MLB Baseball
2012-07-16 - Toronto Blue Jays at New York Yankees
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: Major League Baseball
Monday 16 July 2012 - First Pitch 7:05pm ET
12:05am (British Standard Time)
Preview
The New York Yankees (54-34) have overcome some problems in their pitching rotation to lead the American League East by at least eight games, but they won't take anything for granted in July and will look to kick on here. They host the Toronto Blue Jays (45-44) in a three game set in the Bronx and a chance to extend their lead over this particular Divisional rival.
These two are some of the leading Home Run hitting teams in the Major Leagues and so I would expect to see a few balls leaving the park in this series as Yankee Stadium is one of the friendliest parks for hitters in the League.
It will make it more likely that this game will have a few Home Runs as the two starting pitchers have some of the first records for the big bomb in the American League. Phil Hughes of New York has allowed 19 Home Runs this season and Henderson Alvarez has allowed 17 Home Runs.
Hughes has a 9-7 record this season and a 4.33 ERA as he has kept his spot in the starting pitching rotation. However, he has been a little stronger in recent outings, not allowing a Home Run in his last three starts and also giving up just 2 runs in the last 16 innings he has pitched in this ballpark.
The pitcher is just 1-3 in his last four starts against Toronto with a 6.43 ERA, although he gave up just 2 runs in just under 6 innings pitched against them last time out. He still took the decision loss as he was given no support from the batting line up.
Toronto will counter with Alvarez who has a 5-7 record and a 4.36 ERA. However, he has a solid 3-1 record and a 3.83 ERA in seven starts on the road this season.
That won't matter if Alvarez cannot get better control in this one as he has struggled to 6.19 ERA in his last nine starts for the Blue Jays and he has not pitched for them in 11 days. The pitcher gave up 5 runs in just over 6 innings pitched in his only start against the New York Yankees, but he did not take the loss in a 7-6 defeat for the Blue Jays.
Head to Head
Despite being Divisional rivals, these two teams will be meeting for only the third time this season.
Toronto have won the first two games this season, both at home, although they haven't had much success in the Bronx recently.
New York have actually won their last 5 home games against Toronto and they are 7-1 in the last eight home games.
New York are 27-17 at home this season, Toronto are 20-24 on the road.
Prediction
I had absolutely no luck on Saturday as all two of the three teams I picked to win actually out-hit their opponents but were beaten by one run in each time.
With the way my luck was on Saturday, don't be surprised if someone hits a Home Run with two outs in the ninth inning to scupper this pick, but I am going to take the New York Yankees to win this by a couple of runs at least.
I think the Yankees have the pitcher that was in better form before the All-Star break and their powerful batting line up has been scoring a bunch of runs in their three games to open up the second half of the season.
Toronto may not be able to keep up, despite reaching eleven runs in 2 of their last 6 games. The problem is that they have failed to surpass three runs in their other 4 games and so the Yankees should be able to win this by a couple of runs.
The Pick :
New York Yankees 7-4 Toronto Blue Jays
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
I'll take the New York Yankees - 1.5 Runs @ 2.15
