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After coming off a pair of impressive bullpen appearances, Chien-Ming Wang returns to the Yankee rotation today in an afternoon matchup versus the Texas Rangers. He wastes no time in getting a big test, as the Rangers lead the AL in both homeruns and slugging %. The key factors to a successful outing from Wang are that his sinker induces ground balls early and often, and that he keeps Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus off the base paths. Those two, like Brett Gardner, are dangerous on the base paths and although, they may not have Gardner's speed...they do have "game changing," type of speed. Throw in the fact that Kinsler leads his Texas team in walks and that makes him one of the league's toughest outs. Wang is looking at a pitch limit of about 80 today so if he can get through the 5th inning, that would be a good way to start his return. The Bombers will need somebody to come out of the pen and give them a few innings of middle relief today. Girardi was effective in using his bullpen last night, as only Tomko and Robertson were required to clean up Pettitte's rough outing. Alfredo Aceves is rested and available as his last outing came on May 29th at Cleveland. Phil Hughes is reportedly not available until tomorrow. With a four game stretch versus the pesky Rays on the brink, let's hope the bullpen has an efficient day. Jeter and Posada have the day off, so the lineup looks like this:

Damon LF
Swisher RF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Matsui DH
Cabrera CF
Cervelli C
Pena SS

Go Yanks!!