MLB Betting: Pettitte and Yankees Underdogs at Twins
Once the Yankees and Twins finish off their suspended contest from Tuesday, ESPN will have Andy Pettitte matching serves with Francisco Liriano.
From Jamie Moyer going against R.A. Dickey on Tuesday to Andy Pettitte facing Francisco Liriano tonight, that's the path that baseball can take you on sometimes.
Wednesday's duel is a rematch of a game in New York 11 days ago when Pettitte (7-1, 2.68) topped the Twins and Liriano (5-3, 3.25) by a 7-1 count. The Yankees were 135 favorites in that game, and it marked the third straight win for both Pettitte and the Pinstripes over Minnesota.
Early baseball odds for this ESPN telecast listed Liriano and the Twins as the minus 115 chalk. The Yanks could be found from minus 105 to plus 105, depending where you shop. Nine was the early total.
Tuesday's series opener was suspended after the fifth inning due to rain. It will pick up today with a 0-0 score at 5:05 p.m. with the regularly scheduled contest starting about a half-hour after the first game ends.
Pettitte is coming off his worst outing of the season, an 8-6 loss at home to the Rays last Thursday. New York's lefty allowed seven runs, six of them earned, in five innings to take the first loss of the season. The Yankees were 7-0 behind Pettitte before that game.
This will be his first trip to the Target Field mound, and just the third start on the road for Pettitte in 2010. His two previous assignments away from New York saw him work 14 innings while allowing just two runs to the Red Sox and Angels.
Delmon Young and Brendan Harris are a combined 17-for-35 in their careers versus Pettitte. The pair went 1-for-4 against him when Pettitte beat the Twins earlier this month.
A string of three straight losses is what Liriano is dragging to the hill tonight. After a very good start during which Minnesota went 5-0, the port-sider has allowed 13 earned runs in his last 16 2/3 innings in defeats to the Orioles and at the Yankees and Red Sox. In the May 15 loss at New York, the Yanks managed to string together singles to plate single runs in the first and second innings to put Liriano in an early hole.
Marcus Thames is 5-for-11 lifetime when facing Liriano, including three homers. Liriano plunked Thames their first encounter on May 15, with the New York outfielder stroking an RBI single later in the sixth off the Twins left-hander, the last run New York scored against Liriano.
This will mark Liriano's fourth start at Target Field. He's allowed five earned in 21 innings at home so far in 2010, with all five runs scoring in the loss to Baltimore on May 6.
Depending how the umpiring crew works out its rotation, either Brian Onora or Scott Barry will work the plate in this contest. Onora is in the regular rotation, but could take the plate for the conclusions of Game 1 instead with Barry calling balls and strikes in the nightcap.
It should be a pleasant evening in Minneapolis with the weatherman calling for clear skies and a game-time thermometer reading around 75ºF when the first pitch is scheduled to be delivered at 7:10 p.m. ET. Winds are presently forecast out of the NNE at 5-10 mph (in from LF to 1B dugout).
The series continues Thursday when New York is slated to scheduled to send Javier Vazquez (2-5, 6.69) to the mound against Minnesota's Nick Blackburn (7-1, 4.50).
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!
Once the Yankees and Twins finish off their suspended contest from Tuesday, ESPN will have Andy Pettitte matching serves with Francisco Liriano.
From Jamie Moyer going against R.A. Dickey on Tuesday to Andy Pettitte facing Francisco Liriano tonight, that's the path that baseball can take you on sometimes.
Wednesday's duel is a rematch of a game in New York 11 days ago when Pettitte (7-1, 2.68) topped the Twins and Liriano (5-3, 3.25) by a 7-1 count. The Yankees were 135 favorites in that game, and it marked the third straight win for both Pettitte and the Pinstripes over Minnesota.
Early baseball odds for this ESPN telecast listed Liriano and the Twins as the minus 115 chalk. The Yanks could be found from minus 105 to plus 105, depending where you shop. Nine was the early total.
Tuesday's series opener was suspended after the fifth inning due to rain. It will pick up today with a 0-0 score at 5:05 p.m. with the regularly scheduled contest starting about a half-hour after the first game ends.
Pettitte is coming off his worst outing of the season, an 8-6 loss at home to the Rays last Thursday. New York's lefty allowed seven runs, six of them earned, in five innings to take the first loss of the season. The Yankees were 7-0 behind Pettitte before that game.
This will be his first trip to the Target Field mound, and just the third start on the road for Pettitte in 2010. His two previous assignments away from New York saw him work 14 innings while allowing just two runs to the Red Sox and Angels.
Delmon Young and Brendan Harris are a combined 17-for-35 in their careers versus Pettitte. The pair went 1-for-4 against him when Pettitte beat the Twins earlier this month.
A string of three straight losses is what Liriano is dragging to the hill tonight. After a very good start during which Minnesota went 5-0, the port-sider has allowed 13 earned runs in his last 16 2/3 innings in defeats to the Orioles and at the Yankees and Red Sox. In the May 15 loss at New York, the Yanks managed to string together singles to plate single runs in the first and second innings to put Liriano in an early hole.
Marcus Thames is 5-for-11 lifetime when facing Liriano, including three homers. Liriano plunked Thames their first encounter on May 15, with the New York outfielder stroking an RBI single later in the sixth off the Twins left-hander, the last run New York scored against Liriano.
This will mark Liriano's fourth start at Target Field. He's allowed five earned in 21 innings at home so far in 2010, with all five runs scoring in the loss to Baltimore on May 6.
Depending how the umpiring crew works out its rotation, either Brian Onora or Scott Barry will work the plate in this contest. Onora is in the regular rotation, but could take the plate for the conclusions of Game 1 instead with Barry calling balls and strikes in the nightcap.
It should be a pleasant evening in Minneapolis with the weatherman calling for clear skies and a game-time thermometer reading around 75ºF when the first pitch is scheduled to be delivered at 7:10 p.m. ET. Winds are presently forecast out of the NNE at 5-10 mph (in from LF to 1B dugout).
The series continues Thursday when New York is slated to scheduled to send Javier Vazquez (2-5, 6.69) to the mound against Minnesota's Nick Blackburn (7-1, 4.50).
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!
