Yankees Go Gunning in Texas (5/5)

The Yankees begin a 3 game series tonight with the red hot Texas Rangers. The Buck Showalter led club has won 6 straight to take a 1 1/2 game lead over Oakland in the AL West with a 17-12 mark. The Rangers have been known for their hitting, but this year their team ERA of 4.21 ranks 5th in the AL (10th in MLB). The Yankees will miss the ace of the staff, Kevin Millwood, who won his 3rd game last night and has the best ERA among the starters at 3.52. The Yankees will also miss rookie John Koronka who has 3 wins and a second best 3.55 ERA.

Pitching match ups for the series are as follows:

Friday - Mike Mussina (4-1, 2.45) vs. Vincente Padilla (3-1, 4.02)
Saturday - Shawn Chacon (3-1, 4.56) vs. Kameron Loe (1-2, 4.15)
Sunday - Chien-Ming Wang (1-1, 4.89) vs. Robinson Tejeda (1-0, 3.60)

No Yankee has more than 10 at-bats against Padilla with the exception of Gary Sheffield. Sheffield is hitting a lofty .417 (15-36) with 3 home runs against the right hander. Loe has faced the Yankees in two relief appearances that covered 3 innings. He allowed 2 runs including a home run to Bernie Williams.

Miguel Cairo is the only Yankee to face Tejeda and that was in the NL when Cairo was with the Mets and Tejeda was on the Phillies. Cairo was hitless in three trips.

Texas closer Francisco Cordero struggled with shoulder problems in Spring Training and the apparently carried over to the regular season. He had 5 blown saves in April alone and has lost the closer's job, at least for the moment. Akinori Otsuka, acquired this past winter from San Diego, has picked up 3 saves as Cordero's replacement and has a 1.98 ERA.

Kevin Mench, who's huge head will be mentioned many times by Michael Kay this weekend, leads the team with 9 home runs and 24 runs batted in. Michael Young, last year's AL batting title winner, leads the team with a .328 average. Stud first baseman Mark Texeira is off to a slow start, batting .276 with just 4 home runs and 16 RBI.

Outfielder/1st Baseman Brad Wilkerson could miss a game or the entire series after suffering a mild concussion when he collided with the left field wall in last night's game. He also banged up his sore right shoulder that troubled him with the Expos/Nationals.