Tampa Bay Rays vs. New York Yankees Pick
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The New York Yankees (71-45) are coming off of a disappointing series last weekend against the Boston Red Sox, but started the weekend off strong winning a three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels. Now they will head back into AL East competition Saturday night when they face the Tampa Bay Rays for the second of their three-game series.
Date/Time: Saturday, August 13, 4:10 P.M. ET
Venue: Yankee Stadium in New York, New York
Broadcast: FOX
Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees Betting Lines
Money Line: New York Yankees -140 / Tampa Bay Rays +120
Spread: New York Yankees -1.5
Over/Under: 9.5
Both teams are at the top of their game, but when they have played previously, it has gone in New York’s favor just five out of nine games. These teams know each other, and their games always tend to be close and exciting, but who will win this game as the season draws neigh?
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The Yankees offense has been on-par with everyone’s expectations unless they are playing against the Red Sox. The team has great hitters all over their lineup. Second baseman Robinson Cano is leading the team with a .303 batting average and 136 hits, but he is not alone.
The lineup, although still minus Alex Rodriguez, is loaded with Mark Teixeira, Brett Gardner, and Nick Swisher who has a .378 on-base percentage; among others. They are 7th in battling average, 2nd in on-base percentage and third in slugging percentage.
Tampa Bay’s offense is quite a different story however, as there aren’t many hitters to speak of in terms of power.
Third baseman Evan Longoria leads the team with 17 homeruns and first baseman Casey Kotchman is carrying a team-high.337 batting average. Without these two players, the team would be a lot further than 9.5 games from the Yankees in the standings.
Meanwhile, and success that the Ray’s have shown this season can be credited to their pitching staff, and they have one of the best. They are ranked 9th in ERA and 8th in quality starts.
Left-hander Keremy Hellickson (10-7) will be on the mound for the Rays, and he has had New York’s number recently. In Hellickson’s only start against the Yankees this year, he went seven innings and only allowed two runs on five hits in a July 19, 3-2 home victory.
The Bronx Bombers will counter with right-hander Phil Hughes (2-4) on the mound in Game 2.
Hughes has had a rough year so far, and is more comfortable coming out of the bullpen, so it is hard to gauge how he will fair when he is starting a game against a very talented line up.
The odds makers have the New York Yankees as a -1.5 point favorite with an run total of 9.5.
Matt’s Free Prediction: Tampa Bay– Hellickson has had success against this Yankee lineup, and with the Tampa bats coming alive as of late, he will have plenty of offense backing him up. This would be a great pick because the odds would no doubt be in Yankees favor. Take the Rays.
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Tampa Bay Rays Betting Trends:
- Tampa Bay is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games
- Tampa Bay is 4-8 SU in its last 12 games on the road
- The total has gone OVER in 6 of Tampa Bay’s last 7 games on the road
- The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Tampa Bay’s last 5 games when playing NY Yankees
New York Yankees Betting Trends:
- The total has gone OVER in 4 of NY Yankees’s last 5 games
- NY Yankees are 10-3 SU in their last 13 games
- NY Yankees are 5-1 SU in their last 6 games at home
- The total has gone OVER in 5 of NY Yankees’s last 6 games at home
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