Game 68: Good bye, West Coast

With just one more game left in Oakland, the Yankees' 10-game road trip with a couple of west coast stops finally comes to an end on Sunday with Derek Jeter's final farewell to the city of Oakland -- unless some magic happens and the Yankees met the A's in the playoffs, of course.

The Yankees kicked off this trip in Kansas City, taking two of the first three games before Monday night's game was rained out. Then it was off to Seattle, where the Yankees swept the Mariners in three games. And that lead us to where we are today, as the Yankees will look to take the rubber game of this three-game series with the Athletics after dropping last night's game, 5-1.

Mark Teixeira will be in the lineup this afternoon as the Yankees try to win a series against the best team in baseball, boosting the league's best run differential -- +127.

Teixeira was a late scratch from Saturday night's game because of some soreness in his rib. Neither Teixeira or the Yankees were very sure of what exactly the injury was; Teixeira said if definitely didn't feel like an oblique injury, and something more of a muscle spasm.

Either way, he's been a productive hitter in the lineup this season when healthy, so as long as he is good enough to go, that's fine with me.

Today's lineup against Oakland:

LF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
1B Mark Teixeira
C Brian McCann
DH Carlos Beltran
RF Ichiro Suzuki
2B Yangervis Solarte
3B Kelly Johnson

Pitching matchup preview:

After the A's knocked Hiroki Kuroda around for five runs in seven hits, forcing him out of the game in just 4 2/3 innings, which tied his shortest outing of the season, Vidal Nuno will take the mound for the Yankees today and is looking for another quality road start on the season.

In just six career starts away from Yankee Stadium, Nuno is 2-0 with a 1.81 ERA. His last outing was against the Mariners in Seattle, where the lefty tossed 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball.

Jesse Chavez will get the ball for Oakland today, as he is matching up with Nuno for the second time this season. The two starters last faced-off on June 4 in the Bronx;Chavez claimed the win after giving up four runs in seven innings, while Nuno allowed two runs in 4 2/3 innings.

Chavez is 0-3 in his past three starts after giving up two earned runs on eight hits in six innings against the Angels in his most recent outing.

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