Boston by only three games in the East.
The Tigers will give rookie Luke French (1-0, 1.93) his third career start. He earned his first win July 8 by giving up one run over 6 1-3 innings of a 3-1 victory over Kansas City. Detroit recalled the 23-year-old left-hander from Triple-A Toledo on June 29 to replace Alfredo Figaro in the rotation.
AJ Burnett will oppose French for the Bombers. He’s looked very strong in his last few starts.
The Yankees took two of three at Detroit from April 27-29 in the teams’ first meeting of the season.
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