New York Yankees vs. Los Angeles Angels: Series Preview

The weekend series against the Royals proved a costly one, as Aaron Judge went down with an oblique injury and was added to the injured list. The banged-up Yankees will now head out west, where hopefully they will start to get some players back. Gary Sanchez is expected to return on Wednesday, while Giancarlo Stanton may not be fsr behind.

As the Yankees begin the week-plus West Coast road trip, let’s check out the pitching matching for their four-game set against the newly Brad Ausmus-led Angels.

Game one: J.A. Happ vs. Matt Harvey

Happ’s start to the 2019 season has been suboptimal. Last time out against the Red Sox was his best start of the season, and even that resulted in three runs over 6.1 innings. Good news, now he gets to face the best player in baseball! To be serious, besides Mike Trout and Brian Goodwin, the Angels’ lineup hasn’t been that spectacular so far this year. According to OPS+, Albert Pujols has been their third best hitter this season. Hopefully, Happ can avoid too much trouble against Trout and can get further back on track.

Ah, Matt Harvey. The former Met is facing a New York team for the first time since signing with the Angels in the offseason. His 2019 so far has been, uh, not good. In his last appearance, Harvey gave up four runs in 4.1 innings. That was his second best outing of the season. Coming into today’s game, he’s sporting a 9.64 ERA in 18.2 innings.

Game two: Domingo German vs. Chris Stratton

On the one hand there’s Happ, who while off to a bad start, just posted his best game of the season. On the other hand is German, who’s been quite good so far, but struggled a bit last time out. Against the Royals on Thusday, German allowed more hits than he had in his three previous appearances. Although it should be noted, he’s not walked anyone in his last eight innings, which is good considering that free passes plagued him last season.

Stratton is also in his first season on the Angels, and he’s also gotten off to an iffy start. The Mariners tagged him for six runs in five innings on Thursday. Tuesday’s game will be the first time the Yankees have faced Stratton.

Game three: CC Sabathia vs. Felix Pena

In just two games and 10 innings, Sabathia has managed to put up 0.6 rWAR, which is the third best of anyone on the team. That’s how effective he’s been so far. The lone run he’s allowed to date was an unearned one. The big guy’s final season could not have gotten off to a better start.

Pena is sporting the best numbers of any Angels starter on the young season, coming in with a 4.00 ERA and a 1.154 WHIP. On the other hand, he hasn’t made it past five innings in any appearance this season.

Game four: Masahiro Tanaka vs. Trevor Cahill

After struggling against the White Sox, Tanaka bounced back with a solid outing against the Royals on Saturday. Apart from that Chicago start, it’s been a remarkably good season for the right-hander so far. Now he gets to face off against the Angels, who he’s allowed just seven earned runs in six career starts against.

Oh, look, another new Angel. Cahill is in his first season in LA after signing with the Angels in the offseason. He’s struggled in his last two times out, giving up nine total runs in 8.1 combined innings. However in the two starts prior to that, he’d allowed just three runs in 12 innings. It’s been an up and down season so far for him, but we’ll see if the potentially less banged up Yankees can keep him down still.