2011 ALDS YANKEES VS. TIGERS GAME 1 PREVIEW

Mother Nature has been a pain to the Yankees all season long. With the postponement of yesterday's Game 1 due to rain--the Yankees 22nd game this season affected by rain by the way, the Yankees and Tigers will go at it again. The game will resume tonight at 8:37 PM Eastern Time with the Yankees batting in the home half of the second inning and the game tied at 1-1.

The starters for Game 1 were originally CC Sabathia and Justin Verlander. But now that Mother Nature is playing a role, both starters won't pitch again until Game 3 in Detroit on Monday. So, Ivan Nova (16-4, 3.70 ERA) will oppose Doug Fister (11-13, 2.83 ERA) later tonight.Ivan Nova doesn't have much experience against the Tigers. He didn't pitch against Detroit at all this season, and has only pitched against them once in his career, which in fact was his first career major league appearance. He pitched in relief on May 13, 2010 in Detroit against the Tigers while going 2 innings, allowing two hits, no walks or runs with one strikeout. The only two hitters in the Tigers' starting lineup that have a hit against Nova are Delmon Young and Magglio Ordonez who are a combined 2 for 4. Wilson Betemit has one hit in one AB against Nova, while Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez, and Austin Jackson are all 0 for 1 against Nova. Obviously, those are all extremely small sample sizes against Nova, so you can't make any conclusions.
(Photo: Getty)
Doug Fister, on the other hand, has faced the Yanks in a bigger sample size compared to Nova against the Tigers. Fister has faced the Yankees three times in his career going 1-2 with a 6.00 ERA while allowing 24 hits in 18 innings pitched. He faced the Yankees once this season while he was still with the Seattle Mariners. He went 7 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and five strikeouts on July 26 at Yankee Stadium. There are some hitters in the Yankees lineup who have had good success against him in his career. Derek Jeter has gone 4 for 10 with two RBIs against Fister. Mark Teixeira has gone 3 for 9 with a homer and four RBIs.

Also, Curtis Granderson and Nick Swisher have each hit a homer against Fister while combining for 3 hits in 10 AB's with three RBI. As a team the Yankees are hitting .302 in 63 AB's against the Tiger right-hander.

Although the weather forecast doesn't look to promising, (it's actually worse than it was last night) hopefully we can get this one in. The Yankees and Tigers have lost their travel day on Sunday because of last night's rain out and another rain out tonight may force them to lose their Wednesday travel day--if necessary--to New York for a possible Game 5. This game will be a big test for both Nova and Fister as the two are making their first career playoff appearances. Hopefully Nova and the Yanks can come out on top.

Go Yankees!!!

--Jesse Schindler, BYB Staff Writer




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