Series preview: Cleveland Indians at New York Yankees

The road no longer appears to be a cure for this team's woes as they dropped the last two in Boston after losing two of three in Minnesota. The Tribe finishes the original part of this scheduled road trip at Yankee Stadium and the suddenly hot again Yankees.

• Thursday 7:05 PM: Josh Tomlin (R) vs. Ivan Nova (R)
• Friday 7:05 PM: Carlos Carrasco (R) vs. Masahiro Tanaka (R)
• Saturday 1:05 PM: Danny Salazar (R) vs. Luis Severino (R)
• Sunday 1:05 PM: Trevor Bauer (R) vs. CC Sabathia (L)

Last week the Tribe took the first two games of the series in close fashion. They won the first game 5-4 in 16 innings and then Danny Salazar outdueled CC Sabathia for a 2-1 win. The Yankees won the finale against Trevor Bauer. Since leaving Progessive, the Yankees jumped back into first by taking two of three in Toronto and sweeping three against the Twins.

The Next Week: Before heading home to take on the Milwaukee Brewers for a pair and the Angels for three, the Tribe plays a makeup game at Wrigley Field on Monday with the Cubs.

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AL Playoff Watch: Dodgers at Astros, Blue Jays at Angels, Twins at Orioles, Rangers at Tigers, Rays at A's, White Sox at Mariners.

Team in a Box

Projected Roster

The only change from a week ago was Garrett Jones being designated for assignment and 1B Greg Bird being recalled due to Teixeira being day to day.

Carlos Beltran and Stephen Drew (!) were the thorns in the Tribe's side last week. They had 364/417/727 and 250/308/833 lines respectively with Drew punching two over the fence. McCann also hit two homers and ended up with a decent 897 OPS even though he only had a 231 OBP. Rodriguez, Teixeira and Young all struggled mightily with OPS under 300 and four strikeouts apiece.

Projected Staff

The back end of the bullpen has been playing musical chairs in the last week. Nick Goody and Chris Capuano were recalled during the last series. Goody was sent back down and Caleb Cotham was recalled and Capuano designated. They then turned around and re-activated Capuano, sent Cotham back down and recalled Nick Rumbelow as Bryan Mitchell went on the concussed 7-day DL.

The Tribe missed both Nova and Tanaka the last time around. Nova missed most of the first half with an injury. In his past five starts he has a 3.68 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 6.8 K/9, winning four of them. He has one career start against the Tribe back in 2011. Tanaka has also missed time this year. He has a 3.38 ERA, 0.98 WHIP and 6.8 K/9 in his last five starts. The Tribe hit him well in his lone start in 2014. Severino pitched well in the 16 inning game last week. He then lost to the Blue Jays on Sunday, but struck out nine in six innings. Sababthia also pitched well in the Salazar start, but the Twins roughed him up in a no-decision on Tuesday.

The Tribe did cost Miller his first save of the year last week, but they did not do so well against the rest of the pen. They managed 11 hits, 2 runs and rang up 15 strikeouts in 13 innings of work.

On the Shelf

• OF Dustin Ackley [15 day DL], possible late August return
• RP Bryan Mitchell [7 day DL], no timetable for return
• P Diego Moreno [15 day DL], possible mid-August return
• SP Michael Pineda [15 day DL], possible late August return, on AA rehab
• P Sergio Santos [60 day DL], out for season
• 1B Mark Teixeira [day to day], right leg contusion
• P Chase Whitley [60 day DL], out for season
• OF Mason Williams [60 day DL], out for season

Almanac

*Does not include 2015 stats

Prediction: Could the Tribe pull off a four game sweep? Sure anything is possible. But the probability is that this team wins at least one of the games, and perhaps wins another pitcher's duel to split. I am calling for just the lone victory however with how poorly this team is hitting again.