Rays vs Yankees | Predictions

Tampa Bay Rays vs. New York Yankees
4:10 PM Saturday July 17, FOX
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Pitching Probables: Jeff Niemann vs. A.J. Burnett

Game 2 of a critical series between the leagues top teams.  The Rays have shown no fear in playing the Yankees this year taking three of five including both previous games in New York.  In May they touched up Burnett for six runs in six innnings with rookie catcher John Jaso introducing himself to the rest of the league with a three hit performance.  After a June swoon Tampa entered the all star break on an 8-2 run including a sweep of Boston so any notion that they were going to just fade away after a hot start was a foolish one.  It may not make sense but they seem to have been woken up by the skirmish between Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton.  The Rays are a well balanced team ranking 5th in both runs/game and ERA.  Big Jeff Niemann is 1-0 in three career starts against New York but hasn’t faced them this year.

The Yankees also cruised into the All-Star break on an 8-2 run and Burnett seems to have righted himself after a 5 start stretch where he gave up at least 4 earned runs, losing each one.  The Rays know that when he is right his stuff is as good as anybody as he has a lifetime mark of 12-5 against Tampa.  The Yanks are really clicking now.  They didn’t win the Cliff Lee sweepstakes but they are finally getting the kind of production they expect from Mark Teixeira – he has taken the team HR lead from Robinson Cano.  The Yankees are looking to distance themselves from the Rays at home but may be a bit distracted by the recent losses in the Yankee family and the hoopla of the weekend.

Prediction:  Yankees are very good at home and may be angry after dropping the opener(they were losing while this was being written).  As long as Burnett doesn’t dig them an early hole they should grab a win in this Saturday showcase.

Score Prediction:

New York Yankees – 5
Tampa Bay Rays – 2

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Tampa Bay Rays Betting Trends:

• The total has gone OVER in 9 of Tampa Bay’s last 13 games
• Tampa Bay is 8-1 SU in its last 9 games
• Tampa Bay is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games on the road
• The total has gone OVER in 5 of Tampa Bay’s last 6 games on the road

New York Yankees Betting Trends:

• The total has gone UNDER in 5 of NY Yankees’s last 7 games
• NY Yankees are 8-1 SU in their last 9 games
• NY Yankees are 14-6 SU in their last 20 games at home
• The total has gone UNDER in 8 of NY Yankees’s last 11 games at home