Posted on
5/14/2008 4:50:28 PM
MLB Baseball Betting - NY Yankees at Tampa Bay
By Charles Jay
BetUS MLB baseball betting odds: Tampa Bay -135, N.Y. Yankees +115; Total 8.5 (Under -120, Over - Even)
Don't look now, but there's a new leader in the American league East. It's the Tampa Bay Rays (23-16), and on Wednesday night they will take on the New York Yankees (19-21), who are looking to make up a lot of ground in the division. This AL contest is scheduled to start at 7:10 PM ET from Tropicana Field (artificial turf) in St. Petersburg, FL.
Right-handers take the mound against each other - the Yankees will go with Mike Mussina (5-3, 4.36 ERA) while the Rays counter with James Shields (4-2, 3.14 ERA).
At BetUS Sportsbook, Tampa Bay is listed as a -135 favorite (New York is +115), with a total of 8.5 runs (the Under is -120, the Over is even money).
Here are some of the MLB Baseball betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
* NY has lost five of its last seven games
* NY has played six of its last seven games UNDER the total
* NY lost six of its last nine road games
* NY has played six of its last seven road games UNDER the total
* TB has won its last six games
* TB has played four of its last five games UNDER the total
* TB has won its last 11 home games
* TB has played nine of its last ten home games UNDER the total
In the HEAD-TO-HEAD baseball betting trends:
* NY has won four of the last six meetings
* Six of the last seven meetings have gone UNDER the total
* NY has won four of the last six meetings as the road team
* Four of the last five games in St. Pete have gone UNDER the total
No one has Tampa Bay to kick around anymore. The Rays, who have a new nickname, relatively new owners and a new attitude, are 23-16 and percentage points ahead of the Boston Red Sox in the AL East. Granted, there are not a lot of people who think they're going to be in the same position come September and October, but the fact is that they're getting it done on the field. They should not be written off, and at the very least are in position to have their first winning season.
James Shields has started eight games this season, and has only had one bad outing. He is back to an outstanding 3.4-to-1 ratio of strikeouts to walks, and in his last outing he shut out the Angels on one hit, his second complete game shutout in the last three starts - the other being a brilliant two-hitter against Boston on April 27. Shields allowed two runs in five innings against the Yanks on April 6; that was a vast improvement over his final 2007 outing against them, when he was blown up for ten earned runs in 3-1/3 innings in a 21-4 New York win on July 22.
Mike Mussina pitched two-hit ball over six innings against the Rays on April 7 in a 6-1 victory. It's taken Mussina a while to get his legs under him, but he's had four fairly good starts in a row, compiling a 3.13 ERA over that time. Six of his eight starts have gone under the total.
We've been on Tampa Bay from the start of the season, and with a six-game winning streak, an eleven-game win streak at home, and with Shields, probably their best starter right now, on the mound, we can not get off of them here. We'll move with the Rays as the -135 favorite in the BetUS Major League baseball betting odds.
JAY'S PLAY: TAMPA BAY (-135)
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(Charles Jay of http://www.eBookies.com touches all the bases as a regular contributor to the BetUS Locker Room)