Rays enter the night 1.5 games behind New York
Aces duel in the Bronx tonight as the Tampa Bay Rays send David Price to the mound to do battle with CC Sabathia. Despite Price’s 17-6 record and 2.78 ERA, Sportsbook.comcurrently has the Rays as +130 underdogs.
The Rays enter the night 1.5 games behind New York in the East.
Just 10 days removed from an epic pitching duel in Tampa, David Price (17-6, 2.79 ERA) once again squares off against CC Sabathia (20-6, 3.05 ERA). Both starters were brilliant that night, with Price allowing only three hits in eight innings, while Sabathia gave up only two. Price has been masterful for the Rays all year. The team has won his last four starts and seven of his last eight. His most recent effort was a no-decision against the Angels where he gave up three runs on four hits over seven innings in a 4-3 Tampa win.
Sabathia is also coming off a three-run, seven inning outing that saw him get back in the win column after the Yankees dropped his last two starts. Prior to that, they had won his last six. Sabathia has good career numbers against the Rays, going 8-4 with a 2.89 ERA in 19 career starts. Price also has solid numbers against New York, carrying a 2-1 mark with a 3.20 ERA into Thursday’s game.
After checking out the betting guide at Sportsbook.com, this interesting trend sides with the Yankees.
Play Against - Road underdogs with a money line of +125 to +175 (TAMPA BAY) - poor AL hitting team (AVG <=.260) against a team with a good bullpen (ERA <=3.75), with a starting pitcher whose gives up 0.5 or less HR's/start. (55-17 over the last 5 seasons.) (76.4%, +28.7 units. Rating = 2*).
Another top notch American League pitching duel takes place out west as Cliff Lee and the Texas Rangers take on Dallas Braden and the Oakland A’s. After scanning Sportsbook.com betting board, the Rangers are currently -125 money line favorites. As expected, the oddsmakers set a low ‘total’ of 6.5 runs.
After dropping four of their last six games, the Rangers turn to Cliff Lee (12-8, 3.19 ERA) to right the ship Thursday night in Oakland. Lee is coming off a pair of wins that saw him go eight innings and give up one run to both the Yankees and Mariners. Prior to those outings Lee had been shaky, going 0-3 over his previous five starts. The Rangers were 0-5 in those games. He has had success against Oakland in his career, going 5-2 with a 2.20 ERA in 11 starts.
Lee will be opposed by Dallas Braden (9-13, 3.65 ERA). It’s been a struggle for Braden lately, who is 0-3 with a 7.56 ERA in his last three starts. Most recently he gave up four runs on eight hits over six innings in taking the loss at Minnesota. Things have gone downhill since Braden threw his perfect game on May 9. He’s just 5-11 in 20 starts since that day and the A’s are 6-14 in those games. A silver lining in that record is a complete game, four-hit shutout of Texas on August 28.
Despite Braden’s recent struggles, the following betting trend sides with those betting on Oakland:
Play On - Home teams (OAKLAND) - cold hitting team - batting .240 or worse over their last 10 games against opponent starting a pitcher who gave up <=1 earned runs in his last 2 outings. (129-65 over the last 5 seasons.) (66.5%, +69.7 units. Rating = 4*).
To check out more statistics and trends, head over to Sportsbook.com and check out the sports betting guide for all of the MLB games as well as NFL Week 3 betting.
