New York Yankees (32-32) -130, 8 at Oakland A's (34-29), 10 pm Eastern Tuesday
by Zman of Predictem.com
The New York Yankees, in search of a push that will get them closer to contention in the AL East, embark on a six-game road trip, beginning with three games in Oakland vs. the A's starting Tuesday night.
Hardball bookmakers are listing New York and starting pitcher Chien-Ming Wang as -130 road favorites for Tuesday's series opener, with a total of 8, while Oakland and Dana Eveland are getting +120 as home underdogs.
New York just split four games with the Kansas City Royals over the weekend, and has won four of its last six. But the Yankees still sit in a tie for last place in the AL East, seven games behind the division-leading Boston Red Sox.
Oakland has won five of its last seven games, despite dropping two of three to the Angels over the weekend. So going into this week's play, the A's sit in second place in the AL West, four games back of division-leading LA.
New York is 14-17 on the road this year, 26-24 as favorites, but just 24-39 vs. the run line.
Oakland is 21-15 at McAfee Coliseum this season, 14-16 as underdogs, and 35-28 vs. the run line.
This is the first meeting between these two teams this year. Last season, Oakland took four of six games from NY, while the totals went 2-4, as the games averaged 8.5 total runs per.
Over his last three starts, including a bad outing last Thursday vs. Toronto, Wang (6-2, 4.57, 1.33 WHIP) has been kicked around for 16 ER and 32 baserunners (hits + walks) in 16 IP. The Yanks are 10-3 in Wang's starts this year, the totals 6-7.
Wang hasn't started a game vs. Oakland since 2006.
Over his last three starts, including an ugly outing vs. Detroit last Tuesday, Eveland (4-4, 3.82, 1.34) has allowed 11 ER and 27 BR in 17 2/3 IP. Oakland is 7-5 in Eveland's starts this year, the totals 3-8.
Eveland has never started vs. the Yankees.
On the offensive side of this match-up, New York ranks 5th in the majors this season in team batting at .273, 8th in team OBP at .340, 7th in team slugging at .429, is averaging 4.6 runs per game.
Oakland ranks 24th in batting at .252, 14th in OBP at .331, 25th in slugging at .379, is averaging 4.5 RPG.
The New York bullpen has given up three ER and 12 BR over the last five games, covering 13 2/3 IP.
The A's pen has allowed just one ER and 22 BR over its last five games, covering 19 2/3 innings of work.
The totals are 24-37 in Yankees games this year, 25-33 in A's games, and 16-18 in games played at McAfee Coliseum, where games are averaging just 7.6 total runs this season.
Zman's Pick: The A's are a live dog tonight!
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