MLB Betting Odds: Minnesota Twins Host Slumping Tampa Bay Rays
While they're still in playoff contention, the Tampa Bay Rays head to Minnesota for a four-game series having cooled off dramatically from their hot start to the 2010 season.
It's a battle of playoff contenders in at Target Field when the Minnesota Twins open a four-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays. To get the series rolling the two squads have graciously provided us with a solid pitching matchup to wager.
Minnesota will send veteran right-hander Carl Pavano (9-6, 3.33) to the mound to face Tampa's young righty Jeff Niemann (11-4, 2.72).
MLB odds released Wednesday afternoon listed the Twins as favorites in the 115-120 range with the 'over/under' at 8½.
Pavano is one of only two Major League Baseball pitchers with 12 or more starts to have recorded decisions in each assignment (Jamie Moyer the other). That's not an easy thing to do these days with managers employing their bullpens for a good third or more of most games. Showing off his workhorse skills by averaging just a hair over seven innings per outing, Pavano is currently working on a string of seven consecutive starts at least seven innings long.
He's also bringing a four-game win streak into Thursday's contest, the last two complete-game triumphs on the road against Philadelphia and the New York Mets.
Minnesota is 5-3 in his eight Target Field starts with Pavano sporting a 3.81 ERA in those games. He faced the Rays twice last year while he was with the Indians, winning one and dropping the other with 12 1/3 innings of work and four earned runs allowed.
Niemann has pitched the Rays to the winner's circle in all seven of his road starts where he's recorded a 3.02 ERA. This will be just the second time the former Rice Owl has taken on the Twins, and first start at Target Field. He picked up a win at the Metrodome in April 2009, tossing 5 2/3 innings and allowing the Twins' only run in a 7-1 Tampa Bay victory.
The Minnesota lineup he will be facing has a career .646 OPS when taking on the 6-foot-9 hurler. Jim Thome has the only long ball of the bunch, swatting that in 2008 when he was still swinging for the ChiSox.
With their 5-1 win over Detroit on Wednesday, Minnesota will start this series with a 1.5-game lead over the Tigers in the AL Central. Justin Morneau smacked his 16th homer of the season, but only his second at Target Field, to help Kevin Slowey and the Twins to the win as 135 chalk. The win gave Minnesota the series, two games to one, improving its home record to 25-14.
Season numbers at the window for the Twins include about a unit of profit on the money line and a 41-32-5 record to the 'under.'
The Rays earned a split in their two-game set with the Red Sox at Fenway with a 9-4 win on Wednesday. A virtual pick 'em on the baseball betting board, the win left Tampa 45-32 on the season and down 3.4 units. On the road the Rays are 25-13, the most wins away from home for any tam in the majors. Still, they haven't won a series since June 8-10 versus Toronto.
Weather forecasters are saying it will be a gorgeous night for baseball in Minneapolis. Daytime highs should reach the upper-80s before cooling into the upper-60s. Expect a first-pitch temperature around 78ºF, clear skies and a southerly wind in the 15-18 mph range (1B across to 3B).
The series continues Friday evening with Tampa Bay sending left-hander David Price to the hill against Minnesota's Scott Baker. Game time is once again 8:10 p.m. ET.
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!
While they're still in playoff contention, the Tampa Bay Rays head to Minnesota for a four-game series having cooled off dramatically from their hot start to the 2010 season.
It's a battle of playoff contenders in at Target Field when the Minnesota Twins open a four-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays. To get the series rolling the two squads have graciously provided us with a solid pitching matchup to wager.
Minnesota will send veteran right-hander Carl Pavano (9-6, 3.33) to the mound to face Tampa's young righty Jeff Niemann (11-4, 2.72).
MLB odds released Wednesday afternoon listed the Twins as favorites in the 115-120 range with the 'over/under' at 8½.
Pavano is one of only two Major League Baseball pitchers with 12 or more starts to have recorded decisions in each assignment (Jamie Moyer the other). That's not an easy thing to do these days with managers employing their bullpens for a good third or more of most games. Showing off his workhorse skills by averaging just a hair over seven innings per outing, Pavano is currently working on a string of seven consecutive starts at least seven innings long.
He's also bringing a four-game win streak into Thursday's contest, the last two complete-game triumphs on the road against Philadelphia and the New York Mets.
Minnesota is 5-3 in his eight Target Field starts with Pavano sporting a 3.81 ERA in those games. He faced the Rays twice last year while he was with the Indians, winning one and dropping the other with 12 1/3 innings of work and four earned runs allowed.
Niemann has pitched the Rays to the winner's circle in all seven of his road starts where he's recorded a 3.02 ERA. This will be just the second time the former Rice Owl has taken on the Twins, and first start at Target Field. He picked up a win at the Metrodome in April 2009, tossing 5 2/3 innings and allowing the Twins' only run in a 7-1 Tampa Bay victory.
The Minnesota lineup he will be facing has a career .646 OPS when taking on the 6-foot-9 hurler. Jim Thome has the only long ball of the bunch, swatting that in 2008 when he was still swinging for the ChiSox.
With their 5-1 win over Detroit on Wednesday, Minnesota will start this series with a 1.5-game lead over the Tigers in the AL Central. Justin Morneau smacked his 16th homer of the season, but only his second at Target Field, to help Kevin Slowey and the Twins to the win as 135 chalk. The win gave Minnesota the series, two games to one, improving its home record to 25-14.
Season numbers at the window for the Twins include about a unit of profit on the money line and a 41-32-5 record to the 'under.'
The Rays earned a split in their two-game set with the Red Sox at Fenway with a 9-4 win on Wednesday. A virtual pick 'em on the baseball betting board, the win left Tampa 45-32 on the season and down 3.4 units. On the road the Rays are 25-13, the most wins away from home for any tam in the majors. Still, they haven't won a series since June 8-10 versus Toronto.
Weather forecasters are saying it will be a gorgeous night for baseball in Minneapolis. Daytime highs should reach the upper-80s before cooling into the upper-60s. Expect a first-pitch temperature around 78ºF, clear skies and a southerly wind in the 15-18 mph range (1B across to 3B).
The series continues Friday evening with Tampa Bay sending left-hander David Price to the hill against Minnesota's Scott Baker. Game time is once again 8:10 p.m. ET.
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!
