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New York Yankees will make their first-ever visit to Houston's Minute Maid Park for a regular-season contest this evening, when the storied franchise clashes with the homestanding Astros in the opener of a three-game interleague set.
New York actually participated in the first game ever held at the stadium, then known as Enron Field, when the Yankees and Astros played an exhibition on March 30, 2000. The teams have had only one regular-season series against one another, which took place at Yankee Stadium from June 10-12, 2003.
The Yankees took two of the three games in that series, but their lone loss was a memorable one. The Astros set a major league record by having six pitchers combine for a no-hitter in a 14-0 victory.
Tonight's tilt also marks the first career road start for Yankees phenom Joba Chamberlain. The former set-up reliever was inserted into New York's ailing rotation earlier this month and has made two starts in his new role, although the results have been mixed so far.
Chamberlain lasted just 2 1/3 innings in his much-anticipated starting debut on June 3, allowing two runs (1 earned) and issuing four walks against the Toronto Blue Jays. He had an improved showing in Sundays 6-3 win over Kansas City, in which Chamberlain allowed three runs -- two earned -- and struck out five over a career-high 4 1/3 innings.
The 22-year-old only walked one batter in Sundays no-decision and threw 53 of 78 pitches for strikes.
Chamberlain will be matched up against one-time Yankee Shawn Chacon in tonight's opener. The versatile right-hander spent parts of the 2005 and 2006 seasons with the Bronx Bombers and played a key role in New York's march to the American League East title in 2005, when he amassed a 7-3 record and 2.85 earned run average in 14 games (12 starts).
Chacon hasn't been nearly that successful lately as an Astro. In his most recent start, the Alaska native was rocked for seven runs and 10 hits over five innings in a home loss to St. Louis last Saturday. Six days earlier, Chacon was knocked out after only one inning of a 10-1 defeat at Milwaukee in which he surrendered four runs on two hits and a pair of walks.
In his only career start against the Yankees, Chacon gave up seven runs and eight hits in just 3 1/3 innings to suffer a loss on June 10, 2007. He was pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates at the time.
The Yankees head to Houston off a hard-fought series win at Oakland. New York took Thursday's rubber match of a three-game set with the Athletics by a 4-1 count, with Hideki Matsui accounting for the offense with a grand slam in the top of the sixth inning.
Matsui's blast was all Andy Pettitte (6-5) would need, as the ex-Astro held the A's to one run on five hits and fanned six over eight outstanding innings. Mariano Rivera threw a scoreless ninth to record his 18th save of the season for New York, which has now won six of its last nine outings.
Houston has dropped six of its last eight contests, including the final two tilts of this week's three-game home series with Milwaukee. After the Brewers slugged five home runs en route to a 10-6 victory on Wednesday, four Milwaukee players went deep in yesterday's 9-6 downing of the Astros.
Brian Moehler (3-3) served up three of Thursday's long balls and was rocked for seven runs on seven hits over 4 2/3 innings.
Darin Erstad finished 3-for-5 with a solo homer for Houston, which is just 3-11 since May 28. Mark Loretta had a pinch-hit two-run shot in defeat, while Michael Bourn went 2-for-4 with an RBI single.
