Yankees Host Orioles in Labor Day Matinee
Twelve of the 16 MLB betting games on Labor Day are afternoon affairs, including the heavily favored New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles at The Stadium.
The schedule maker is offering the New York Yankees a chance to put some space between them and the Tampa Bay Rays in the first half of Week 23. The Yankees will be hosting the Baltimore Orioles for three games while the Rays are in Boston taking on the Red Sox. Boston may be out of the playoff picture, but the Sox should still offer up more of a challenge in their home park to the Rays than the Orioles in New York.
But then, it's baseball and as that philosopher Joaquin Andujar surmised years ago, "You never know."
New York begins the week 2½-games in front of Tampa Bay in the AL East and has to be thinking sweep here. The difference between winning two of three and taking all three might come down to the pitching matchup in Game 1 of the set. Baltimore sends Brian Matusz to the hill versus the Yanks' A.J. Burnett. Matusz has been on a nice roll with three consecutive wins while Burnett has been struggling to find some consistency over the past month or so.
It's the third time this season Matusz and Burnett have gone head-to-head, and just like the previous two the Yankees and Burnett will be strong money line favorites. Early openers had New York in the minus 215-230 range; Bookmaker.com opened its total at 9½, pricing the 'under' at minus 120.
The Yankees can't just sit back and feel entitled to 2-3 wins in this series. Baltimore is playing much better than the team that5 got off to a 2-16 start to the 2010 campaign and found itself a season-worst 41 games below par on Aug. 1. Buck Showalter took over Aug. 2 and the O's have gone 19-13 since.
Baltimore took two of three from the Rays over the weekend at Camden Yards, winning 8-7 Sunday as 145 underdogs.
Baltimore is 5-1 with Matusz (11-16, 4.72) on the mound during the still-new Showalter Era, and the lefty has beaten three pretty good lineups his most recent trips to the mound: The Rangers, White Sox and Red Sox. Matusz has worked 21 innings in his three-game win streak, allowing just three earned runs while whiffing 17 and walking three.
The former 1st-round pick out of San Diego has pitched pretty well against New York this season, but has three losses to show for his efforts. Matusz has gone at least six innings each time out and has a 2.41 ERA in 18 2/3 frames. Shoddy defense and the fact the Baltimore offense has plated just two runs in the three outings have combined to work against him.
New York saw its eight-game win streak snapped Sunday, 7-3, versus the Blue Jays as 180 MLB odds favorites. Burnett (12-15, 5.15) will try and start a new string of wins while finding his own groove Monday.
He's coming off just his second quality start since the end of July, a 4-3 win at home versus the A's last Wednesday. Burnett worked six, allowed all three Oakland runs and struck out eight. New York benefited from three unearned runs in the second inning.
Like Matusz, Burnett will be facing a lineup that has already seen him three times in 2010. Unlike Matusz, the Yankees have won two of the games, both wins coming at Matusz' expense. The pair met here at Yankee Stadium on May 4, and New York prevailed by a 4-1 count as big 220 money line chalk. Burnett pitched into the eighth, struck out eight and surrendered just a single unearned run. Matusz went six inning and allowed three runs, two of which were unearned.
This series will continue Tuesday evening when C.C. Sabathia (21-8, 3.02) takes on Baltimore's Jake Arrieta (7-9, 5.11). Sabathia is on a six-game win streak and has won his previous three starts against the O's in 2010. Wednesday's wrap-up is another 1:05 p.m. start in New York with Ivan Nova (2-1, 2.89) opposing Brad Bergesen (9-14, 5.47).
Monday's weather in the Bronx should be near-perfect. The afternoon high is expected to be 82ºF with clear skies and a WSW wind around 8-9 mph (3B on-deck circle out to right-center).
NOTE: W-L records displayed for starting pitchers are team records in games the pitchers start.
Twelve of the 16 MLB betting games on Labor Day are afternoon affairs, including the heavily favored New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles at The Stadium.
The schedule maker is offering the New York Yankees a chance to put some space between them and the Tampa Bay Rays in the first half of Week 23. The Yankees will be hosting the Baltimore Orioles for three games while the Rays are in Boston taking on the Red Sox. Boston may be out of the playoff picture, but the Sox should still offer up more of a challenge in their home park to the Rays than the Orioles in New York.
But then, it's baseball and as that philosopher Joaquin Andujar surmised years ago, "You never know."
New York begins the week 2½-games in front of Tampa Bay in the AL East and has to be thinking sweep here. The difference between winning two of three and taking all three might come down to the pitching matchup in Game 1 of the set. Baltimore sends Brian Matusz to the hill versus the Yanks' A.J. Burnett. Matusz has been on a nice roll with three consecutive wins while Burnett has been struggling to find some consistency over the past month or so.
It's the third time this season Matusz and Burnett have gone head-to-head, and just like the previous two the Yankees and Burnett will be strong money line favorites. Early openers had New York in the minus 215-230 range; Bookmaker.com opened its total at 9½, pricing the 'under' at minus 120.
The Yankees can't just sit back and feel entitled to 2-3 wins in this series. Baltimore is playing much better than the team that5 got off to a 2-16 start to the 2010 campaign and found itself a season-worst 41 games below par on Aug. 1. Buck Showalter took over Aug. 2 and the O's have gone 19-13 since.
Baltimore took two of three from the Rays over the weekend at Camden Yards, winning 8-7 Sunday as 145 underdogs.
Baltimore is 5-1 with Matusz (11-16, 4.72) on the mound during the still-new Showalter Era, and the lefty has beaten three pretty good lineups his most recent trips to the mound: The Rangers, White Sox and Red Sox. Matusz has worked 21 innings in his three-game win streak, allowing just three earned runs while whiffing 17 and walking three.
The former 1st-round pick out of San Diego has pitched pretty well against New York this season, but has three losses to show for his efforts. Matusz has gone at least six innings each time out and has a 2.41 ERA in 18 2/3 frames. Shoddy defense and the fact the Baltimore offense has plated just two runs in the three outings have combined to work against him.
New York saw its eight-game win streak snapped Sunday, 7-3, versus the Blue Jays as 180 MLB odds favorites. Burnett (12-15, 5.15) will try and start a new string of wins while finding his own groove Monday.
He's coming off just his second quality start since the end of July, a 4-3 win at home versus the A's last Wednesday. Burnett worked six, allowed all three Oakland runs and struck out eight. New York benefited from three unearned runs in the second inning.
Like Matusz, Burnett will be facing a lineup that has already seen him three times in 2010. Unlike Matusz, the Yankees have won two of the games, both wins coming at Matusz' expense. The pair met here at Yankee Stadium on May 4, and New York prevailed by a 4-1 count as big 220 money line chalk. Burnett pitched into the eighth, struck out eight and surrendered just a single unearned run. Matusz went six inning and allowed three runs, two of which were unearned.
This series will continue Tuesday evening when C.C. Sabathia (21-8, 3.02) takes on Baltimore's Jake Arrieta (7-9, 5.11). Sabathia is on a six-game win streak and has won his previous three starts against the O's in 2010. Wednesday's wrap-up is another 1:05 p.m. start in New York with Ivan Nova (2-1, 2.89) opposing Brad Bergesen (9-14, 5.47).
Monday's weather in the Bronx should be near-perfect. The afternoon high is expected to be 82ºF with clear skies and a WSW wind around 8-9 mph (3B on-deck circle out to right-center).
NOTE: W-L records displayed for starting pitchers are team records in games the pitchers start.