The last time they took the field, the New York Yankees were shut out for the first time as an ailing Alex Rodriguez missed his first game. The slugger is expected back in the lineup for Wednesday night's opener of a rain-shortened two-game home series against a Baltimore Orioles club that looks much improved. Rodriguez was scratched before Sunday's 4-0 loss at Boston with flulike symptoms. The third baseman is off to a solid start, going 9 for 28 with three homers and five RBIs.
This is the first matchup between these AL East rivals since news broke during spring training of critical magazine comments by Baltimore manager Buck Showalter about Derek Jeter. In the April edition of Men's Journal, Showalter said Jeter is "always jumping back from balls just off the plate. I know how many calls that team gets." The remarks were surprising since the Yankee captain played 15 games in 1995 for Showalter, who managed New York to a wild-card berth that season to end the franchise's 14-year postseason drought.
The Orioles (6-3) look like a more competitive club under Showalter, who led them to an AL-best 34-23 record after taking over Aug. 3. Baltimore split six meetings with the Yankees (5-4) under Showalter after losing 10 of the first 12 matchups last season. Brian Roberts hit .308 in six games against New York last season to lead all Baltimore regulars. The Orioles will try to slow down Robinson Cano, who batted .444 with five homers and 12 RBIs against them last season. Cano had a strong weekend in Boston, going 6 for 12. He should be excited to see Chris Tillman (0-0, 3.38 ERA) on the mound. The Yankees second baseman is 6 for 7 against the right-hander, while Rodriguez is 3 for 6 with a homer.
Tillman is 1-1 with a 5.52 ERA in three starts against New York. The Orioles have won his first two outings this season, and he gave up four runs in 4 2-3 innings in a 9-5 victory over Detroit on Thursday. A.J. Burnett (2-0, 4.09) looks to continue his April success for the Yankees. He is 7-0 with a 3.91 ERA in 12 April starts since joining New York for the 2009 season. Burnett yielded two runs over six innings Thursday in a 4-3 win over Minnesota. The veteran right-hander is 11-4 with a 4.47 ERA in 18 starts against the Orioles, going 4-3 with a 4.01 ERA in nine outings with the Yankees.
We get a fairly steep price here for the early going, but expect plenty of offense for a team who many didn't expect to have this kind of success out of the gate. With Showalter entering his first full year as manager at Baltimore, the team is picking up right where they left off of last season's second half improvement. While Tillman looks for his first win of 2011 and Burnett looks to stay perfect, both teams will look to generate offense early and often. The Yankee lineup thanks to solid starts by Cano, Rodriguez, Posada, and Teixera in the power department should generate enough runs to shoot this one over the game total, and we expect more of the same in the early going. Best of luck however you play!
Source: http://www.bangthebook.com/forum/mlb-betting/36919-wednesday-first-5-innings.html
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