The Mets in marvelous betting situation
By Doug Upstone
Oddsmakers looked at Jason Verlander and Detroit (38-31, +5.1 units) in New York last night and thought they had a mismatch. The Tigers opened as -124 money line favorites and the wagering public agreed with those setting the line, boosting them to -141 choice by game time. It turns out everyone was correct that this interleague game would be one-sided; they just had the wrong team.
The New York Mets (40-30, +10.9) jumped on Verlander early, knocking him out after two-plus innings, scoring five runs on five hits and taking the three free passes he doled out. The Mets hitters went to work on the Detroit bullpen, tallying nine more runs for a leisurely 14-6 win.
That raised New York’s home record to 25-10, the same as their cross-town rivals the Yankees and second in the big leagues only to Atlanta (24-7).
The Mets ascension in the NL East standings has been due to good starting pitching, an offense that can score runs in bunches and a bullpen that can shutdown opponents. On the year the Mets relievers have 3.60 earned run average and they have particularly stingy at Citi Field with 2.17 ERA.
Tonight, the Mets will send knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (5-0, 2.82 ERA) to the mound, as they look to improve on 10-3 mark in interleague play. Oddsmakers have New York as -118 money line favorite and they are 15-4 at home when the ML is +125 to -125 this season.
They will face Jeremy Bonderman (3-4, 4.06) who has pitched well in recent outings but has not won two games in a row since June of 2007. Injuries have played a part for his lack of success the past few seasons; nonetheless he has 6.03 ERA on the road in 2010. This sets up the Mets nicely to be a potential strong wager this evening on ESPN.
Play against road teams after a game where the bullpen was rocked for six or more earned runs, against opponent with strong relievers, whose ERA is under 3.00 the last 15 games.
In the last five seasons, this system is 64-21, 75.3 percent, including 3-0 this year. The Metropolitans are streaking this month with a 14-4 June record and the Tigers are 0-8 after allowing 10 or more runs in previous outing. If you plan on watching tonight’s telecast, the action appears to be one way.