Sunday Night Baseball
Behind Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter, the New York Yankees will try to salvage a split of their interleague season series with the New York Mets for the third year in a row.
Led at the plate by the left side of their infield, the surging Yankees wrap up their weekend set with the scuffling Mets on Sunday night.
Oddsmakers have made Yankees -185 money line favorites (MLB Odds) for todays game, the over/under has been set at 9 total runs (Matchup). Our public betting information shows that 65% of bets for this game have been placed on Yankees -185 (View MLB Bet Percentages).
The city rivals have split their six-game, regular-season series each of the last two years. In 2005, the Yankees got a two-run single from Jason Giambi in the bottom of the ninth inning to rally past the Mets 5-4 in that season’s final meeting.
Last year, Rodriguez homered twice and drove in seven runs as the Yankees rolled 16-7 in that season-series finale.
The Mets have won the season series from the Yankees just once, winning four of six meetings in 2004.
The Yankees put themselves in position for another split with a 11-8 win on Saturday. Rodriguez and Jeter each hit two-run homers as the Yankees pounded out 15 hits.
Rodriguez’s homer was his major league-leading 26th and leaves him 10 short of 500. All six of his career homers against the Mets have come in the last seven matchups.
Jeter finished with a season-high four hits to continue his domination at the plate against the Mets. The Yankees’ captain is batting .452 (28-for-62) in a 14-game hitting streak against them, and .383 in 59 career regular-season games overall.
"I don’t think anyone can get a full appreciation for him unless they see him play every day,” teammate Johnny Damon said.
After losing to the Chicago White Sox on June 4, the Yankees were tied with Tampa Bay for last place in the AL East – 12 1/2 games behind division-leading Boston. Since then, the Yankees (34-32) have won 10 of 11 to make up four games in the standings, and can move three games over .500 for the first time this season with a victory Sunday.
Ramon Castro had a two-run homer and Ruben Gotay added a solo shot in Saturday’s loss for Mets, who saw Tom Glavine struggle again as he gave up seven runs and eight hits in four innings. In his last two starts, Glavine has been tagged for 16 runs and 19 hits in 8 1-3 innings for a 17.28 ERA and remains five wins shy of 300 for his career.
David Wright had an RBI single in the first, and is hitting .343 (23-for-67) during a 17-game hitting streak for the Mets, who are 6-11 in that span. Though they remain atop the NL East, the Mets (37-29) are just 1 1/2 games ahead of second-place Atlanta.
To win the season series, the Mets need Orlando Hernandez (3-2, 2.38 ERA) to bounce back from his worst road outing of the year. Facing the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday, the right-hander threw 113 pitches in only 5 2-3 innings, and allowed five runs and seven hits with three walks in a 5-3 loss.
Hernandez pitched for the Yankees from 1998-2004, going 30-21 with a 3.76 ERA during the regular season at Yankee Stadium. "El Duque" also has gone 5-2 with a 2.83 ERA in nine home postseason games – eight starts – while helping the Yankees win three straight World Series titles starting in 1998 when he was a rookie.
Last season, Hernandez allowed two runs and seven hits over seven innings for the Mets in a 2-0 defeat in the Bronx on June 30. He fell to 0-3 with a 4.26 ERA in three career starts against the Yankees.
The Yankees’ Chien-Ming Wang (6-4, 3.49) will make his first career start against their crosstown rivals. The right-hander has won his last three starts, allowing just five runs in 21 1-3 innings for a 2.08 ERA.
Wang held Arizona to a run and six hits through six innings of a 4-1 victory on Tuesday.
"He’s outstanding," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said of Wang, who outpitched reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Brandon Webb. "You know what’s coming, and you can’t do much with it. He was throwing it up there 94, 95 mph. He threw just enough off-speed pitches to keep you off the sinker."
Wang, though, has alternated wins and losses in his last 10 home starts since Aug. 13. That inconsistent stretch came after he went 9-0 with a 1.77 ERA over 10 starts at Yankee Stadium.
by: Michael Cash – thespread.com – Email Us
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