Game Preview: New York Yankees vs. Seattle Mariners 7/18

The New York Yankees and the Seattle Mariners are back at it again this afternoon inside Yankee Stadium as the two face off head-to-head in a day game after a night game. These are the types of scenarios that MLB Players Association head Tony Clark hopes to avoid by shortening the schedule to 154 games but when you’re paying a guy $15- $30 million a season guaranteed whether they play or not I find it hard to feel sorry for them but anyway, I digress. The Yankees will send Michael Pineda to the mound this afternoon in the Bronx to face off with Hisashi Iwakuma for the Seattle Mariners. The game will be played at 1:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

• Pineda has looked decent in his last three starts allowing just four runs, three of them earned, while punching out 24 batters in 21.2 innings pitched. If the Yankees are going to go anywhere this season it is going to be on the right arm of yesterday’s starter, Masahiro Tanaka, and today’s starter, Michael Pineda.

• Iwakuma is fresh off a start against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim where he threw eight shutout innings in a victory for Seattle. This was just Iwakuma’s second start since coming off the disabled list and it improved his overall record to 1-1 and his ERA to 5.22 this season. Iwakuma owns a 1-2 record with a 3.33 ERA career against New York in four starts.

The New York Yankees have one more game tomorrow in the Bronx before another off day so I expect all hands to be on deck in the bullpen not only for this contest but for tomorrow’s as well. The Yankees bullpen is definitely the strength of this team and the more that Joe Girardi can use the pen, without overusing them of course, the better off the team will be. I want to win and this team will live and die off the offense and the bullpen, let’s hope both are up to the task this afternoon in the Bronx. Go Yankees!