Yankees-Rangers:

It's a surprise to see that Texas is in first place in the A.L. West. We know they have the great hitting, but Nolan Ryan has made their pitching better, getting them to be more aggressive and pitch deeper into games.

It will be interesting to see how they do against the Yankees lineup. The Rangers have an eight-game winning streak at home, their longest since 2005. The Yankees have not made a error in 11 straight games, and they are 22-6 when they don't committ an error.

Mark Teixeira was 18 of 39 on the homestand, raising his average from .203 to .268. He had six homeruns and 16 RBI. He and Alex Rodriguez make quite a tandem, and maybe the best in the game right now.

Rodriguez has 10 hits since coming back with six of them being homeruns. He has hit the ball hard several times with no luck. I am not worried though because you want your cleanup hitter to provide the power and he is also walking a lot which is good. The Yankees are 12-4 since he came back.

Rodriguez loves hitting at the Ballpark at Arlington but I am sure he will be recieved with jeers as he admitted using steroids in his three years with the Rangers, it will be interesting to see how he is recieved. A-Rod is a .329 career hitter at Arlington.

The Yankees are 13-3 in Texas since 2005.

Since May 1, Nick Swisher has been dreadful, going 7-of-61—a .115 average. He has three XBH and five RBI. He has also struck out 24 times in that stretch. He has hit well on the road so maybe that will wake him up although Gardner and Cabrera may be in the lineup again.

The Yankees only drew two walks against the Phillies and struck out 24 times which isn't very good, they need to be more patient although the Phillies had Cole Hamels and Brett Myers going which are two good pitchers.

A-Rod is only three homeruns behind Mr. October, Reggie Jackson, for 11th on the all-time homerun list.

Hideki Matsui is six for his last 42. Nady and Posada may be back in a week or so though which will help.

Thanks to Peter Abraham for the game notes and welcome back to him after a week off, check him out at http://yankeeslhblogs.com/

Yankees lineup:
Jeter(DH)
Damon(LF)
Tex(1B)
A-rod(3B)
Cano(2B)
Cabrera(CF)
Swisher(RF)
Pena(SS)
Cash(C)