Heavy-hitting Yanks continue series with A's
Baseball Betting Lines
09/01/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Six homers in two games and four consecutive victories have helped the New York Yankees regain sole possession of first place in the American League East. If they want to stay there, A.J. Burnett better figure things out in a hurry.
Burnett will try to avoid a fifth straight losing decision when New York continues a four-game series versus the Oakland Athletics this evening at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees smashed three homers in Monday's series-opening 11-5 victory, then added three more in last night's 9-3 rout to win four contests in a row for the first time since a seven-game run from July 3-9.
Mark Teixeira homered for a second game in a row, notching his 30th of the season, while Nick Swisher added a two-run shot -- his third homer in five games. Curtis Granderson finished with a solo homer of his own to help the Yankees move a game ahead of the Rays for the top spot in the AL East after Tampa Bay lost to Toronto on Tuesday.
"What a great game tonight was -- great pitching, clutch hitting," Swisher said afterward. "(Teixeira) is on fire...it's just been a lot of fun to watch."
The power game helped Phil Hughes post his 16th win of the season despite lasting just five innings. He allowed two runs on four hits and matched a season high with five walks.
Still, New York picked up its fifth win in a row over Oakland and is 7-1 in the season series so far this year. The Yankees have also won 18 of the past 21 games of this series.
After Trevor Cahill was blasted for a season-high eight runs over four innings in Monday's opener, A's starter Van Mazzaro was charged with nine runs -- seven earned -- over just 3 2/3 frames last night.
"I battled. I fell behind a lot," Mazzaro said. "If you fall behind these guys, they're going to punish you. I just tried too hard and left the ball up in the zone."
Daric Barton hit a solo homer in the seventh inning for Oakland, which fell to 4-4 on a 10-game road trip and is still 8 1/2 games back of first-place Texas in the AL West.
The Athletics should have a good chance of moving back above .500 on the swing if Burnett pitches the way he has in his last five starts, all Yankee losses.
Burnett is 0-4 with a 7.80 earned run average over that span and was blasted by the White Sox in Chicago on Friday to the tune of nine runs -- eight earned -- over 3 1/3 innings. The right-hander has allowed at least six runs in three of his last five starts and nine times total this year.
"It's like Groundhog Day again," Burnett said after that game. "I take the team out of it in the first three innings. It wears on these guys and it has to be frustrating."
The 33-year-old is 9-12 with a 5.17 ERA this year, but evened his career mark against Oakland to 3-3 with a 3.81 ERA after besting them in Oakland with seven frames of two-run ball on July 7.
Despite leaving his last start after just two innings due to a hyperextended right knee, Brett Anderson is slated to take the hill for the A's. The lefty is 0-3 with a 3.68 ERA over his last four starts and was charged with four runs on six hits Friday versus Texas before his exit.
Anderson, though, threw a bullpen session on Monday with no issues.
"It went really well," manager Bob Geren told Oakland's website. "He should be good to go, no problems."
Anderson, who has also missed time this year with left elbow issues, is 3-5 with a 3.32 ERA in 12 starts this year. The 22-year-old is winless in three all-time meetings with the Yankees, having gone 0-2 with a 5.68 ERA.
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Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa
Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.
Should be in:
Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?
Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.
Work left to do:
Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.
Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.
Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.
Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.
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