Two AL East rivals that have been swinging hot bats all season will clash at Yankee Stadium Friday night when the New York Yankees will host the Toronto Blue Jays for the opener of a three-game set. The Yankees are sitting top of the division 4.5 games ahead of the Jays, but I like the visitors chances of tightening the gap with a win tonight.

Here are my keys to the game:

1. Pitching - The Yankees hand the ball to Nathan Eovaldi (11-2, 4.30 ERA) who's coming in undefeated over his last eight starts. He's had some issues with his his control of late though yielding seven free passes over his last three starts, three of them when he conceded three runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings at U.S. Cellular Field his very last start. The Jays will counter with knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (6-10, 4.06 ERA) who's already defeated the Yankees twice this season, holding them to two runs over 14 1/3 innings of work. He's off three consecutive winnings conceding only a total of two earned runs, with none allowed in either of his last two starts.

2. Knuckleballer Woes - The Yankees totaled just four hits while striking out nine times against knuckleballer Steven Wright in a 2-1 loss to Boston Wednesday. Dickey is 4-0 with a 1.12 ERA in his last six meetings with the Bronx Bombers.

3. X-Factor - The Yankees have averaged an impressive 4.93 runs per game for the season, but the Blue Jays can best them with a 5.33 mark.

Selection: This is a play on the Toronto Blue Jays +1.5 (8*)