Posted on
4/7/2008 2:49:23 PM
MLB Baseball Betting - Tampa Bay at N.Y. Yankees
By Charles Jay
BetUS MLB baseball betting odds: N.Y. Yankees -225, Tampa Bay +185, Total 10.5 (Under -120, Over - even)
The Tampa Bay Rays (3-2) will play the last in a four-game series in the Bronx on Monday night when they take on the New York Yankees (3-3) in American League action that is scheduled to get underway at 7:05 PM ET at Yankee Stadium.
Right-handers face each other; Jason Hammel takes the mound for his first start of the season for the Rays, while veteran Mike Mussina (0-1, 4.76 ERA) gets the call for the Yanks.
At BetUS Sportsbook, New York is listed as a -225 favorite (Tampa Bay is +185), with a total of 10.5 runs (Under is -120, Over is even money).
Here are some of the MLB Baseball betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
(NOTE: These trends also revert back to the 2007 season)
* TB has won four of its last six games
* TB has won four of its last six road games
* TB has played six of its last nine games UNDER the total
* TB has played seven of its last ten road games UNDER the total
* NY has won three of its last seven games
* NY has lost four of its last seven home games
* NY has played five of its last six games UNDER the total
* NY has played five of its last six home games UNDER the total
In the HEAD-TO-HEAD baseball betting trends:
* NY has won three of the last five meetings
* TB has won four of the last six meetings as the road team
* Six of the last ten meetings have gone OVER the total
* Fifteen of the last 23 meetings have gone OVER the total
* Ten of the last 15 meetings in New York have gone OVER the total
Tampa Bay went into Sunday's game as the highest-scoring team in the American League (7.8 runs/game) and averaged 10.3 hits per contest, but they wasted a good performance by its staff - with James Shields holding the Yanks to two runs in five innings and the bullpen shutting out the Bombers the rest of the way. The Rays got nothing off of Chien-Ming Wang and wound up losing 2-0.
But the Yanks have still had a stagnant offense (now 2.83 runs per game), and Mike Mussina's season debut against Toronto was just so-so (three earned runs, 10 baserunners in 5-2/3 innings).
Jason Hammel's last start in Yankee Stadium (on September 2) was a strong one, as the righty struck out seven Yankees in five innings, with no walks and one run allowed. New York reached him for five runs in five innings three weeks later. Hammel had a 6.14 ERA with 40 walks in 85 innings, so obviously the jury is still out on him. His 5.82 ERA in the spring did not do much to establish confidence in him, and this start may determine whether he sticks around, since he's the #5 starter only because Scott Kazmir is currently on the disabled list.
Mussina is the guy with 250 lifetime wins, but the Yankees aren't offering pitchers a lot of run support to date. So it may take more of a performance than he has in him. The value here may be with Tampa Bay, the +185 underdog in the BetUS Major League Baseball betting odds.
JAY'S PLAY: TAMPA BAY
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(Charles Jay of http://www.eBookies.com touches all the bases as a regular contributor to the BetUS Locker Room)