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Guthrie aims to extend strong road pitching vs. hot Yankees

Aug 13, 2007 - 1:40 PM Baltimore (54-62) at NY Yankees (66-51) 7:05 pm EDT

BRONX, New York (Ticker) - The surging New York Yankees open a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles on Monday.

Since the All-Star break, the Yankees have gone a major league-best 23-8 to close within four games of the Boston Red Sox in the American League East. It is the closest they have been to first place since April 24.

The only bump in the road for the Yankess since the break was when they lost two of three at Baltimore from July 27-29.

Coming off a three-game sweep of Cleveland, the Yankees turn to to Chien-Ming Wang (13-6, 3.94 ERA), who will be looking to rebound from his own poor outing on Wednesday. He permitted eight runs and nine hits over 2 2/3 innings - the shortest start of his career - in a 15-4 loss at Toronto, snapping his personal three-game winning streak.

The sinkerballer is 3-1 with a 4.82 ERA in eight games - seven starts - against Baltimore. He is 1-0 with a 6.57 ERA in two starts against them this season.

Wang had his scheduled start pushed ahead following Roger Clemens' five-game suspension for beaning Toronto's Alex Rios in the back on Tuesday.

The Orioles counter with rookie Jeremy Guthrie (7-4, 3.22 ERA), who looks to beat the Yankees for a second time in less than a month and has fared well against them in his three lifetime appearances - two starts - going 1-0 with a 2.51 ERA. Perhaps more impressive are his numbers on the road as he is 5-0 with a 2.70 ERA away from home this season.

The righthander took the loss in his last start against Seattle on Wednesday, surrendering five earned runs and eight hits in four innings.