Seattle Mariners (74-62) +210, o/u 10 at New York Yankees (76-62), 7:05 pm Eastern Tuesday
by Zman of Predictem.com
The two leading contenders in the American League’s wild-card race meet again when the Seattle Mariners take on the New York Yankees in the middle game of a three-game series Tuesday night in The Bronx.
Both teams had recently been putting serious pressure on the leaders in their respective divisions; New York got within four games of the Boston Red Sox in the AL East, and Seattle crept to within two games of the Los Angeles Angels in the AL West. But both teams have since faltered, and now the Yanks are seven games behind the Sox and the Mariners are 6 1/2 games back of the Angels, with less than a month to go.
Perhaps more importantly, though, New York leads the AL wild-card race by a single game over Seattle.
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The Mariners took the opener of this series Monday night 7-1 to break a nine-game losing streak. The Yanks have now lost three of their last four games after dropping two of three to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays over the weekend, a series in which they allowed 23 runs.
Seattle leads the season series with New York five games to three this season, with the o/u somehow going 1-7 in those games.
While they are 12 games over .500 overall, the Mariners are 33-35 on the road this season. And yet they’re also a very respectable 34-38 as underdogs.
The Yankees are 45-27 at home this year and 71-51 as favorites.
Horacio Ramirez (8-4, 6.55) gets the start Tuesday night for Seattle vs. Chien-Ming Wang (16-6, 3.79) for New York. The Ms are 9-8 when Ramirez starts this season, the o/u a lopsided 13-4, while the Yanks are 18-7 in Wang’s starts, the o/u 12-10.
In his last three starts, all of which came on the road, Ramirez has allowed seven ER and 25 baserunners (hits + walks) in 18 2/3 IP. Seattle went 1-2 in those games. But for a guy with an ERA over six and a half, Ramirez has had surprising success against the powerhouse Yankee lineup. In two starts vs. New York this year and last (one as a Brave last season), HR has limited NY to just one ER and 14 baserunners in 14 1/3 IP. His teams won both those games.
Wang has given up four ER and 23 baserunners in his last 21 IP, and the Yanks are 3-0 in those three starts. In his three starts vs. the Mariners this year and last, Wang has allowed five ER and 18 baserunners in 22 IP, and New York won all three games.
Seattle owns a .338 team OBP this year, which ranks 10th-best in the majors, and is averaging 4.9 runs per game.
The Yanks lead the majors with their .363 team OBP this season, and are averaging a healthy 5.8 RPG.
The Mariners bullpen has lived a bit on the edge as of late, allowing six ER and 31 baserunners in its last 15 2/3 IP.
The New York pen has been even more generous lately, giving up 12 ER and 27 baserunners in its last 16 1/3 innings of work.
Seattle slugger Richie Sexson is listed as doubtful for Tuesday’s game with a bad hammy.
The o/u is 69-61 in Mariners games this season, 63-64 in Yankees games, and 32-34 in games played at Ruth’s House.
The Predictem.com Pick: Take the Yankees. Horacio Ramirez is a train wreck on the road.
