Former New Jersey high school star Ryan Kalish will be starting in his first-ever big league game at Yankee Stadium on Friday night. He'll be playing left field and batting eighth.
"It's fun to be heckled. I'm sure they'll think of something," he told Tony Lee of what he expects from the New York crowd. "If I'm out there in the outfield it will be interesting to see what's going to happen. Shoot, in high school you get heckled and that's probably a little bit worse because they know more about you."
With just six games of experience under his belt, Kalish obviously has no history with Yankees starter Javier Vazquez. His teammates, however do, and Adrian Beltre leads the charge with a .441 batting average and two homers against Vazquez. Beltre, who hit a grand slam on Thursday, is starting at third base and batting fifth.
Mike Lowell, starting at first base and batting seventh, owns a .277 batting average with five doubles, two homers and six RBIs against Vazquez.
J.D. Drew has also seen loads of success against Vazquez (.357 BA, 4 HRs), as has David Ortiz (.320 BA, 2 HRs). Jacoby Ellsbury, Jed Lowrie and Marco Scutaro, however, are a combined 0-for-15 against him.
On the other side, Clay Buchholz will likely have some trouble with Robinson Cano, who is hitting .364 against the righty. Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter are each batting .333 against him. In a limited sample size, Mark Teixeira owns Buccholz, with three hits and a walk in six trips to the plate.
The complete lineups are below.
Red Sox
1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
2. Marco Scutaro, SS
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Victor Martinez, C
5. Adrian Beltre, 3B
6. J.D. Drew, RF
7. Mike Lowell, 1B
8. Ryan Kalish, LF
9. Jed Lowrie, 2B
Yankees
1. Derek Jeter, SS
2. Nick Swisher, RF
3. Mark Teixeira, 1B
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
5. Robinson Cano, 2B
6. Lance Berkman, DH
7. Curtis Granderson, CF
8. Francisco Cervelli, C
9. Brett Gardner, LF
