Sabathia Faces Red Sox In Sunday Night Showdown

Even with their best pitcher, Hiroki Kuroda, on the mound, the New York Yankees failed to walk away with a Saturday afternoon against the Boston Red Sox. Sloppy play, poor offensive production and a pitching effort from Kuroda that wasn't his best, the Yankees dropped yesterday's game to the Red Sox, 6-1.

A throwing error in the 4th inning would turn out to be a costly play, when a double play ball to Lyle Overbay, instead turned into a run, no outs, and eventually three-runs in the inning.

The top three hitters in the Yankees lineup -- Brett Gardner, Ichiro and Robinson Cano -- combined to go 0-for-11, with 11 groundball outs. Alfonso Soriano and Overbay were the only productive hitters in the lineup, with Soriano collecting a pair of hits to go along with Overbay's three.

With the loss, the Yankees fell back to 8 1/2 game behind the Red Sox in the American League East, putting themselves into an even deeper hole to climb out of in order to clinch a playoff spot this season, and avoid missing the postseason for the first time since 2008.

Tonight's Lineup, 8:05 EST @ Fenway Park:

Gardner CF
Suzuki RF
Cano 2B
Soriano LF
Rodriguez 3B
Granderson DH
Nunez SS
Overbay 1B
Stewart C
Sabathia LHP

Pitching Preview:

With Kuroda gaining all the attention as the frontman of the Yankees' rotation, CC Sabathia has been doing everything he can regain his title as the Yankees No. 1.

Sabathia's season has been full of ups and downs, but he just hasn't been able to take those ups, and build off of them to create an extended run of success.

"I've had some big games here, I've had some bad ones, but, you know, hopefully [Sunday] is a good one," Sabathia said.

CC's 4.66 ERA this season is higher than it's ever been since joining the Yankees, but he is coming off a pair of good starts, having allowed just five five earned runs in his last two starts, totaling 13 1/3 innings.

"You know when I'm out there and I'm playing, I'm not thinking about what people think about me or what's going on," Sabathia said. "I'm thinking about trying to making a good pitch and helping the team win. I get to go out there every time out and try to change people's opinion of me, so hopefully I can do that."

Sabathia has a 6.23 ERA in three starts against Boston this season, permitting seven runs in five innings the last time he faced them on Sunday Night Baseball in July. He also hasn't had a lot of success at Fenway Park in his career, piling up a 4.93 ERA over 11 starts.

Matching up against Sabathia will be Red Sox right-hander Ryan Dempster, who will be making his third start against the Bombers this season. Dempster rebounded after two poor outings, giving up one run over seven innings against the Blue Jays.

Dempster last faced the Yankee July 21st at Fenway, when he tosses 5 1/3 innings, giving up three runs on six hits, while walking four and striking out four.

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