New York Yankees vs Tampa Bay Rays Preview

Added on Apr 13, 2009 by sbworld in

MLB

Unlike just about any season other then last year, Monday’s matchup between the New York Yankees (3-2) and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2-3) actually means something beyond adding another victory onto New York’s record for playoff seeding. The American League champion Rays will be the home team in this AL East matchup and there are many things to factor in before making your choice on whom to go with on the MLB betting odds.

Starting for the Yankees will be right-handed Chien Ming Wang (0-1) who struggled badly in his first start against the Baltimore Orioles. Managing to only go 3.2 innings and giving up 7 earned runs on 9 hits and 3 walks, Wang looked nothing like the pitcher who dominated teams the last few seasons. One of the teams he is the best at dominating is the Tampa Bay Rays who Wang has won 8 of the last 9 meetings against while allowing just 14 total earned runs over those 9 games.

Going against Wang will be left-hander Scott Kazmir (1-0) for the Rays and there was a much nicer MLB season debut for this star. Kazmir went 6 innings while giving up 5 hits, 3 walks, and 1 earned run in a road tilt against the Boston Red Sox and looked ready to shut down anyone in the game while doing so. The lefty has won 5 of his last 10 starts against the Yankees but it really has not been his fault as he has given up just 17 earned runs over his 10 starts and of those 10 has only really had 1 start that should be considered anything less then above average.

The Yankees are hitting .274 on the season compared to .254 for the Rays and New York has a started off extremely hot against left-handed pitching with a .385 average so far this season. Tampa is hitting just .200 against right-handers and a big reason for the offensive output has to do with the shoulder injury to center fielder B.J. Upton who is on the 15-day disabled list. Upton is eligible to get off the DL and play in this game but there have been no reports that he is 100% ready to do that.

Both squads have received solid relief work this season with the Yankees coming in an ERA of 3.00 over 15 innings with Tampa even better with a 1.98 mark over 13.2 innings. The Yankees have a deeper bench and have played better defense so far in the short season but this game could go either way and should be a great game to watch as well as a possible playoff preview worth following at SportsBettingWorld.