The New York Yankees fresh off a tough three-game at home division series with Tampa Bay, will open another three-game weekend set on Friday when they host the Seattle Mariners who are trying desperately to turn their season around since finishing a miserable 10-and-12 in April. <\/p>\n
SEA: Felix Hernandez (3-1, 1-89 ) v NYY: Hiroki Kuroda (2-4, 3.75) Matchup<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Preview<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Now 33 games into the season, it’s beginning to show that Seattle (15-18) is far from being a complete team.<\/p>\n However, they do have some strengths, which kind of includes their rotation, as some starters tend to be either very good — or not. As a whole, the pitching staff is 10-13 with a collective 3.85 ERA.<\/p>\n They will hope that the trend of those that are good will continue, when 26-year old Felix Hernandez takes the mound on Friday in New York.<\/p>\n The righty baffled the Twins bats on Saturday, giving up just one hit while whiffing nine over eight innings to give the Mariners a 7-0 win. The stellar effort also boosted Hernandez’s record to 3-1 to go along with a very good 1.89 ERA.<\/p>\n He is 1-1 with a 4.95 ERA in his three starts against New York (16-14) in 2011, and will hope that his current hot streak can continue as he faces them for the first time this year.<\/p>\n One thing that has helped the Seattle bullpen this season, is the fact that the team is scoring runs, ranking 15th overall with 125. \u00a0[dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]<\/p>\n Leading that charge is third baseman Kyle Seager who leads the Mariners with 20 RBIs and extended his recent hot hitting streak on Wednesday against the Tigers as he went 1 for 3 with an RBI. Seager has gone 17 for 49 (.347) with three home runs and 14 RBI in his last 14 games. He also has a .633 slugging percentage over that span.<\/p>\n Looking to shut down Seager and the rest of the Mariners lineup will be 37-year old right-hander Hiroki Kuroda who has labored a bit to start the 2012 season with consistency.<\/p>\n Kuroda surrendered three runs — two earned — and six hits in 4 1\/3 innings during New York’s 5-1 loss at Kansas City on Saturday night. But the worst part was that he walked three batters and struck out just two — the second time this season he has recorded more walks than strikeouts. He has now lost three of his past four starts.<\/p>\n However, a matchup against Seattle could help Kuroda to get back on track as he is 2-1 with a 3.26 ERA at home this season . He has only faced Seattle one time in his career and is 0-1 with a 5.68 ERA.<\/p>\n In the meantime the Yankees are hitting well, ranked third in the league in average and number two overall in home runs with 49.<\/p>\n
\nDate\/Time: Friday, May 11 – 7:05 PM EST
\nVenue: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York
\nBroadcast: Root \/ YES
\nLINE: 132, -140
\nTOTAL: 7.5<\/strong><\/p>\n