Posted on
4/15/2008 4:53:39 PM
MLB Baseball Betting NY Yankees at Tampa Bay
By Charles Jay
BetUS MLB online baseball betting odds: N.Y.Yankees -125, Tampa Bay +105, Total 9 (-110 each way)
The Tampa Bay Rays (6-7) will look to even their record on Tuesday night when they play host to the New York Yankees (7-7) in an American league game that will get underway at 7:10 PM ET at Tropicana Field (artificial turf) in St. Petersburg, FL.
Andy Pettitte, the lefty (1-1, 3.09 ERA) takes to the mound for the Yankees, while right-hander Edwin Jackson (2-0, 0.64 ERA) receives the starting assignment for Tampa Bay.
At BetUS baseball sportsbook, New York is listed as a -125 favorite (Tampa Bay is +105), with a total of nine runs (under is -115, Over is -105).
Here are some of the MLB Baseball betting lines and trends as they relate to this matchup:
(NOTE: These trends also revert back to the 2007 season)
* NY has won three of its last five games
* NY has lost six of its last nine road games
* NY has played eight of its last ten games UNDER the total
* TB has lost six of its last nine games
* TB has lost six of its last nine home games
* TB has played seven of its last ten games UNDER the total
In the HEAD-TO-HEAD baseball betting trends:
* NY has won five of the last seven meetings
* NY has won five of the last six meetings as the road team
* Four of the last six meetings have gone UNDER the total
* Three of the last four meetings in St. Pete have gone OVER the total
Edwin Jackson has often been a big tease in his young career. The Rays' right-hander has been hailed in the past as a can't-miss pitching prospect, but he's had a 1.77 WHIP ratio in the last two seasons. It's been hard to argue with what he's been able to do thus far this season, however. In two starts, he's gone 14 innings and allowed just seven hits and one earned run. One of those starts was against the Yankees on April 5, when he yielded one run in sixth stanzas and retired the last nine batter he faced, a big improvement over his previous fiasco against the Bronx Bombers, when he was banged around for six earned runs in 3-1/3. However, just six weeks earlier he had shut out the Yanks over six innings. See what I mean about the big "tease"?
Pettitte's been no slouch, either, allowing just four combined runs in his two starts. And obviously he's been pitching with that whole steroid cloud hanging over his head. The Yankees are still not scoring a lot of runs (3.64 per game), though they tallied eight yesterday against these Rays, homering three times off Andy Sonnanstine within the first six at-bats.
I'm wondering whether Jackson really deserves the seal of approval just yet. He says he's doing very little differently than he did last season, when he won five of his 31 starts. In a career that has been erratic at best, it may be smart to let him prove it over a more extended period of time. We favor the proven, veteran pitcher here who has demonstrated more consistency. That's Pettitte and the Yankees, the -125 favorite in the BetUS Major League Baseball betting odds.
JAY'S PLAY: N.Y. YANKEES (-125)
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(Charles Jay of http://www.eBookies.com touches all the bases as a regular contributor to the BetUS Locker Room)