FanHouse Andy Phillips

FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Pittsburgh Pirates.

For the better part of the last decade, the Pittsburgh Pirates aimlessly wandered through the wilderness of baseball with Kevin McClatchy and Dave Littlefield at the helm. Finally, they lost their jobs and Frank Coonelly and Neal Huntington took over. For more than a year, the new front office has been working on digging out of the hole dug by Littlefield during his reign of terror. There's only one real problem: The hole dug by Littlefield was so deep that it's going to take more than a year to dig out of it.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

New York Yankees (76-62) vs. Seattle Mariners (74-62)-7:05PM Est.

If this weekend did anything in the AL East, it was letting the Yankees know it's time to turn their attention to the wild card race. They're not going to catch Boston, not that I ever thought they would mind you, so Seattle is their newest rival. The Mariners were able to take the first game of this series behind Felix Hernandez and Ichiro Suzuki, and ended their 9-game losing streak in the process, as they got back to within a game of New York and the wild card. The Yankees on the other hand are losing players. Andy Phillips is done for the season, and Roger Clemens is undergoing an MRI on his elbow. If Clemens is lost for some time, will the Yankees already questionable pitching staff be good enough to hold on? Chien-Ming Wang starts tonight, and he's 9-2 in his last 12 starts. He's also done a good job of keeping Ichiro off the basepaths, as Suzuki is hitting only .176 off of Wang. The bad news for Wang is that after Seattle snapped each of it's previous long losing streaks this season, they've gone on a run. It'll be up to Horacio Ramirez to get another one started tonight.

Roger Clemens was banged up before he started yesterday's game for the Yankees, and he was in even worse shape afterwards. He gave up five earned runs in four innings, and after the game he underwent an MRI on his ailing right elbow. From the New York Post:

"[Clemens] started to feel something grab in the elbow in the fourth inning," Joe Torre said.

Clemens was battling inflammation in the hinge and blisters on the right foot going into the game.

Asked if Clemens would miss his next start (Sunday if the Yankees stay in order following Thursday's day off), Torre said it is likely.

"My guess is yes," said Torre, who explained the 45-year-old Clemens has dealt with a similar issue this year and bounced back to pitch well.

The timing could have been worse -- the Yankees were playing the Mariners, who snapped a nine-game losing streak and moved to within a game of the wild card. The Yankees should receive the results of Clemens' MRI today. Even if he misses just one start, the team still has another problem to deal with: Andy Phillips broke his wrist and will miss the next six-to-eight weeks, which will be the rest of the year unless the team goes deep into the playoffs. He's expected to undergo surgery today.