Rocky Mountain High, Colorado

Yankees vs. Rockies Preview

Baseballs in humidors and purple jerseys. This is NOT your father's baseball team. The Yankees open up a 3 game series tonight at Coors Field against the NL West Rockies. The last time the Yankees came here was in 2002, and the result was a pitcher's nightmare.

Tonight's starting pitcher, Mike Mussina, won that first game in '02 despite allowing 5 runs in 6 innings. Afterwards he said he never wanted to pitch there again. Should have had a word with Bud I guess.

Andy Pettitte was thrashed for 8 runs, 5 earned, in 3 plus innings in the 2nd game. But the Yankees pounded Mike Hampton and the Rockie's pen for 18 hits, including 3 home runs, in a 20-10 win.

The finale saw the Yankees blow an 8-2 lead and lose 14-11 in 11 innings on Todd Zeile's 3-run walk off HR. Relievers Randy Choate and Mike Thurman gave up 9 runs in just 2.1 innings.

The only other time the 2 teams met was in 2004 when the Yankees swept a 3 game set at Yankee Stadium. The Rockies come in hot, having won 10 of 14, including a pair from the Red Sox.

The use of the humidor has purportedly cut down on the number of runs and wild hitting affairs. That remains to be seen.

One other story of interest in this series will be the increasing rumors of the Yankees interest in Todd Helton. Helton does have a no-trade clause, but may be willing to waive it to get to a contender.

Pitching Probables - ironically it is the same pitching order for the Yankees from that 2002 series.

Tuesday - Mike Mussina vs. Josh Fogg
Wednesday - Andy Pettitte vs. Jeff Francis
Thursday - Roger Clemens vs. Rodrigo Lopez