Posted on
4/30/2008 4:34:46 PM
MLB Baseball Betting - Tampa Bay at Baltimore
By Charles Jay
Two of the more pleasant surprises in the American league will get together on Wednesday for the second of a three-game set, as the Tampa Bay Rays (14-12) visit the newly-minted first-place Baltimore Orioles (15-11) in a game that will start at 7:05 PM ET on the natural grass of Orioles Park at Camden Yards.
Right-hander Andy Sonnanstine (3-1, 5.28 ERA) looks to continue his recent success for the Rays, while the Orioles turn to righty Matt Albers (2-0, 1.65 ERA), who has made his mark in the bullpen this season.
Here are some of the MLB betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
(NOTE: These trends may also revert back to the 2007 season)
* TB has won six its last seven games
* TB has played seven of its last nine games UNDER the total
* TB has lost three of its last five road games
* BALT has won four of its last six games
* BALT has won four of its last five home games
* BALT has played 16 of its last 22 games UNDER the total
In the HEAD-TO-HEAD baseball betting trends:
* TB has won eight of the last 12 meetings
* Ten of the last 14 meetings have gone OVER the total
* TB has won four of the last six meetings as the road team
* Seven of the last nine meetings in Baltimore have gone OVER the total
Andy Sonnanstine followed his complete game shutout of the White Sox with a nice outing in beating Toronto last Thursday. Sonnanstine gave up just three runs and six hits in 6-1/3 innings. He has problems giving up the long ball (five home runs) but has walked only six of the 119 batters he's faced. As staff ace Scott Kazmir is about to return to action on Sunday, and reliever Al Reyes may come off the DL this week as well, one of Tampa Bay's talented young pitchers has to go off to the Triple-A Durham Bulls, and Sonnanstine wants to make his strongest statement in an attempt to avoid that fate.
Matt Albers is having a good year in what limited action he's seen. Albers posted a 1.6 WHIP ratio in each of his previous two season with Houston Astros. And he gave up 18 homers in 110 innings in 2007. But this year, mostly in a long relief role, his WHIP is down to 0.98, the ERA is at 1.65, and he's faced 54 hitters without surrendering an extra base hit. He's looking real good at the moment as one of the people acquired from Houston in exchange for Miguel Tejada. Those sizzling stats won't last forever, but for now, he's offering the Orioles some quality innings; in fact, in only one inning has Albers allowed more than one run to cross the plate. And manager Dave Trembley has been hesitant to use him as a starter since he's been so terrific in the bullpen.
We're obviously very impressed with the way Albers have been a stopper for Baltimore this year. But the Orioles do need better starters, and this is what Albers has been building toward. However, this assignment is only his second in the new role, and that does give the team one less guy who can come into the game in the middle-to-late innings.
Advantage Tampa Bay - at least we think that way. So it's a play on the Rays 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)