• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Orioles-Yankees Preview

May 19, 2009 - 4:56 AM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

Baltimore (16-22) at New York (20-17), 7:05 p.m. EDT

The New York Yankees are finally starting to play up to the expectations that come with having baseball's largest payroll. Their high-priced staff ace is also beginning to live up to his mammoth contract.

CC Sabathia looks to win his third straight start and help the Yankees extend their season-high winning streak to seven games Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game series against the visiting Baltimore Orioles.

After dropping a season-worst five consecutive games from May 2-7, New York (21-17) is 8-2 since Alex Rodriguez made his season debut in a 4-0 win at Baltimore (16-22) on May 8.

In Monday's 7-6 win over Minnesota, Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira hit back-to-back homers in a six-run first inning, as the Yankees completed a four-game sweep of the Twins.

Rodriguez has homered in each of his last three games and Teixeira, who homered from both sides of the plate Monday, is batting .458 (11 for 24) with 11 RBIs during New York's six-game streak.

"We're catching the Yankees at a time where things are clicking for them," Baltimore manager Dave Trembley told the Orioles' official Web site. "Hopefully, we can go in there and slow them down a little bit. We'll have to play very good baseball."

Like the team he pitches for, Sabathia (3-3, 3.70 ERA) went through a bit of a rough patch earlier this season, but he's been looking strong lately.

New York signed Sabathia to a seven-year, $161 million contract in December to anchor its rotation, but he got off to a less than encouraging start.

The left-hander was tagged for six runs and eight hits in 4 1-3 innings of a 10-5 loss at Baltimore on opening day and yielded 16 runs in 21 1-3 innings over a three-start span from April 22-May 2. Since that disappointing stretch, Sabathia has displayed his dominant form from last season, when he went 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA in 17 starts for Milwaukee.

After throwing a four-hitter while striking out a season-high eight in the win over the Orioles on May 8, Sabathia gave up two runs and five hits in eight innings of Thursday's 3-2 victory over Toronto.

"I've been throwing the ball well, just trying to throw strikes," Sabathia told the Yankees' official Web site. "Hopefully I can keep it up."

Sabathia is 6-1 with a 2.67 ERA in 11 career starts versus Baltimore, and New York has split this season's fist six games with the Orioles.

Baltimore is coming off Sunday's 7-4 loss to Kansas City and has alternated wins and losses in its last 10 games.

The Orioles expect to have starting center fielder Adam Jones back in the lineup Tuesday after he missed the last four games with a mild right hamstring strain. His return could spark a Baltimore offense that has scored eight total runs while batting .198 (20 for 101) in its last three games.

Jones, who leads the Orioles in batting average (.370) and home runs (eight), is 10 for 23 (.435) with a homer and five RBIs in six games versus the Yankees this season. He's also 3 for 6 with a double off Sabathia in 2009.

Rookie Brad Bergesen (1-1, 5.27) takes the mound for Baltimore looking to bounce back from his first major league loss.

After going 1-0 with a 4.98 ERA in his first four career starts, Bergesen gave up four runs and nine hits in 5 2-3 innings of an 8-6 loss to Tampa Bay on Wednesday.

Opponents are batting .348 off Bergesen on the season, and the right-hander may have trouble shutting down an aggressive New York offense that's averaging 5.3 runs during its winning streak.