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Tigers-Yankees Preview

Aug 18, 2010 - 4:41 AM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Detroit (58-60) at New York (72-46), 7:05 p.m. EDT

The New York Yankees have always enjoyed a great deal of success against Jeremy Bonderman, with Alex Rodriguez leading the way.

Rodriguez, though, will miss his second straight game Wednesday night when the Yankees continue a four-game series against Bonderman and the Detroit Tigers.

These teams have split the first two games, with Rodriguez exiting after four innings of Monday's 3-1 loss because of tightness in his left calf. He sat out Tuesday's 6-2 victory, and said he will not play Wednesday.

Rodriguez had an MRI on Tuesday night and it showed a low grade strain. The slugger is not sure how long he will be out.

"I feel surprisingly better than I thought," Rodriguez said. "Hopefully it'll just be a day-to-day thing."

The three-time AL MVP's absence is good news for Bonderman (6-8, 5.16 ERA), who is 3-8 with a 5.42 ERA in 12 career regular-season starts against New York (73-46). Rodriguez has enjoyed the most success of any Yankee with more than five at-bats against the right-hander with a .310 average and two homers.

Derek Jeter (.229), Robinson Cano (.200), Jorge Posada (.227) and Mark Teixeira (1 for 15) have all fared poorly in contrast.

Bonderman fell to 2-4 with a 6.45 ERA in nine road starts after giving up six runs over six innings Friday in an 8-4 loss to the White Sox.

"I really had a good breaking ball," said Bonderman, who has never pitched at the new Yankee Stadium. "I was locating. When you have that kind of stuff you should win."

Cano and Curtis Granderson homered Tuesday as New York avoided a third straight loss and remained in a first-place tie with Tampa Bay atop the AL East. Granderson is 4 for 6 in his first two games against his former club.

The Yankees got a boost when Nick Swisher returned to the lineup, saying he will be smarter about taking big swings to protect his sore right elbow. Swisher had a two-run single in four at-bats.

"It's a sharp pain. It's more of a zing when it happens, then it goes away," Swisher said before the game. "These are the dog days right now. This is when the grind starts and I want to be out there."

Detroit (58-61) had a three-game win streak snapped despite homers from Brandon Inge and former Yankees minor-leaguer Austin Jackson.

The Tigers played without second baseman Carlos Guillen, who was out because of a sore left knee. Guillen suffered the injury Monday when he was taken out on a hard slide by Gardner during a game-ending double play.

"He's fine," manager Jim Leyland said. "The MRI was clean. And right now we're saying, he's day to day."

Dustin Moseley (2-2, 4.41) will make his fifth start for New York after going 2-2 with a 4.50 ERA in the first four. He has alternated wins and losses, yielding four runs over 4 1-3 innings in Friday's 4-3 loss at Kansas City.

The right-hander is 0-0 with a 6.52 ERA in two career starts against the Tigers.