East Versus West
The red-hot Los Angeles Angels appear to be cruising toward the
playoffs, but that didn’t stop them from making a major move to bolster
their offense.
The New York Yankees, meanwhile, are in the thick
of a tight pennant race – and they added a veteran bat to try to
increase their chances of making a 14th straight postseason appearance.
Oddsmakers from SBG Global
have made New York -155 money line favorites (MLB Odds) for tonight’s game, the over/under has
been set at 9.5 total runs (Matchup). Current public betting information shows that 20% of bets for this game have been placed on New York -155 (View MLB Bet Percentages).
The
Yankees expect to debut new catcher Ivan Rodriguez on Thursday when
they face Mark Teixeira and the Angels in a matchup of teams that
pulled off major deals this week.
New York (59-48) acquired the 14-time All-Star from Detroit on Wednesday for reliever Kyle Farnsworth.
In
the option year of a $50 million deal he signed with the Tigers in
February 2004, Rodriguez will step into the hole in the Yankees’ lineup
created by Jorge Posada’s season-ending shoulder injury.
"Honestly,
I was shocked by this, but that’s baseball," Rodriguez said. "Now, I’m
just looking forward to playing for the Yankees and maybe I will play
against Detroit again in the playoffs."
The Yankees, who ended a
three-game slide with a 13-3 win over Baltimore on Wednesday, are in
third place in the AL East. They trail Tampa Bay by four games and wild
card leader Boston by one.
Los Angeles (67-40) is in a completely
different situation with the best record in baseball and a comfortable
11 1/2-game lead over Texas in the AL West. But the Angels decided to
get Teixeira, who was acquired from Atlanta for first baseman Casey
Kotchman and a minor leaguer on Tuesday.
Teixeira made his first
start as an Angel on Wednesday as Los Angeles completed a three-game
sweep at Boston with a 9-2 win. He went 0-for-4 with a walk, but Garret
Anderson was 4-for-5 with a homer and four RBIs as the Angels improved
to 10-2 since the All-Star break.
"There’s so much we’re trying
to get him acclimated with," said Angels manager Mike Scioscia about
Teixeira. "I didn’t see any jitters at all. He’s going to be fine."
The
opener of this four-game series also marks the first 2008 meeting
between New York and Los Angeles. The Angels have traditionally been a
difficult opponent for the Yankees, eliminating them from the playoffs
in 2002 and 2005 and capturing the season series the last four years,
including a 6-3 mark in 2007.
"Well, they’re the best team in our
league right now," manager Joe Girardi told the Yankees’ official Web
site. "They have the best record. They’ve played very well on the road.
They’ve played very well at home. They do a lot of things right. They
pitch, they hit, they play defense, they have team speed."
Yankees
starter Andy Pettitte (12-7, 3.76 ERA) is 6-2 with a 4.42 ERA in 10
career home outings against the Angels, including four straight wins.
Last season, he went 1-0 with a 6.75 ERA in two overall starts against
them.
Pettitte will try to win his third straight start. He
yielded three runs – one earned – over six innings on Saturday in a
10-3 victory at Boston, as his ERA dropped to its lowest mark since
April 25.
Anderson is a career .380 hitter against Pettitte, while Teixeira has nine hits in 19 career at-bats versus the left-hander.
Jon
Garland (9-6, 4.30) counters for the Angels. He improved to 2-1 despite
a 5.70 ERA in four starts in July by winning Saturday at Baltimore as
he yielded five runs over 5 1-3 innings in an 11-6 victory.
The
right-hander went 2-0 with a 5.40 ERA in three starts against the
Yankees in 2007 to improve to 3-5 with a 4.26 ERA in nine career
outings versus them.
Alex Rodriguez is 14-for-34 (.412) in his career against Garland, but Ivan Rodriguez is just 7-for-38 (.184).
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