posted May 20, 2008 at 14:57 EST in MLB Free Picks

BetUS MLB baseball online betting odds: N.Y. Yankees -160, Baltimore +140; Total 8.5

The struggling New York Yankees (20-24), who have now lost three games in a row, including a pair to the hated Mets, will continue to try and get themselves untracked on Tuesday night when they play host to the Baltimore Orioles (23-20) in American League East action that is set to get underway at 7:05 PM ET at Yankee Stadium (natural turf) in the Bronx.

Right-handers take the mound, as Daniel Cabrera (4-1, 3.67 ERA) gets the start for the Orioles, to be opposed by Mike Mussina (6-3, 3.99 ERA) of the Yankees.

At BetUS Sportsbook, New York is listed as a -160 favorite (Baltimore is +140), with a total of 8.5 runs (Over is -115, the Under is -105).

Here are some of the MLB sports betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

* BALT has won four of its last five games

* BALT has lost six of its last nine road games

* BALT has played 16 of its last 23 road games UNDER the total

* NY has lost five of its last six games

* NY has played eight of its last 11 games UNDER the total

* NY has lost four of its last five home games

In the HEAD-TO-HEAD baseball betting trends:

* NY has won six of the last nine meetings

* NY has won four of the last six meetings as the home team

* Four of the last six meetings in New York have gone OVER the total

The Yankees appear to be going nowhere fast. At this point New York is sitting in last place in the AL's East division, two games in back of fourth-place Toronto and 6.5 games behind the front-running Red Sox. This crew has lost five of six games, and two of those defeats took place over the weekend as they gave up 18 runs to the Mets. Meanwhile, Baltimore finds itself still in the thick of things in the division chase, three games in back of Boston (only one in the loss column) and 3.5 games ahead of the Bronx Bombers.

The Yankees should get a psychological boost tonight from the return of three-time American League MVP Alex Rodriguez off the disabled list, where he had been rehabbing a quadriceps injury. A-Rod was hitting .286 with four homers in 24 games when he went down, so he had not exactly been lighting up scoreboards. Derek Jeter's quote: "We could have brought back Gehrig, Ruth and DiMaggio. We still need to swing the bats better."

Yes they do. The Yankees are last in the league in runs scored since Rodriguez got hurt, and they have scored 12 runs in their last six games. This is not the stuff of legend, nor is it what the Steinbrenner family has laid all that money out for.

Mike Mussina pitched seven shutout innings (on three hits) against his former team last September 18, then came back ten days later and gave up twelve base runners and six earned runs in five innings. But he is coming off five good starts in a row - all Yankee wins - in which he has yielded a total of nine runs. Since his first start of the season, Mussina has walked only four batters in 44 innings.

However, Cabrera has also made a credible comeback after two very rocky starts at the outset of the year. In his last six outings, he's posted a 2.45 ERA. And the O's have won seven of his eight starts on the season.

With the way the Yankees are hitting the ball, we couldn't say with any certainty whatsoever that the return of A-Rod will cure any ills in the offensive production. But Mussina has been a constant through most of this. With Cabrera's surprising performance as well, this points us toward an UNDER play against the 8.5 runs as they are posted in the BetUS Major League Baseball betting odds.

JAY'S PLAY: UNDER 8.5 (-105)

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(CharlesJay of http://www.eBookies.com touches all the bases as a regular contributor to the BetUS Locker Room)