pick from metsfan2008 and me
al demarco
tuesday's play
5 dime - new york yankees (burnett) - 1 1/2 runs over texas (padilla)
texas went 20-9 in the month of may, but it was a "soft" 20-9 when you consider nine wins came against seattle and oakland, two of the american league's worst teams, three versus light-hitting houston, one of the cellar-dwellers in the national league, and seven against the white sox and angels, two clubs that were struggling mightily offensively at the time. On the other hand, against a good detroit team, on the road, texas went 0-3. And at home versus tonight's opponent, new york, the rangers dropped two of three last week, getting outscored 23-10 in the series.
The yankees return to the bronx having won 15 of 19 overall, including eight of 10 at home. The offense has been fueled by hot streaks of late by a-rod, jeter and teixeira (8 homers, 20 rbis, .397 average during 14-game hitting streak), while the pitching has fallen into step behind ace cc sabathia. New york's other high-priced off-season free-agent addition to the starting rotation, a.j. Burnett, just earned his first win in six weeks by beating the rangers on the road in his last outing, scattering three hits and striking out seven in six shutout innings to improve to 2-1 lifetime with a 3.66 era in six career starts versus texas.
Burnett's mound opponent tonight, vincente padilla, was pitching his best ball since joining the rangers prior to landing on the disabled list with a strained shoulder may 16, going 2-0 with a 1.57 era in his previous three starts. The righthander, however, has not fared well in his career versus new york with a 5.51 era in three previous starts.
Twice in the past three weeks i've used the yankees on the run line with sabathia pitching and they've delivered wins. Tonight offers another opportunity to take a high-priced home favorite that's playing great and reduce them to near even money by laying 1 1/2 runs.
