Be the better pitcher.

The weakest unit on this team is the starting pitching.  Though lately it's been the lineup that's been slacking, hitting comes and goes.  With the exception of last night they've actually started to pick it up a bit and there's plenty of reason to believe that they'll be hitting heading into October.  The bullpen has been lights out since Opening Day.  The biggest question marks on this team going forward lie within the starting rotation.

The most defined role in the rotation belongs to Masahiro Tanaka.  In his most recent start he put forth the best performance of his Yankee career.  It wasn't his most dominant but it was by far the most important.  Last Saturday went a long way in establishing the ace that the Yankees need to in order to be successful come playoff time.  Tonight will be another test, not because of the team, but because of the opposing starting pitcher.  Carlos Carrasco is a bonafide stud who's really starting to come into his own.  In six starts since the All-Star break he's got a 2.51 ERA while holding opponents to a .163 batting average.  He tossed a gem his last time out against the Yankees going 8 innings and allowing just two solo home runs while striking out 8 and walking none.  He's going to be a handful tonight.

I'm not going to be surprised if the Yankees don't score a bunch off Carrasco.  His stuff is that good.  But Tanaka's has to be better.  That's just the nature of it.  If the Yankees are going to be the best team they can be than Tanaka has to take games like this and grab them by the balls.  Go toe-to-toe with one of the best pitchers in baseball and beat him.  That means keeping the ball in the ballpark, working out of trouble when he has to and giving them distance.  Go out there and pitch to the score.  If the bats can't get anything going that inning then throw up another 0.  Be the guy we brought you in here to be.

On a side note, I have a feeling this is going to be one of those nights that Stephen Drew hits a big homer.  He's had a few of them this year and they've all seemed to come out of nowhere, probably because he's fucking awful and you never expect him to do anything good.  But he's 3 for 9 off Carrasco lifetime with two home runs, one of them coming last week at Progressive Field.  He may just be there only hope tonight because the rest of these guys looked absolutely lost last Tuesday.