MLB Betting Preview: C.C. Sabathia, Yankees at Baltimore Orioles
Break up the Orioles! After winning just two of its first 18, Baltimore has now strung together back-to-back wins heading into tonight's matchup with the New York Yankees.
It has become a familiar pitching matchup when these two teams have met over the past couple of seasons. And except for the first battle between New York's C.C. Sabathia and Baltimore's Jeremy Guthrie, the outcome has been a familiar one as well.
The Yankees and O's continue their series Wednesday at Camden Yards with New York decided chalk. The early lines listed the Yankees minus 200 and higher with 8½ for the scoreboard mark.
Tuesday's series opener found the Orioles pulling the mild upset with a 5-4 win. A walk and a hit batsman ignited a three-run sixth inning for Baltimore. New York was the 170 favorite in the game and the total landed squarely on the nine.
Sabathia and Guthrie squared off three times in 2009, with New York winning two of the games. They first met on Opening Day in Baltimore when the O's battered C.C. in his pinstripe debut. Sabathia worked an out into the fifth inning and was charged with six runs in Baltimore's 10-5 win. He also walked five O's without a strikeout while Guthrie was hurling through six frames while allowing three runs.
Guthrie would face the Yankees four more times after that, with Baltimore drawing the short score in all four. Sabathia's ensuing four starts all resulted in New York victories, including a 9-0 complete game shutout at Oriole Park.
Add it all up for the two, and Sabathia recorded a 2.88 ERA in 34 1/3 innings versus the Birds while Guthrie's ERA was 5.40 over 30 frames against the Yanks.
Sabathia (2-2, 3.00) comes into this one off a loss last Thursday in Oakland. The portly port-sider had some control issues, with six walks in the 4-2 defeat. Two of those free passes came home in the bottom of the first ahead of Kurt Suzuki's three-run blast that decided the game early.
This will be Sabathia's fourth road start in five assignments on the young '10 slate. His road ERA is 3.42 in 21 innings.
Guthrie (0-4, 3.46) will be making just his second trip to the home mound, the other one a 5-1 loss on April 23 to the Rays. The Stanford ex allowed three runs in seven innings.
He's definitely pitched well enough to have won a game by now, but Orioles hitters have not shown up in Guthrie's starts. Then again, Baltimore's offense has been pretty stinky no matter which of their pitchers are working. In Guthrie's four previous starts, only 10 O's have crossed the plate.
The one and only Laz Diaz will be working the plate for Game 2. Visitors are 3-0 in his plate assignments this season with the 'over' 2-0-1.
Charm City weather is calling for a clear night, with temperatures in the mid-50s at first pitch. Winds are expected to be brisk, in the 15-20 mph range from the west-northwest (from LF line to behind 1B).
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they started games in the 2010 season. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, ESPN.com and, of course, S-BEE-R-dot-com!
Break up the Orioles! After winning just two of its first 18, Baltimore has now strung together back-to-back wins heading into tonight's matchup with the New York Yankees.
It has become a familiar pitching matchup when these two teams have met over the past couple of seasons. And except for the first battle between New York's C.C. Sabathia and Baltimore's Jeremy Guthrie, the outcome has been a familiar one as well.
The Yankees and O's continue their series Wednesday at Camden Yards with New York decided chalk. The early lines listed the Yankees minus 200 and higher with 8½ for the scoreboard mark.
Tuesday's series opener found the Orioles pulling the mild upset with a 5-4 win. A walk and a hit batsman ignited a three-run sixth inning for Baltimore. New York was the 170 favorite in the game and the total landed squarely on the nine.
Sabathia and Guthrie squared off three times in 2009, with New York winning two of the games. They first met on Opening Day in Baltimore when the O's battered C.C. in his pinstripe debut. Sabathia worked an out into the fifth inning and was charged with six runs in Baltimore's 10-5 win. He also walked five O's without a strikeout while Guthrie was hurling through six frames while allowing three runs.
Guthrie would face the Yankees four more times after that, with Baltimore drawing the short score in all four. Sabathia's ensuing four starts all resulted in New York victories, including a 9-0 complete game shutout at Oriole Park.
Add it all up for the two, and Sabathia recorded a 2.88 ERA in 34 1/3 innings versus the Birds while Guthrie's ERA was 5.40 over 30 frames against the Yanks.
Sabathia (2-2, 3.00) comes into this one off a loss last Thursday in Oakland. The portly port-sider had some control issues, with six walks in the 4-2 defeat. Two of those free passes came home in the bottom of the first ahead of Kurt Suzuki's three-run blast that decided the game early.
This will be Sabathia's fourth road start in five assignments on the young '10 slate. His road ERA is 3.42 in 21 innings.
Guthrie (0-4, 3.46) will be making just his second trip to the home mound, the other one a 5-1 loss on April 23 to the Rays. The Stanford ex allowed three runs in seven innings.
He's definitely pitched well enough to have won a game by now, but Orioles hitters have not shown up in Guthrie's starts. Then again, Baltimore's offense has been pretty stinky no matter which of their pitchers are working. In Guthrie's four previous starts, only 10 O's have crossed the plate.
The one and only Laz Diaz will be working the plate for Game 2. Visitors are 3-0 in his plate assignments this season with the 'over' 2-0-1.
Charm City weather is calling for a clear night, with temperatures in the mid-50s at first pitch. Winds are expected to be brisk, in the 15-20 mph range from the west-northwest (from LF line to behind 1B).
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they started games in the 2010 season. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, ESPN.com and, of course, S-BEE-R-dot-com!
