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Yankees-Mets Preview

Jun 27, 2009 - 5:13 AM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

New York (40-32) at New York (37-34), 7:10 p.m. EDT

The New York Yankees have already taken advantage of shoddy New York Mets' defense for two wins over their Subway Series rivals this year.

The Yankees look to capture the season series from the error-prone Mets as they hope to have captain Derek Jeter in the lineup Saturday night when their three-game set at Citi Field continues.

The Mets (37-35) have paid the price for defensive miscues against the Yankees twice this year. The more notable instance was their 9-8 loss at the new Yankee Stadium on June 12 when second baseman Luis Castillo dropped a popup with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning that allowed the Yankees to score two runs to win the game.

In Friday's 9-1 loss, the Mets committed three errors in the second inning that helped contribute to four runs for the Yankees. Third baseman David Wright and shortstop Alex Cora each had throwing errors while first baseman Nick Evans flubbed a grounder in the Mets' first three-error inning since May 20, 2004.

"We played a bad game. It was just one of those nights," Mets manager Jerry Manuel said. "I think probably some of it is due because of the amount of players that we have missing."

Jeter, who turned 35 on Friday, was scratched after batting practice because of a bad cough. He had four hits and scored four runs in his last game Thursday - an 11-7 win at Atlanta.

"With a respiratory problem, you worry about them, you know, getting winded and that sort of thing," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said before he pulled Jeter from the lineup.

Alex Rodriguez moved into 11th place on the all-time homers list with his 564th on Friday, and Brett Gardner added a career-high five hits as the Yankees won their third straight and improved to 3-1 against the Mets.

The injury-plagued Mets welcomed Gary Sheffield back to the lineup Friday after he missed a four-game series against St. Louis this week due to his right knee problems. The nine-time All-Star homered in the fifth inning.

Yankees starter A.J. Burnett (5-4, 4.24 ERA) will try to defeat the Mets for the second time this season. He yielded four singles over seven innings June 14 in a 15-0 victory to improve to 3-6 with a 3.58 ERA in 17 career starts against the Mets.

The right-hander fell to 1-2 with a 2.79 ERA in three interleague starts after losing 2-1 last Saturday in Florida. Burnett gave up two runs over 6 1-3 innings.

The Mets may not want to start Cora since he is 0 for 19 with seven strikeouts in his career versus Burnett while Wright is 3 for 15 with seven strikeouts.

Tim Redding (1-2, 6.08) gets the ball for the Mets after earning his first win his last time out. He gave up four runs over seven innings Monday against St. Louis in a 6-4 victory.

The veteran right-hander is winless in his last seven interleague starts, going 0-2 with a 5.89 ERA. He is 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA in two outings versus the AL this year, and will face the Yankees for the first time.

Yankees slugger Mark Teixeira has four doubles and three walks in nine career at-bats against Redding.