Posted on
5/13/2008 4:35:53 PM
MLB Baseball Betting - N.Y. Yankees at Tampa Bay
By Charles Jay
BetUS MLB baseball betting odds: N.Y. Yankees -145, Tampa Bay +125; Total 8.5 (Under -115, Over -105)
The New York Yankees (19-20), who took it on the chin last night in sports betting action, will try to get back to the .500 mark on Tuesday evening when they take on the Tampa Bay Rays (22-16) in an American League online betting contest that is set to get underway at 7:10 PM ET at Tropicana Field (artificial turf) in St. Petersburg.
Chien-Ming Wang (6-1, 3.12 ERA) gets the start for the Yankees, with Tampa Bay countering with Edwin Jackson (2-3, 4.04 ERA) in this battle of right-handers.
At BetUS Sportsbook, New York is listed as a -145 favorite (Tampa Bay is +125), with a total of 8.5 runs (the Under is -115, the Over is -105).
Here are some of the MLB Baseball betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
* NY has lost four of its last six games
* NY has played five of its last six games UNDER the total
* NY has played five of its last six road games UNDER the total
* TB has won its last five games
* TB has played four of its last six games UNDER the total
* TB has won its last ten home games
* TB has played eight of its last nine home games UNDER the total
In the HEAD-TO-HEAD baseball betting trends:
* NY has won four of the last five meetings
* Five of the last six meetings have gone UNDER the total
* NY has won four of the last five meetings as the road team
It was the conventional wisdom that the Yankees would be the team that would push Boston in the division race. But as of now, Tampa Bay is only a game and a half behind the Red Sox in the AL East, while New York is in fourth place, only a game and a half ahead of cellar-dwelling Toronto. Only the Red Sox have a better home record than the Rays among American League teams.
On Monday night Matt Garza, who had been dealing with injuries, pitched seven scoreless frames against the Yankees to trigger the 7-1 victory. That's bad news for the rest of the league, as Tampa Bay seems to have an abundance of good young hurlers who are starting to jell.
Edwin Jackson certainly wants to be one of them. Jackson has been incredibly hot and cold this season - he is capable of performances like he showed in his second start of the season, when he blanked Seattle on two hits over eight innings, but he can also embarrass himself, as he did in a May 2 start against Boston, when he surrendered nine hits and six earned runs in four innings. Last time out, Jackson was brilliant, pitching eight scoreless stanzas against Toronto. The challenge is obviously to put back-to-back efforts of quality together.
Chien-Ming Wang has been able to do that. The Yankee ace, who has won 19 games in consecutive seasons, was touched up for eight runs in four innings against the Red Sox on April 16, but all other outings on his part have been solid, as he has not given up more than three runs in any of those starts.
Tampa Bay is a team that will simply not go away, having own five straight games. And they've been strong on the home field, winning ten in a row. But in terms of us looking at the pitchers in this game, the Yanks know they are going to be in this game with their starter, while the Rays could get blown out early with the inconsistent Jackson. We will go with a mild recommendation on the Yankees and Wang, laying the -145 in the BetUS Major League Baseball betting odds.
JAY'S PLAY: NEW YORK (-145)
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(Charles Jay of http://www.eBookies.com touches all the bases as a regular contributor to the BetUS Locker Room)