Game 134 Preview: Yankees vs. Red Sox

Although it wasn't pretty, the Yankees won their third game in thirteen attempts last night in Boston by the score of 5-2. Tonight, they'll go for their first series win over Boston since May 7-9, 2010.

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Thu 09/01

7:10 PM EDT

Phil Hughes takes the mound tonight for New York. The last time he took the mound against the Red Sox was August 7, when he managed to allow a tenth inning double to David Ortiz followed by an intentional walk to Carl Crawford and, last but not least, finally serving up a game winning hit to Josh Reddick. Since then, he's had two quality starts against the Rays and Twins and one terrible start against the Athletics.

If Hughes wants a shot at winning today, the average velocity of his fastball is going to need to be higher than the 91.22 mph it averaged against the Athletics on August 25. Even though he struck out five batters in the 2.2 innings he pitched, he went up and out of the zone with his fastball far too many times fishing for a swing and miss. Phil, don't throw any meatballs today.

Starting for Boston is Josh Beckett. Unfortunately, for Yankee fans, Beckett has done everything and more for Boston against New York this season. He's compiled 27 innings in four starts, allowing 16 hits, three earned runs, seven walks and 30 strikeouts.

Lineups:

New York - Brett Gardner LF, Derek Jeter SS, Curtis Granderson CF, Mark Teixeira 1B, Robinson Cano 2B, Nick Swisher RF, Eric Chavez DH, Eduardo Nunez 3B, Francisco Cervelli C

Boston - Jacoby Ellsbury CF, Dustin Pedroia 2B, Adrian Gonzalez 1B, David Ortiz DH, Jed Lowrie 3B, Carl Crawford LF, Josh Reddick RF, Jason Varitek C, Marco Scutaro SS

While this game doesn't exactly appear promising, come back for the game thread at 7:00 EST and we'll see what happens.