Yankees vs. Indians Preview (4/17)

Finding Mr. Wright. Or hopefully not too Mr. Wrong anyway.

Chase Wright makes the big jump from Double-A to the majors tonight. Can you imagine pitching in front of the Trenton Thunder fans one week and 40-50,000 fans in Yankee Stadium the next?

Wright is getting this chance because of his magnificent two starts for the Thunder. He hadn't allowed a run in 14 innings and struck out 19. This came on the heels of a great 2006 season at Tampa where he was 12-3, 1.88.

He'll be nervous as all hell tonight, but neither he nor the Yankees have anything to lose...except the game of course.

Jake Westbrook (0-1, 7.36) goes for the Indians tonight. Once upon a time, Westbrook was a Yankee, appearing in 3 games back in 2000. That June he was dealt along with Zach Day and Ricky Ledee to the Tribe for David Justice.

Westbrook had come to the Yankees the previous year for Hideki Irabu. Ted Lilly and Christian Parker were later added to the deal by the Expos. Westbrook has had a pretty good career in Cleveland, averaging about 15 wins the past 3 seasons. This will be his 1st start since signing a 3-year, $33 million extension over the weekend.

Derek Jeter (.348), Hideki Matsui (.500), Jorge Posada (.333), and Jason Giambi (.346) have all smacked Westbrook around pretty well. Hell, even Doug Mientkiewicz is hitting .200 off of him.

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Chien-Ming Wang is expected to pitch for Tampa on Thursday, and if all goes as planned, be activated from the DL the following Tuesday.

Jeff Karstens threw 4 innings for Tampa yesterday and may be activated for the Red Sox series this weekend. The Sox will be starting Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, and Dice-K in the 3 game set. Hate that team.

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