Two in a row would be fun.
Brandon McCarthy's complete game shutout of the Astros on Thursday afternoon helped the Yankees avoid a sweep at home just before the calendar flips to September. New York welcomes another fairly bad team into Yankee Stadium this weekend, kicking off a three-game set against the Chicago White Sox. The Yankees are currently four games out of the second wild card, trailing the Mariners and Tigers. If the team still has any hope of playing baseball in October, they are going to have to beat up on the teams that they should beat. The 59-68 White Sox would be a good place to start.
Yankees lineup: Gardner 7 Jeter 6 Ellsbury 8 Teixeira 3 Prado 4 McCann DH Headley 5 Cervelli 2 Wheeler 9 Greene RHP
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) August 22, 2014Brian McCann serves as the DH for tonight's game with Francisco Cervelli taking his place behind the plate. Zelous Wheeler gets the start in right field over Ichiro Suzuki with Martin Prado serving as the second baseman while Stephen Drew gets the night off.
Speaking of McCarthy, yesterday's hero, the impending free agent told Dan Barbarisi of the Wall Street Journal that he'd like to re-sign with New York this offseason. The right-hander said that he feels like the Yankees are a great fit for him and there'd be no question in his mind about returning. His 1.90 ERA since coming over from the Diamondbacks has been a huge boost to a rotation that has seen injury after injury. With plenty of question marks concerning the rotation for next season, it seems like a no-brainer for the Yankees to do everything in their power to pencil McCarthy into their 2015 plans.
Editor's Note: SB Nation's partner FanDuel is hosting a one-day $18,000 Fantasy Baseball league for tonight's MLB games. It's $2 to join and first prize is $2,000. Jump in now. Here's the FanDuel link.