Is It Smart to Bet the Damn Yankees Saturday?

To put it kindly, the New York Yankees have really been embarrassing us these past two days.  Yet Saturday and Sunday we've identified what we believe to be two strong plays favoring New York.

On Thursday, the Baltimore Orioles scored 17 runs against the Yankees.  We had the Under on that one.  Go figure.

Friday's game wasn't quite as bad.  Atlanta only managed to score 8 runs while keeping New York to one.  Okay, it was still pretty bad.

We believe the tide will turn on Saturday.

Marcus Stroman struggled in a losing effort against the Red Sox on Sunday night, giving up four runs on seven hits over his five innings of work.  But he's also struggled against the Braves, allowing 20 hits in 67 at bats.

Charlie Morton has been beaten up badly by the Yankees. He's .310 versus the Yankees having allowed 16 RBI's in 145 at bats (45 hits) and seven home runs.  Juan Soto is 7 for 11 against him with 3 of those home runs.

Morton is also coming off a win, having allowed one run on three hits in six innings in a win over the Rays on Saturday.

Yankees are really looking like a solid play here.

What's Wrong With the Yankees?

New York has now lost six of their last eight.  Under normal circumstances, we'd be taking a step back from betting the Yankees at our favorite pay per head sportsbook. But this is still one of the better teams in Major League Baseball.

The Yankees set an unofficial major league record in decibel level of jeers heard by a 51-27 club in an 8-1, series-opening smacking by the Braves on Friday, according to the New York Post.  Ouch!

We might have an answer.

Jose Trevino had not allowed more than three stolen bases in a game while catching until last Sunday.  The Orioles stole four more against him in their 7-6 10-inning win against the Yankees a few days later.

From the New York Daily News:

Until then, the Yankees were unaware they had such a big problem with Trevino behind the plate — his 26% success rate throwing out baserunners, though hardly great, is about the same as it was last season. But as the Daily News’ Gary Phillips pointed out last Thursday, Baseball Savant stats tell a much more dire story about Trevino, as his 2.08 seconds pop time to second base ranks 65th out of 67 regular catchers in baseball and his 71.6 MPH arm strength ranks last.

A Look Ahead

Luis Gil allowed seven runs in 1 1/3 innings and took the loss against the Orioles on Thursday.  He's now 9-2 with a 2.77 ERA and will need to save face following that embarrassing performance.  Expect Gil and the Yankees to play especially well here.

The price should be decent enough too as the Mets are playing right around the .500 mark at home.

Sean Manaea (4-3, 4.16 ERA) starts for the Mets.  The Yankees have hit three homers off of Maneaa along with 15 hits in 49 at bats.

Manaea allowed three earned runs in 5 2/3 innings on Wednesday against the Rangers. He struck out six and walked three in a loss.  He had a win prior to this.