Game Preview: New York Yankees vs. Oakland Athletics 4/19

The New York Yankees did not have the best weekend, which may be the understatement of the year. New York is heading into tonight’s game after avoiding a sweep at the hands of the Seattle Mariners on Sunday and after losing a very winnable game in the Bronx on Saturday against King Felix. The good thing for the Yankees is that they had a day off yesterday to lick their wounds and get over their case of the Monday’s and head into today’s series opener with the Oakland Athletics rested and presumably ready to go. Donned with the task of pitching the Yankees to a victory tonight is Michael Pineda while the A’s will counter with Eric Surkamp who has similar plans of his own.

Pineda has not had the start to the 2016 season that man had hoped for or thought after such a strong spring training for the right-hander. Pineda has allowed more than a hit per inning this season and has struggled with command and walks, which is very uncharacteristic of Big Mike, forcing him into a 6.55 ERA to begin the year. That can all turn around tonight in the Bronx with his third start of the season, just start throwing up zeroes.

Surkamp, like Pineda, hasn’t had the start he would have hoped for this season either posting a 4.00 ERA in his first two starts of the year. In Surkamp’s last start he allowed two runs on five hits while allowing four walks to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in a loss. Surkamp, a lefty, has yet to complete five innings of work this season so expect to see a lot of right-handed bats and a lot of patient hitters tonight inside Yankee Stadium.

The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV. Teams like the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland Athletics, teams that are expected to lose more games than they win in 2016, are teams that the Yankees absolutely have to beat if they plan to play for anything in October this year. Slow starts happen and they can be overcome but only up to a certain point in the season. I’m not saying we’re past or at that point yet but we are presumably getting closer and closer with every game the Yankees seemingly give away in the standings.

That stops today. Go Yankees!